Dr Matthew Johnson is a lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. He has an eclectic range of research interests broadly converging around the politics of cultural diversity and the relationship between culture, wellbeing, institutions and circumstance.
  • Xhosa boys undergoing circumcision ritual in South Africa. © Tjkphotography | Dreamstime.com

    Genital Mutilation: Considering Both Sexes

    Today a doctor in a Nile delta village will appear in court accused of killing a 13-year-old schoolgirl during a botched act of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in June 2013. This is the first case of its kind in the country where FGM is illegal but widely accepted. While such incidents instil understandable outrage, we need to step carefully in order that opposition to FGM is consistent and productive.

  • People and the Land: Northumberland and Aboriginal Australia

    Written in collaboration with Tony Bennett

  • An image to accompany Matthew Johnson's blog post from Sept 2015: Reflections on A Cross-Cultural Working Group on ‘Good Culture’ and Precariousness with Victoria Gallagher and Mary Graham

    Reflections on A Cross-Cultural Working Group on ‘Good Culture’ and Precariousness with Victoria G

    Matthew Johnson, summarizing the thoughts of Victoria Gallagher, a Community Organiser from Ashington, Northumberland, and Mary Graham, an Aboriginal Traditional Owner from Southport, Queensland and Chairperson of Murri Mura Aboriginal Corporation on A Cross-Cultural Working Group on ‘Good Culture’ and Precariousness.

  • Northern Nationalism and Genealogies of Disadvantage

    The post-Election petition to allow the North of England to secede from the UK and join a 'New Scotland' highlights the deep alienation of the North from the centre of power in London, but also the problematic nature of Englishness and 'English' interests propounded by UKIP and The Conservative Party. In effect, some in the North struggle to identify with a country (England) surrounding a supposed nation (the English) with which they are identified by the UK state, but which they increasingly see as less viable than a potential independent state (Scotland) surrounding a supposed nation (the Scots) with which they do not centrally identify.