Becca Mavin

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College: College of Social Sciences and International Studies
Discipline: Politics
Department: Politics

I am currently studying for a PhD as part of the Security, Conflict and Justice programme in the South West Doctoral Training Centre, for which I will primarily be based in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter, as part of a 1+3 programme. I have received full ESRC funding for this course of study. I am also a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant in the Politics Department at the University of Exeter. 

My project examines the roles and functions of the body in the contemporary British asylum system, and the embodied experiences of asylum seekers. In brief, my research discusses the variety of ways that the physical body is involved in the process of claiming asylum, and the ways that these embodied experiences can be seen to impact upon asylum seekers' broader experiences. 

The project sits at the intersection of the social sciences and political theory, employing both empirical fieldwork and a critical analysis of asylum policy and literature on asylum in order to discuss how the body is experienced and used in the asylum system. Sustained engagement with political theory will also allow me to attempt to move from these specific analyses in order to produce a more theoretical framework with which to understand the body within the asylum system.

 

I formerly studied for a BA in Theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London (1:1, 2012), for an MA in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies in the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London (Distinction, 2013) and for an MRes in Politics at the University of Exeter (Distinction, 2015)