Daniel Burdsey

My research involves sociological, cultural and geographical analyses of race, ethnicity and popular culture. It is linked fundamentally by its central theme of qualitative observational research on ethnicities as lived in public cultures/spaces, and comprises explorations of the spatial dimensions of racialised inequality and resistance. My work emphasises theoretical innovation, empirical originality and sociological intervention.

My research interests can be divided into four main areas:

 - Theorising race and racism in football, with particular focus on connecting ideas around Empire, de/coloniality, racialised identities and anti-racist resistance

- Black British sporting, stylistic, fashion and musical cultures and spaces

- The experiences of British Asians in sport and leisure

- Social, cultural and geographical aspects of the contemporary English seaside and coast, especially the connections between race, whiteness, im/migration and ‘new’ spaces of multiculture

I have written / (co-)edited eight books: British Asians and Football: Culture, Identity, Exclusion (Routledge, 2007); Race, Ethnicity and Football: Persisting Debates and Emergent Issues (Routledge, 2011); Coastal Cultures: Liminality and Leisure (Leisure Studies Association, 2014); Sport and South Asian Diasporas: Playing Through Time and Space (Routledge, 2014); Race, Place and the Seaside: Postcards from the Edge (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); Transforming Sport: Knowledges, Practices and Structures (Routledge, 2018); Racism and English Football: For Club and Country (Routledge, 2021); and Leisure, Racism, and National Populist Politics (Routledge, 2021).

I joined the University of Brighton in 2003, and I am a Reader in the School of Sport and Health Sciences. I am also an Associate Professor (status only) in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. 

I have a PhD in Sociology (Brunel University, 2004), an MA (Distinction) in Sociology of Sport (University of Leicester, 1999) and an Upper Second Class BSc (Hons) in Sport and Recreation Studies (University of Birmingham, 1998). 

I am interested in supervising doctoral students in all areas related to my research interests in sociological, cultural and geographical analyses of race, ethnicity and popular culture. In particular, my work addresses: theorising race and racism in football, with particular focus on connecting ideas around Empire, de/coloniality, racialised identities and anti-racist resistance; Black British leisure, musical and sonic cultures and spaces; the experiences of British Asians in sport and leisure; and social, cultural and geographical aspects of the contemporary English seaside and coast, especially the connections between race, whiteness, migration and ‘new’ spaces of multiculture;

My current PhD students are undertaking research on: football fans' engagements with Muslims and Islam at the 2022 men's FIFA World Cup in Qatar; conflicts, protest and resistance around modern Olympic Games; identities and experiences of mixed-race university students; and tourism in post-Communist Romania. 

I am an enthusiastic and passionate educator, and I like to bring to the classroom the same elements that underpin my research: the pursuit of social justice; the inclusion of marginalised voices and perspectives; a critical sociological standpoint; and the means to challenge dominant institutions, structures and orthodoxies. My teaching is underpinned by values of diversity and inclusion, and a practice of theoretically-informed critical thinking. I currently teach modules on the politics and sociology of sport.