Staff Profile

Introduction

I am a Social and Cultural Geographer who has specialisms in race, ethnicity and migration; masculinities and social change; youth transitions and cultures. I studied at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, before being appointed as an ESRC Research Fellow examining the social factors that transform racist ideas into racist action (with Les Back and Roger Hewitt).  I then took up a fixed-term Lectureship in Media and Cultural Studies at Liverpool John Moore's University. The connections emerging between Cultural Studies and Geography, led me to undertake a funded PhD in Human Geography at Newcastle University exploring young people, race and whiteness. Towards the end of the PhD I worked in the School of Education at Newcastle University on a government funded project exploring the challenges and potential for recruiting prospective Black and Minority Ethnic people into teacher training, led by Bruce Carrington and colleagues. I was later appointed as Lecturer in Human Geography at Newcastle and have undertaken various roles including becoming Head of Geography (2014-18) and a member of University Promotions Committee for Chairs and Readers (2017-2022). I am currently a member of Senate, which is involved in the management of University governance.

I am based in the School of Geography, Politics & Sociology at Newcastle University where I am Postgraduate Director for Research (2022-onwards). As well as various undergraduate team teaching, I lead two large modules Geographies of Race and Nation (Stage 3) and Geographical Thought and Practice for Human Geographers (Stage 2). I remain inspired by new ideas and engaging with a diverse body of students. This includes teaching on topics such as decolonisation and whiteness, social inequalities and class relations, Queer theory and gender relations.

My main research interests are in the areas of:

(i) Race, Ethnicity and Migration 

(ii) Young People and Social Transformations

(iii) Masculinities and Social Change 

Position

Chair in Social and Cultural Geography

Roles and Responsibilities

External roles: External panel member for Chair appointments, University of Cambridge (2022-onwards ); MA External Examiner Cambridge Social Sciences (2021-23); UG External Examiner Geography, University of Maynooth (2019-22); Open University Periodic Quality Assessment Evaluator for Social Sciences (2019); External Examiner for BA Geography, University of Leicester (2014-17); External Examiner for Sociology (UG and PGT), Birmingham University, (2015-2018).

Internal roles: Senate (2022-onwards); University Promotions Committee (2017-22); Head of Geography/DHoS (2014-18); Geographies of Social Change Research Cluster Leader (2017-18), (2019-22); Postgraduate Director Geography (2022-onwards).

Editorial Board Membership

I currently serve on the board of Social & Cultural Geography and The Geography Journal. In the past I have served on the boards for Sociology, Leisure Studies, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power.

Research Interests

My research interests are in the fields of race, ethnicity and migration; youth inequalities and transitions; masculinities and social change. I have currently been working on issues of masculinities and care derived from an ESRC project. With international colleagues I am co-edited a collection on Young People and the Anthropocene (Roman & Littlefield) to be published later this year.

Funded Projects

Nayak, A. (PI) Boys to Men: Understanding What it Means to be a Man - Creating New Templates for Masculinities (ESRC co-production award, Spring 2018-19)

Finlay, R. and Nayak, A. Young People in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods (Social Justice Award, awarded December 2018)

Collier, R, Nayak, Al. and Rankin, J. (Co-I) Masculinities and Management in Higher Education (EDI Award, awarded January, 2019).

Nayak, A. (PI) Young People, Diversity and Belonging in the Age of Brexit (Research Excellence Award, 2017- 19)

Postgraduate Supervision

Current:

1.  Abigail Hardcastle (ESRC 1 3) Queering the Curriculum: Geographies of Sexuality, Young People and the Negotiation of Relationships and Sex Education in English Secondary Schools(ESRC 3.5)

2. James Harrison (ESRC 1 3) Student Protests and Political Activism in Higher Education

3. Sophie Lively (ESRC 3.5) Racism and Masculinity in Tyneside

4. Lydia Wysocki (ESRC 3) Race and Nationhood in the British Comic Scene

Undergraduate Teaching

GEO3099: Dissertation

GEO3153: Geographies of Race and Nation (Module leader)

GEO2111: Doing Human Geography Research (Co-module leader)

I am currently co-authoring a 2nd Ed. of the text Geographical Thought: An Introduction to Ideas in Human Geography (Routledge) with Prof Alex Jeffrey

Roles

I am currently Postgraduate Director of Studies in Geography (2022 - onwards)

Postgraduate Teaching

I mentor PhD students in various areas of social and cultural geography, with my specialist areas of interest in race, racisms and ethnicities; geographies of youth and social inequalities; social class transformations; masculinities, gender and the economy. 

Current:

1. Daniel Barwick (ESRC 3.5) The Black Lives Matter Movement: Transnational Activism and Urban Neoliberalism  

2. James Harrison (ESRC 1 3) Student Political Activism in Higher Education

3. Lydia Wysocki (ESRC 3) Race and Nationhood in the British Comic Scene

4. Graham Gaunt (ESRC 3 CASE) Masculinities, Youth Transitions and Contemporary Apprenticeships (with North East Training Association)

5. Abigail Hardcastle (ESRC 1 3) Queering the Curriculum: Geographies of Sexuality, Young People and the Negotiation of Relationships and Sex Education in English Secondary Schools

• Articles

  • Nayak A. Feminist political economies of care: Young people, masculinities and de-industrialisation in a former shipbuilding community. Environment and Planning A 2024, Epub ahead of print.
  • Nayak A. Decolonizing Care: Hegemonic Masculinity, Caring Masculinities and the Material Configurations of Care. Men and Masculinities 2023, 26(2), 167-187.
  • Nayak A, Bonner-Thompson C. Sexualities and Social Justice: Young People and the Doing of Gender and Sexual Equalities in a Former Ship-Building Community. Antipode 2022, 54(4), 1228-1250.
  • Bonner-Thompson C, Nayak A. Crafting masculinities: embodying, recuperating and redistributing care in young lives Creando masculinidades: incorporando, recuperando y redistribuyendo el cuidado en las vidas de los jóvenes Creando masculinidades: incorporando, recuperando y redistribuyendo el cuidado en las vidas de los jóvenes. Social and Cultural Geography 2022, 23(9), 1238-1256.
  • Nayak A. Re-scripting Place: Managing Social Class Stigma in a Former Steel-Making Region. Antipode 2019, 51(3), 927-948.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Nayak A. Purging the nation: race, conviviality and embodied encounters in the lives of British Bangladeshi Muslim young women. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2017, 42(2), 289-302.
  • Meer N, Nayak A. Race ends where? Race, racism and contemporary sociology. Sociology 2015, 49(6), NP3-NP20.
  • Nayak A, Kehily MJ. 'Chavs, chavettes and pramface girls': Teenage mothers, marginalised young men and the management of stigma. Journal of Youth Studies 2014, 17(10), 1330-1345.
  • Nayak A. Race, religion and British multiculturalism: The political responses of Black and Minority Ethnic voluntary organisations to multicultural cohesion. Political Geography 2012, 31(7), 454-463.
  • Nayak A. Geography, race and emotions: social and cultural intersections. Social & Cultural Geography 2011, 12(6), 548-562.
  • Nayak A. Race, affect, and emotion: young people, racism, and graffiti in the postcolonial English suburbs. Environment and Planning A 2010, 42(10), 2370-2392.
  • Kehily M, Nayak A. Global femininities: Consumption, culture and the significance of place. Discourse 2008, 29(3), 325-342.
  • Nayak A. Critical whiteness studies. Sociology Compass 2007, 1(2), 737-755.
  • Nayak A, Kehily M. Gender undone: Subversion, regulation and embodiment in the work of Judith Butler. British Journal of Sociology of Education 2006, 27(4), 459-472.
  • Nayak A. Displaced masculinities: Chavs, youth and class in the post-industrial city. Sociology 2006, 40(5), 813-831.
  • Nayak A. After race: Ethnography, race and post-race theory. Ethnic and Racial Studies 2006, 29(3), 411-430.
  • Nayak A. 'Through children's eyes': Childhood, place and the fear of crime. Geoforum 2003, 34(3), 303-315.
  • Nayak A. Last of the 'Real Geordies'? White masculinities and the subcultural response to deindustrialisation. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2003, 21(1), 7-25.
  • Nayak A. 'Ivory Lives': Economic Restructuring and the Making of Whiteness in a Post-industrial Youth Community. European Journal of Cultural Studies 2003, 6(3), 305-325.
  • Nayak A. 'Boyz to men': Masculinities, schooling and labour transitions in de-industrial times. Educational Review 2003, 55(2), 147-159.

• Authored Books

  • Nayak A, Kehily MJ. Gender, Youth and Culture: Global Masculinities and Femininities. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013.
  • Nayak A, Jeffrey A. Geographical Thought: An Introduction to Ideas in Human Geography. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011.
  • Nayak A, Kehily M. Gender, Youth and Culture: Young Masculinities and Femininities. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.
  • Nayak A. Race, Place and Globalization : Youth Cultures in a Changing World. Oxford: Berg, 2003.

• Book Chapters

  • Nayak A. Gender, sexuality and youth in a global context. In: Mayo C, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality in Education. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
  • Nayak A. Young people, race and ethnicity. In: Furlong A, ed. Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood: Second Edition. London: Taylor and Francis, 2016, pp.58-66.
  • Hollands RG. Young adults and the night-time economy. In: Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood: Second Edition. London: Taylor and Francis, 2016, pp.237-243.
  • Nayak A. Young People, Work and Worklessness. In: Blazek, M; and Kraftl, P, ed. Children's Emotions in Policy and Practice: Mapping and Making Spaces of Childhood. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015, pp.122-137.
  • Nayak A. White Lines: Racist Graffiti, Skinhead Youth and Violence in the English Suburbs. In: Rinehart, R.E; emerald, e; and Matamua, R, ed. Ethnographies in Pan Pacific Research: Tensions and Positionings. New York: Routledge, 2015, pp.145-162. In Preparation.
  • Nayak A. Children's friendships. In: Sarah Bragg and Mary Jane Kehily, ed. Children and Young People's Cultural Worlds. Bristol: Policy Press, 2013, pp.109-165.
  • Nayak A. Youth, religion and multiculture. In: Montgomery, H and Kellet, M, ed. Children and Young People's Worlds: Developing Frameworks for Integrated Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2009, pp.199-217.
  • Nayak A. The beer and the boys: masculine traditions in a post-industrial economy. In: Martino,W; Kehler, M; Weaver-Hightower, MB, ed. The Problem with Boys' Education: Beyond the Backlash. New York: Routledge, 2009, pp.149-168.
  • Nayak A. Race, ethnicity and young people. In: Montgomery, H and Kellet, M, ed. Children and Young People's Worlds: Developing Frameworks for Integrated Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2009, pp.90-108.
  • Nayak A. Beyond the pale: chavs, youth and social class. In: Sveinsson KP, ed. Who Cares about the White Working Class?. London: Runnymede Trust, 2009, pp.28-35.
  • Nayak A. Young People’s Geographies of Racism and Anti-racism: The Case of North East England. In: Dwyer, C. and Bressey, C, ed. New Geographies of Race and Racism. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, pp.269-282.
  • Nayak A. Youth Subcultures. In: Cashmore E, ed. Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic Relations. London: Routledge, 2004, pp.456-458.
  • Nayak A. 'Pale warriors': skinhead culture and the embodiment of white masculinities. In: Kehily MJ; Swann J, ed. Children's Cultural Worlds. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons/Open University Press, 2003.
  • Bonnett A, Nayak A. Geographies of race and racialization: The territory of race. In: Anderson K; Domosh M; Pile S; Thrift N, ed. The Handbook of Cultural Geography. London: Sage, 2003, pp.300-312.

• Edited Books

  • Kraftl P, Kelly P, Padilla DC, Black R, Brown S, Nayak A, ed. Young People and Thinking Technologies for the Anthropocene. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2022.
  • 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.

• Editorial

  • Meer N, Nayak A, Pande R. Special Section Introduction: The Matter of Race. Sociological Research Online 2015, 20(3), 13.

• Report

  • 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.

• Review

  • Nayak A. Race: towards critical sociologies of subversion. British Journal of Sociology of Education 2014, 35(3), 475-483.