Dr Siobhan Holohan

Title: Lecturer in Sociology
Phone: (+44) 01782 734230
Email:
Location: CBC0.025
Role: Sociology Programme Director
Contacting me: During Office Hours, posted on my door, or via email appointment.
Holohan Siobhan 2011

After a number of years working in various private sector jobs, I enrolled for a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Cultural Studies at Staffordshire University, where I graduated with a First in 1997. I stayed on to do an MA in Social and Cultural Theory after which I was awarded a scholarship to undertake my PhD. I completed my thesis on the media representation of law and order discourses in 2002.

Prior to my appointment at Keele in 2004, I held lectureships at Loughborough University and Staffordshire University and have spent time teaching and researching in Canada and Japan.

My research lies broadly in the area of media representation and discourses of social exclusion, and focuses specifically on theories of identity, multiculturalism and confession. My first book, The Search for Justice in a Media Age, 2005, examined two high profile cases: the US trial of British au pair Louise Woodward and the murder of Stephen Lawrence, in order to reveal how the organization of public discourse around a sacrificial figure intensifies patterns of social inclusion / exclusion. Further to this I have published peer reviewed articles and book chapters on the ever-shifting concept of British multiculturalism in the wake of the Macpherson inquiry report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and on the representation of Muslims in the media. I have recently completed work on the Muslims in the European Mediascape project with my colleague Dr Elizabeth Poole, which examined media impact on social cohesion in Germany and the UK.

Following on from my work on discourses of exclusion, my current book project entitled The Culture of Confession, aims to trace the confession in religious, legal, therapeutic and public discourse in order to show how it remains central to the formation of knowledge and power relations over time and space. Part of this work reveals how the contemporary media have become central to confessional practices through popular reality formats.

I am a member of the Centre for Social Policy hosted by the Research Institute for Social Sciences, the Cultural Research Unit, and convene the Ethnicities and Migration Research Group.

I currently supervise PhD students working on the Iranian Diaspora; Turkish parental involvement in education; and online fan communities. I would be happy to hear from potential PhD applicants on any area related to my research.

Selected Publications

  • Holohan S. 2012. 'We're a very normal family': Representing the mundane in Channel 4's The Family. Media Culture and Society, vol. 34(1), 21-35. link> doi>
  • Holohan S and Poole E. 2011. Three Phases of Representation 1994-2008: The Reporting of British Islam. In Islam in Its International Context: Comparative Perspectives. Hutchings S, Flood C, Miazhevich G, Nickels H (Eds.). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Holohan S, Featherstone MA, Poole E. 2010. Discourses of the War on Terror: Constructions of the Islamic Other in the Wake of 7/7. The International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, vol. 6(2), 169-186. doi> link>
  • HOLOHAN S. 2006. New Labour, Multiculturalism and the British Media. In Muslims and the News Media. Poole E and Richardson JE (Eds.). I B Tauris & Co Ltd.
  • HOLOHAN S. 2005. The Search for Justice in a Media Age: Reading Stephen Lawrence and Louise Woodward. Ashgate.

Full Publications List show

Books

  • HOLOHAN S. 2005. The Search for Justice in a Media Age: Reading Stephen Lawrence and Louise Woodward. Ashgate.

Journal Articles

  • Holohan S. 2012. 'We're a very normal family': Representing the mundane in Channel 4's The Family. Media Culture and Society, vol. 34(1), 21-35. link> doi>
  • Holohan S, Featherstone MA, Poole E. 2010. Discourses of the War on Terror: Constructions of the Islamic Other in the Wake of 7/7. The International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, vol. 6(2), 169-186. doi> link>
  • Holohan S. 2008. Guys and Guns Amok: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the Oklahoma City Bombing to the Virginia Tech Massacre, by Douglas Kellner. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, vol. 4(3), 431-433. doi> link>
  • Holohan S. 2005. The racist murder of Stephen Lawrence: Media performance and public transformation, by Simon Cottle. SOCIOL REV, vol. 53(3), 576-579. doi>
  • HOLOHAN S and Featherstone M. 2003. Multiculturalism, Institutional Law, and Imaginary Justice. Law and Critique, vol. 14(1), 1-27. doi>
  • Holohan S and Poole E. 2002. Race, Representation and Power: The Experience of British Muslims. Inter/Sections: The Journal of Communications and Culture, vol. 2(3/4), 79-88.
  • Holohan S. 2001. Race, media and the crisis of civil society: From Watts to Rodney King, by Ronald N. Jacobs. SOCIOLOGY, vol. 35(3), 793-794. doi>
  • Holohan S. Ain’t Got No Body:Confessions of Stelarc’s Head. Parol Quaderni d'arte e di epistemologia, vol. 20, 2010/2011.

Chapters

  • Holohan S. 2011. Assimilation. In Encyclopedia of Global Studies. Juergensmeyer M, Anheier H, Faessel V (Eds.). Sage.
  • Holohan S and Poole E. 2011. Three Phases of Representation 1994-2008: The Reporting of British Islam. In Islam in Its International Context: Comparative Perspectives. Hutchings S, Flood C, Miazhevich G, Nickels H (Eds.). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • HOLOHAN S. 2006. New Labour, Multiculturalism and the British Media. In Muslims and the News Media. Poole E and Richardson JE (Eds.). I B Tauris & Co Ltd.
  • Holohan S. 2000. Judith Butler; Luce Irigaray; Donna Haraway; Frantz Fanon; Post-colonial Theory; Internet. In Collins Dictionary Sociology. Jary D and Jary J (Eds.). (Third ed.).

Other

  • Holohan S and Poole E. 2011. Muslims in the European Mediascape. full text>

I teach across the Sociology and Media, Communications and Culture UG and PG programmes, including:

  • SOC-30031 The Virtual Revolution: New Technolgies, Culture and Society
  • MDS-40018 Globalisation, Culture, Media
  • MDS-40017 Contemporary Cultural and Media Theory

I supervise PhD students working on the Iranian Diaspora; Turkish parental involvement in education; and online fan communities. I would be happy to supervise PhD students on any area related to my research.