Dr Sharon Walker
PhD, BA (Hons), PGCE, MPhil
Current positions
Lectuer in Education (Racial Justice and Education)
School of Education
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I am a sociologist of education. My research examines the material and discursive processes that reproduce the idea of racial difference, and racist practices and outcomes in education systems. More broadly, I am interested in the politics of representation (race and ethnicity), in race as a technology of state formation and practices of governance, in the cultural politics of race, and anti-racist education in schooling/comparative and international education. I am currently carrying out a study relevant to the discursive constitution of British Blackness against a backdrop of notions of 'Englishness'. Methodologically my research draws on critical discourse analysis, corpus approaches to discourse analysis and ethnographic approaches. Theoretically, it is influenced by perspectives from cultural studies, postcolonial sociology and intellectual history.
I am the lead facilitator of the Race, Empire and Education Collective, a member of the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education and Migration, Mobilities Bristol
I welcome requests for doctoral supervision relevant to my research interests. Please contact me directly.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
‘Deep Understanding’ for ant-racist school transformation
Principal Investigator
Description
The project supports anti-racist school transformation as a shared endeavour across a cohort of primary schools (REP). Developing school leaders’ and classroom teachers’ knowledge and understanding of anti-racist practices…Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
01/09/2023 to 31/12/2024
Action Aid SETA project: Anti-racist Public Education
Principal Investigator
Description
The ActionAid/SETA project strives for a Brazilian public education system built on the principles of racial and social justice where every person can access their right to quality education. It…Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
06/02/2023 to 31/12/2030
Anti-Racist Education Forum
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
This project mobilises research, resources, relationships and networks to promote anti-racist learning and action for schools in Bristol, the South-West and beyond. It responds to specific challenges faced by Bristol,…Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
01/12/2022 to 31/07/2023
Publications
Recent publications
12/06/2025Can Higher Education be Decolonized?
Can Higher Education be Decolonized?
Exploring decolonial and anti-racist perspectives in teacher education and curriculum through dialogue
Curriculum Journal
Erasures of Racism in Education and International Development
World Yearbook of Education 2023 Racialization and Educational Inequality in Global Perspective
Theorizing race and racism in Comparative and International Education
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Theory in Comparative and International Education
The case for educational reparations
International Journal of Educational Development
Related people
Dr Mark Jackson
Associate Professor in Human Geography
School of Geographical Sciences
Professor Leon Tikly
Professor in Education
School of Education
Professor Foluke Adebisi
Professor of Law
University of Bristol Law School
Professor Steve Eichhorn
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering
Dr Eyob Gebremariam
Research Associate
School for Policy Studies