Karen Bell

journal ARTICLES 

Zhuang, L. and Bell, K. (2024) ‘Improving the Learning Experience of Chinese Masters’ Students in UK Higher Education’ International Journal of Further and Higher Education, 48(6): 625–637.

Both challenges and opportunities are inherent with a growth in Chinese international students in UK Higher Education. However, teachers from the West may not understand the differences in Chinese educational practices, which can lead to negative stereotyping of these students as passive and problematic. This paper rejects this deficit perspective, focusing on the views of Chinese students as to what might need to change about the UK teaching and campus environment to improve their learning experience. Two focus groups were held with Chinese social science Masters’ students in a UK university. Some of their key requests included to reduce class sizes; to provide more guidance around study skills; to offer more timely and accessible information; to provide a more flexible range of services and learning support; and to create more social time with staff and other students. The discussions particularly brought out the importance of ‘relational pedagogy’. These requirements will need more staff time and institutional flexibility which will necessitate adequate funding. The authors conclude that, despite Chinese students’ significant contribution to the local economy and to University finances, there does not seem to be a commensurate investment in protecting their wellbeing and ensuring they receive a quality education. We consider it is important to listen to and act on the students’ suggestions outlined here if UK Higher Education is to remain the destination of choice for many Chinese and other international students.

Bell, K. (2024) ‘International Solidarity for a De-Colonised Just Transition:  Lithium, Electric Vehicles and Mexican Auto Workers’ Contemporary Social Science, 19(1–3): 66–85.

The term ‘Just Transition’ (JT) gained global prominence through the Silesia Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition agreed at the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference (COP24). However, there has been a gap in both theory and practice regarding how to develop the global solidarity called for in this declaration. Some have even viewed JT as another form of neo-colonialism, benefitting the Global North through exploiting the Global South. This paper discusses how to avoid perpetuating colonial dynamics through JT by developing worker-led civil society solidarity across the Global North and South. It focusses on Mexico where vast increases in lithium extraction will be necessary to enable the enormous increase in the use of Electric Vehicles proposed for the Global North. While the main beneficiaries of this technology transition will be the companies, governments and consumers of the Global North, the costs will be borne by low-income communities in Mexico, among other Global South localities. Strategies are suggested for a de-colonised JT led by the relevant unions, including car workers.

 Bell, K., Price, V. McLoughlin, K. and Pemberton, M. (2023) ‘Converting the United States and United Kingdom Defence Sector to Civil Production: The Views of Defence Workers’ Peace and Change, 49(2): 101-123

There are many social, environmental, and economic reasons for converting from defence manufacturing to civil production. Importantly, such a transformation could support more peace in the world while still ensuring the secure jobs that the defence sector has historically provided. The views of defence workers on such a transition are important to understanding how this change could effectively and equitably occur. To capture some of these views, the research project on which this paper is based involved interviewing 58 former and current defence sector workers in the United States and the United Kingdom and convening key leadership focus groups which included their trade union representatives. Though these workers' opinions were not entirely polarized and some interviewees had mixed and nuanced views, they loosely fell into three categories (a) opposed to defence diversification, (b) supportive of defence diversification, and (c) supportive in principle but thought that it would be unlikely to happen. The (a) category of defence workers primarily based their view on the idea that the defence sector is necessary for security and a feeling of pride in supporting this endeavor. The (b) category views were built on the perceived harm of the sector, the potential ‘peace dividend’ that would arise from transition, and feelings of guilt about working in the sector. The (c) group of workers identified the profit motive, worker attachment to defence jobs, technological issues, and the economic and political power of the defence companies as the key barriers to change. Proposals for effectively converting included economic incentives, government regulation, and organizing trade unions to push for change. A unified view was that workers want to be involved in discussions about these issues in their workplace and unions.

Bell, K., Price, V. McLoughlin, K. and Kojola, E. (2023) ‘The Necessity of a Transformational Approach to Just Transition: Defence Worker Views on Decarbonisation, Diversification and Sustainability’ Environmental Politics, 3(2): 281–301.

This paper highlights the perspectives of defence workers regarding a Just Transition of their industry, one of the most environmentally harmful sectors in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, pollution and use of non-renewable resources. It is based on (i) interviews with defence sector workers in the United States and the United Kingdom (n58); and (ii) focus groups with key representatives of national and international labour unions, defence companies and relevant NGOs (n18). Some of these defence workers and their trade union representatives envisioned a transformational path towards sustainability, including converting the defence sector to more socially useful production. Drawing on Gramsci, we define these as ‘counter-hegemonic views’, since they challenge the hegemonic ‘growth coalition’ and ‘treadmill of destruction’ paradigms. Such views support and echo more radical interpretations of Just Transition, emphasising the necessity of a structural transformation of society to achieve a fair and effective transition to sustainability.

Bell, K., Hickel, J., Arbon, R. and Zumkawala, H. (2023) ‘Which Direction for Sustainable Development? A Time Series Comparison of the Impacts of Redistributive Versus Market Policies in Bolivia and South Korea’ Sustainable Development, 31(5): 3408-3427.

This article examines two major policy frameworks for achieving sustainable development: the market-based ‘Green Economy’ approach (exemplified by South Korea), and the redistributive ‘Living Well’ approach (exemplified by Bolivia). We compare the two paradigms in qualitative terms using document analysis, and we assess quantitatively how they have fared in terms of delivering progress towards sustainable development in each country. Time series data for the Sustainable Development Index and the Gini index were examined. The results show that, since ‘Living Well’ was initiated, social outcomes have continued to improve in Bolivia and, while emissions and material footprint have increased, they remain low and within or near sustainable boundaries. By contrast, South Korea has regressed in terms of sustainability. Social indicators have improved, but the Green Economy policy has failed to reduce ecological pressures. This raises significant questions about the legitimacy of the Green Economy paradigm as a model for achieving sustainable development.

Harrington, E., Bell, K., McEwen, L. and Everett, G. (2023) ‘Is There Room on the Broom for a Crip? Disabled Women as Experts in Disaster Planning’ Journal of Extreme Events. DOI: 10.1142/S234573762350001X

Climate change-related extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, requiring urgent action to effectively plan for them. While disabled women are one group likely to be disproportionately and negatively affected by disasters, they are often not included in disaster planning. This commentary paper utilizes McRuer’s Crip Theory as a lens to explore this topic, where the strength of disabled women’s capacity to positively contribute to effective disaster planning becomes evident. Their lived understandings of negotiating often unacknowledged barriers can act as useful tools to assuage the impacts of disasters. Their experiences are recognized under the rubric of crip theory as neither deviant nor “other”, but as capabilities worthy of mainstreaming. Disaster situations that may be seen as chaotic to those accustomed to services and environments that closely match their requirements, could be perceived as both familiar and resolvable to a disabled woman. In this way, disabled women can utilize their everyday problem-solving skills to help tackle these impacts, viewing them as circumstances to be methodically navigated and overcome. Enabling disabled women room at the planning table is neither luxury nor bonus, but essential. Participatory inclusion and successful planning for disabled individuals benefits a much larger swathe of society than initially anticipated, as illustrated in this paper by international examples of best practice. We all profit from more inclusive planning to create more accessible and inclusive communities.

Bell, K., Taboada Hermoza, R., Staddon, C., Willems, B., Cárdenas Maldonado, F., Tomaylla Berrocal, N. and Pariona Flores, L. (2023) ‘The Fences of Chuschi: The Impacts of Land Enclosure on an Andean Indigenous Community’ Journal of Rural Studies 97: 224-234.

In this study of the Andean town of Chuschi and its surrounding district of the same name, we consider the impacts of the proliferation of fencing on once open land. The paper contributes to a growing body of literature on the practice and impact of land fragmentation through fencing around the world, with positive and negative impacts having been noted. The analysis is based on 23 semi-structured interviews with community members and community leaders of Chuschi and the surrounding towns of Yanaccocha, Huaracco, Chaquiccocha, Pucruhuasi, Wacraccocha, Lerqona and Yupana. Some of the interviewees considered the fencing off of parcels of the communal land to be beneficial for land management, while others felt the practice was not ecologically or socially beneficial overall and created tensions in the community. In particular, some interviewees noted resentment towards those perceived to be ‘ambitious’ in terms of acquiring exclusive use of additional land. In conclusion, it appears that fencing, as practiced in Chuschi, may be a calculated approach to land management that some perceive to have overall collective benefits but, if not well governed, it also has the potential to be invasive and disruptive for communal Andean life. The paper addresses a gap in the literature on the motivations for, and impacts of, fencing in rural communities in Peru and contributes to wider debates on the social justice implications of enclosures.

Ahmad, Z., Arya, D., Bell, K. , McGregor, C., Scandrett, E. and Temper, L. (2022) Environmentalism from the Margins: Interviews with Scholar-Activists. Community Development Journal, 57(1), pp. 132-166. (doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsab051)

In his seminal 2002 book Environmentalism of the Poor, Catalan ecological economist Joan Martinez Alier distinguished between three ‘currents of environmentalism’: the ‘Cult of Wilderness’, the ‘Gospel of Eco-Efficiency’, and the ‘Environmentalism of the poor’ (Martinez Alier, 2002a). It was the latter movement, made up of many local forms of resistance to unsustainable development, that constitutes the principal challenge to environmental destruction. Such movements, not generally represented by the mainstream environmental NGOs, refute Ronald Inglehart’s assertion that the values necessary for environmental sensibility emerge with affluence, when societies are less concerned with the basics so can afford to value ecosystems and study climates. On the contrary, much of the world depends on the environment for the basics, whether it be food gathering or growing, clean air and water, and safety. And, as Ramachandra Guha (Guha and Martinez Alier, 1997) has emphasized, non-material environmental values are not restricted to the affluent, as many communities’ spiritual resources and sacred spaces occur in their environments. It is these communities, who cannot afford to lose their environment, that provide the front line in the struggles against environmental destruction. Indeed, it is the fact that the values attached to the environment by the poor and the oppressed are incommensurable with the values of cost–benefit analysis, of investment decisions and profitability, that brings the environmental justice movement into direct conflict with ‘development’.

Bell, K. (2021) Increasing Undergraduate Student Satisfaction in Higher Education: The Importance of Relational Pedagogy, Journal of Further and Higher Education, DOI: 10.1080/0309877X.2021.1985980

How to increase student satisfaction is a question that Higher Education institutes have become increasingly focussed on. While previous research indicates a number of factors can contribute to student satisfaction, teaching has been found to be of high importance. This study interviewed students and staff in a UK university that had achieved high student satisfaction ratings in a national survey. The programme leader interviews (n8) and student focus groups (n20) discussed the teaching and learning behaviours that seemed to increase and decrease satisfaction levels. The study revealed new insights regarding the fundamental importance that students place on warm and respectful interactions with staff in the context of trusting relationships. The students particularly emphasised staff approachability, empathy, sensitivity and caring. The staff also thought relationships were important but put more emphasis on course organisation. Staff training and institutional evaluations which take account of relational pedagogy would be helpful in increasing student satisfaction. However, sensitive and caring teaching needs to be supported by secure jobs and adequate staffing levels so that teachers have the time and peace of mind to develop these quality relationships.

Bell, K. and Bevan, G. (2021) ‘Beyond inclusion? Perceptions of the extent to which Extinction Rebellion speaks to, and for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and working-class communities’ Local Environment, 26 (10) 1205-1220

There is a resurgent interest in, and debate about, inclusive environmentalism. Within this context, it has been alleged that Extinction Rebellion (XR) exclude Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and working-class people. To understand more about whether and how this occurs, and how it might be remedied, we interviewed 40 BAME and working-class people in England and Wales about their perceptions of, and opinions about, XR. We found that, while XR’s tactics and messages have varied across time and place, their discourse and activities, overall, have tended to alienate BAME and working-class people. The interviewees were very concerned about climate change, and supported urgent government action, but they were not interested in being included in XR. To effectively build a social movement against climate change, we, therefore, recommend XR activists go “beyond inclusion” to the transformation of XR and environmentalism more broadly.

Bell, K. (2021) ‘The Failure of Lifestyle Environmentalism and the Promise of the Green New Deal for Working-Class People’ Journal of Working-Class Studies, 6 (1).

The Green New Deal presented an alternative policy paradigm that argued for environmental policies that, rather than increasing the pressure on disadvantaged groups, would have co-benefits for working-class people, low-income groups and communities of colour. The policy did not lead to electoral success for the political leaders that proposed it, in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), due to opposition representations of it as costly and threatening to working-class jobs. We discuss the continuing potential of this policy paradigm.

Bell, K. and Reed, M. (2021) ‘The Tree of Participation: A New Model of Participatory Decision-Making’ Community Development Journal.

Combining empirical findings with insights from the theoretical literature, this paper develops a new conceptual model of emancipatory, inclusive and empowering participatory decision-making – the ‘Tree of Participation’. The model can be useful to both organizers of participatory processes, as a check for empowering and inclusive practice, and to disadvantaged groups, as a set of expectations and demands when engaging in public decision-making.  

J. Kitsona, S. J. Williamson, P. Harper, C. M. McMahon, G. Rosenberg, M. Tierney, K. Bell, B. Gautam (2018) ‘Modelling of an Expandable, Reconfigurable, Renewable DC Microgrid for Off-Grid Communities’ Energy, 160: 142-153

This paper proposes a DC microgrid system, comprising multiple locally available renewable energy sources, in an off-grid rural community. It is based on a commissioned field study carried out in a rural, off-grid village in Nepal.  

Bell, K. (2017) ''Living Well’ as a Path to Social, Ecological and Economic Sustainability' Urban Planning, 2 (4) 19-33

Living Well has been proposed as a path to social, ecological and economic sustainability by several state governments of the Global South. This paper examines the Living Well paradigm as implemented in Bolivia through the lens of the recently agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Bell, K. (2016) ‘Green Economy or Living Well?  A comparative analysis of contrasting sustainable development paradigms in South Korea and Bolivia’ Journal of Political Ecology, 23: 71-92

'Green Economy' and 'Living Well ('Vivir Bien)' have emerged as contending macro-policies in the search for a future direction that meets human needs whilst respecting environmental limits. Contributing to the debate on the most effective strategic direction to take to achieve equitable and effective eco-social transition, this article examines the processes, politics and early impacts of attempts to implement these macro-policies in South Korea, a global Green Economy leader, and Bolivia, at the forefront of promoting the Living Well approach.

Bell, K. (2016) 'Bread and Roses: A Gender Perspective on Environmental Justice and Public Health' International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13 (10) 1005-1023

Gender continues to be a relatively marginal issue in environmental justice debates and yet it remains an important aspect of injustice. To help redress the balance, this article explores women’s experience of environmental justice through a review of the existing literature and  qualitative research, as well as my experience of environmental activism.

Pemberton, S., Fahmy, F., Sutton, E. and Bell, K. (2016) ‘Navigating the Stigmatised Identities of Poverty in Austere Times: Resisting and Responding to Narratives of Personal Failure’ Critical Social Policy, 36 (1) 1–17

Drawing upon the testimonies of 62 people in England and Scotland experiencing poverty, this article seeks to understand our participants’ responses to these discourses, in particular: how these behavioural explanations impact upon their understanding of their own situations, as well as their self-perceptions; how these discourses shape their relationships with others, in terms of their experience of disrespect; and how participants seek to dissociate themselves from their stigmatising implications.

Pemberton, S., Fahmy, F., Sutton, E. and Bell, K. (2016) ‘Endless Pressure: Life on a Low Income in Austere Times’ Social Policy and Administration, 51 (7) 1156-1173

This article draws on qualitative research in three different areas of the UK during 2012–13 to document the pressures that this period brought to bear on these households. Our analysis demonstrates the profound consequences for those living on low incomes of the continued shift to residual forms of state welfare and the increased reliance on the ‘Big Society’ as a means to deal with the pressures identified in this article.

Edwards, R., Gordon, G., Phoenix, A., Bell, K., Elliot, H. and Fahmy, E. (2016) ‘How Paradata can Illuminate Technical, Social and Professional Role Changes’ Quality and Quantity, 51 (6) 2457-2473

This article brings together analyses of the micro paradata ‘by-products’ from the 1967/1968 Poverty in the United Kingdom (PinUK) and 2012 Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (PSE) surveys to explore changes in the conditions of production over this 45 year period. We highlight technical, social and professional role continuities and changes, shaped by the institutionalisation of survey researchers, the professionalization of the field interviewer, and economisation.

Bell, K. (2015)  ‘Can the Capitalist Economic System Deliver Environmental Justice?’ Environmental Research Letters, 10 (12) 1-8

The letter draws on qualitative and quantitative primary and secondary data to argue that there is a propensity for capitalist processes to exacerbate, rather than reduce, environmental problems and inequities though the pursuit of relentless economic growth and profit accumulation.

Bell, K., Gordon, G. and Fahmy, E. (2014) ‘Quantitative Conversations: The Importance of Developing Rapport in Standardised Interviewing’ Quality and Quantity, 50 (1) 193-212

Drawing on a behaviour coding analysis of survey paradata arising from the 2012 UK Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey, we show that, in practice, standardised survey interviewing often involves extensive unscripted conversation between the interviewer and the respondent. Whilst these interactions can be helpful, unscripted conversations can also be problematic in terms of survey reliability, the ethical conduct of survey interviews and the degree of standardisation typically assumed within survey research. We conclude that better training in conversational techniques for survey data collectors is necessary.

Bell, K. and Cemlyn, C. (2014) ‘Developing Public Support for Human Rights in the UK’ International Journal of Human Rights, 18 (7-8) 822-841

We analyse recent quantitative and qualitative data on public attitudes in order to learn how to increase public support for human rights practice and principles. The conclusion we reach is that, in order to increase support for human rights in the UK, a central objective should be to shift the focus of human rights discourse so that it better reflects the every-day concerns of the UK public. We consider that this would best be achieved through emphasising socio-economic rights.

Bell, K. (2012) ‘Doing Qualitative Fieldwork in Cuba: Social Research in Politically Sensitive Locations’ International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16 (2) 109-124

Drawing on my PhD research on environmental justice in Cuba, the paper looks at the difficulties faced during fieldwork, in particular with regard to the problem of attaining reliability and validity, and the strategies that were used to overcome them.

Bell, K. (2011) ‘Environmental Justice in Cuba’ Critical Social Policy, 31 (2) 241-265  

This paper evaluates the environmental justice situation in Cuba and the pressures that constrain environmental governance.

Bell, K. (2008) ‘Achieving Environmental Justice in the United Kingdom: A Case Study of Lockleaze’ Environmental Justice, 1 (4) 203-210

Environmental injustice continues to be a real and substantive problem in the United Kingdom. This case study focuses on one possible reason for this—the lack of inclusion of deprived communities in environmental decision-making. It uses a case study of Lockleaze, a deprived area of Bristol, drawing on findings from a literature review, participant observation, and interviews with local activists.