Goldsmiths - University of London

Dr Branwen Gruffydd Jones (BA, MA, DPhil)

Biographical Information

I joined the department in 2007. Before coming to Goldsmiths I worked at the University of Leeds and the University of Aberdeen. I am a member of the Editorial Working Group of Review of African Political Economy (www.roape.org/). In 2002-3 I held an ESRC postdoctoral research fellowship in International Relations at the University of Sussex. I completed my PhD (Development Studies) and MA (Rural Development) at the Centre for Culture, Development and Environment, University of Sussex; and my BA (General Engineering) at the University of Cambridge. In 1994-5 I worked as an engineer for Rwenzori Highlands Tea Company in Uganda.

Teaching

1st year Politics of Other Cultures
2nd year Africa in the Global Political Economy
MA Theories of Global Political Economy

Areas of supervision

I would be keen to supervise suitably qualified students in areas related to the research interests listed below.

Research interests

• Global political economy of poverty and development, with particular reference to Africa
• Theory and histories of imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism
• Discourse and practice concerning 'Failed States' in contemporary imperialism
• African political thought
• Postcolonial cities
• Global politics of knowledge production with specific reference to African studies 
•  Method in social inquiry (historical materialism; global political economy; postcolonial theory; eurocentrism in International Relations and Africanist scholarship)

I recently completed a collaborative project addressing the problem of eurocentrism in International Relations scholarship. This brought together scholars in IR and International Law, at a workshop held at the University of Aberdeen in 2005, funded by the British Academy. The project led to an edited book, Decolonising International Relations, published by Rowman and Littlefield (2006).

The main focus of my current research is the postcolonial city in Africa as a site of politics. This research examines the context and conditions of everyday life of the subaltern in selected neighbourhoods of Accra and Maputo. The research considers the practices, ideas and intentions of various agents who seek to sustain, improve or reconfigure the local urban environment.  It examines the efforts of local policy makers, international organizations, western donor agencies and non-governmental organizations to improve the lives of ‘slum dwellers’ through initiatives of ‘slum upgrading’. It also explores how such initiatives are contested, leading to a broader theoretical and historical reflection on the lived politics of postcolonial urban property. This research has been supported by a Large Research Grant from the British Academy.

In a longer term project I am pursuing research about lusophone African political thought which developed in the context of the liberation struggles of Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé.

I am also beginning to explore the relationship between political economy and slavery. 

Selected publications

Books

2006 (editor) Decolonising International Relations, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield

2006 Explaining Global Poverty: A Critical Realist Approach, London: Routledge

Refereed Journal Articles

2008, 'Race in the ontology of international order', Political Studies

2008, 'The global political economy of social crisis: towards a critique of the 'Failed State' ideology' Review of International Political Economy 15 (2)

2005 'Africa and the poverty of International Relations' Third World Quarterly 26 (5): 987-1003

2003, 'The civilised horrors of over-work: Marxism, imperialism and development of Africa', Review of African Political Economy 30 (95): 33-44

2003 'Appearances and realities of post-war reconstruction in Mozambique', Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies 10: 49-67

2003 ''The massive presence of the past and the outside': presences, absences and possibilities for emancipation in the current global condition', Journal of Critical Realism 1 (2): 1-26

2002 'Globalisation and the freedom to be poor: from colonial political coercion to the economic compulsion of need', Portuguese Studies Review (Special issue on Portugal and Africa) 10 (1): 108-128

Book chapters

2008 'Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories: possibilities and contradictions of emancipatory struggles in the current neo-colonial condition', in Ayers, A. (ed) Gramsci, Political Economy and International Relations Theory: Modern Princes and Naked Emperors, London and New York: Palgrave.

2005 'Globalisations, violences and resistances in Mozambique: the struggles continue' in Eschle, C. and Maiguashca, B. (eds), Critical Theories, World Politics and 'the Anti-Globalisation Movement', London: Routledge, pp. 53-73

2003 'Explaining Global Poverty: A realist critique of the orthodox approach', in Cruickshank, J. (ed) Critical Realism: the difference that it makes, London: Routledge, London, pp. 221-239. Republished in Carroll, William K. (ed), 2004, Critical Strategies for Social Research, Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc, pp. 144-158

Other

2008 'Samora Machel', 'Eduardo Mondlane' and 'Agostinho Neto', entries in A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures – Continental Europe and its Empires, Prem Poddar, Rajeev S Patke and Lars Jensen (eds), Edinburgh University Press and Columbia University Press