Space and Temporalities

About us

The Space and Temporalities (SaT) research cluster sits within Oxford Brookes’ Centre for Environment and Society (CES).  As a cluster, we draw on disciplinary positionalities from across the humanities and social sciences including human geography, social/cultural anthropology, sociology, international relations, politics, history, criminology and philosophy, as well as creative fields such as art and theatre. In this context, we seek to engage with the work of scholars and others who locate aspects of their research within the intersections between ‘space’ and ‘temporality’.  

Whilst this opens up a variety of possibilities, examples might include the spatial/temporal experiences of workers engaged in forms of precarious and/or informal labour, (re)configurations of urban space, the relationship between spatial/temporal experiences of migration and migrants' subjectivities, conceptions of 'home', spatial and temporal aspects of social inequality and marginalisation, or relations between humans and non-humans.

Our primary forum comprises a bi-annual workshop which enables networking, aids the development of research trajectories, fosters collaborative grant applications and facilitates knowledge exchange. In addition to the bi-annual workshop, the cluster also organises smaller special events and seminars around more focused themes which speak in specific ways to the intersection of space and temporality, including events targeted at supporting early career researchers. Across all these areas, we emphasise the value of research longevity, innovation and collaboration. 

Migrant workers in Dubai

Related courses

Leadership

Thomas Chambers

Dr Thomas Chambers

Senior Lecturer in Anthropology

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Mel Nowicki

Dr Mel Nowicki

Reader in Urban Geography

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Membership

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Research impact

The clusters research impact is focused around 5 areas:

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Upcoming Events

Meanings of Home: A Workshop for GCSE & A Level Students 

(Part of the Oxford Brookes Think Human Festival)

What makes a home? What does home mean to different people in different places? What does it mean to be without a home? Is a home just one place, or can it be many?

This workshop is aimed at GCSE and A Level students. It offers a reflexive space to think about ‘meanings of home’. The program comprises two parts: The first is a virtual gallery through which students can view videos of individuals from difference parts of the world and from different backgrounds as they discuss what ‘home’ means to them. This can be undertaken in the classroom at the convenience of educators (but will also be available on the day of the workshop). The second component comprises an onsite follow-up workshop at Oxford Brookes university (Tuesday 5th April, 2-4pm). This in-person event will ask students to collaboratively create material that reflects the ways in which home is understood. Here, too, students will be encouraged to reflect on conceptions and meanings of home in a range of contexts. As a whole the program offers two learning outcomes. Firstly, it will enable students to develop an understanding of cross-cultural perspectives surrounding the idea of home. Secondly, it will enable students to reflect on their own positions and to better understand their perspectives within broader local and global contexts.     

If you are a teacher or educator and would like to sign up a group for the session then please contact tchambers@brookes.ac.uk

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Past Events

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Past seminars

Dr Ella Harris (Birkbeck, University of London) Rebranding Precarity: Pop-up Culture as the Seductive New Normal

26 November 2020 at 1.00pm

Rebranding Precarity book cover

Dr Shalini Grover (LSE) From the Local to the Global: Care Chains, Ageing and Futurity through the Indian Ayah

20 November 2020 at 12.00pm

Portrait of Dr Shalini Grover

Dr Richard Carver (Oxford Brookes) ''Stopping Torture: What Works?''

22 October 2020 at 2.00pm

Portrait of Dr Richard Carver