Lucy Barkley
Postgraduate Researcher
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
About me:
My PhD project is a sensory ethnography of food, home and community among Palestinians living in Britain. The project is grounded in the anthropology of food and memory, with additional insights from the fields of diaspora/migration studies and gender studies. My research is fully-funded by an award from the ESRC.
Before beginning my PhD I gained an MRes in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter, awarded with distinction. I also have an MA in International Relations - awarded with distinction - and a BA in Social Anthropology, both from the University of Wales.
During my research career I have had the opportunity to attend several conferences, including being awarded a travel bursary to attend Brown University's New Directions in Palestine Studies workshop in February 2015.
I will be presenting papers at several international conferences this year, including The Association of Social Anthropologists' Conference 2021, The Royal Geographical Society's Annual International Conference 2021, and the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences 2021 Congress. In addition, I will be presenting papers at the University of Toronto's Medusa Anthropology Conference, and the University of California, Irvine's Anthropology in Transit conference.
Teaching has been an important part of my doctoral experience, and I have had the opportunity to work as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant on modules including Imagining Social Worlds - Methods, Introduction to Social Anthropology - Theorising the Everyday World, Gender and Identity in the Middle East, and Ethnography of the Middle East. In 2016 I completed the University of Exeter's Learning and Teaching in Higher Education course.
Research Unit:
Anthropology
Research Project:
My PhD research is an ethnographic study of how Palestinians living in Britain use food to (re)negotiate issues of being and belonging, and thus (re)construct homes and communities in exile. Further, through its examination of sensory memories, the research aims to better understand how food and food-related memories constitute a quotidian practice of refusal that speaks to the hegemonic discourse and temporality of Israeli settler colonialism.
Fieldwork for the project has consisted of in-depth interviews (informal and semi-structured), the collection of oral history narratives, and participant observation. The project aims to fill existing gaps in the scholarship in Palestine Studies, diaspora studies, and the anthropology of food and the senses.
Research Supervisory team:
1st supervisor: Professor Ilan Pappe
2nd supervisor: Dr Katie Natanel
3rd/external supervisor: Dr Jason Hart (Bath)
Research Wider Research Interests:
Key words: anthropology, Palestine, diaspora, home, community, food, the senses, embodiment, memory, temporality, resistance, refusal, futurity.
Professional/research experience:
September 2021 to present
University of Exeter
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (Anthropology and Sociology): Imagining Social Worlds - Methods.
September 2020 August 2021
University of Exeter
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (Anthropology): Introduction to Social Anthropology - Theorising the Everyday World.
June 2020 June 2021
South West Doctoral Training Partnership
Conference Co-Organiser, The Research Ethics Conference 2021, University of Exeter.
www.researchethicsconference.co.uk
January 2015 January 2016
University of Exeter
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant for interdisciplinary modules run through IAIS. Including, Gender and Identity in the Middle East and Ethnography of the Middle East.
January 2015 January 2016
University of Exeter
Presented films and led discussions as part of the Gender Film Screening Series, visual anthropology of the Middle East, IAIS.
January 2014 to present
University of Exeter
Dissertation mentor for final-year undergraduates, IAIS.
January 2014
University of Exeter
Co-organised, and presented at, a workshop on Gender Studies, IAIS.
Education:
January 2014 January 9999
University of Exeter
PhD: ESRC-funded research on food, home and community among Palestinians living in Britain
January 2013 January 2014
University of Exeter
MRes: Middle East Studies, awarded with distinction. ESRC-funded. Thesis: 'Nakba Commemoration among Palestinians in the UK: A Case Study'. Advisor: Sophie Richter-Devroe.
January 2008 January 2010
University of Wales, Trinity Saint David
MA: Religion, Politics and International Relations, awarded with distinction.
January 2004 January 2007
University of Wales, Lampeter
BA: Social Anthropology
Professional Development:
2021-11-00
Conferences/Symposiums-International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences Congress 2021
Paper presentation: 'Recipes for the Future: Culinary heritage, memory and resistance among Palestinians in Britain'.
Panel: Heritage and essentialist thinking: Marginalising and resisting marginalisation through essentialised heritage claims.
IUAES Congress 2021, 9th November - 13th November, 2021.
2021-09-01
Conferences/Symposiums-Royal Geographical Society International Conference 2021: Borders, Borderlands and Bordering
Paper presentation: 'The Taste of (Be)Longing: Food, memory and the national imaginary among Palestinians in Britain'.
Panel: Rethinking borders in terms of absences.
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2021, 31st August - 3rd September, 2021.
2021-06-25
Conferences/Symposiums-Research Ethics Conference 2021
Conference Co-Organiser for the SWDTP-funded Research Ethics Conference 2021, to be held at the University of Exeter, 25th June, 2021.
www.researchethicsconference.co.uk
2021-04-22
Conferences/Symposiums-Migrant Belongings Conference: Digital Practices and the Everyday
Paper presentation: “It’s like sharing a meal with someone, but virtually”: The use of social media as a community-building tool by Palestinians in Britain.
Migrant Belongings Conference, part of ConnectingEurope: Digital Crossings in Europe: Gender, Diaspora and Belonging.
Utrecht University, 21st - 23rd April, 2021.
2021-04-10
Conferences/Symposiums-Anthropology in Transit Conference 2021: Palimpsest in Practice
Paper presentation: 'Culinary Constellations: Family recipes as spatio-temporal maps in the Palestinian diaspora'.
AiT Conference 2021, University of California, Irvine, 10th - 11th April, 2021.
2021-03-31
Conferences/Symposiums-Association of Social Anthropologists Conference 2021: Responsibility
Paper presentation: Recipes for the Future: Culinary heritage, belonging and the national imaginary among Palestinians in Britain'.
Panel: Temporalizing Utopia: Interrogating nationalisms in the past and future.
Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK, annual international conference, ASA2021, 29th March - 2nd April, 2021.
2021-03-26
Conferences/Symposiums-Medusa Conference 2021: Rupture
Paper presentation: 'Rebellious Hunger: Food, memory and futurity in the Palestinian diaspora'.
Panel: Ruptures and Sensorium
Medusa Anthropology Conference, University of Toronto, 24th - 26th March, 2021.
2021-03-25
Conferences/Symposiums-ECPS Seminar
Paper presentation.
European Centre for Palestine Studies Seminar.
2020-12-00
Conferences/Symposiums-ROUTES Seminar
Paper presentation: 'An Introduction to the Anthropology of Food and Migration'.
ROUTES: Migration, Mobility, Displacement. University of Exeter, December 2020.
2015-02-00
Conferences/Symposiums-New Directions in Palestine Studies Conference
Awarded a travel bursary to attend the New Directions in Palestine Studies Conference, Brown University: Rhode Island, 13th - 15th February, 2015.
2014-00-00
Conferences/Symposiums-Gender Studies Workshop
Co-organised a workshop on Gender Studies, IAIS, University of Exeter.
Paper presentation: 'Am I a feminist anthropologist?'
2014-00-00
Conferences/Symposiums-Research Methods in the Social Sciences
Research Methods in the Social Sciences Workshop, CSSIS, University of Exeter.
Paper presentation: 'Qualitative and Quantitative Data: Using and Understanding Multiple Research Methods in Ethnography'.
2014-00-00
Graduate School Skills Workshops-Research Methods in the Social Sciences
A year-long programme of research methods workshops for ESRC-funded students, run through CSSIS, University of Exeter.
