Re-vitalizing Urban Geographies of Consumption (Advert Reference: RDF19/EE/GES/MILLER)

In recent years, scholarship around the geographies of consumption has been re-vitalized by the turns toward affect theory, emotional geographies, bio-politics and more-than-human/more-than-representational theories of space and society. In short, there is growing appreciation of how these theoretical approaches advance new understandings of how consumption is increasingly important as a domain of political and socio-cultural practice and intervention. At the same time, urban scholars have considered how the spaces and infrastructures of consumption cut across the geographies of difference and precarity, thereby expanding the purview for an engaged and critical geography of consumption. In this evolving research area, guiding questions include: How do the practices, spaces and technologies of consumer society continue to remain important for broader relations of power and resistance? How does contemporary social and geographic theory help us understand these emerging relations?

This call for PhD studentship seeks a candidate who will advance a theoretically-informed project into a domain of consumption of their choice and who will develop an innovative methodological approach to the intersection of consumption and the politics of built environment. Topics could include:

- Affective and emotional ethnographies of consumption

- The affective and emotional politics of gentrification and the role of consumer/retail geographies therein

- New geographies of “spectacle”, including trends in retail, tourism and their affective and emotional underpinnings

- Technologies of consumption like smart phones, social media, platform capitalism, online retailing and the digital futures of consumerism

- Embodied technologies and practices of consumer-credit and debt

- Reactions (both public and corporate) to the decline of traditional retail formats

- The embodied geo-politics of consumption

A candidate wishing to engage with social theory is desirable, as well as someone wanting to develop qualitative and/or ethnographic methodological approaches.

The principal supervisor for this project is Jacob Miller.

Eligibility and How to Apply:
Please note eligibility requirement:

• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
• Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

Please note: Applications that do not include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words (not a copy of the advert), or that do not include the advert reference (e.g. RDF19/EE/GES/MILLER) will not be considered.

Deadline for applications: Friday 25 January 2019
Start Date: 1 October 2019

Northumbria University is an equal opportunities provider and in welcoming applications for studentships from all sectors of the community we strongly encourage applications from women and under-represented groups.