Staff Profile

David is a lecturer and researcher in Media, Culture and Heritage whose work focuses on racism, migration, class and political discourse.  Prior to working in Higher Education, David worked in the voluntary and community sector, for a UK Member of Parliament and in research consultancy.  He completed his PhD at the University of Sunderland in 2015 on racism, culture, integration and asylum, drawing extensively on his experiences as both a volunteer and employed worker at North of England Refugee Service between 2005-2010.  

Undergraduate

MCH1023 - Introduction to Media Studies

MCH1025 - Introduction to Research Methods

MCH1026 – Introduction to Social and Cultural Studies

MCH1036 – Journalism: Pasts, Present and Future

MCH2065 - Race, Identity and Culture

MCH2069 – Research Methods

MCH2075 - Representations: Identity, Culture and Society

MCH3063 – Advertising and Consumption

MCH3074 – Themes and Issues in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies

MCH3077 – Politics, Power and Communication

Postgraduate

MCH8020 - Essential Academic Skills for Media students 

MCH8057 – Media Analysis

MCH8058 – Methodologies: Researching Media, Culture & Society

MCH8163 – News and Journalism

MCH8177 - Politics, Power and Communication 

Much of my research takes the form of critical discourse studies of racism, class and migration in politics and media.  My PhD thesis examined discourses of 'integration' in relation to asylum seekers and refugees in the North East of England, exploring how integration was understood and enacted by migrants, activists, policy makers, commentators and journalists.  More recently my research has focused on contemporary debates around immigration and globalisation on the UK left, specifically in the Labour party.  My research has been influenced significantly by critical race theory and critical discourse studies.  I am especially interested in the production of knowledge which can contribute to struggles for radical, transformative social change. "Against the urgency of people dying in the streets, what in god's name is the point of cultural studies?" - Stuart Hall.  

• Articles

  • Bates D. ‘The jobs all go to foreigners’: a critical discourse analysis of the Labour Party's ‘left-wing’ case for immigration controls. Critical Discourse Studies 2023, 20(2), 183-199.
  • Bates D. The “red door” controversy—Middlesbrough's asylum seekers and the discursive politics of racism. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 2017, 27(2), 126–136.
  • Bates D, Kirkwood S. 'We Didnae Do Anything Great…' Discursive Strategies for Resisting Detention and Deportation in Scotland and the North East of England. Refugee Review 2013, 1(1), 20-30.
  • Bates D. In it together: Asylum, multiculturalism and grassroots integration in twenty-first century Britain. E-sharp 2012, Special Issue: The 1951 UN Refugee Convention - 60 Years On, 113-139. In Preparation.
  • Bates D. Making the White Folk Angry: The Media, “Race” and Electoral Politics in the United Kingdom in 2010. PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication 2011, 3(1), 8-25. In Preparation.

• Book Chapters

  • Bates D. 'This is Britain, Get a Grip': Race and Racism in Britain Today. In: Sikka, T; Longstaff, G; Walls, S, ed. Disrupted Knowledge: Scholarship in a Time of Change. Leiden: Brill, 2023, pp.97-113.
  • Bates D. Prejudice on the doorstep: Labour activists talk immigration. In: Ibrahim J; Roberts, JR, ed. Contemporary Left Wing Activism Vol 1: Democracy, Participation and Dissent in a Global Context. London: Routledge, 2018.
  • Saeed A, Bates D. Clashing the Civilisations: Muslims and radical politics. In: Pugh, J, ed. What Is Radical Politics Today?. London: Palgrave, 2010, pp.170-8.