
Dr Vicki Harman
About
Biography
My research interests are primarily in the areas of family life, gender, food practices and social inequalities. I am passionate about using qualitative research methods including ethnography, interviews, focus groups and creative and visual approaches to research. I am a co-director of the Centre for Research on Ageing and Generations.
I am a Co-Editor of Sociology, the journal of the British Sociological Association. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Areas of specialism
University roles and responsibilities
- Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Ageing and Generations
My qualifications
Affiliations and memberships
News
In the media
ResearchResearch interests
My research interests centre around family life, gender, food practices, social inequalities and social identities (particularly gender, social class and ethnicity). Recent projects have focused on:
- parents’ perspectives on preparing lunchboxes for their children
- mothers’ perspectives on feeding the family on low and reduced incomes
- changing notions of 'good digital parenting' prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic
- domestic violence, liminality and possessions
- the experiences of interracial families
- the changing nature of grandparenting
- ballroom dancing and gender
- food practices in women’s prisons.
More information on selected projects can be found below:
Research projects
This project analyses the experience of food in women’s prisons using an intersectional approach. It adopts an innovative suite of mixed qualitative methods in four prisons in order to gain insight into women’s experiences of this aspect of prison life. The study will open up wider conversations about food in prisons through an exhibition of prisoners’ art run in partnership with Koestler Arts.
Using observations and interviews, this study explores the way in which food contributes to the experiences of prisoners and their families in the prison visiting room of a women's prison.
Intensive Grandparenting? Exploring the Changing Nature of Grandparenting in the UK (funded by the British Academy) Although many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren,
relatively little academic attention has been paid to the nature of contemporary
grandparenting. This project seeks to understand whether the changing nature of
parenting (particularly the intensification of parenting and the notion of children at
risk) has influenced grandparents’ narratives and practices. It does so by
investigating the practices of 20 grandparents in the UK who look after their
grandchildren at least weekly. Employing photo-elicitation interviews and 1-1
interviews, this study will investigate whether the intensification of parenting has
influenced the grandparenting role and if so, the extent to which it has changed
grandparent-grandchild relations. The study will contribute an increased
understanding of the role and practices of contemporary grandparents in family
life. It will engage with and extend interdisciplinary academic debates on
childhood, grandparenting, intensive parenting, doing and displaying families, and
surveillance in family life. Indicators of esteem
Consumer Culture Theory Conference ‘Best Competitive Paper Award’ to Cappellini, B. Harman, V. Parsons, E. Marilli, A. for ‘Intensive Mothering in Hard Times: Foucauldian Ethical Self-Formation and Cruel Optimism, Odense, Denmark, July 2018.
International Sociological Association RC13 Young Leisure Scholar Award to Harman, V. for ‘Leading the Way? Male Ballroom and Latin American Dancers’, Vienna, Austria, July 2016.
Research interests
My research interests centre around family life, gender, food practices, social inequalities and social identities (particularly gender, social class and ethnicity). Recent projects have focused on:
- parents’ perspectives on preparing lunchboxes for their children
- mothers’ perspectives on feeding the family on low and reduced incomes
- changing notions of 'good digital parenting' prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic
- domestic violence, liminality and possessions
- the experiences of interracial families
- the changing nature of grandparenting
- ballroom dancing and gender
- food practices in women’s prisons.
More information on selected projects can be found below:
Research projects
This project analyses the experience of food in women’s prisons using an intersectional approach. It adopts an innovative suite of mixed qualitative methods in four prisons in order to gain insight into women’s experiences of this aspect of prison life. The study will open up wider conversations about food in prisons through an exhibition of prisoners’ art run in partnership with Koestler Arts.
Using observations and interviews, this study explores the way in which food contributes to the experiences of prisoners and their families in the prison visiting room of a women's prison.
Indicators of esteem
Consumer Culture Theory Conference ‘Best Competitive Paper Award’ to Cappellini, B. Harman, V. Parsons, E. Marilli, A. for ‘Intensive Mothering in Hard Times: Foucauldian Ethical Self-Formation and Cruel Optimism, Odense, Denmark, July 2018.
International Sociological Association RC13 Young Leisure Scholar Award to Harman, V. for ‘Leading the Way? Male Ballroom and Latin American Dancers’, Vienna, Austria, July 2016.
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
I would be keen to receive proposals for doctoral work in any of the following areas: family life; mothering; grandparenting; food practices.
I have previously supervised five PhD students to the successful completion of their research projects.
I am currently supervising three PhD students.
Find out more about the Sociology PhD Programme
Teaching
I have extensive experience of teaching sociology including modules on families and society, qualitative research methods, contemporary sociology, and social inequalities and social identities.
Publications
Highlights
Harman, V. (2019) The Sexual Politics of Ballroom Dancing, Palgrave: London.
This book presents an engaging sociological investigation into how gender is negotiated and performed in ballroom and Latin dancing that draws on extensive ethnographic research, as well as the author’s own experience as a dancer. It explores the key factors underpinning the popularity of this leisure activity and highlights what this reveals more broadly about the nature of gender roles at the current time. The author begins with an overview of its rich social history and shifting class status, establishing the context within which contemporary masculinities and femininities in this community are explored. Real and imagined gendered traditions are examined across a range of dancer experiences that follows the trajectory of a typical learner: from finding a partner, attending lessons and forming networks, through to taking part in competitions. The analysis of these narratives creates a nuanced picture of a dance culture that is empowering, yet also highly consumerist and image-conscious; a highly ritualised set of practices that both reinstate and transgress gender roles. This innovative contribution to the feminist leisure literature will appeal to students and scholars of anthropology, dance, sport, gender, cultural and media studies.