Sarah Lamble
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Sarah Lamble first joined Birkbeck in 2009 as part of the School of Law, leading the development of criminology and the establishment of the Department of Criminology in 2016. Criminology has since joined the School of Social Sciences, within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Prior to Birkbeck, Lamble taught politics, law and gender studies at the University of Trent (Canada) and at Kent Law School UK. Lamble has previously worked as an advocate for prisoners and has been involved in anti-violence and anti-poverty community work in Canada and the UK.
Lamble has served as an editorial board member for the journal Feminist Legal Studies, Trustee for the Institute of Crime and Justice Policy Research, and was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Beatrice Bain Research Group, University of California, Berkeley.
Currently, Lamble is an International Advisory Editor for Theoretical Criminology, a member of the Advisory Circle for Beauty out of Ashes, and part of the Birkbeck Gender & Sexuality Studies Group (BiGS). Lamble is also co-editor of Routledge's Social Justice Book Series.
Lamble is co-founder of the Bent Bars Project, a collective that coordinates a letter-writing programme for LGBTQ+ prisoners in Britain and an organiser with Abolitionist Futures.
Highlights
Leverhulme Research Fellowship: Beyond sex versus gender: Rethinking the 'gender wars' in Britain. Awarded 2023-2024.
Governing Sex and Intimacy in British Prisons Research Project. Supported by Birkbeck College Innovation Fund.
Legal Intervenor (2021) High Court Judicial Review on transgender prisoner policy in England & Wales: FDJ, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Justice (Rev 1) [2021] EWHC 1746 (Admin) (02 July 2021) Case summary & background.
Qualifications
- PhD in Law, University of Kent, UK, 2011
- MA Criminology, University of Toronto, Canada, 2006
- BA Honours, Cultural Studies, University of Trent, Canada, 2003
- Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy,, Advance HE
Web profiles
Professional memberships
Member, Socio-Legal Studies Association
Member, British Society of Criminology
Member, National Forum on Gender & Sexual Diversity Research in Criminal Justice System
Member, Feminist Gender Equality Network
Member, European Group for the Study of Deviance & Social Control
ORCID
0000-0003-3443-1004 -
Research
Research
Research interests
- Gender, Sexuality & Criminal Justice
- Queer, Feminist and Critical Race Theory
- Prisons, Punishment and Abolition
- Alternative & Transformative Justice
- Transgender Prison Policy
Research overview
Dr Lamble's research interests lie at the intersections of gender, sexuality and criminal justice; queer theory, law and social movements; cultures of violence, control and punishment; and transformative and alternative forms of justice.
Taking a theoretically informed, yet empirically grounded approach to these topics, Lamble considers both the conceptual and material dimensions of social, political and epistemological change. At the heart of Lamble's research are questions about power, social change and political possibility.
Current projects include:
1) A research project around transgender prisoner policy in the UK and the role of carceral logics in the debates around the Gender Recognition Act.
2) A joint research project involving colleagues at Birkbeck and Goldsmiths on the everyday governance of sex and intimacy in British prisons.
3) Collaborations with scholars and community groups that explore abolitionist and transformative justice responses to gendered, racialised and sexualised violence.
Other research interests include:
- law and political theory
- governance and social regulation
- policing, punishment and criminalisation
- state violence and institutional racism
- welfare, poverty and homelessness
- alternative justice and community responses to social harm
- critical disability studies
Research Centres and Institutes
- Steering Group Member, Birkbeck Institute for Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Member, Race Forum
Research clusters and groups
- Member, Race, Gender & Culture Research Cluster
- Member, Critical Legal and Criminological Theory Research Cluster
- Member, Policy, Practice and Activism Research Cluster
Research projects
Beyond sex versus gender: Rethinking the 'gender wars' in Britain.
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.
Current doctoral researchers
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KEIRAN WILSON
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LIZZIE HUGHES
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
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MOLLY ACKHURST
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GEMMA LOUSLEY
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LISA WINTERSTEIGER
Teaching
My approach to teaching is based on a belief that education has the potential to be individually, socially and politically transformative. For me, this means working with students to create learning spaces that are inclusive, supportive and accessible. I aim to foster learning strategies that encourage critical thinking, curiosity and creativity and to support students in developing the skills and tools needed to grapple with contemporary social problems and injustices.
Teaching modules
- Crime, Inequality and Social Change (LACN030S5)
- Gender, Sexuality and Criminal Justice (LADD027S7)
- Restorative and Alternative Justice (Level 6) (LALA113H6)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Lamble, Sarah (2024) Confronting complex alliances: Situating Britain’s gender-critical politics within the wider transnational anti-gender movement. Journal of Lesbian Studies ISSN 1089-4160.
- Lamble, Sarah (2023) Sexual peril and dangerous others: the moral economies of the trans prisoner policy debates in England and Wales. Sexualities ISSN 1363-4607.
- Lamble, Sarah (2023) Reflections on disability, justice and abolition. feminists@law 12 (1), pp. 1-8. ISSN 2046-9551.
- Lamble, Sarah and McElhone, Megan (2023) Over-policed and under-protected: why does nothing change?. Institute of Race Relations News
- Lamble, Sarah (2023) Prisons have never been safe for women – removing trans people won’t change that. i-news
- McElhone, Megan and Kemp, T. and Lamble, Sarah and Moore, J.M. (2023) Defund – not defend – the police: a response to Fleetwood and Lea. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice ISSN 2059-1101.
- Lamble, Sarah (2022) Outrage: the problem with gender-segregated prisons is not trans people's bodies, but incarceration itself. The Architectural Review pp. 46-47.
- Lamble, Sarah (2022) Bridging the gap between reformists and abolitionists: can non-reformist reforms guide the work of prison inspectorates?. World Prison Brief
- Lamble, Sarah (2022) Everyday abolition: resisting the cop in our heads. New Internationalist (536), pp. 28-30.
- Sarah, Lamble and Nim, R. (2021) Trans liberation will take more than honouring the dead. Huck Magazine
- Lamble, Sarah and Serisier, Tanya and Dymock, A. and Carr, N. and Downes, J. and Boukli, A. (2020) Guest Editorial: Queer theory and criminology. Criminology & Criminal Justice 20 (5), pp. 504-509. ISSN 1748-8958.
- Lamble, Sarah (2020) Unpalatable dissent and the political distribution of solidarity. Law, Culture and the Humanities 16 (2), pp. 213-225. ISSN 1743-8721.
- Lamble, Sarah (2019) Why context matters in the Trans prisoner policy debates. Critical Legal Thinking
- Fraser, Jennifer and Lamble, Sarah (2015) Queer desires and critical pedagogies in higher education: reflections on the transformative potential of non-normative learning desires in the classroom. Journal of Feminist Scholarship 7, pp. 61-77. ISSN 2158-6179.
- Lamble, Sarah (2014) The marketisation of prison alternatives. Criminal Justice Matters 97 (1), pp. 14-15. ISSN 0962-7251.
- Lamble, Sarah (2013) Queer necropolitics and the expanding carceral state: interrogating sexual investments in punishment. Law and Critique 24 (3), pp. 229-253. ISSN 0957-8536.
- Lamble, Sarah (2013) The quiet dangers of civilized rage: surveying the punitive aftermath of England's 2011 riots. South Atlantic Quarterly 112 (3), pp. 577-585. ISSN 0038-2876.
- Lamble, Sarah (2012) Rethinking gendered prison policies: impacts on transgender prisoners. ECAN Bulletin (16), pp. 7-12.
- Tauqir, T. and Petzen, J. and Haritaworn, J. and Ekine, S. and Bracke, S. and Lamble, Sarah and Jivraj, S. and Douglas, S. (2011) Queer anti-racist activism and strategies of critique: a roundtable discussion. Feminist Legal Studies 19 (2), pp. 169-191. ISSN 0966-3622.
- Douglas, S. and Jivraj, S. and Lamble, Sarah (2011) Liabilities of queer anti-racist critique. Feminist Legal Studies 19 (2), pp. 107-118. ISSN 0966-3622.
- Lamble, Sarah and Barker, N. (2009) From social security to individual responsibility: sanctions, conditionality and punitiveness in the Welfare Reform Bill 2009 (Part One): current developments. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 31 (3), pp. 321-332. ISSN 0964-9069.
- Lamble, Sarah (2009) Unknowable bodies, unthinkable sexualities: lesbian and transgender legal invisibility in the Toronto women's bathhouse raid. Social & Legal Studies 18 (1), pp. 111-130. ISSN 0964-6639.
- Lamble, Sarah (2008) Retelling racialized violence, remaking white innocence: the politics of interlocking oppressions in transgender day of remembrance. Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC 5 (1), pp. 24-42. ISSN 1553-6610.
- Lamble, Sarah and Freeman, L. (2004) Squatting and the city. Canadian Dimension 38 (6), pp. 44-46. ISSN 0008-3402.
- Lamble, Sarah (2001) Visible bodies, invisible demands: de-examining the participation of women in the Nicaraguan Revolution. Feminist Voices/voix Feminists 12, pp. 46-58.
Book Section
- Lamble, Sarah (2021) Practising everyday abolition. In: Duff, K. (ed.) Abolishing the Police. Dog Section Press. ISBN 9781916036574.
- Lamble, Sarah (2021) Queer theory and socio-legal studies. In: Valverde, M. and Clarke, K.M. and Darian Smith, E. and Kotiswaran, P. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Law and Society. Routledge. ISBN 9780367234249.
- Lamble, Sarah (2016) Community. In: Fritsch, K. and O'Connor, C. and Thompson, A.K. (eds.) Keywords for Radicals: The Contested Vocabulary of Late-Capitalist Struggle. Chico, U.S.: AK Press. pp. 103-110. ISBN 9781849352420.
- Lamble, Sarah (2014) Queer investments in punishment: sexual citizenship, social movements and the expanding carceral state. In: Haritaworn, J. and Kuntsman, A. and Posocco, Silvia (eds.) Queer Necropolitics. Social Justice. Oxford, UK: Routledge. pp. 151-171. ISBN 9780415644761.
- Lamble, Sarah (2011) Transforming carceral logics: 10 reasons to dismantle the prison industrial complex using a queer/trans analysis. In: Smith, N. and Stanley, E.A. (eds.) Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex. Oakland, U.S.: AK Press. pp. 235-266. ISBN 9781849350709.
- Lamble, Sarah (2001) Building sustainable communities of resistance. In: Chang, J. and Daniels, S. and Leroux, D. and Or, B. and Tharmendran, E. and Tsumura, E. (eds.) Resist! A Grassroots Collection of Stories, Poetry and Analysis from the FTAA Protests in Québec City and Beyond. Halifax, Canada: Fernwood Publishing. pp. 179-185. ISBN 9781552660638.
Editorial
- Lamble, Sarah and Serisier, Tanya and Dymock, A. and Downes, J. and Boukli, A. (2020) Queer Theory and Criminology: Editors' Introduction. Criminology and Criminal Justice Sage. ISSN 1748-8958. (In Press)
Monograph
- Lamble, Sarah (2003) Guide for squatters: legal, practical and historical information for anyone considering squatting. Peterborough, Canada: Ontario Public Interest Research Group and Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty.
Other
- Lamble, Sarah (2021) The false promise of hate crime laws. Abolitionist Futures.
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Business and community
Business and community
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Gender, sexuality and prisons
- LGBT+ prison issues and transgender prisoner policy
- Alternatives to prisons and police, including transformative justice and abolition
Outreach
Lamble S (2023) Prisons have never been safe for women – removing trans people won’t change that. i-news, 1 March.
Read & Resist (2021) ‘Kitchen Table’ discussion on FDJ Legal ruling on transgender prisoner policy in England & Wales.
Jibril, Halima (2022) Do hate crime laws really keep us safe? Dazed Digital, 23 December. [Quoted in article]
Abraham, Amelia (2019) What it’s like to be trans in the prison system. Dazed Digital, 6 November. [Quoted in article]