Dr Bethany Robertson
- Position: Research Fellow
- Areas of expertise: Rural Sociology, Farming: Gender; Embodiment; Identity; Human-animal relations; Ethnographic methods
- Email: B.Robertson1@leeds.ac.uk
- Website: Twitter
Profile
I joined the School of Sociology and Social Policy in February 2021 as a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr Roxana Barbulescu on the ESRC funded project ‘Feeding the Nation: Seasonal Migrant Workers and Food Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic.’
Feeding the Nation is a project that explores the experiences of seasonal migrant workers and farmers during a time of international travel restrictions and a re-imagined post-Brexit immigration system.
Prior to joining Leeds, I worked on a British Academy funded project at the University of Liverpool which examined the ways farmers engage with social media and how narratives of farming are communicated online.
I have a PhD in Sociology from the University of York which explores the experiences of women farmers in England to understand the embodiment of farming and the negotiation of gender identities. My thesis is an ethnographic study, comprising of on-farm interviews and observations at agricultural shows.
Through my MA in Social Research I developed expertise in human-animal relations by examining university students’ management of a long distance relationship with their pets for my dissertation. This research paved the way for an interest in multi-species methodologies and understanding how interactions with animals shape the work practices and identities of farmers in my doctoral thesis.
Research interests
- Sociology of agriculture; farming cultures, identities and inequalities
- Human-animal relations
- Gender, the body and identity
- Rural studies
- Ethnographic and feminist methods
Qualifications
- PhD Sociology
- MA Social Research
- BA Sociology
Professional memberships
- British Sociological Association
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies