Naomi Holford

Profile

My broad research interests fall within sociology, in the area of gender, sexuality and class in childhood and youth, across different age ranges from the early years to teenagers. I work with queer and feminist perspectives to explore the making of gendered/sexual subjectivities and relationships, with a particular focus on relations of power, conflict and violence, in their broader institutional and social contexts. My ESRC-funded doctoral research focused on gender and power in teenage heterosexual relationship cultures, including issues of control, coercion and abuse. I explored these in relation to middle-class 14-16 year olds' experiences and identities, with a particular interest in the intersections of class, age, gender and sexuality. I was also recently principal researcher on an ethnographic research project with Emma Renold (Cardiff University) and Tuija Huuki (University of Oulu), exploring gender, power and conflict in young children's peer cultures (age 5-6), affiliated with the EU ALLiES project (Teachers' and Parents' Alliance for Early Violence Prevention in Preschool), funded under the DAPHNE III programme.

I am currently working as part of the team developing a new compulsory introductory module for students on the Childhood and Youth qualification,  E102 (Introduction to Childhood Studies and Child Psychology). I am also part of the team developing EK313 (Issues in research with children and you, a new version of a third-level course that critically explores research with children and young people.

In addition, I work on the delivery of E212 (Childhood), an interdisciplinary and internationally-focussed second level module, and E807 (Children and young people's worlds: frameworks for integrated practice), a masters-level module.