Staff Profile

Matt is a Reader in Human Geography. He undertakes research and publishes work on a broad range of topics related to political geography (see research interests below) including, most prominently, exploring the intersections of geopolitics with the lives of children, young people and families Children, young people and critical geopolitics (Routledge). His work has been published in a range of international, peer-reviewed journals including Area, Environment and Planning C/D, Geoforum, Geopolitics, Political Geography, Social and Cultural Geography, Territory, Politics, Governance, Transactions, among others.

Matt was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Keele and then Newcastle University from 2013-2016. He has extensive experience of teaching human geography at undergraduate and postgraduate levels having been a Teaching Fellow at the universities of Liverpool, Reading and Royal Holloway, University of London. He has a PhD, MA in Cultural Geography and BA (Hons) from Royal Holloway. 

Research Interests

Matt's research engages with contemporary debates in political and social geography in the following areas:

1) Young people's engagements with geopolitics across a host of different geographies. The regional focus of this work centres on South Africa (PhD), the Southern Cone (Argentina and Chile) and takes a particular interest in territorial disputes in the South West Atlantic (Falklands/Malvinas) and Antarctica.

2) Nation and nationalism. This research contributes to work on everyday and affective nationalism by exploring how people experience and contest the nation. It has focused on people's engagements with the nation along the Argentina/Chile border in Patagonia and during the social uprising in Chile (2019-20).

3) The geopolitics of the British OTs. This work focuses on the diplomatic and other relationships between the UK and the British OTs, as well as states that directly challenge their status. It continues to consider the fallout of Brexit and other contemporary events that are generating debate about the constitutional links between the OTs and the UK.

4) The experiences of young refugees and asylum seekers in public space. This research is situated in the UK (Newcastle-Gateshead and Glasgow) but also connects with a larger European research project funded by HERA that includes research teams in the cities of Amsterdam, Brussels and Leipzig. 

For potential PhD students  

Please get in touch if you are interested in pursuing PhD or postdoctoral research on any of the topics listed above.

Google scholar: Click here.

SCOPUS: Click here.

Funding 

Falklands Forty Schools Competition - FIGO (2022-2023)

Responding to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the context of COVID-19: resilience, adaptation and new forms of care - UKRI (2020-2022)

The everyday experiences of young refugees and asylum seekers in public spaces - HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) Joint Research Programme (2019-2022)

Young people, nationalism and post-nationalism: multi-cultural belonging in hyper-diverse neighbourhoods - Geography Research Excellence Academy (REA) (2017-2019)

Geographical imaginations of the state and everyday geopolitics: the case of the Southern Cone and Chilean Patagonia - Global Excellence Fund (2015-2018)

Embodied memories, distant territories: examining the perspectives of ex-combatants of the Malvinas War in Santa Fe, Argentina - Santander Mobility Fund (2016)

Memory and territory: comparing young people's perspectives on the Malvinas in Argentina - Newcastle University Research Committee Visiting Fellow, Alejandro Gasel (2015-2016) 

The making of the geopolitical citizen: the case of the Falklands/Malvinas - Early Career Fellowship funded by The Leverhulme Trust (2013-2016)

Young people and stories of the riots: Liverpool 1981 and 2011 - British Academy Small Grant (PI) with Andy Davies and Bethan Evans

Postgraduate Supervision

Current

Lauren Tibble - Playing the aerial: storytelling, spirits and the sky (ESRC)

Completed

Hannah Lyons - Assembling the nation: spatialising young, religious American's affective experiences of the nation, fear and danger in the everyday (ESRC)

William Whitehead - Escaped roots: sub-self-neutering and its political overcoming in Chocó, Colombia (ESRC)

Evie Hill - Designs for revolution: a visual analysis of Cuba's foreign policy in Africa, 1967-1987 (ESRC)

Tom Shrimplin - “Good game?”: Young People, Geopolitics and Violence(s) in the Ludic Assemblages of Battle Royale Videogames and Streams (ESRC)

Will Hughes - An Organisational Ethnography of Geopolitical Knowledge Production (ESRC)

Research roles

Editorial board, Children's Geographies

Director of Postgraduate Research, Geography

Memberships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Teaching roles

GEO2047 Political Geography (Lecturer)

GEO2139 Exploring Everyday Political Geographies in a Divided City: Nicosia (Module Leader and Lecturer)

GEO3102 Geopolitics (Lecturer)

Examination roles

External examiner, Global Studies, Nottingham Trent University

• Articles

  • Benwell MC. Veterans, families and the domestic geopolitics of remembering war. Geopolitics 2024, 29(5), 1855-1881.
  • Benwell MC, Pennell C, Pinkerton A. Tracing young people’s engagements with the diplomacy and geopolitics of a British Overseas Territory. Area 2024, 56(3), e12942.
  • Benwell MC, Hopkins P, Finlay R. The slow violence of austerity politics and the UK’s ‘hostile environment’: Examining the responses of third sector organisations supporting people seeking asylum. Geoforum 2023, 145, 103845.
  • Benwell MC, Nuñez A, Amigo C. Nacionalismo cotidiano, alter-geopolítica de las banderas y desplazamiento del tejido nacional durante el estallido social en Chile. Cardinalis 2023, 19, 82-115.
  • González AN, Reveco SU, Benwell MC. Geografías posthumanas en Patagonia-Aysén: umbrales, orillas e intersecciones entre animal ∩ humano. South Point 2023, (9), 9-27.
  • Benwell MC, Pennell C, Pinkerton A. The long shadow of the Falklands War. BBC History Magazine 2022.
  • Hughes W, Megoran N, Benwell MC. The emotional geopolitics of contested peace: The austerity crisis and the Danish minority of South Schleswig. Territory, Politics, Governance 2022, 10(2), 237-255.
  • Benwell MC, Betts M, Cheek J, Pennell C, Pinkerton A, Wilks N. The 40th anniversary of the Falklands War: a dialogue. The Round Table 2022, 111(1), 116-126.
  • Núñez A, Benwell MC, Aliste E. Interrogating green discourses in Patagonia-Aysén (Chile): green grabbing and eco-extractivism as a new strategy of capitalism?. Geographical Review 2022, 112, 688-706.
  • Benwell MC, Pinkerton A. Diplomatic memories: remembering the Falklands/Malvinas War through the diplomatic practices of Argentina and the Falkland Islands. Journal of War and Culture Studies 2022, 15(3), 284-308.
  • Benwell MC, Núñez A, Amigo C. Stitching together the nation's fabric during the Chile uprisings: towards an alter-geopolitics of flags and everyday nationalism. Geoforum 2021, 122, 22-31.
  • Benwell MC. Going back to school: Engaging veterans’ memories of the Malvinas War in secondary schools in Santa Fe, Argentina. Political Geography 2021, 86, 102351.
  • Benwell MC, Clegg P, Pinkerton A. COVID-19 and the British Overseas Territories: a comparative view. The Round Table 2021, 110(1), 159-170.
  • Benwell MC. Going Underground: Banal Nationalism and Subterranean Elements in Argentina’s Falklands/Malvinas Claim. Geopolitics 2020, 25(1), 88-108.
  • Benwell MC, Pinkerton A. Everyday invasions: Fuckland, geopolitics, and the (re)production of insecurity in the Falkland Islands. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 2020, 38(6), 998-1016.
  • Benwell MC, Davies A, Evans B, Wilkinson C. Engaging political histories of urban uprisings with young people: The Liverpool riots, 1981 and 2011. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 2020, 38(4), 599-618.
  • Benwell MC, Gasel A, Nuñez A. Bringing the Falklands/Malvinas home: young people's everyday engagements with geopolitics in domestic space. Bulletin of Latin American Research 2020, 39(4), 424-438.
  • Finlay R, Nayak A, Benwell MC, Hopkins P, Pande R, and Richardson M. Race, place and young people in the age of Brexit. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 2019, 37(1), 17-23.
  • Hörschelmann K, Studemeyer CC, Hopkins P, Benwell MC. Peripheral visions: security by, and for, whom?. Geopolitics 2019, 24(4), 777-786.
  • Núñez A, Benwell MC, Aliste E, Muñoz J. Geografías menores, geografías cotidianas: la construcción del ciudadano nacional en Chile Chico, Región de Aysén. Revista Austral de Ciencias Sociales 2019, 37, 167-186.
  • Benwell MC, Núñez A, Amigo C. Flagging the nations: Citizens' active engagements with everyday nationalism in Patagonia, Chile. Area 2019, 51(4), 719-727.
  • Benwell MC. Connecting ontological (in)securities and generation through the everyday and emotional geopolitics of Falkland Islanders. Social & Cultural Geography 2019, 20(4), 485-506.
  • Núñez A, Benwell MC. Comprendiendo el espacio desde otras escalas: la geografía del habitar como geo-grafía y geo-política cotidiana. Revista Austral de Ciencias Sociales 2019, 37, 161-166.
  • Burrell K, Hopkins P, Isakjee A, Lorne C, Nagel C, Finlay R, Nayak A, Benwell MC, Pande R, Richardson M, Botterill K, Rogaly B. Brexit, race and migration. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 2019, 37(1), 3-40.
  • Pinkerton A, Benwell MC. Heritage, strategic narratives, and the making of geopolitical pasts, presents and futures at Europa Point, Gibraltar. Political Geography 2018, 64, 92-94.
  • Gasel A, Benwell MC. Memorias, cotidianeidad y territorios: Malvinas en las escuelas secundarias argentinas. Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Sociales 2017, 8(1), 88-107.
  • Núñez A, Baeza B, Benwell MC. Cuando la nación queda lejos: Fronteras cotidianas en el paso Lago Verde (Aysén-Chile) - Aldea Las Pampas (Chubut-Argentina) [When the nation is far away: Everyday experiencies of borders in the Lago Verde pass (Aysén-Chile) and Aldea Las Pampas (Chubut-Argentina)]. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande 2017, 66, 97-116.
  • Benwell MC. Reframing Memory in the School Classroom: Remembering the Malvinas War. Journal of Latin American Studies 2016, 48(2), 273-300.
  • Benwell MC. Encountering geopolitical pasts in the present: young people’s everyday engagements with memory in the Falkland Islands. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2016, 41(2), 121-133.
  • Benwell MC, Pinkerton A. Brexit and the British Overseas Territories: Changing Perspectives on Security. RUSI Journal 2016, 161(4), 8-14.
  • Pinkerton A, Benwell MC. Rethinking popular geopolitics in the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute: Creative diplomacy and citizen statecraft. Political Geography 2014, 38, 12-22.
  • Benwell MC. From the banal to the blatant: expressions of nationalism in secondary schools in Argentina and the Falkland Islands. Geoforum 2014, 52, 51-60.
  • Benwell MC. Considering nationality and performativity: undertaking research across the geopolitical divide in the Falkland Islands and Argentina. Area 2014, 46(2), 163-169.
  • Benwell MC. Rethinking conceptualisations of adult-imposed restriction and children’s experiences of autonomy in outdoor space. Children's Geographies 2013, 11, 28-43.
  • Benwell MC. Resource nationalism: Argentina, the Falkland Islands and the United Kingdom. Global Policy Journal 2013.
  • Benwell MC, Borello J, Haselip J. Housing, security and employment in post-neoliberal Buenos Aires. Latin American Perspectives 2013, 40, 146-167.
  • Benwell MC. Don't believe the hype. Geographical 2012, April, 46-49.
  • Benwell MC, Dodds K, Pinkerton A. Celebrity geopolitics. Political Geography 2012, 31, 405-407.
  • Benwell MC, Dodds K. Argentine territorial nationalism revisited: The Malvinas/Falklands dispute and geographies of everyday nationalism. Political Geography 2011, 30, 441-449.
  • Dodds K, Benwell MC. More unfinished business: The Falklands/Malvinas, maritime claims and the spectre of oil in the South Atlantic. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2010, 28, 571-580.
  • Benwell MC. 'Race' or race: reflections on (self-) censorship and avoidance in research with children. Children's Geographies 2009, 7, 229-233.
  • Benwell MC. Challenging minority world privilege: children’s outdoor mobilities in post-apartheid South Africa. Mobilities 2009, 4, 77-101.

• Book Chapters

  • Benwell MC, Núñez A. Geopolitics. In: Halvorsen S, ed. Latin American Geographies: An introduction. London: Routledge, 2025. In Press.
  • Núñez A, Baeza B, Benwell MC. Cuando la nación queda lejos: Fronteras cotidianas en el paso Lago Verde (Aysén-Chile) - Aldea Las Pampas (Chubut-Argentina). In: Núñez A; Aliste E; Martínez-Wong A, ed. La reinvención de la naturaleza en Patagonia-Aysén: Imágenes, discursos y deseos. Santiago, Chile: LOM Ediciones, 2023.
  • Benwell MC, Clegg P, Pinkerton A. COVID-19 and the British Overseas Territories: A comparative view. In: McDougall D; Ong SE, ed. COVID-19 in the Commonwealth. London: Routledge, 2023, pp.150-161.
  • Benwell MC, Gasel A. Leaving behind the trenches of nationalism: teaching the Malvinas in secondary schools in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz province. In: Mira, G; Pedrosa, F, ed. Revisiting the Falklands-Malvinas question: transnational and interdisciplinary perspectives. University of Chicago Press, 2021.
  • Wilkinson C, Benwell MC, Carter B, Brooks L, Davies A, Evans B, Silverio SA, Thomas G. Creative Dissemination. In: von Benzon,N;Holton,M;Wilkinson,C;Wilkinson,S, ed. Creative Methods for Human Geographers. Sage, 2021, pp.379-391.
  • Benwell M. Nation and Nationalism. In: Hopkins, P and Pain, R (eds.) and The Newcastle Social Geographies Collective, ed. Social Geographies: An Introduction. London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2020, pp.98-105.
  • Thompson M, Finlay R. Migration and Diaspora. In: Hopkins, P; Newcastle Social Geographies Collective, ed. Social Geographies: An introduction. London, UK: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
  • Benwell MC. Young Falkland Islanders and Diplomacy in the South Atlantic. In: Benwell, MC; Hopkins, P, ed. Children, Young People and Critical Geopolitics. Abingdon, Oxon: Ashgate, 2017, pp.107-122.
  • Benwell MC. Argentine territorial nationalism in the South Atlantic and Antarctica. In: Dodds, K; Hemmings, AD; Roberts, P, ed. Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2017, pp.540-554.
  • Benwell M, Hopkins P. Introduction: children, young people and critical geopolitics. In: Benwell, M; Hopkins, P, ed. Children, Young People and Critical Geopolitics. Abingdon, Oxon: Ashgate, 2016, pp.1-27.
  • Benwell M, Hopkins P. Conclusion. In: Benwell, M; Hopkins, P, ed. Children, Young People and Critical Geopolitics. Abington, Oxon: Taylor and Francis, 2016, pp.187-190.
  • Benwell MC. Banal Nationalism. In: Stone, J; Rutledge, D; Rizova, P; Smith, A & Hou, X, ed. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism. Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
  • Benwell MC. Connecting Southern Frontiers: Argentina, the South West Atlantic and ‘Argentine Antarctic Territory’. In: Powell,RC & Dodds,K, ed. Polar Geopolitics? Knowledges, Resources and Legal Regimes. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2014, pp.201-218.

• Creative Writing

  • Benwell MC, Núñez A. Tales from the Border. Geographical 2019. Geographical Magazine Limited, 91(3), 43-51.

• Edited Books

  • De Backer M, Hopkins P, van Liempt I, Finlay R, Kirndörfer E, Kox M, Benwell MC, Hörschelmann K, ed. Refugee youth: migration, justice and urban space. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2023.
  • Hopkins P, Newcastle Social Geographies Collective, Pain R, Shaw R, Gao Q, Bonnett A, Jones C, Richardson M, Rzedzian S, Benwell MC, Lin W, McAreavey R, Stenning A, Blazek M, Pande R, Najib K, Finlay R, Nayak A, Ridley G, Mearns G, Bonner-Thompson C, McLaughlin J, Boussalem A, Iqbal N, Heslop J, Jarvis H, Burrows R, Bambra C, Copeland A, Tate S, Campbell E, Thompson M, James A, Raynor R, Cunningham N, Powells G, Herbert J, Hocknell S, ed. Social Geographies: An Introduction. London, UK: Rowman and Littlefield, 2021.
  • Benwell MC, Hopkins P, ed. Children, young people and critical geopolitics. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor and Francis, 2016.
  • Benwell MC, Hopkins P, ed. Children, young people and critical geopolitics. Ashgate, 2016.

• Editorials

  • González AN, Reveco SU, Benwell MC. El lenguaje político de las cosas. Geografía, altergeopolítica y materialismo posthumano. Punto Sur 2023, (9), 1-8.
  • Woodward R, Benwell MC, Jenkings KN, Natale E, Parr H. Reflections on Conflict and Culture on the 40th anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas War. Journal of War & Culture Studies 2022, 15(3), 261-265.
  • Benwell MC, Clegg P, Harmer N, Pinkerton A. Overseas Territories & Crown Dependencies: What future in 'Global Britain'?. Small States & Territories 2022, 5(1), 3-12.
  • Skovdal M, Benwell MC. Young people's everyday climate crisis activism: New terrains for research, analysis and action. Children's Geographies 2021, 19(3), 259-266.
  • Benwell MC, Núñez A. Introduction to: Researching Everyday Geopolitics in Latin America. Bulletin of Latin American Research 2020, 39(4), 421-423.
  • Holt L, Blazek M, Benwell MC, Van Blerk L. Editorial introduction to Children's Geographies sponsored lecture section: generational orderings and Geographies of Children and Youth. Children's Geographies 2020, 18(2), 125-127.
  • Hopkins P, Hörschelmann K, Benwell M, Studemeyer C. Young people's everyday landscapes of security and insecurity. Social and Cultural Geography 2018, 20(4), 435-444.

• Online Publications

  • Benwell MC. The Falklands War, 40 years on: why 'Las Malvinas' are still such an emotive issue in Argentina. Online: The Conversation, 2022. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-falklands-war-40-years-on-why-las-malvinas-are-still-such-an-emotive-issue-in-argentina-181364.
  • Benwell MC. Fabric of a nation: how flags can be used and co-opted. Royal Geographical Society: Geographical, 2021. Available at: https://geographical.co.uk/geopolitics/geopolitics/item/4150-fabric-of-a-nation-how-flags-can-be-used-and-co-opted.
  • Finlay R, Benwell MC, Hopkins P. Covid-19: Responding to the needs of asylum seekers in challenging and dangerous times. Discover Society, 2020. Available at: https://discoversociety.org/2020/04/24/covid-19-uk-responding-to-the-needs-of-asylum-seekers-in-challenging-and-dangerous-times/.

• Reports

  • Finlay R, Hopkins P, Kirndörfer E, Kox M, Huizinga R, De Backer M, Benwell MC, van Liempt I, Hörschelmann K, Felten P, Bastian JM, Bousetta H. Young refugees and public space. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2022.
  • Huizinga R, Hopkins P, De Backer M, Finlay R, Kirndörfer E, Kox M, Bastian J, Benwell MC, Felten P, Haack L, Hörschelmann K, van Liempt I. Researching refugee youth. London: Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 2022. Guides for Researchers.
  • Finlay R, Hopkins P, Benwell MC. “It’s like rubbing salt on the wound”: the impacts of Covid-19 and lockdown on asylum seekers and refugees. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Newcastle University, 2021.
  • Finlay R, Nayak A, Benwell M, Hopkins P, Pande R, Richardson M. Growing up in Sunderland: young people, politics and place. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2020.

• Reviews

  • Benwell MC. The Genesis of the Falklands (Malvinas) Conflict, Martín Abel González [Book review]. Journal of Latin American Studies 2016, 48(1), 183-185.
  • Benwell MC. Children and Young People's Relationships: Learning across Majority and Minority Worlds, edited by Samantha Punch and E Kay M Tisdall [Book review]. Childhood 2014, 21(4), 563-564.