My research has two strands. Firstly, I am interested in the politics of recognition, including solidarity, in relation to citizenship within Europe. My monograph, Refugee Voice: Performativity and the Struggle for Recognition is published by Routledge. Secondly, I am pursuing research into the intersection between the journalistic and humanitarian communication fields, and the construction of boundary work between them. I’m also interested in the intersection between psychoanalysis and the politics of recognition. My research has fed into two modules which I have designed and run: Participatory Media on the MA in Media Ethics Social Change and the forthcoming Community Media on the BA in Media and Journalism.
Book(s)
Sharp, R. (2024) Refugee Voices: Performativity and the Struggle for Recognition (London: Routledge) see here
“A truly original and important insight into refugee voice, the book calls for deeper understanding of its different manifestations and restrictions. Centred in refugees’ own creative practices and reflexive engagement with the media, Refugee Voices opens up a space for students and scholars to interrogate the politics of resettlement and recognition for those seeking safety after their forced migration.” — Myria Georgiou, Professor, Dept of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
“Rob Sharp’s Refugee Voices: Performativity and the Struggle for Recognition provides meaningful insights into the convoluted processes that shape the visibility of refugee voices within public institutions. Through a conceptually rich and rigorous analysis, the book opens up new research directions for a better understanding of performative refugeeness in highly regulated settings.” — Sara Marino, Senior Lecturer, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London
“Refugee Voices will be of interest to practitioners working with refugees, as well as scholars working in the fields of media, arts, politics and migration. Many of the findings will be thought-provoking, and perhaps validating to practitioners who have questioned the assumed benefits of the promises of refugee voice…The book therefore not only deconstructs ‘voice’. It also offers several ways to reimagine and rereconstruct it for the benefit of refugees themselves.” — Moé Suzuku, LSE Fellow, writing in the European Journal of Cultural Studies
”As Sharp contends, to have a voice means to have a place in the world, to be granted the possibility of changing it. This is a book that compels readers to imagine better ways to interact with those who have suffered and been forced to flee their homes. In the end, to hear each other’s voice is to accept that our differences matter and should be embraced.” — Rodrigo Muñoz-González, Lecturer, University of Costa Rica, writing in the LSE Review of Books
Selected journal articles
Sharp R. (2024) Refugee recognition: reconsidering Honneth in light of Benjamin and Klein. Counterspace, Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society see here
Sharp R. and Stupart R. (2023) Friends like these: a shift in labour, security, and the normative ideals of conflict journalism. International Communication Gazette see here
Stupart, R. and Sharp, R. (2023) Saints and witnesses: Virtue and vocation in them memorialisation of the Western conflict journalist; Media War and Conflict see here