Title:	Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Department:	Social and Historical Studies
Address:	Room 511, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
Tel:	+44 (0)20 7911 5000 ext 2116
Email:	b.pitcher@westminster.ac.uk
Website:	http://sites.google.com/site/pitcherben
Office Hours:	Wednesdays 1-3pm (Semester 2)

Biography

Ben Pitcher is lecturer in sociology in the Department of Social and Historical Studies. He studied at Goldsmiths, Lancaster University and the University of East London, and has most recently lectured in political sociology at Oxford Brookes University.

Ben is the author of The Politics of Multiculturalism. For more information, and links to online and downloadable publications, follow this link.

Teaching Interests

Ben teaches in sociology and cultural studies. His option module 'Understanding Race', is available to level 4 students. 'Consuming Race', is available to students at levels 5 and 6.

Recent Interests and Key Outputs

Ben's is currently working on his second book, titled Consuming Race. This book explores how the ideas we have about race are produced and reproduced in everyday acts of consumption: it is through the products we buy, the games we play, the TV we watch, the restaurants we eat at and the holidays that we take that we make sense of ourselves and others. Consuming Race will be published by Routledge.

 

Ben has recently written the lead article in a Souls symposium on 'Post-Racial Politics and its Discontents', with responses from six U.S. race theorists and activists. Forthcoming work includes a co-written article on The Wire and an exploration of the relationship between race and neoliberal capitalism.

 

Publications

 

Bramall, R. and Pitcher, B. (forthcoming) ‘Policing the Crisis, or, why we love The Wire’.

Pitcher, B (forthcoming, 2012) 'Race and capitalism redux', Patterns of Prejudice, 46 (1). 

Pitcher, B. (2011) ‘Radical Subjects After Hegemony’, Subjectivity 4(1): 87-102.

Pitcher, B. (2011) 'Race and Racism After Anti-Racism', Kritikos 8. 

Pitcher, B. (2011) 'Developing transnational race theory: a place for CRT?' in K. Hylton, A. Pilkington, P. Warmington and S. Housee (eds) Atlantic Crossings: International Dialogues on Critical Race Theory. Birmingham: C-SAP

Pitcher, B. (2010) ‘Obama and the Politics of Blackness: anti-racism in the “post-black” conjuncture’ Souls 12 (4): 313-22.

Pitcher, B. (2010) 'White no longer', Souls 12 (4): 354-7.

Pitcher, B. (2009) 'The Global Politics of Multiculturalism', Development 52(4): 456-9.

Pitcher, B. (2009) 'The Problem with White Trash’, Cultural Studies 23(3): 446-9.

Pitcher, B. (2009) 'The Politics of Multiculturalism: Race and Racism in Contemporary Britain', Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pitcher, B. and Gunkel, H. (2008) 'Editorial: Racism in the Closet - Interrogating Postcolonial Sexuality' in Racism in the Closet: Interrogating Postcolonial Sexuality, darkmatter (3).

Pitcher, B., Puar J. and Gunkel, H. (2008) 'Q&A with Jasbir Puar' in Racism in the Closet: Interrogating Postcolonial Sexuality, darkmatter (3).

Pitcher, B. (2008) 'The Materiality of Race Theory' in Race/Matter: Materialism and the Politics of Racialization, darkmatter (2).

Pitcher, B. (2006) ‘“Are You Thinking What We’re Thinking?” Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Disavowal of Racism in the Run-up to the 2005 British General Election’, Social Semiotics 16(4): 535-51.

 

Selected Research Papers

 

Dec 2011 'Thinking beyond racism in race theory', keynote lecture to European Communication Research And Education Conference, 'Keywords: continuities, complexities and challenges in the field of diaspora, migration and media', University of Maynooth, Ireland.

Mar 2010 'Post-black, post-race? Anti-racism after Obama', paper given as part of the SHS Open Seminar Series, University of Westminster.

Nov 2009 (with R. Bramall) 'Policing the Crisis, or, Why We Love The Wire', paper given at The Wire as Social Science Fiction conference, Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change, Leeds. There's some discussion of this on the Guardian society blog.

Nov 2009 'Black presidents and other problems: anti-racism and the challenge of hegemony', paper given at Department of International Relations, Politics and Sociology Seminar, Oxford Brookes University.

June 2009 'Developing transnational race theory', paper given at Critical Race Theory in the UK conference, Institute of Education.

May 2009 'Thinking about race and racism with cultural studies', paper given at New Research in Cultural Studies event, Centre for Cultural Studies Research, UEL.

Feb 2009 'Race and racism after anti-racism', paper given at Postcolonial Ethnicity, Visuality and Cultural Politics conference, Cardiff University.