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Staff Profile

Dr Mark Griffiths

Reader in Political Geography

  • Telephone: +44191 20 84729
  • Personal Website: https://warandgeos.co.uk/
  • Address: Henry Daysh Building
    Office 3.18

    Newcastle University
    School of Geography, Politics and Sociology
    40-42 Great North Road
    NE1 7RU
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    UK
Background

I am a political geographer interested in military ecologies, weapons supply chains, the “aftermaths” and “beforemaths” of war, and the un/making of colonial space. My work addresses these themes in Palestine and Iraq where I study the spatial distribution of threat and the effects of militarism. I have published on house demolitions, military checkpoints, bureaucratic mechanisms, weapons manufacturing, and war-affected environments. Across my writing and teaching I draw on a range of post-/de-colonial geographical theories to better understand both the endurance and vulnerability of colonial power.


I joined the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology in 2019 as a NUAcT Research Fellow. Before joining Newcastle I worked at the University of Oulu in Finland and Northumbria University. At Oulu I worked on RELATE, an Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence focused on the territorial politics of bordering, identities and transnationalisation. At Northumbria I worked in the Centre for International Development in the Department of Social Science. I completed my post-graduate studies at University College London and King's College London

Research

I became an ERC Laureate in 2023 on the award of a European Research Council Starting Grant for the project: "War & Geos: the environmental legacies of militarism. The project is run as a collboration between Newcastle University, Purdue University (USA), and the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON) in Palestine. For the period 2023-2028, most of my research resources are directed at better understanding the relations between war and the Earth through detailed study of sites in Palestine and Iraq. Information on the project is available here on our website: https://warandgeos.co.uk/


I have additionally been engaged in better understanding the spatial effects of the occupation of Palestine. On projects funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme, I have published widely on checkpoints, house demolitions, and bureaucratic control (see publications list).


I am always keen to hear from prospective postgraduate students interested in these issues.



Teaching

I teach on the postgraduate module GEO8028 Political Geographies of the Middle East

 

For prospective doctoral study and applications for ESRC (and AHRC) funding, please write to me directly. I currently supervise the following PhD candidates:

 

Ishraq Othman (NUAcT-funded) 'Life and death at Erez Checkpoint in Gaza, Palestine'

Zena Agha (ESRC-funded) 'Colonial Cartography in Palestine-Israel and the Decolonising Potential of Counter-Maps'

Daoud Ghoul (ESRC) 'Emerging geographies of Israeli occupation and Palestinian resistance in East Jerusalem'

Ichamati Mousamputri (ESRC) 'Spaces of informal militarism: Analysing violence, resistance, and militarism in contemporary India'

Omar Hmidat (ESRC) Necropolitics in Palestine: a socio-spatial analysis of practices of suspended death and grassroots resistance

Yunqi Chi (ESRC) Climate change and carceral border regimes

Anas Ismail (ESRC) Exploring the health and social impacts of therapeutic geographies of Palestinians traveling to Egypt and Jordan





Publications