SASS Staff

Professor Maggie O'Neill

Professor of Criminology in the School of Applied Social Sciences

Biography

I joined Durham University in February 2010 and bring extensive experience of working in inter-disciplinary contexts with expertise in critical and cultural criminology. Research activity and outcomes include the development of theory; a focus upon innovative biographical, cultural and participatory research methodologies; and the production of praxis - knowledge which addresses and intervenes in public policy. My research activity has been instrumental in moving forward debates, dialogue and scholarship in three substantive areas: prostitution and the commercial sex industry (since 1990); forced migration and the asylum-migration nexus (since 1999); innovative participatory, performative and visual methodologies (since 1990). I welcome applications from PhD students in any of these areas.

I am a member of the steering group for the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, an affilliate of the Centre for Medical Humanities and a fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute. I co-chair the Crime, Violence and Abuse Research Group.

Research funding has been received from the AHRB, AHRC, ESRC, the British Academy, the British Council, Home Office, Government Office East Midlands, Leicester Education Authority, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Arts Council East Midlands, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Walsall South Health Action Zone [see www.safetysoapbox.co.uk].Outcomes from two recently funded AHRC research projects were highlighted by the AHRC as examples of good practice around impact. Some of this work can be seen on line at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/gallery/2009/jan/13/sense-of-belonging-exhibition and http://www.diasporas.ac.uk/assets/O'Neill%20Belonging.pdf and in a showreel of images taken from the Diasporas, Migration and Identities Final Showcase Event held at Tate Britain on 10 February 2010 http://www.diasporas.ac.uk/assets/lecture%20room%20Showreel.pdf Recent research on 'Community Politics and Resistance in downtown eastside Vancouver' is documented by AHA Media at: http://ahamedia.ca/category/magie-oneill-durham-university/ and: http://ahamedia.ca/2011/06/26/aha-media-filmed-at-community-arts-dialogue-community-politics-and-resistance-in-vancouver%e2%80%99s-downtown-eastside-%e2%80%93-part-1-on-june-18-2011/

Publications

Books: authored

O'Neill, M. & Seal, L. (2012). Transgressive Imaginations: Crime, Deviance and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan.
O'Neill, M. (2010). Asylum, Migration and Community. Bristol: Policy Press.
Sanders, T., O'Neill, M. & Pitcher, J. (2009). Prostitution: Sex Work, Policy and Politics. London: Sage.
O'Neill, M. (2001). Prostitution and Feminism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Books: edited

Campbell, R. & O'Neill, M. (2006). Sex Work Now. Cullompton: Willan.
Barry, J., Dent, M. & O'Neill, M. (2002). Dilemmas in Managing Professionalism and Gender in the Public Sector. London: Routledge.
Matthews, R. & O'Neill, M. (2002). Prostitution: a Reader. London: Ashgate.
O'Neill, M. (1999). Adorno, Culture and Feminism. London and New York: Sage Press.

Books: sections

O'Neill, M. (2011). Making Connections: art, affect and emotional agency. In (forthcoming) Moving Subjects, Moving Objects: Transnationalism, Cultural Production and Emotions. Svasek, M Oxford: Berghahn.
O'Neill, M. & Campbell, R. (2010). Desistence from Sex Work: Feminist Cultural Criminology and Intersectionality: The Complexities of Moving in and Out of Sex Work. In Theorizing Intersectionality and Sexuality. Taylor, Y., Hines, S. & Casey, M. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
O'Neill, M. (2009). Community Safety, Rights, Redistribution and Recognition: towards a Coordinated Prostitution Strategy? In Regulating Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Policy Reform and the UK. Phoenix, J. UK Bristol: Policy Press.
Scoular, J. & O'Neill, M. (2008). Legal Incursions into Supply/Demand, Criminalising & Responsibilising the Buyers and Sellers of Sex. In Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution. Munro, V. & Della Giusta, M. London: Ashgate.
O'Neill, M. (2008). Sex, violence and work services to sex workers and public policy reform. In Sex and Crime. Letherby, G., Birch, P., Cain, M. & Williams, K. Devon: Willan Press.
O'Neill, M. (2007). Adorno. In Sociological Thinkers. Stones, R. London: Macmillan and New York University Press.
O'Neill, M. (2007). Ethno-mimesis, feminist praxis and the visual turn. In Cultural Sociology. Edwards, Tim. London: Sage Press.
O'Neill, M. (2007). Re-imagining Diaspora through ethno-mimesis: humiliation, human dignity and belonging. In Reimagining Diasporas: Transnational Lives and the Media. Bailey, O., Georgiou, M. & Harindranath, R. London: Palgrave.

Journal papers: academic

Schultheiss,D., Watts, J., Sterland, L. & O'Neill, M. (2011). Career, migration and the life CV: A relational cultural analysis. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Special Issue on Migration: Vocational Perspectives on a Complex and Diverse Transition 78(3): 334-341.
Cohen, L., Arnold, J. & O'Neill, M. (2011). Migration: Vocational perspectives on a complex and diverse transition. Journal of Vocational Behavior, Special Issue on Migration: Vocational Perspectives on a Complex and Diverse Transition 78(3): 321-324.
O'Neill, M. (2011). Participatory methods and critical models: Arts, migration and diaspora. Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture 2: 13-37.
Pearce, L. & O'Neill, M. (2011). The arts of migration. Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture 2.
O'Neill, M. (2010). Cultural Criminology and Sex Work: Resisting Regulation Through Radical Democracy and Participatory Action Research (PAR). Journal of Law and Society 37(1): 210-232.
Pink, S., Hubbard, P., O'Neill, M., Radley, A. & (editors) Guest Editors' Introduction (2010). Walking across disciplines: from ethnography to arts practice. Visual Studies 25(1): 1-7.
O'Neill, M. & Hubbard, P. (2010). Walking, Sensing, Belonging: ethno-mimesis as performative praxis. Visual Studies 25(1): 46-58.
O'Neill, M. (2009). Making Connections: Ethno-mimesis, Migration and Diaspora. Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society 14(3): 289-302.
O'Neill, M., Campbell, R., Hubbard, P., Pitcher, J. & Scoular, J. (2008). Living with the Other: Street sex work, contingent communities and degrees of tolerance. Crime, Media and Culture 4(1): 73-93.
O'Neill, M. (2008). Transnational Refugees: The Transformative Role of Art?. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research 9(2): 59.
Scoular, J. & O'Neill, M. (2007). Regulating Prostitution Social Inclusion, Responsibilization and the Politics of Prostitution Reform. British Journal of Criminology 47: 764-778.
O'Neill, M. & Harindranath, H. (2006). Theorising narratives of exile and belonging: the importance of Biography and Ethno-mimesis in 'understanding' asylum. Qualitative Sociology Review II(1).
O'Neill, M., Woods, P. & Webster, M. (2004). New Arrivals: Participatory Action Research, Imagined Communities and Social Justice. Journal of Social Justice 32(1): 75-89.
O'Neill, M. & 'Editors Introduction' with Prof Tony Spybey. (2003). Global Refugees: towards a sociology of exile, displacement and belonging. A special edition of Sociology

Indicators of Esteem

Advisory board member to two ESRC research projects on respectively 'post trafficking'; 'the regulation of lap dancing' and a Big Lottery funded project with the UK Disabled People's Council using participatory and arts based methods.:
Board Member - Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Global Network:
Chair of the European Sociological Association research network 'Biographical Perspectives on European Societies'. http://www.europeansociology.org/:
Editorial Board Member of The Sociological Review:
Keynotes at various national and international conferences and symposia:

Research Interests

Cultural and critical criminology
Arts, migration and Diaspora
Sex work, communities affected by prostitution, and young people at risk or involvement in sex work
The asylum-migration-community nexus
Social justice and cultural citizenship
Community cohesion and youth crime
Critical theory, feminist theory, western Marxism and the Frankfurt School - especially work of Adorno and Benjamin
Innovation methodologies - biographical, arts based, visual, performative, and participatory methodologies

Research Groups

Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse
Crime, Violence and Abuse

Research Projects

Teaching Areas

Computer Based Applications in Social Research (MA)
Contemporary Criminological Theory (Year 2)
Crime Deviance and Society (Year1)
Qualitative Research Methods (MA)
Researching the Social (Year 2)

Supervises

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

Social sciences: Migration, Forced Migration including asylum,refugees,undocumented migrants, unaccompanied young people, destitution and social justice. Prostitution, the commercial sex industry and sex work. Participatory action research and arts based methodologies.