Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Katy Harsant

Roles and Background

I am a Teaching Fellow, responsible for convening a number of undergraduate and PGT modules. I am also the Deputy Director of Undergraduate Studies for Sociology.

I completed my PhD at Warwick in 2016 and my work is around re-narrating the histories of international institutions in order to understand the significance of colonialism in their formation. Prior to this, I completed a BA (Hons) in Sociology with a Specialism in Research Methods and an MA in Social Research.

Teaching

In 2022/23 I will be convening the following modules:

SO116 Sociology of Gender (UG)

SO342 Race, Resistance and Modernity (UG)

SO9C1 State of the Art of Sociology (PGT)

SO929 Gender Analysis and Development Practice (PGT)

Research

Cover Image

(2022) Selective Responsibility in the United Nations: Colonial Questions and Critical Inquiry, Rowman and Littlefield.

PhD Thesis: 'Selective Responsibility: History, Power and Politics in the United Nations'

My doctoral research explored the role of the notion of 'responsibility' within United Nations policies on intervention. Using archival material and a methodological approach from historical sociology, this research looks at the mechanisms that allow for the selective enforcement of current United Nations policies with regards to military intervention. I argue that from the outset, the United Nations as an institution was grounded in unequal colonial power relations and that these unequal relationships are legitimated through the idea of responsibility, allowing for neocolonialism in contemporary contexts. The project aims to re-narrate the history of the United Nations in order to emphasise these colonial origins and to provide an account of the long tradition of anti-colonial resistance to international institutions.

Supervisors: Gurminder K. Bhambra and Goldie Osuri

Funding: Economic and Social Research Council (via the Warwick Social Sciences Doctoral Training Centre)

Katy Harsant

Dr Katy Harsant

D0.13 Department of Sociology

Email: K.harsant.1@warwick.ac.uk

Twitter: @k_harsant

2022/23 Advice and Feedback Hours:

See availability and book here