Dr Jane Hindley

Biography

Jane is a comparative political sociologist and lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Studies Centre. She works on social movements, sustainability and climate change and is also interested in radical pedagogies and the history of radical thought. Jane is a member of the Red-Green Study Group UK and has held visiting fellowships at the Centro de Investigacción e Estudios Supériores en Antropología Social in Mexico City; the US-Mexico Centre at the University of California-San Diego; and the Institute of Gender Studies at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan. Jane's early research focused on social movements and the transition to democracy and neoliberalism in Latin America. Her PhD thesis ("Indigenous Mobilisation, Development and Political Reform in Mexico: The Nahuas' Struggle Against the Tetelcingo Dam") for example, documented how the Council of Nahua Villages of the Upper Balsas, Guerrero capitalised on changes in the wider political opportunity structure and successfully stopped the construction of a large dam. Since 2008 Jane's interests have shifted to environmental issues: including, the politics of climate change in the UK, the role of grassroots initiatives and social enterprises in the transition to a zero carbon economy and society, and education for sustainability. During this period she has developed several innovative modules including Social Entrepreneurs, Sustainability and Community Action; Community Engagement Group Projects; and the Summer School in Sustainable Practice. Jane has co/supervised 11 PhD students through to completion: • Helle Abelvik-Lawson,“Indigenous Environmental Rights and Extractive Projects: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Participation in Lithium Mining” (2019) • Jasper Finkeldey, “Social Movements on the Fossil Fuel Frontier in South Africa” (2019) • Tamas Lester, “Spiritual Agency and Sustainability Transitions: Exploring Food Practices in Three Hare Krishna Eco- Communities” (2018) • David Watson, “Well-being in Community Food Organisations: Responding to Alienation in the Food System” (2016) • Lauren Crabb, ‘Elites and Carbon-Offsetting in Brazil: A Critique of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Mato Grosso” (2016) • Carlos Gadsden, “Local Democracy and Municipal Governance in Mexico” (2012) • Lucia Saldana, “Neoliberalism and Rural Workers in Chile” (2007) • Christine Rogers, “Parenting Children with Impairments” (2005) • Rhiannon Morgan, “Mobilizing Indigenous Rights at the United Nations”(2004) • Stephen Clayton, “English for Cambodia?” (2003) • David Zhao, “’From Dreams to Realities’: A Case Study of Rural-Urban Migration in the Pearl River Delta, China” (2002)

Qualifications

• PhD Government University of Essex, (1997)

• MA Sociology (pasante) Universidad de Guadalajara, (1992)

• BSc Anthropology University College London, (1986)

Appointments

University of Essex

• Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Studies Centre, University of Essex (2008 - present)

• Deputy Director, Interdisciplinary Studies Centre, University of Essex (2019 - present)

• Co-ordinator, Summer School in Sustainable Practice, Interdisciplinary Studies Centre, University of Essex (6/2017 - present)