Joanie Willett

My teaching, research, and publishing specialism is in identity politics and I am particularly interested in the complex inter-relationship between identity, the economy, and the environment. My background is in critical political theory and economic development, and might broadly be described as exploring sustainable communities through theory, practice, policy and governance. I am regularly consulted by local and national media regarding topical political debate, and questions relating to my research interests.

Theoretically, I am interested in phenomenologies, complexity theory, the new materialisms, posthumanist thinking, and a politics of affect. I apply this to our ongoing development of identities, currently with respect to participation in local government at a town and parish level. Broadly, my work looks at regional governance, regional development, citizen participation, and sustainable communities.

Although firmly based in politics, I have active or previous collaborations with econonomists, geographers, planners and sociologists, and have worked with community groups, policy practitioners, and health organisations. I welcome exploring future collaborations.