Dr Jan Etienne

Research

Research interests

Race, Education and Gender Studies
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

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions external to Birkbeck:: 2
Supervisions within Birkbeck:: 4

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

Current doctoral researchers

DEBI ROBERTS

Nature of supervision:
Joint Principal Supervisor, Sep 2024 onwards
NANDITA SIRKER

Nature of supervision:
Joint Principal Supervisor, Sep 2024 onwards
REBEKKA HOELZLE

Nature of supervision:
Joint Principal Supervisor, Sep 2024 onwards

Title of thesis:
Migrant women’s practices of survival and resistance in the UK’s hostile environment - the necropolitics and everyday violence of the ‘subject to immigration control’ and ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy

Description:
My research explores the practices of survival and resistance in the every-day of migrant women with 'no recourse to public funds' in the UK. Migrants/refugees often find themselves subject to a testimonial imperative, having to 'tell their story', or provide evidence, most often in the context of institutional violence, i.a. at the Home Office or Social Services. I am interested in how arts-based, participatory methods can be a tool for socially engaged research that challenges these violent testimonial practices. In my work I experiment with co-creative collective practices to reclaim more radical forms of storytelling, critically explore, archive and honour diasporic knowledges. In my methods, I am working with natural material, visual as well as sound and music-based activities.

Teaching

Teaching overview

Jan currently teaches on the MSc Education, Power and Social Change programme and is 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

Article

Mackay, F. and Etienne, Jan (2006) Black managers in further education: career hopes and hesitations. Educational Management: Administration & Leadership 34 (1), pp. 9-28. ISSN 1741-1432.

Book

Etienne, Jan, ed. (2025) Feminist scholars' experiences in decolonising the academy: race, class, and identity in narrative. Lived Places Publishing. ISBN 9781915734082.
Etienne, Jan, ed. (2020) Communities of activism: Black women, higher education and the politics of representation. UCL IOE Press. ISBN 9781858569000.
Etienne, Jan (2016) Learning in Womanist ways: narratives of first-generation African Caribbean women. Trentham Books. ISBN 9781858567785.

Book Section

Etienne, Jan (2025) Black feminist practice in decolonising for social justice and well-being. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Feminist Scholars' Experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, Class, and Identity in Narrative. Lived Places Publishing. ISBN 9781915734082.
Etienne, Jan (2025) Decolonisation, intersectionality, and change: black and decolonial feminist collaboration. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Feminist Scholars' Experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, Class, and Identity in Narrative. Lived Places Publishing. ISBN 9781915734082.
Etienne, Jan (2025) Thinking black and decolonial feminist in higher education: a black British womanist perspective. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Feminist Scholars' Experiences in Decolonising the Academy: Race, Class, and Identity in Narrative. Lived Places Publishing. ISBN 9781915734082.
Etienne, Jan (2020) Beyond Brexit: black women in higher education, collaborating internationally for change. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Communities of Activism: Black Women, Higher Education and the Politics of Representation. UCL IOE Press. ISBN 9781858569000.
Etienne, Jan (2020) Education for survival: black lives and black women’s activism. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Communities of Activism: Black Women, Higher Education and the Politics of Representation. UCL IOE Press. ISBN 9781858569000.
Etienne, Jan and Chigbo, Ezimma (2020) Drill music, violence and criminalization: gendered [platforms] for resistance. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Communities of Activism: Black Women, Higher Education and the Politics of Representation. UCL IOE Press. ISBN 9781858569000.
Etienne, Jan and Davis, J. and Dowe, F. (2020) Whiteness in denial: promoting culturally specific conversations in higher education. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Communities of Activism: Black Women, Higher Education and the Politics of Representation. UCL IOE Press. ISBN 9781858569000.
Etienne, Jan and Joseph, D. (2020) Educating Ryan: black youth surviving a British education system. In: Etienne, Jan (ed.) Communities of Activism: Black Women, Higher Education and the Politics of Representation. UCL IOE Press. ISBN 9781858569000.
Etienne, Jan and Jackson, Sue (2011) Lifelong learning in later years: choices and constraints for older women. In: Jackson, Sue and Malcolm, I. and Thomas, K. (eds.) Gendered choices: learning, work, identities in lifelong learning. Lifelong Learning Book Series. Kluwer Academic Publihsers: Dordrecht, Germany. pp. 227-241. ISBN 9789400706460.
Etienne, Jan and Jackson, Sue (2010) Beyond the home: informal learning and community participation for older women. In: Jackson, Sue (ed.) Innovations in Lifelong Learning: Critical Perspectives on Diversity, Participation and Vocational Learning. Routledge. ISBN 9780415548786.

Thesis

Etienne, Jan (2014) First-generation African Caribbean women pursuing learning in the third age and beyond: an emancipatory role for lifelong learning in community settings?. Birkbeck, University of London.

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