Country of residence

United Kingdom

Brief introduction

Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Strathclyde University, Glasgow

Education

PhD, Social Policy/Anthropology, 2001, Edinburgh

Academic profile

In terms of research, my primary interests are concerned with contemporary social divisions/movements and issues of identity, citizenship, disadvantage and multiculturalism. In particular, it is the sociology and cultural geographies of ‘race’ and ethnicity that I’ve tended to specialise in with many related publications. Areas to which my work has made useful contributions include: 1) theories of ‘racial’ identities; 2) sociological understandings of ethnic minority communities known as Romanies, Gypsies and Travellers; and 3) the policy implications/consequences surrounding issues of ‘race’, ethnicity, asylum and migration (in social security, education and health settings especially).   Outside of these primary concerns, I’ve also got interests in social theory (especially Marxism), nationalism and qualitative methodologies (writing ethnography and conducting participant observation in particular). More recently I've developed an interest in what has been termed 'the happiness industry' (debates about health and 'well-being') as well as broader concerns with the Scottish education system. More generally, my approach to the social sciences involves trying to make connections across the three main disciplines that I work in: Sociology, Anthropology and Social Policy.

Publications

• Clark, C. and Greenfields, M. (2006) Here to Stay: The Gypsies and Travellers of Britain Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.
• Clark, C. (2006) ‘Defining Ethnicity in a Cultural and Socio-Legal Context: The Case of Scottish Gypsy-Travellers’, Scottish Affairs, Spring 2006, Issue 54, pp. 39-67.
• Clark, C. and Campbell E. (2000) '"Gypsy Invasion": a critical analysis of newspaper reaction to Czech and Slovak Romani Asylum-seekers in Britain, 1997.' Romani Studies (continuing the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society), Series 5, 10 (1): 23-47. ISSN: 15280748

Keywords

Nomadism, Identity, Ethnography, Migration, Social Welfare

Contact

colin.clark@uws.ac.uk browse members list