Kirsty Finn – författare

The experience of higher education in the UK has become an increasingly common phenomenon in the 21st century. This book explores the emotional and moral significance of the relationships young women develop at university, such as friends, family and housemates, by using a seven-year qualitative longitudinal study of the transitional period.

This book presents a framework for a new kind of thinking about student mobilities and belonging, which foregrounds the everyday and rhythmic dimensions of students’ experiences. Using case studies from a variety of UK higher education contexts, this book develops the concepts of everyday mobilities and mobile belongingness. The authors draw on key ideas about the changing characteristics of UK higher education and of student belonging, exploring the central themes of the sensory, affective and emotional aspects of student mobilities; contested and mobile belongings; and the significance of everyday life, to bring a new dimension to the literature on inter and intra-national student mobilities. This is achieved through an examination of the innovative ways in which social science methods have been (re)imagined through mobility, with a specific focus on youth and education. Kirsty Finn and Mark Holton bring together theory and research from the fields of education studies, geography and sociology, and combine this with a discussion of rich empirical data from three UK-based research projects to set out an explicitly mobility-centred approach to 21st-century student experiences. The findings can be recognised globally because they synthesise debates about travel and transport, students’ sense of place and feelings of belonging, and the interrelationship between physical, social and virtual mobilities that higher education brings together. In doing so, this text offers a coherent and grounded campaign for theory and research within studies of higher education that foreground multiple mobilities and diverse feelings of belonging.

This book presents a framework for a new kind of thinking about student mobilities and belonging, which foregrounds the everyday and rhythmic dimensions of students’ experiences. Using case studies from a variety of UK higher education contexts, this book develops the concepts of everyday mobilities and mobile belongingness. The authors draw on key ideas about the changing characteristics of UK higher education and of student belonging, exploring the central themes of the sensory, affective and emotional aspects of student mobilities; contested and mobile belongings; and the significance of everyday life, to bring a new dimension to the literature on inter and intra-national student mobilities. This is achieved through an examination of the innovative ways in which social science methods have been (re)imagined through mobility, with a specific focus on youth and education. Kirsty Finn and Mark Holton bring together theory and research from the fields of education studies, geography and sociology, and combine this with a discussion of rich empirical data from three UK-based research projects to set out an explicitly mobility-centred approach to 21st-century student experiences. The findings can be recognised globally because they synthesise debates about travel and transport, students’ sense of place and feelings of belonging, and the interrelationship between physical, social and virtual mobilities that higher education brings together. In doing so, this text offers a coherent and grounded campaign for theory and research within studies of higher education that foreground multiple mobilities and diverse feelings of belonging.

The first two decades of the 21st century have been characterised by conflict, displacement, growing economic insecurity and austerity. Increasing social polarisation has meant that contemporary societies are becoming more unequal with smaller segments of the population having access to the most wealth. Ongoing conflicts around the world and the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe has only intensified calls for justice, equity, compassion and understanding. We live in times of despair and conflict, but also times of hope and action.Social Justice in Times of Crisis and Hope examines the possibilities and consequences of the relationship between young people, well-being, education and social justice in times of crisis and hope. Drawing together contributions from around the globe, the chapters examine the role of young people in contemporary social movements, the kinds of demands that are being made by the world’s young people and the spaces within which they are making such demands. Authors engage with notions of justice and well-being, what this means in the contemporary moment and for whom. They interrogate the politics of increasingly global education to think about the limits and possibilities, challenges and opportunities, for education to play a role in delivering on the promise of social justice.