Dr Pierre Monforte
Associate Professor
Room: 2.01. 107-111 Princess Road East
Tel: +44 (0)11-6252-2780 (direct line)
Email: pm260@le.ac.uk
Personal details
- MA (Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne)
- PhD (European University Institute, Florence)
- Post-doctoral fellowship (Université de Montréal)
- FHEA
Teaching
Undergraduate
- SY1015: Ethnicity and Society
- SY3092: Social Movements and Collective action
- SY3042: Undergraduate Research Project
Postgraduate
- SY7038: Digital Politics
- Supervision of Masters and PhD Theses
Administrative duties
- Programme Director: MSc in Social Research
Research
My research is broadly situated within the field of political sociology. I focus primarily on civil society and social movements, with a particular emphasis on movements of migrants. I have carried out empirical research on the mobilizations of asylum-seekers and refugees in France, Germany, and at the European Union level, from a comparative perspective. Recently, I have also analysed the mobilizations of undocumented migrants in Canada. I examine theoretical and empirical questions on immigration, citizenship, European politics, and the representation of interests at various levels of governance in a context of europeanization.
Current research projects
- The Frames of Altruistic Action
- Research team: Pierre Monforte (PI), Estelle D'Halluin (Université de Nantes, Co-I), Gaja Maestri (University of Leicester, PDRA), Elsa Rambaud (Université de Nantes, PDRA)
- Duration: January 2017 - December 2019
- Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ES/N015274/1), £410K
- Website: https://altruism.hypotheses.org
This project aims to question current debates on the 'migration crisis' and how ideas of hospitality, altruism, solidarity, care, or compassion are constructed and enacted.
Through the focus on volunteers involved in charities and networks active in the pro-asylum sector, we aim to analyse how individuals reflect upon their engagement processes and define the practices, values and ethos that relate to their collective action.
The project is based on a comparative approach and on qualitative research methods: we will analyse volunteers’ reflections about their engagement in two contrasted settings (France and the United Kingdom).
- The UK Citizenship Process: Understanding Immigrants' Experiences
- Research team: Leah Bassel (PI), Pierre Monforte (CoI), David Bartram (CoI), Barbara Misztal (CoI)
- Duration: September 2013-August 2016
- Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K010174/1), £439K
This project analyses the ‘assimilationist turn’ in British immigration and integration policies, through a focus on immigrants’ lived experience of one of its principal instruments, the ‘citizenship process’. Studies to date have examined only one or two parts of the ‘citizenship process’, meaning the tests themselves, the citizenship ceremonies, the preparation courses many immigrants take beforehand, as well as the consequences of the tests for those to whom it is addressed.
This project will adopt a more comprehensive approach to these issues, examining the lived experiences of the citizenship process as a whole via interviews with people about their experiences with preparation courses and their participation in the citizenship tests and ceremonies in Leicester and London. To analyse the effects of the process on the longer term, statistical analysis of survey data will also be undertaken.
The overall goal is to learn about immigrants' perceptions and experiences of this process, to understand how it affects their sense of belonging, political participation and subjective well-being (happiness).
Publications
Supervision
I would be happy to supervise PhD students interested in political sociology, with particular interests in social movements, immigration or European studies.
I am particularly interested in supervising students using qualitative methods and comparative approaches.
I would also be happy to supervise dissertations related to ethnic relations.
