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Dr Eleni Dimou

Profile summary

Professional biography

Dr. Eleni Dimou joined the Open University as a Lecturer in Criminology in January 2018. Before that, she worked as a Research Assistant with Dr. Deanna Dadusc on the project: ‘Contested borders: Refugees’ solidarity structures, networks and social movements in the Netherlands and Greece’, which seeks to draw international comparison between refugees’ experiences and solidarity networks in Athens and Amsterdam. Prior to this she worked as a Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Kent for eight years.

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (University of Kent, July 2017).

  • PhD in Criminology (University of Kent, 2013)

  • MA in Criminology (University of Kent, 2009)

  • BA in Sociology (Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece, 2005)

 

Research interests

Her PhD thesis ‘“Revolutionising” Subcultural Theory: the Cases of Cuban Underground Rap and Cuban Reggaeton’ consists of an ethnographic study of Rap and Reggaeton subcultures in Havana, Cuba. The thesis explores the paradoxes within Cuban culture and power relations in terms of freedom of artistic expression among others. In doing so it illuminates processes of criminalization, labelling, social control and censorship as well as, the interplays of affective and ideological elements through which power and resistance manifest in everyday life within the wider social, cultural, economic and political context of Cuba.

Eleni’s research and work in general focus in exploring and understanding the multiple forms and shapes that power and resistance can take and how these in turn affect configurations of crime, harm, social control and processes of criminalization but also cultural and social change. She is particularly drawn to issues of global social justice and to the decolonial option in social sciences. The decolonial option looks at how economic and cultural power structures, subjectivities and hierarchies in terms of race/ethnicity and gender that were shaped and consolidated during colonialism are still perpetuated today. Her research aims to contribute in decolonizing knowledge, culture and human subjectivities by firstly, bringing back the knowledge and ways of being that were purged and supressed by colonialism and, secondly, by overcoming the hegemony of Western knowledge in social sciences in general and criminology in particular.

Her current interests also pay attention to on the one hand, the lived experiences and power relations around borders and migration control, focusing but not limited to ‘Fortress Europe’; and on the other, to the coping mechanisms and practices of resistance and solidarity to refugees. Overall, Eleni’s research interests lie in the areas of: Power and Resistance, Social Justice, Coloniality/Decoloniality, Migration, Subcultures/ Countercultures, Drugs and Cutlure, Cultural and Critical Criminology, Cultural Studies, Global South, State Crimes and Harm. She is also interested in ethnographic, qualitative methods and the role of emotions and reflexivity in research.

 

Consultant for the Animation Video through decolonising lenses for BBC Ideas: Is it time to reassess our relationship with nature?

Teaching interests

Eleni contributed to the production of DD212 module Understanding Criminology and she is currently part of the production team working on Crime, Harm and the State DD311 module.

Over the course of the years Eleni has taught material related to Criminological Theories, Criminal Justice, Drugs and Culture, Drug Policy, Cultural and Critical Criminology, Youth and Crime, “Crime, Culture and Control”, “Crime, Media and Culture”.

Publications

Constructing ‘indigenous people’ reproducing coloniality’s epistemic violence: a content analysis of the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report (2024)
Dimou, Eleni; Boukli, Avi and Papanikolaou, Georgios
In: Faulkner, Elizabeth A. ed. Modern Slavery in Global Context: Human Rights, Law and Society
ISBN : 9781529224702 | Publisher : Bristol University Press | Published : Bristol, UK


Subcultural and Post-subcultural Compatibility: The case of Cuban Underground Rap (2016-06-17)
Dimou, Eleni
In: Blackman, Shane and Kempson, Michelle eds. The Subcultural Imagination: Theory, Research and Reflexivity in Contemporary Youth Cultures. Youth, Young Adulthood and Society Series (pp. 33-45)
ISBN : 9781315730684 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London


An Exploration of Deviance, Power and Resistance within Contemporary Cuba: The Case of Cuban Underground Rap (2014)
Dimou, Eleni
In: The Subcultural Network, ed. Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change
ISBN : 978-1-4438-5945-5 | Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing | Published : Newcastle Upon Tyne


Researching Current Issues in Criminology (2023)
Dimou, Eleni; Downes, Leigh; McCulloch, Daniel and Speed, Carly eds.
Publisher : The Open University | Published : Milton Keynes