Dr. Aleksandra Lewicki

 

Reader in Sociology

Director Sussex European Institute (SEI)

School of Law, Politics and Sociology 

University of Sussex

 

Email: A.Lewicki@sussex.ac.uk

Web: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sociology/people/

Twitter: @aleks_lewicki

ABOUT

I am Reader in Sociology and Co-Director of the Sussex European Institute (SEI).

I am also affiliated with the Sussex Centre for Migration Research and In-House Associate Editor of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS).

My work investigates boundary-making and structural inequalities in post-colonial Europe. In particular, I am interested in how categories of difference (such as race or nationality) are made, by whom, and to what end, as well as what they do – to those they categorise as distinct, and those implicit in their making.

I study how such categorisations travel in institutions and shape biographical trajectories, but also how they are subverted and reappropriated in post-migration contexts.

I have also written on how racialisation operates in various directions, including ambiguously, and generates material effects. Specifically, I am interested in how various repertoires of racism overlap, intersect and produce complex hierarchies of belonging.

My main research areas are:

(1) institutional inequality and (2) political mobilisation

The first research strand focuses on institutional cultures and their role in (re)producing inequalities. For instance, I have critically examined how welfare systems and the politics of immigration (re)produce notions of racial alterity in Britain and Germany. My work has also explored institutional racism and discrimination across various areas of public life, including health and social care.

The second research strand engages with strategies of political mobilisation and their social effects. I have written on practices, discourses and acts of citizenship in Britain and Germany. Since 2020, I have been working on a collaborative research project that comparatively explores mobilisation against immigration in Europe (including Britain, Germany, Austria, Italy and Norway).

I mainly draw on qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and collaborative and participatory co-production.

Co-Convenor Interdisciplinary Research Network ‚Ethnicity, Race and Diverse Societies‚ (University of Sussex)

Rat für Migration (German Council of Migration)
www.rat-fuer-migration.de

British Sociological Association (BSA)
Study Groups: Race & Ethnicity, Sociology of Religion
www.britsoc.co.uk/

Kritnet
Network of Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies
http://kritnet.org

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS)
Sektion Migration und Ethnische Minderheiten, Sektion Religionssoziologie
www.soziologie.de/de/sections/…

Polish Migration Research Network, University of London
www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/research/polish-migration/profiles

Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst
Alumna
www.evstudienwerk.de/

Bürger Europas e.V.
www.buerger-europas.de/

Since 2018 Associate Editor of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Taylor and Francis.
JEMS | @scmrjems

Since 2012 Associate Editor of the Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, DeGruyter, Berlin.
www.forschungsjournal.de | @FJSozBew

Since 2021 International Advisory Board of Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Taylor & Francis
 Journal of Contemporary European Studies | @JournalCES

Since 2019 Editorial Board of Patterns of Prejudice, Taylor and Francis.
 Patterns of Prejudice | @POP_Jrnl

2011 – 2017 Managing Editor of the Ethnicities Journal, Sage, London.
etn.sagepub.com/ | @ethnicitiessage

 

Peer reviewer for

Berghahn Books

Bristol University Press

 

Peer reviewer for international academic journals

British Journal of Sociology  ( https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14684446)

Critical Research on Religion ( https://journals.sagepub.com/home/crr)

Citizenship Studies ( https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ccst20/current)

Diversities ( www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/…)

Ethnicities ( etn.sagepub.com/)

Ethnic and Racial Studies ( www.tandfonline.com/toc/rers20/current)

Interdisciplines. Journal of History and Sociology (  www.inter-disciplines.de/index.php/indi)

International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society (  https://www.springer.com/journal/10767

Journal of International Migration and Integration ( www.springer.com/social+sciences/…)

Journal of Migration and Ethnic Studies ( www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjms20#.V5HzaDWThPY)

Movements. Journal for Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies ( https://movements-journal.org

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights ( https://journals.sagepub.com/home/nqh

Open Theology ( www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth)

ReOrient ( http://www.plutojournals.com/reorient/)

Social Identities ( www.tandfonline.com/toc/csid20/current#.V5HzuDWThPY)

Social Inclusion ( https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion)

Social Sciences ( www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci)

Sub/urban: Zeitschrift für kritische Stadtforschung ( www.zeitschrift-suburban.de/sys/index.php/suburban)

200 000 € Co-Investigator ‚Diskriminierung von Menschen osteuropäischer Herkunft auf dem Arbeitsmarkt: institutionelle und individuelle Kontexte‘ (‘Discrimination of people from Europe’s East in the Labour Market: Institutional and Interpersonal Dynamics‘) funded by to the Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes (Federal Antidiscrimination Agency), PI H.-C. Petersen (Universität Oldenburg), Co-I J. Panagiotidis (Universität Wien), Postdoctoral Researcher Jure Leko (Universität Oldenburg).
4000 £ Principle Investigator ‘Invisible grammars of resistance? Exploring political subjectivities after East-West migration in Europe’, seed corn funding, together with Co-I Polina Manolova (Tübingen), Co-I Kristian Shaw (Lincoln), funded by British Academy & Humboldt Foundation Germany-UK Knowledge Frontiers Symposium on the theme of ‘Mobilities’.

1 Mio € Co-Investigator ‚Reaching out to Close the Border‘: The Transnationalization of Anti-Immigration Movements in Europe, in collaboration with the Peace Research Institute Oslo and C-REX at the University of Oslo (PI: Professor Kristian Harpviken), funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

50,000 € Cultural, Socio-Economic and Religious Diversity in Public Life (Kulturelle, sozio-ökonomische und religiöse Diversität im öffentlichen Leben), expert review on diversity activities across public institutions in Germany, in collaboration with the German Federal Antidiscrimination Agency and the NGO Pro-Diversity, commissioned and funded by the Mercator Foundation.

140,000 € Fellowship Dahlem Research School funded by the European Commission’s Marie Curie Skłodowska Programme and the German Research Foundation (DFG) (for scholars working outside Germany, five stage global selection, 5% success rate), 2016 – 2017

200 £ University of Bristol Impact Acceleration Travel Award to MCB British Muslims in Numbers Report Launch at the House of Commons, London, 2015

3,000 £ Travel Grant by the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, New York University, 2010

38,630 £ University of Bristol Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies, 2008 – 2011

40,500 € Evangelisches Begabtenförderungswerk Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies, 2006 – 2008

6,000 € German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship for 1-year study abroad, 2002

Since 2021 21st Century Sociology, Core Module, Undergraduate level (1. year), Department of Sociology, University of Sussex: Convenor (lectures/ seminars/ assessment).

Since 2018 Doing Social Research: Working with Qualitative Data, Core Module, Undergraduate level (2. year), Department of Sociology, University of Sussex: Convenor (lectures/ seminars/ assessment).

Since 2018 Postcolonial Europe?, Advanced Option, Undergraduate level (3. year), Department of Sociology, University of Sussex: Convenor (lectures/ seminars/ assessment).

2017/16 Research Methodology for Doctoral Candidates, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universität Berlin: Pre-/ and Post-fieldwork Conversations (design and delivery).

2015 Workshops for Adults and School Pupils: Development of interactive training materials and tools used by facilitators of adult learning and school teachers in Britain.

201015 Politics & Sociology, Undergraduate level (year 1, 2), University of Bristol: Comparative Politics and Government (delivery and assessment), Contemporary Social Inequalities (delivery and assessment),  Social Identities and Divisions (delivery and assessment).

2000-02 Workshops for adults and schools at the Documentation Centre of the Former Nazi Party Rally Grounds and the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in the court room of the Nuremberg Trials.