Dr Anthony Gunter

Professional biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies. Prior to joining the Open University, I was Principal Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of East London. Before embarking on my career in academia – which incidentally began at the OU in the early 2000s when I was first employed as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Welfare – I worked for over 14 years in South and East London, firstly as a detached community and youth worker before taking on Project and Area Manager roles. Consequently, my professional background incorporates the development, management and delivery of programmes and provision in the areas: of early years, 5-11-year-old after school services, alternative education, adult education, detached youth work and centre-based youth projects.

Research interests

My research interests and expertise are in the areas of: Black young people; youth cultures and transitions; ethnography; serious youth violence and gangs; race/ethnicity, crime and justice; and policing multi-ethnic urban neighbourhoods. I am the author of ‘Growing up Bad: Black Youth, Road Culture & Badness in an East London Neighbourhood’ (Tufnell Press, 2010), and ‘Race, Gangs and Youth Violence: Policy, Prevention and Policing’ (Policy Press, 2017), and with Ellis & Marques ‘Thug Criminology: A Call to Action’ (University of Toronto Press, 2023). During the past two decades I have carried out a number of ethnographic research studies examining and exploring contemporary urban youth subculture(s) and alternative youth transitions. More recently, my work has focused on serious youth violence with regard to: (i) current policy, policing and preventative practice aimed at tackling ‘street gangs’ and; (ii) youth led and community-based/ driven solutions and interventions. I am also Co-Director of the Contemporary Youth Cultures and Transitions (CYCaT) research group at the OU.

Teaching interests

Youth Cultures and Transitions; Global Perspectives on Childhood and Youth; Race/Ethnicity and Contemporary Youth Identities; Working with Children and Young People; Youth and Social Policy; Researching with Children and Young People.

Impact and engagement

I have disseminated my research findings to a wide and varied audience via: authored books, policy papers, evaluation reports;presented and spoke at conferences, seminars and community events; television, radio and newspaper interviews.

Examples of Knowledge Exchange and Public Engagement Projects:

Prosecuting Rap Network

Prosecuting Rap: Can We Get Racial Discrimination out of the Courtroom? When young black men and boys are accused of crimes, rap music is often presented as evidence. This is a practice that an international network of scholars, which includes Dr Anthony Gunter, has found to be structurally racist.

Commonwealth Youth Mainstreaming Training Programme

This youth training programme was developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Open University [Dr Anthony Gunter and Dr Michael Boampong] for stakeholders across 54 member countries of the Commonwealth.

Hyperlocal Working and Violence Reduction in a London Borough: A Learning & Evaluation Study

This study, seeks to understand the effectiveness of a London Borough Council’s hyper-local approach to youth violence prevention; specifically, concerning the London Violence Reduction Unit’s (MOPAC) 2019/20 service delivery aim of, ‘putting communities and young people at the heart of tackling the issue’.

Expert Contributor - ‘Michael Caine on Gangs’ – Audible, Series 1_Episode 6, released July 2021

MASSOLIT, video lecture on ‘The Stephen Lawrence Case’, released October 2021

Externally funded projects

Hyperlocal Working and Violence Reduction in Walthamstow Neighbourhood: A Learning & Evaluation Study

Role	Start date	End date	Funding source
Lead	01 Nov 2021	31 Oct 2022	The Council of the London Borough of Waltham Forest
A learning and evaluation study of Waltham Forest Council’s pilot violence reduction project in the Walthamstow neighbourhood. This learning and evaluation seeks to understand the effectiveness of the Council's hyper-local approach to youth violence prevention; specifically, concerning the Violence Reduction Unit’s (MOPAC) 2019/20 service delivery aim of, ‘putting communities and young people at the heart of tackling the issue’.

Publications

Journal articles

‘Keeping it real’: the experiences of black youth beyond criminal (in)justice statistics (2015-09-21)
Gunter, Anthony
Criminal Justice Matters, 101(1) (pp. 14-17)

Grafting, going to college and working on road: youth transitions and cultures in an East London neighbourhood (2009)
Gunter, Anthony and Watt, Paul
Journal of Youth Studies, 12(5) (pp. 515-529)

Growing up bad: Black youth, ‘road’ culture and badness in an East London neighbourhood (2008-12)
Gunter, Anthony
Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 4(3) (pp. 349-366)

The Trouble with Black (Male) Youth (2003)
Gunter, Anthony
Criminal Justice Matters, 54(1) (pp. 22-23)

Authored books

Race, Gangs and Youth Violence: Policy, Prevention and Policing (2017-02-15)
Gunter, Anthony
ISBN : 978-1447322870 | Publisher : Policy Press | Published : Bristol, UK

Growing Up Bad?: Black Youth, 'road' Culture and Badness in an East London Neighbourhood (2010-02-04)
Gunter, Anthony
ISBN : 9781872767031 | Publisher : Tufnell Press | Published : London, UK

Book chapters

Race(ism) and Ethnicity (2023-08-31)
Gunter, Anthony
In: Cooper, Victoria and Tatlow-Golden, Mimi eds. An Introduction to Childhood and Youth Studies and Psychology (pp. 139-153)
ISBN : 9781003358855 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon

The White Male Criminological Gaze as Pornography: The Quasi-Sexual Academic Obsession with Black “Gang Bangers” (2023-08)
Gunter, Anthony
In: Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Anthony eds. Thug Criminology: A Call to Action (pp. 27-41)
ISBN : 9781487547233 | Publisher : University of Toronto Press | Published : Toronto

Crime as Disease Contagion and Control: The Public Health Perspective and Implications for Black and Other Ethnic Minority Communities (2023-08)
Gunter, Anthony
In: Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Anthony eds. Thug Criminology: A Call to Action (pp. 167-184)
ISBN : 9781487547233 | Publisher : University of Toronto Press | Published : Toronto

Somethin’ Doesn’t Seem Right: A Commentary on the “Scientific Method” and “Gang”Research (2023-08)
Ellis, Adam and Gunter, Anthony
In: Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Dr Anthony eds. Thug Criminology: A Call to Action (pp. 57-72)
ISBN : 9781487547233 | Publisher : University of Toronto Press | Published : Toronto

Introduction (2023-06)
Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Anthony
In: Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Anthony eds. Thug Criminology: A Call to Action (pp. 3-10)
ISBN : 9781487547233 | Publisher : University of Toronto Press | Published : Toronto

Transitions to Adulthood (2023)
Gunter, Anthony and Holford, Naomi
In: Cooper, Victoria and Tatlow-Golden, Mimi eds. An Introduction to Childhood and Youth Studies and Psychology (pp. 218-232)
ISBN : 9781003358855 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon

Youth Transitions and Legacies in an East London Olympic Host Borough (2017-08-09)
Gunter, Anthony
In: Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul eds. London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy? (pp. 287-309)
ISBN : 978-1-137-48947-0 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : London, UK

From bad to worse? Marginalised youth and ‘Road life’ (mis)representations and realities (2016-06-17)
Gunter, Anthony
In: Blackman, Shane and Kempson, Michelle eds. The Subcultural Imagination: Theory, Research and Reflexivity in Youth Cultures. Youth, Young Adulthood and Society (pp. 46-62)
ISBN : 9781315730684 / 9781138484931 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London, UK

Edited books

Thug Criminology: A Call to Action (2023)
Ellis, Adam; Marques, Olga and Gunter, Anthony eds.
ISBN : 9781487547233 | Publisher : University of Toronto Press | Published : Toronto

Other

What’s a Gang and What’s Race Got to Do With It? (2011-11)
Joseph, Ian and Gunter, Anthony
Runnymede Trust

Research at The Open University

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