Lecturer in Human Geography

Contact Details

• Tel: 0116 252 3839
• Email: kjb33@le.ac.uk
• Fax: 0116 252 3854
• Office: Bennett Building F72a

Biography

I joined the Geography Department in Leicester in January 2005. Previously I was the Runciman Research Fellow in the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University (2000-2004) and Lecturer in Geography at Durham University (1999-2000)

Research Interests

My research interests are in social and cultural rural geography. This work examines the impacts of economic restructuring and regeneration on rural households, gender relations and identities. My current research includes work in the former coalfields, where my focus is how coalfields regeneration, transformed landscapes and new roles affect women’s identities. Theoretical work includes exploring the relationship between identity and emotion underpinned by a growing interest in lines of engagement between psychoanalysis and geography. This research is funded by the ESRC. Projects that I am currently working on include:

• Identities and regeneration in the former coalfields of East Durham (funded by the ESRC, 2008)
• Young people’s experiences of economic opportunities in rural areas (funded by the Northern Rock Foundation, 2004-5)
• Developing Tools for Interdisciplinary Research: Physical and Social Science Perspectives on the Use of Rural Catchments (funded under the Rural Economy and Land Use programme, 2004-2005)
• Learning from the Foot and Mouth Crisis (Funded by ONE North East Regional Development Agency, North West Development Agency, the ESRC (R000223758), 2001-2).

External Activities

I am a committee member of the Rural Economy and Society Study Group.

PhD Supervision

Current:

• Robert Geary-Griffin -

Completed:

• Craig Wheway - First, Second and Thirdspace Representations of Gentrified Market Towns (with Dr Martin Phillips).
• Kate Moore - 'Tugen Trails: cultural changes, wildlife conservation and local livelihoods in the Rift Valley of Kenya'. 2010
• Miriam Renner (PhD completed 2005) - 'Family farm businesses and the Countryside Stewardship Scheme' (ESRC/NERC)
• Geoff Whitman (PhD completed 2006) - 'Environmental Knowledge and Policy Construction: The English Less Favoured Areas' (ESRC)
• Gillian Murdoch (MPhil) - 'Rural women and entrepreneurship' (Funded by VAC) (MPhil completed 2008)
• Ruth Williams (School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University): Identities and change in the Scottish fishing industry (ESRC, supervised until 2006, completed 2008)

Research Areas for PhD Supervision

Rural societies and culture; emotional geographies; gender; identity; geographies of home; new spaces of multiculture.

• Human Geography Research Themes.

Enquiries: If you are interested in studying for a PhD in one of these research areas, please make informal enquiries via geogPhD@le.ac.uk

Most Recent Publications

Neal S, Bennett K. J., Cochrane A, Mohan G (in press)  Living multiculture: understanding the new spatial and social relations of ethnicity and multiculture in England. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy

Bennett K. (in press) Emotion and place promotion: Passionate about a former coalfield.  Emotion, Space and Society

Bennett, K. (2011) Homeless at Home in East Durham Antipode 43 (4): 960-985

Bennett, K. (2009) Challenging Emotions Area 41 (3): 244–251

Bennett, K. (2009) Telling Tales: Nostalgia, Collective Identity and an Ex-Mining Village in Smith, Mick, Davidson, Joyce, Cameron, Laura and Bondi, Liz (Eds.) Emotion, Place and Culture (Burlington VT and Aldershot: Ashgate Press)

Bennett, K. and Lee, R. (2007) Amber and an/other rural: Film, photography and the former coalfields in R. Fish (ed) Cinematic Countrysides. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

View a full list of publications in PDF format.