Laura Martin

Contact

• workRoom B121 Law and Social Sciences Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• Laura.Martin@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I graduated with a PhD in African Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 2017 and subsequently had two post-doctoral research fellowships at the University of Birmingham and the University of Sheffield.

Teaching Summary

I have previously taught modules related to African Politics, Politics of International Development, Human Rights, Global Security, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Peace and Conflict Studies in the… read more

Research Summary

I currently have two strands of research. The first explores the relationship how humour both instigates and mitigates violence in everyday life and the ongoing consequences of these interactions in… read more

Recent Publications

• HAMMETT, D., MARTIN, L.S. and AND I. NWANKWO, 2023. Humour and Politics in Africa: Beyond Resistance Bristol University Press.
• MARTIN, L.S., 2023. Navigating Local Transitional Justice: Agency at Work in Post-conflict Sierra Leone Cambridge University Press.
• MARTIN, L.S., 2022. Laughing off Ebola in Sierra Leone: Humour in Times of Crisis Journal of African Cultural Studies.
• FORCER, S., SHUTT, H., MARTIN, L.S., COETZEE, M.H., IBRAHIM, A.F. and S. FITZMAURICE, 2022. Embracing Aporia: Exploring Arts-Based Methods, Pain, “Playfulness,”and Improvisation in Research on Gender and Social Violence Global Studies Quarterly.

• View all publications

I am interested in supervising students who want to work on the following topics, particularly in Africa :

Peace and Conflict Studies

• Causes and legacies of armed conflict
• Continuities of conflict, crisis and everyday violence
• Gender, conflict and peace
• Post-conflict Transitional Justice, Peacebuilding and Reconciliation (International Justice mechanisms, Truth Commissions, Local Processes)
• Justice and Legal systems in Africa

Gender

• Development Politics
• Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Continuum of Violence, Everyday violence
• National and local politics in relation to women
• De-colonial/Decolonizing politics

Popular Culture

• Humour, cartoons and politics
• Arts-based methodologies

Other

• Any topic related to Sierra Leone

I have previously taught modules related to African Politics, Politics of International Development, Human Rights, Global Security, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Peace and Conflict Studies in the Global South and International Relations

Current Research

I currently have two strands of research. The first explores the relationship how humour both instigates and mitigates violence in everyday life and the ongoing consequences of these interactions in sub-Saharan Africa. The second focuses on how women navigate violent experiences and how they engage with both formal and informal justice systems in Sierra Leone.

In 2021, I was Co-Investigator on an AHRC project entitled "Performing Arts and Social Violence" which examines how the performing arts (comedy, theatre and dance) can be used to open up spaces for discussion about Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Sierra Leone and South Africa.

Past Research

My previous research looked at local transitional justice and peacebuilding in Sierra Leone. It explored the ways in which people appropriated local transitional justice programs in everyday life to enact their own notions of peace and justice.

• HAMMETT, D., MARTIN, L.S. and AND I. NWANKWO, 2023. Humour and Politics in Africa: Beyond Resistance Bristol University Press.
• MARTIN, L.S., 2023. Navigating Local Transitional Justice: Agency at Work in Post-conflict Sierra Leone Cambridge University Press.
• MARTIN, L.S., 2022. Laughing off Ebola in Sierra Leone: Humour in Times of Crisis Journal of African Cultural Studies.
• FORCER, S., SHUTT, H., MARTIN, L.S., COETZEE, M.H., IBRAHIM, A.F. and S. FITZMAURICE, 2022. Embracing Aporia: Exploring Arts-Based Methods, Pain, “Playfulness,”and Improvisation in Research on Gender and Social Violence Global Studies Quarterly.
• SHUTT, H., MARTIN, L.S. and M.H. COETZEE, 2022. The theatre of development: dramaturgy, actors and performances in the ‘workshop space’ Third World Quarterly.
• MARTIN, L.S., 2021. (En)Gendering Post-Conflict Agency: Women's Experiences of the 'local' in Sierra Leone Cooperation and Conflict. 55(4), 454-471
• MARTIN, L.S., 2021. Deconstructing the local in peacebuilding practice: representations and realities of Fambul Tok in Sierra Leone Third World Quarterly. 42(2), 385-401
• MARTIN, L.S., C. BRADBURY-JONES, S. KOROMA and S. FORCER, 2021. Bringing inside out: humour, outreach, and sexual and gender-based violence in Sierra Leone Critical African Studies. 13(3), 356-373
• MARTIN, L.S., 2016. Practicing Normality: An Examination of Unrecognisable Transitional Justice Mechanisms in Sierra Leone Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. 10(3), 400-418