Dr Jan Etienne

Overview

Biography

Dr Jan Etienne is a Birkbeck Fellow, Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences.  She is a Womanist researcher and Chair of the Womanism, Activism and Higher Education Research Network.   Jan teaches on the BA Psychosocial Studies and MSc Education and Social Justice programme in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is a member of the Decolonising the Academy Collective and Hub Leader for Student Experience. 

Dr Etienne's major research interest is in the field of Black Feminist Epistemology, and Womanist Learning for Community Activism where she  explores Black women’s involvement in transforming community spaces into thriving matriarchal learning hubs. Dr Etienne earned her PhD from the Department of Social Policy and Education, Birkbeck, University of London and her MSc from the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. She is the author of Learning in Womanist Ways: Narratives of first-generation African Caribbean women, (IOE/UCL Press, Trentham Books, 2016) and editor of Communities of Activism: Black Women, higher education, and the politics of representation, (UCL Press/Trentham Books, 2020) and Feminist scholar's experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, class and identity in narrative (Lived Places Publishing 2025).

 

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

PhD.  Black Feminist Epistemologies: Womanist learning in the Third Age.

Department of Social Policy and Education,

Birkbeck, University of London

Malet Street,

London WC1E 7HX.

 

MSc Policy Studies: Black Political Narratives, Race and Representation

School for Policy Studies.

University of Bristol

Priory Road

Bristol BS8 1TZ

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

·       British Educational Research Association (BERA)

·       British Sociological Association (BSA)

·       Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)

·       University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults 

 

ORCID

 0000-0001-7196-9386

Highlights

• New book: Etienne, J. (2025) (Ed) Feminist Scholars’ Experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, Class, and Identity in Narrative. New York: Lived Places Publishing. https://livedplacespublishing.com/book/isbn/97819157340822

  Conference - October 2023 - Supporting Community https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/39493/supporting-community-what-should-black-womens-research-look-like-in-times-of-adversity

  Research Seminar  - 8th March 2022 - Contemporary Womanist Research - https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/27751/contemporary-womanist-research-post-george-floyd-compelling-developments-in-black-feminist-theory

  Book launch - 8th July 2020, Etienne, J. Virtual Book Launch – ‘Communities of Activism’, Department of Geography https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDxc1nfE0QQ

• 21st February 2019, Etienne, J Research Conference: Youth crime and violence: Who hears the voices of black women? Womanism, Activism, Higher Education Research Network  http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/events/2019/03/08/youth-crime-and-violence-who-hears-the-voices-of-black-women/

• March 2022 - https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/27751/contemporary-womanist-research-post-george-floyd-compelling-developments-in-black-feminist-theory

• 26th August 2016, Etienne, J - BBC Radio 4: Woman's Hour, Education after the age of 50: Dr Jan Etienne’s  research into Lifelong Learning and Older lack Caribbean Women.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07pd4yw
   

• 26th July 2016, Etienne, J. Learning in Womanist ways book launch – Institute of Education https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrJQ5ugbUJgSWEAdwIM34lQ;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=book+launch+waterstones+jan+etienne&fr2=piv-web&fr=mcafee#id=18&vid=0c5e6c98970bb9ff6cc2a2b10a154956&action=view

   

Honours and awards

• Womanist Ethnography Award , Vanderbilt University, March 2023
• Birkbeck Fellowship, Birkbeck, University of London, March 2019
• Birkbeck Students Union, Colours and Honours Award Winner , Students Union, Birkbeck, University of London, March 2017
• Honorary Research Fellow – Department of Geography, Department of Geography, Birkbeck, University of London, March 2014
• Michael Stephens Award for PhD Research, 2009, Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in Education of Adults, March 2009
• Birkbeck Distinguished Lecturer Award, Birkbeck, University of London, March 2007
• Prize for Longitudinal Research Study , British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society , March 2006

ORCID

0000-0001-7196-9386

Research

Research interests

• Race, Education and Gender Studies
• Decolonising higher education - Feminist perspectives - Etienne, J. (2025) (Ed) Feminist Scholars’ Experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, Class, and Identity in Narrative. New York: Lived Places Publishing. https://livedplacespublishing.com/book/isbn/9781915734082
• Narrative Research Study and Lifelong Learning
• Black Feminist Epistemologies
• Womanist Approaches to Community Learning
• Black Women, Social Capital and Wellbeing
• Studies in Gender and Migration

Research overview

 

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Womanism, Activism and Higher Education Research (2018 - present); Communities of Activism research initiatives (2020); Contemporary Womanist Research (2022); Black Feminist perspectives in developing approaches to supporting research in Black/feminist  communities: What should Black feminist activists research look like? (2023)  Funded by the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities; Birkbeck Institute for Social Research (BISR) and Birkbeck Institute for Gender and Sexualities (BIGs).

Current: Decolonising higher education: Etienne, J. (2025).(Ed) Feminist Scholars’ Experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, Class, and Identity in Narrative. New York: Lived Places Publishing. https://livedplacespublishing.com/book/isbn/9781915734082

Earlier research:

Research Associate. Birkbeck's Institute of Lifelong Learning (2005-2007), ESRC funded project into Lifelong Learning and the Women’s Institute: ESRC RES-000-22-1441 (September 2005) Learning citizenship: lifelong learning, community and the Women’s Institutes 

Research Associate: Centre for Excellence in Leadership/ Learning and Skills Development Agency (2004). Research into Management and Leadership, Project Title: Career Hopes and Hesitations Institute for Policy Studies in Education: London Metropolitan University (University of North London)

Research Associate: London Metropolitan University, HE Equalities and Diversity Recruitment research. Funded by: The Institute for Policy Studies in Education (IPSE) (2004)

Institute for Policy Studies in Education: University of North London (2003): Research into Employment and Diversity Strategies. Project Title: National Survey of Black Managers in FE.

Research Associate: Learning and skills Development Agency: Experiences of Black managers in Education (2002) Funded by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA)

Research Centres and Institutes

• Centre for Social Change and Transformation in Higher Education
• Advisory Board Member, Centre for Research on Employment and Work - University of Greenwich
• Birkbeck Institute for Gender and Sexuality Studies
• Chair, Birkbeck Womanism, Activism, Higher Education Research Network

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

SUPERVISION

·       Black Feminist epistemologies

·       Womanist learning and studies of migration

·       Narrative Studies

·       Race, Gender and Education

Current joint principal supervision

Debi Lewinson Roberts (2023 - to date) 'So it go':  Using a Black feminist lens to explore grief and bereavement in Black Caribbean communities

Nandita Sirker (2020 - to date) Supporting Refugee Mothers – Do you See Us?

Rebekka Mirjam Hölzle (2020 – to date) Resisting the ‘hostile environment’: practices of migrant women 

 

 

Teaching

Teaching overview

Jan is Programme Director on the BA Psychosocial Studies course

and Programme Director on the MSc Education and Social Justice course.

She currently teaches:

- Theories and Sites of the Psychosocial on the MA Psychosocial Studies

- Key Concepts, Global Foundations in Sociology BA in Sociology 

- The Undergraduate Dissertation Module at Level 6

- The undergraduate module on 'Class'

Jan previously taught on the MSc Education, Power and Social Change programme and was module leader for: ‘Education, Globalisation and Change’.   She has previously taught on the MSc Voluntary and Community Sector Studies programme and was Module Leader for: Strategies and Development in a Changing Environment as well as lead tutor on the Post Graduate Certificate in Elected Member Professional Development.  In her previous role as Assistant Programme Director on the BSc Social Science degree, in the Department of Geography, Jan taught on a range of core modules including: ‘Sociological Approaches to Social Conflict’ and ‘Social Justice.’  Jan has wide experience of teaching in the Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication in various Academic Skills Development roles teaching modules such as: ‘Sociology and Social Policy’ and ‘Introducing the Social World’ on the Higher Education Introductory Studies Diploma.

 

 

Teaching modules

• Education, Globalisation and Change (FDLL004S7)
• Theories and Sites of the Psychosocial (PSSL040S7)
• Class (SSPA094S6)
• Dissertation Module (SSPA111D6)
• Key Concepts: Global Foundations in Sociology (SSPA161S4)
• Crossing Borders (SSSS001S3)

Publications

Business and community

Media

I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

• Black Feminist Perspectives: Women, Education, Learning and Activism Black Youth, Criminalisation and Community Black Political Narratives Black staff in Higher Education Decolonising the Higher Education Academy Racism and Higher Education Student, Diversity and Higher Education Curriculum Migration, Refugees, and Conflict