URBAN STUDIES

Research on urban studies at the Department focuses on

• Urban theory and history;
• Studies of public space and public sphere;
• The relation of urban spaces to global structures, flows and processes;
• The relation of urban processes to migration and citizenship
• Urban anthropology
• Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cities
• Gated communities
• Ethnically mixed/divided communities
• Symbolic appropriation, memory and historic preservation of/in urban space

Faculty working in this area are Judit Bodnar, Ayse Caglar, Alexandra Kowalski, Daniel Monterescu and Dan Rabinowitz.

MIGRATION

 Research on migration at the Department focuses on labour migrants as well as refugees and irregular migrants:

• Transnational migration
• The relation of migration to urban processes and citizenship
• The relation of migration to the constitution of the political
• The securitisation of migration
• The detention of migrants
• EU, Southeast Asian and Australian policy on migratnts
• Scalar perspectives on migration

Faculty working in this field are Ayse Caglar and Prem Kumar Rajaram

Research on ethnicity at the Department focuses on

• Ethnicity and nationalism
• The construction and uses of ethnicity
• Ethnic entrepreneurship
• Ethnically mixed towns

Faculty working in this field are Ayse Caglar, Daniel Monterescu, Dan Rabinowitz and Prem Kumar Rajaram

GLOBALIZATION

Structures, processes and flows of what we understand as ‘globalization’ is an area that many, if not all, faculty are involved in in one way or another. Key research issues include:

• Globalization and neoliberal structures
• The relationship of global processes to urban spaces and processes
• Transnational movements and globalization
• Economic restructuring
• Cultural globalization
• The relationship of globalization to structures and processes of inequality, poverty and marginalisation

CULTURE, SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Research fields here include:

• Cultural policy in Europe
• Cultural globalization and the culture of globalization
• Popular culture
• Popular culture and nationalism
• Sociologies of art
• Visual anthropology and ‘culture’

Faculty working in this area include Judit Bodnar, Ayse Caglar, Jean-Louis Fabiani, Alexandra Kowalski and Vlad Naumescu.

SOCIAL THEORY

Research at the Department is theoretically-informed. Many members of the Faculty specialize in theoretical work alongside their empirical research. Some theoretical foci are:

• Marxist and neo-Marxist social theory
• Theories of ideology
• Theories of power and resistance
• Theories of nationalism
• Poststructural theory
• The social theory of Pierre Bourdieu
• The social theory of Michel Foucault
• Theories of space

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

 The study of the emergence and development of locally or transnationally situated social movements in a globalising field is an area of increasing importance at the department. Faculty here study:

• The relationship of social movements to civil society

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Research on social networks at the department focuses on understanding larger
scale societal transformations by looking at the emergence and dynamics of
network structures in the following ares:

• Emergence of transnational civic activism
• Transformation of public spheres
• Online networks
• Workteams and innovation
• Cross-sectoral projects in regional development
• Links between parties and corporations
• Expansion of multinational capital
• Historical networks
  

ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY

Research on economic sociology at the department aims at understanding
transformations in the post-socialist context:

• Foreign direct investment and domestic business groups
• Ownership and corporate performance
• Former communist elites and the conversion of political power to economic
• The power of banks and financial institutions
• Discourses of economic policy
  

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Research on regional development at our department looks at the recent
inflow of funds to new Eastern-European members of the EU, and developmental
projects in West-Africa. Questions include:

• The evolution of institutions in development-from-without
• The emergence of new local actors
• Projects and new forms of organizations
• The formation of local-transnational alliances
• Empowerment versus conditionality
• Development and elite factions