Welcome to my homepage!
I am a political geography lecturer at Newcastle Univerity, in the school of Geography, Politics and Sociology. I have been working here since December 2005. Prior to this, I have taught in Cambridge, Osh, and Ferghana, and studied in Durham, Roskilde, Cambridge and Osh.
I study the political geographies and geopolitics of post-Cold War inter-state relations. I am currently exploring this through research in two main areas:
The first is the building of nation-states in modern Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with particular attention paid to border regions, boundary disputes and geopolitics.
The second is the place of religion and the church in war and peace, with particular reference to debates over the present British government's involvement in the so-called 'war of terror.' I am exploring the political significance of how certain events - the Crusades and the September 2001 attacks in the USA - are remembered, and the implications of this remembering or forgetting for either perpetuating conflict or effecting reconciliation.
I am also interested in how geopolitical ideas 'travel' between these sites (Central Asia and UK/USA), in particular how the theories of Sir Halford Mackinder are used to discuss Central Asian states' engagement in international affairs - and the interaction of other states with Central Asia.
I am presently exploring the geographical imagination of the countries of Central Asia as peculiarly dangerous places. As well as examining how ideas of danger work in domestic geopolitical discourse, I am concerned with the portrayal of Central Asia as dangerous by outsiders: how and why do films, documentaries, articles, development projects, reports and books persistently present the region as being peculiarly threatening?
Other ongoing interests include legitimisation of and resistance to contemporary authoritarianism, the development of critical geopolitical theory, peace,the politics of nonviolence, the theory and practice of studying international boundaries, asylum and migration, and the intersections of military ethics and political theology.
My research and teaching try to balance two passionate reactions to places: wonder and horror, or curiosity and ethics. On curiosity, Denis Cosgrove said that 'the real magic of geography' is 'the sense of wonderment at the human world, the joy of seeing and reflecting upon the richly variegated mosaic of human life and of understanding the elegance of its expressions in the human landscape'. On ethics, Yi-Fu Tuan, said that whereas the primary question in philosophy is 'What is the good life?', geography's counterpart is, 'What is a good place?'. Political geographical analysis is both celebration and critique: it seeks to understand how good and bad places are produced, and how the former can be fostered and the latter dismantled or transformed.
The big question at the heart of my work is: how and why do humans divide themselves up into different groups that become exclusionary, antagonistic, aggressive, and sometimes violent - amd what can we do about it? From Christian theology I derive an understanding that this situation is not meant to be intrinsic to the human condition, a hope that it will not always remain the case, and a mandate for remedial action; from political geography, a powerful set of tools, theories, and methodologies to help unpick some of the details, understand and challenge the processes, and suggest political alternatives. As you read my work reprinted or linked on this website, I invite you to judge for yourself how well I do that - and your comments are welcome!
I've been fascinated by all things Central Asian since childhood, and am currently book review editor of the journal Central Asian Survey.
As an academic, I attempt to engage in debates outside purely scholarly confines. Thus, this website lists or contains links to pieces written for political activists, magazines, websites, churches, policy-focussed fora, public meetings, and newspapers, as well as academic journals.
Other important things about me: I am from Scunthorpe and am a keen supporter of Scunthorpe United Football Club ; and I am part of the community of Heaton Baptist Church, Newcastle.