Dr Imogen Tyler

PhD Supervision Interests

I welcome PhD applications in any of my areas of research. Please feel free to contact me to discuss preliminary ideas for PhD proposals or postdoctoral applications.

Current Teaching

I am a Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Co-Director of the Centre of Gender and Women's Studies (with Celia Roberts), Doctoral Director for the Sociology Department (all programmes) and the Lancaster pathway lead for  Sociology, Science, Technology, Innovation & Social Practices and Social Anthropology in the ESRC North West Doctoral Training Centre.

I currently teach the following undergraduate courses:

MCS 101 Mediation, Identities and Protest in Contemporary Britain (20 lecture block).

SOCL230 Bodies in Society 

SOCL314 Feminism and Social Change 

SOCL352 Dissertation Course (supervisor)

I also teach on the Gender and Women's Studies MA (GWS 403, Feminist Cultural Theory) and contribute to Doctoral Training courses in the Faculty.

Postgraduate Supervision

I have supervised 11 PhD students since I joined the University as a lecturer in 1998. I currently supervise:

PhD (Current):

2011-present     Clay Garland (Sociology ESRC 1 + 3)

2011- present    Aleksandra M?ci?ska (The Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the Polish Academy of Science (IFIS PAN) and Sociology)

2011- present    Lucy Ryan (CGWS part time)

2009-present     Kate McNicholas Smith (Sociology ESRC 1 +3)

2008-present     Brigit Colton (Sociology  ESRC 1 + 3) 

Postdoctoral supervision

2012-present    Maja Sager, `Contested Boundaries. An ethnographic study of activist practices for the inclusion of excluded migrants in Sweden, Denmark and the UK'. (Centre for Gender and Womens Studies, Centre for Mobilities Research and the Sociology Department Lancaster & Lund University Sweden, funded by the Swedish Research Council and the European Union). 

Research Interests

 My research and teaching is focused in the following areas:

• Identities, Bodies and Subjectivities (social class, gender, race and ethnicity, migration, asylum, ability & disability, motherhood)
• Citizenship and Governance
• Equality and Marginality (theory, politics and policy)
• Revolt, dissent, protest and resistance
• Media and Mediation (especially documentary and reality television, social media, art activism, political aesthetics.

Additional Information

My research currently has three main themes:

1. Revolting Subjects

Social Abjection, Revolt and Resistance are pivotal concepts within my current research, drawing together my intersecting interests in migration, borders, sexual politics, social class, race, ethnicity, disability and poverty through a focus on mediation and political aesthetics.

In 2010 I was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to pursue this research. The major outcome of this fellowship is a forthcoming monograph, Revolting Subjects: Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain (London: Zed). This book examines the relationship between mediation, subjectivity and inequality in the tumultuous context of neoliberal Britain. It explores the double meaning of 'revolt': the processes through which specific populations are figured as revolting and become subject to censure and the practices through which these populations revolt against their abject subjectification. In Revolting Subjects, I offer a thick social and cultural account of neoliberalism as a form of governance-- concentrating in particular on the mechanisms through which public consent is procured for policies and practices that effect inequalities and fundamentally corrode democracy. Revolting Subjects aims to deepen critical understandings of neoliberalism as a psychosocial formation by exploring the ways in which individuals and groups embody, live, negotiate and resist neoliberal modes of governmentality.

Related to this project, and also an outcome of the Leverhulme research, I have recently edited,  with Katarzyna Marciniak (Ohio University) a special issue of Citizenship Studies on `Immigrant Protest` and also an edited book, Immigrant Protest: Politics, Aesthetics, and Everyday Dissent (SUNY), both of which will be published in 2013.

2. Asylum, Migrancy, Citizenship and Borders

I have recently completed an ESRC funded project called 'Making Asylum Seekers Legible and Visible: An Analysis of the Dilemmas and Mitigating Strategies of Asylum Advocacy in the UK and US ' (for information see www.asylum-network.com, and link with us on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/asylumresearch). One outcome of this project was a successful bid to the ESRC for a seminar series on Immigration Detention.

During 2012-2014 I will be running and participating an ESRC Seminar Series ?Exploring Everyday Practice and Resistance in Immigration Detention? with Dr Nick Gill (Exeter) (PI), Prof Mary Bosworth (Oxford), Dr Imogen Tyler (Lancaster), Dr Dominique Moran (Birmingham), Dr Alex Hall (York, UK). The final workshop in this series will take place in Lancaster in 2014.

I am currently working with post-doctoral student,  Maja Sager on her project `Contested Boundaries. An ethnographic study of activist practices for the inclusion of excluded migrants in Sweden, Denmark and the UK'. (Centre for Gender and Womens Studies, Centre for Mobilities Research and the Sociology Department Lancaster & Lund University Sweden, funded by the Swedish Research Council and the European Union). 

Connected to this research I am supervising the work of Clay Garland, an ESRC funded PhD student, whose work is focusing on the Economnics of Migrant Illegality.

3. Maternal Publics and Counter Publics

I have published widely in this area, most recently editing a special issue of Studies in the Maternal with Tracey Jesen (Newcastle) on the theme of Austerity Parenting (2012) and an issue of Feminist Review on `Birth' (2009). I sit on the editorial board of Studies in the Maternal and have been centrally involved with the development of MaMSIE (Mapping Maternal Subjectivities, Identities and Ethics) an international research network based at Birkbeck University.I co-directed (with Dr Caroline Gatrell) a research project entitled Hard Labour: The Cultural Politics of Reproduction for which we organised a workshop on Maternal Bodies (2005) and an international conference, Birth (2007).

I have recently completed (with Dr Celia Roberts and Dr Candice Satchwell) on a European-funded research project on Childbirth Organisations in the UK 2009-2011.

External Roles

 I am an external examiner for the BA in Sociology at Oxford Brookes University.

Journal editorial board member

 European Journal of Cultural Studies http://ecs.sagepub.com/

 Feminist Media Studies http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rfms

 Sociological Research Online http://www.socresonline.org.uk/

 Studies in the Maternal http://www.mamsie.bbk.ac.uk/

MAMSIE Board Member

• ESRC Seminar Series ‘Exploring Everyday Practice and Resistance in Immigration Detention‘.

  01/09/2012 → 31/12/2014
  Imogen Tyler
  Detention is a pressing empirical, conceptual, and political issue. Detained populations, detention facilities, and industries have expanded globally. We argue that developments in detention practices ... Read more»

• Maternal Publics and Counter Publics

  01/01/2011 →
  Imogen Tyler
  ... Read more»

• Revolting Subjects : Marginalisation and Resistance

  01/09/2010 → 23/03/2012
  Imogen Tyler
  ... Read more»

• Making aslum seekers legible and visible

  01/07/2010 →
  Imogen Tyler
  This research will compare the approaches of different pro-asylum organisations in Britain and America using questionnaires and interviews. It aims to: facilitate dialogue between different types o ... Read more»

• FP7: EPOK

  01/02/2009 → 30/04/2012
  Celia Roberts, Imogen Tyler
  ... Read more»

• Feminist Media Studies reading group

  03/08/2007 → 01/08/2008
  Rebecca Coleman, Debra Ferreday, Imogen Tyler
  The main purpose of the first meeting of the reading group is to think about how the group will develop over the next academic year. Our proposed focus is 'Affect, Emotion, Media', with a particular ... Read more»

• Melancholic States - International Conference

  15/05/2006 →
  Celia Roberts, Imogen Tyler, Anne-Marie Fortier, Maureen McNeil
  CALL FOR PAPERS The concept of melancholia has assumed widespread and varied currency across numerous fields. Sometimes used to refer to a state of mind or to an affective state; sometimes used to s ... Read more»

• Naked Protest

  27/10/2012
  Imogen Tyler's research on Naked Protest referenced in Business Insider ... Read more»

• "The kids are revolting. But why?: Reflections on the Summer 2011 English Riots one year on: the 'Underclass', welfare retrenchment and workfare regimes". Open Democracy

  19/07/2012
  Short article in Open Democracy ... Read more»

• Chavs: Thinking Allowed

  04/07/2011
  Radio 4 Interview, Thinking Allowed Podcast at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0124nty ... Read more»

• European Research Project on Childbirth Organisations

  10/03/2009
  Dr Celia Roberts and Dr Imogen Tyler have been awarded a 150k European grant (7th Framework Science and Society) to undertake research on childbirth organisations in the UK. This research project form ... Read more»

• New 'maternal studies' journal launch

  01/03/2009
  Dr Imogen Tyler is on the editorial board of a new interdisciplinary ejournal Studies in the Maternal which will be launched this month. This is the first journal dedicated to`maternal studies' in the ... Read more»

• Imogen Tyler interviewed on Radio 4 Women's Hour

  04/08/2008
  Imogen Tyler was interviewed on Women's Hour. Listen to the podcast at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_34_fri.shtml?rss ... Read more»

• European Journal of Cultural Studies

  Imogen Tyler (Editorial board member)
  Activity: Editorial activity
  Read more»

• Sociological Research Online

  Imogen Tyler (Editorial board member)
  Activity: Editorial activity
  Read more»

• Feminist Media Studies

  Imogen Tyler (Editorial board member)
  Activity: Editorial activity
  Read more»

• Studies in The Maternal

  Imogen Tyler (Editorial board member)
  Activity: Editorial activity
  Read more»

• Birthrites Exhibition

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 11/5/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Public Lecture: Private View: Public Birth

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 9/5/2011
  Activity: Public lecture/debate/seminar
  Read more»

• Immigrant Protest: Political Aesthetics

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 24/9/2011
  Activity: Public lecture/debate/seminar
  Read more»

• Association of Consumer Research

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 27/6/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Representing the Maternal -- A speaker series presented by the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts and Design to discuss representations of motherhood and related work/life issues.

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 4/2/2009
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Public Lecture: Why the Maternal Now?

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 3/2/2009
  Activity: Public lecture/debate/seminar
  Read more»

• Going Cheap: Female Celebrity in the Tabloid, Reality and Scandal Genres

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 25/6/2008
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• (Un)Making Personhood

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 27/5/2007
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Identity Matters

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 1/7/2005
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Power, Ethics and Feminism

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 8/12/2000
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• The International Migration Centre, Canadian Sociological Association, Canadian Association of Geographers, The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 30/5/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Forthcoming Feminisms: Gender Activism, Politics and Theories' British Sociological Association, Gender Study Group

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 26/10/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Leeds Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies, Leeds University.

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 11/5/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Motherhood, Servitude, and the Delegation of Care

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 20/5/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Disobedience Day

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 11/5/2011
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Seminar paper Sociology Department LSE

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 16/3/2011
  Activity: Invited talk
  Read more»

• Immigrant Protest: The Ethics and Politics of Scholarship on Asylum in Britain

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker)
  Activity: Invited talk
  Read more»

• Maternal Bodies and Identities in Contemporary Britain

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 8/6/2009
  Activity: Invited talk
  Read more»

• Mother Trouble

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 28/5/2009
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• ERSC funded seminar on Motherhood, Markets and Consumption, Lancaster University

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 28/5/2008
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Emotional Labour Centre for Gender and Womens Studies

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 9/4/2009
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Studies in Maternal Journal Launch Birkbeck

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 17/3/2009
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Seminar Series,Gender and Media Group

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 8/5/2008
  Activity: Invited talk
  Read more»

• New Sciences of Protection: Designing Safe-Living

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 13/3/2008
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Interdisciplinary Institute (MISST), Manchester Metropolitan University

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 28/2/2008
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Interrupting Maternal Voices: Between the Theoretical and Empirical, MAMSiE, Birbeck College, London

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 7/11/2007
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• New Sciences of Protection: Designing Safe-Living programme, IAS, Lancaster University.

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 4/10/2007
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• State, Violence and Subjectivities: Conversations with Prof. Veena Das, Lancaster University.

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 1/10/2007
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• THE EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

  Imogen Tyler (Speaker) 8/9/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• New Sciences of Protection: Designing Safe-Living

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 4/10/2007
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Emotion, Culture, Affect: Feminist Engagements, Goldsmiths College

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 9/6/2007
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• mmigrant Protest: Migrancy, Borders, Resistance Workshop

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser) 3/2/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Birth: The Cultural Politics of Reproduction International Conference, Lancaster University

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser)
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Maternal Bodies, Lancaster University

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser) 5/11/2005
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Professor Lauren Berlant, Leverhulme Visiting Professor

  Imogen Tyler (Host)
  Activity: Hosting an academic visitor
  Read more»

• Katarzyna Marciniak (Ohio) Visiting Professor Migrancy Research Group and the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies

  Imogen Tyler (Host)
  Activity: Hosting an academic visitor
  Read more»

• War, Terror, Spectacle, Lancaster University

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser)
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• War and Media Conference, Lancaster University

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser)
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Melancholic States International conference, Centre for Gender and Women's Studies

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser)
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Workshops with Sociology School Teachers and Pupils

  Imogen Tyler (Organiser)
  Activity: Schools engagement
  Read more»

• Collisions, Coalitions and Riotous Subjects: The Riots one year on

  Imogen Tyler (Participant) 28/9/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• FEMINIST SPACES AND FUTURES

  Imogen Tyler (Keynote/plenary speaker) 17/11/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• ‘Different Subject, Diverse Strands: Diversity at the (Inter)discipline’

  Imogen Tyler (Invited speaker) 18/1/2013
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»