Heather Mew
Heather's PhD project title is 'Resistance, Protest, and Austerity: How do Working Class People ‘Fight Back’, and Against What?' Read more about Heather's research.
Project title
Resistance, Protest, and Austerity: How do Working Class People ‘Fight Back’, and Against What?
Supervisors
- Professor Alison Stenning
- Professor Tracy Shildrick
- Dr Jon Warren (Durham University)
About you
I'm a PhD student working across Geography and Sociology. My research is in collaboration with Thrive Teesside, and is funded by the ESRC.
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Project description
My PhD is funded by the ESRC, and conducted in collaboration with Thrive Teesside, an anti-poverty campaigning charity based in the North East of England.
My PhD examines the effectiveness of anti-poverty campaigning as a form of resistance, focusing on Thrive as a case study.
My research is concerned with:
- the practicalities of anti-poverty campaigning, including strategies used, successes and limitations
- knowledge production and ownership, and collaborative methods.
I am focussing on three broad themes:
- Advancing definitions of lived experience. Drawing upon critical pedagogy and decolonial studies, I develop a theoretical framework. This is useful for understanding and examining how lived experience is used as a campaigning tool within the context of Thrive.
- Relationships between academics and the charitable sector. This includes a focus on extractive research and the usefulness of collaborative and participatory methods. I also reflect on my own methodological practices and failings as part of this PhD.
- Examining how class and gender impact upon the perceived legitimacy of anti-poverty campaigning and the strategies utilised to gain respectability.
Academic qualifications
- MA Geographical Research Methods, Durham University 2014-15
- BA Geography (hons), Queen Mary University of London, 2011-2014
Presentations
I have presented my PhD research at the following conferences:
- RGS-IBG Annual Conference, August 2022
- Working Class Studies Association Annual Conference, 2019
- The Sociological Review’s Undisciplining Conference, 2018
Publications
- Eastwood, D. and Mew, H. (2018) ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us, Is For Us’: Reflections on an Undisciplining Workshop. The Sociological Review Blog. Available from https://thesociologicalreview.org/collections/undisciplining/nothing-about-us-without-us-is-for-us-reflections-on-an-undisciplining-workshop/
Contact
- Email: h.l.mew2@newcastle.ac.uk