Section: Research Student Profiles

Heather Blenkinsop

Name
Heather Blenkinsop
Organisation
Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
Rm 6.12 Chrystal MacMillan Building 15 George Square Edinburgh UK EH8 9LD
E-Mail
Research Interests
Mythology and folklore,Storytelling & ethnography,Memory, identity
URL
http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/research_students/blenkinsop_heather
Heather Blenkinsop

PhD Title

Stories from the Wall: The Making and Remaking of Localism

Research Interview

Thesis Overview

The broad aim of this study concerns the making and remaking of localism, by which I mean the experience of group identity expressed through commitment to community, in a small rural Northumbrian town. This research will contribute to the sociology of local identity and ‘belonging’, using an ethnographic methodology focused around three public events. These events are: the bi-annual Walking Festival, the Summer Carnival and the Annual Craft Fair. I will examine how ‘incomers’ and ‘locals’ cooperate to organize and attend these events and how they provide a time/space through which solidarity or otherwise, is performed and identities are related to the outside world. The research investigates the process of becoming, or claiming to be, a local person, of belonging to a community and how the processes of making, verifying and ascribing such identity claims occurs and in what situations and contexts.     

 

Supervisors

Prof. Liz Stanley and Dr. Michael Rosie

 

Qualifications

  • MA in Anthropology (California State University, Los Angeles) 2006
  • BA in Anthropology (California State University, Los Angeles) 2005

 

Awards

  • ESRC +3 Award 2008 - 2011
  • NABS Bursary 2007-2008
  • B.L Hoyt Scholarship 2005

 

 

This page was published on 20 June 2011


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