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Dr Jane McCarthy

Profile summary

  • Visiting Informal Academic
  • Honorary Associate
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Social Sciences & Global Studies
  • Social Policy & Criminology
  • jane.mccarthy

Professional biography

Qualifications

I have a BA Hons in Sociology (First Class) from the University of Reading, an MSc in Advanced Social and Educational Research Methods from The Open University, and a PhD in Sociology from South Bank Polytechnic/CNAA. I also have a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, London University, double distinctions.

Besides my position at the Open University, I am also a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Reading. Previous honoray positions have included a Visiting Professorship at the University of Reading, and an appointment as Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Institute of Education.

Professional affiliations

British Sociological Association; International Sociological Association; Childhood Bereavement Network; Women’s Workshop for Qualitative Family/Household Research; Association for the Study of Death in Society. I was a Publications Director and Trustee for the British Sociological Association 2017-18; a trustee for Winston's Wish, a national childhood bereavement charity from 2017-23; and editorial board member of Bereavement Care, later relaunched as Bereavement: Journal of Grief and Responses to Death  2009-2024

Current professional roles include:

  • member of the Advisory Board for the Childhood Bereavement Network;
  • external examiner, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – University of Medicine and Health Sciences 2023-6;
  • member of Climate Psychology Alliance decolonising working group
  • member of Community Voices network, London

Research interests

For some years now, my current work has been centrally focused on decolonising death and its continuing aftermath in the lives of the living (more commonly known by the more limited terms 'bereavement and grief'). More recently this has been extended to consider its significance for the climate and ecological emergency,as co-PI for an Open Society Challenge on Existential Dis/Connections, whjch has been developed in conjunction with the WELS Open Thanatology group.. This work builds on my sociological research over four decades concerning people's family lives and relationships, notably in regard to children and young people, with a particular focus on death and its aftermath . My longstanding theoretical interests are concerned with diverse experiences and forms of (primarily human) relationality across global and local contexts, including aspects of emotions and embodiment. I am particularly interested in feminist, international, anthropological and historical work around these themes, with long-standing interests in the meanings of 'family' and individuality, connectedness, relationality and autonomy.  Methodologically, I favour open-ended qualitative research, with a focus on the ways in which people understand their own everyday lives, and the implications for policy and professional practices. Earlier projects I have undertaken with funding from the ESRC, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust have used a sociological focus to research: mothers with an eldest child aged 7; the family lives of young people aged 16-18; parents and children in step-families; bereavement and loss in young people's lives; family deaths in Senegal. My research in recent years has been particularly framed by the following:

  1. I have a particular interest in understanding relationality at a time of death and its continuing aftermath in the lives of the living. Ongoing work concerns a focus on diversity , decolonisation, racism and the deconstruction of whiteness, including multiple conference presentations and organisation of conference panels.  Working with colleagues Dr Berenice Golding (University of Huddersfield) and Dr Sukhbinder Hamilton (University of Portsmouth) we have been developing an innovative methodology based on collaborative auto-ethnographic conversations.Earlier work included a major literature review concerning young people and bereavement, culminating in several publications and a number of dissemination events: see Young People, Bereavement and Loss: Disruptive Transitions. In recent years I have been involved with researching death in family lives in urban Senegal, West Africa, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and led by Professor Ruth Evans at the University of Reading, with a report available via open access, and several journal and chapter publications published and in progress: http://www.reading.ac.uk/geographyandenvironmentalscience/research/ges-leverhulme.aspx.
  2. In 2010 I organised a two day international Colloquium on Family Troubles? Exploring Changes and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of York and London South Bank University. An edited collection with Policy Press was published in 2014 under this title, and the framework has been taken forward in various contexts since then, including events at the University of Reading, September 2015, and the International Sociological Association in Vienna, July 2016, leading to three special issues of journals in the UK and the US. For further details please see http://www.open.ac.uk/ccig/research/projects/family-troubles. The special journal publications include: Sociological Research Online,  Journal of Family Issues, and Children’s Geographies. My own work has focused particularly on children’s family troubles in diverse global contexts.
  3. Recent international interests have also extended to the lives and relationships of children in China, working with colleagues at UCL Institute of Education in the UK, and Renmin University and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, including aspects of the institutionalisation of childhood and children’s family lives,.

Teaching interests

I retired from teaching at the Open University in July 2015, where I was a Reader in Family Studies, teaching postgraduate research methods, and undergraduate social policy. Before joining The Open University in 2001, I worked at Oxford Brookes University where my teaching responsibilities included family sociology and family research (undergraduate and postgraduate), and contemporary sociological theory.

Impact and engagement

See the link at the side for public engagement work for Young People, Bereavement and Loss, and for the dissemination activities of the Leverhulme project Death in the Family in Urban Senegal, see http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/deathinthefamilyinsenegal/ 

I currently work with a variety of informal groups and contacts focused on people affected by death in their family networks and communities. I helped to initiate an Open University Knowledge Transfer collaboration with the UK childhood bereavement charity Winston's Wish.

External collaborations

I regularly undertake reviews of work for a variety of academic journals and funding bodies. My research projects entail regular collaborative work with academics across the UK and beyond, particularly the University of Reading, University of Bath, University of Westminster, and UCL Institute of Education London. 

The Leverhulme funded project, Death in the Family in Urban Senegal is linked to the Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar.

Work around childhood in China was linked to the University of Renmin, Beijing Normal University, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.

The work on bereavement and the continuing aftermath of death, and on Family Troubles more broadly. has involved a network of academics spread across Europe, the USA, and Africa.

Publications

The aftermath of death in the continuing lives of the living: extending ‘bereavement’ paradigms through family and relational perspectives (2023)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Woodthorpe, Kate and Almack, Kathryn
Sociology, 57(6) (pp. 1356-1374)

Family sociology as a theoretical enterprise? A personal reflection (2022-05-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Families, Relationships and Societies, 11(2) (pp. 303-319)

Time-space practices of care after a family death in urban Senegal (2022)
Bowlby, Sophie; Evans, Ruth; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Wouango, Joséphine
Social and Cultural Geography, 23(8) (pp. 1174-1192)

Do we need to decolonise bereavement studies? (2022)
Hamilton, Sukhbinder; Golding, Berenice and Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Bereavement: Journal of Grief and Responses to Death, 1(1)

Making Sense of Family Deaths in Urban Senegal: Diversities, Contexts, and Comparisons (2020-12-01)
McCarthy, Jane Ribbens; Evans, Ruth; Bowlby, Sophie and Wouango, Joséphine
OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 82(2) (pp. 230-260)

“Family Troubles” and “Troubling Families”: Opening Up Fertile Ground (2019-11-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Gillies, Val and Hooper, Carol-Ann
Journal of Family Issues, 40(16) (pp. 2207-2224)

Unpacking ‘family troubles’, care and relationality across time and space (2019)
Evans, Ruth; Bowlby, Sophie; Gottzén, Lucas and Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Children's Geographies, 17(5) (pp. 501-513)

Diversity challenges from urban West Africa: How Senegalese family deaths illuminate dominant understandings of ‘bereavement’ (2019)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Evans, Ruth and Bowlby, Sophie
Bereavement Care, 38(2-3) (pp. 83-90)

Troubling children's families: who's troubled and why? Approaches to inter-cultural dialogue (2018-03-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Gillies, Val
Sociological Research Online, 23(1) (pp. 219-244)

Troubling families: introduction (2018-03-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Gillies, Val and Hooper, Carol-Ann
Sociological Research Online, 23(1) (pp. 153-159)

The Institutionalisation of ‘TongNian’ and ‘childhood’ in China and Britain: Exploring Cautious Comparisons (2017-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Guo, Yu; Phoenix, Ann; Xu, Xiaoli and Knight, Abigail
Children and Society, 31(1) (pp. 1-12)

Interpreting ‘grief’ in Senegal: language, emotions and cross-cultural translation in a francophone African context (2017)
Evans, Ruth; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Kébé, Fatou; Bowlby, Sophie and Wouango, Joséphine
Mortality: Promoting the interdisciplinary study of death and dying, 22(2) (pp. 118-135)

Producing emotionally sensed knowledge? Reflexivity and emotions in researching responses to death (2017)
Evans, Ruth; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Bowlby, Sophie; Wouango, Joséphine and Kébé, Fatou
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(6) (pp. 585-598)

Embodied relationality and caring after death (2014-06)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Prokhovnik, Raia
Body & Society, 20(2) (pp. 18-43)

The politics of concepts: family and its (putative) replacements (2012-12)
Edwards, Rosalind; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Gillies, Val
British Journal of Sociology, 63(4) (pp. 730-746)

The powerful relational language of ‘family’: togetherness, belonging and personhood (2012-02)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Sociological Review, 60(1) (pp. 68-90)

'They all look as if they're coping, but I'm not': the relational power/lessness of 'youth' in responding to experiences of bereavement (2007-07)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Journal of Youth Studies, 10(3) (pp. 285-303)

Reslience and bereaved children: developing complex approaches (2006-07)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Grief Matters, 9(3) (pp. 58-61)

Multiple perspectives on the 'family' lives of young people: methodological and theoretical issues in case study research (2003-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Holland, Janet and Gillies, Val
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 6(1) (pp. 1-23)

Step-fathering: comparing policy and everyday experience in Britain and Sweden (2002-05-31)
Edwards, Rosalind; Back-Wiklund, Margareta; Bak, Maren and Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
Sociological Research Online, 7(1)

Illuminating meanings of `the Private' in sociological thought: a response to Joe Bailey (2001)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Edwards, Rosalind
Sociology, 35(3) (pp. 765-777)

Moral tales of the child and the adult: Narratives of contemporary family lives under changing circumstances (2000)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Edwards, Rosalind and Gillies, Val
Sociology, 34(4) (pp. 785-803)

Isolated housewives and complex maternal worlds: The significance of social contacts between women with young children in industrial societies (1994-05)
Bell, Linda and Ribbens, Jane
Sociological Review, 42(2) (pp. 227-262)

Understanding family meanings: a reflective text (2012-02-15)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Doolittle, Megan and Day Sclater, Shelley
ISBN : 9781447301134 | Publisher : Policy Press | Published : Bristol, UK

Key Concepts in Family Studies (2011-12)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Edwards, Rosalind
ISBN : 9781412920063 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

Family Meanings (2008)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Doolittle, Megan and Day Sclater, Shelley
ISBN : 9780749216351 | Publisher : Open University | Published : Milton Keynes

Young People's Experiences Of Loss And Bereavement: Towards An Interdisciplinary Approach (2006-11-01)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
ISBN : 335216641 | Publisher : Open University Press | Published : Maidenhead, UK

Making families: moral tales of parenting and step-parenting (2003-04)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Edwards, Rosalind and Gillies, Val
ISBN : 190345705X | Publisher : Sociology Press | Published : London, UK

Pulling together, pulling apart: the family lives of young people aged 16-18 (2001)
Gillies, Val; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Holland, Janet
ISBN : 1 901455 42 4 | Publisher : Family Policy Studies Centre / Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Published : London, UK

Mothers and Their Children: A Feminist Sociology of Childrearing (1994)
Ribbens, Jane
ISBN : 0-8039-8835-4 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

The (cross-cultural) problem of categories: who is ‘child’, what is ‘family’? (2020-09-25)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Evans, Ruth
In: Frankel, Sam and NcNamee, Sally eds. Bringing Children Back into the Family: Relationality, Connectedness and Home. Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (pp. 23-40)
ISBN : 978-1-83867-198-3 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing | Published : Bingley UK

Childhood, children and family lives in China (2017-12)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Phoenix, Ann; Yu, Guo and Xu, Xiaoli
In: Zang, Xiaowei and Zhao, Lucy Xia eds. Handbook on the Family and Marriage in China (pp. 286-304)
ISBN : 9781785368189 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing | Published : Cheltenham, UK

Troubling normalities and normal family troubles: diversities, experiences and tensions (2013-04)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Hooper, Carol-Ann and Gillies, Val
In: Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Hooper, Carol-Ann and Gillies, Val eds. Family Troubles? Exploring Changes and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People
ISBN : 978-1447304432 | Publisher : The Policy Press | Published : Bristol

What is at stake in family troubles? Existential issues and value frameworks (2013-04)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Hooper, Carol-Ann and Gillies, Val eds. Family Troubles? Exploring Changes and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People
ISBN : 978-1447304432 | Publisher : The Policy Press | Published : Bristol

Caring after death: issues of embodiment and relationality (2012-07-19)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Rogers, Chrissie and Weller, Susie eds. Critical Approaches to Care: Understanding Caring Relations, Identities and Cultures.. Relationships and resources (pp. 183-194)
ISBN : 978-0-415-61329-3 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Bereavement, young people, and social context (2010)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Monroe, Barbara and Kraus, Frances eds. Brief Interventions with Bereaved Children (pp. 29-36)
ISBN : 978-0-19-956164-3 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Young people making meaning in response to death and bereavement (2009)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Balk, David and Corr, Charles eds. Adolescent Encounters with Death, Bereavement and Coping (pp. 21-38)
ISBN : 9780826110732 | Publisher : Springer Publications | Published : New York, USA

Security, insecurity and family lives (2008)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Cochrane, Alan and Talbot, Deborah eds. Security: Welfare, Crime and Society (pp. 61-92)
ISBN : 9780335229321 | Publisher : Open University / Open University Press | Published : Berkshire, UK

Representing academic knowledge: the micro politics of a literature review (2007-08-24)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Gillies, Val and Lucey, Helen eds. Power, knowledge and the academy: the institutional is political (pp. 122-146)
ISBN : 1403998175 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Basingstoke, Hants, UK

Negotiating public and private: maternal mediations of home-school boundaries (2004-12)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Kirkpatrick, Sue
In: Grozier, Gill and Reay, Diane eds. Activating participation: parents and teachers working towards partnership
ISBN : 1 858563 25 9 | Publisher : Trentham Books | Published : Stoke on Trent, UK

Past/present/future: time and the meaning of change in the "family" (2003)
Gillies, Val; Holland, Janet and Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Allan, Graham and Jones, Gill eds. Social relations and the life course. Explorations in Sociology (63) (pp. 31-48)
ISBN : 0 333 98497 8 | Publisher : Macmillan | Published : Basingstoke, Hants, UK

Biological parents and social families: legal discourses and everyday understandings of the position of step-parents (2003)
Edwards, Rosalind; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Gillies, Val
In: Cheal, David ed. Family. Critical Concepts in Sociology
ISBN : 415226295 | Publisher : Routledge

Mothers' images of children and their implications for maternal response (2003)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
In: Woodhead, Martin and Montgomery, Heather eds. Understanding Childhood: An Inter-Disciplinary Approach (pp. 75-79)
ISBN : 9780470846926 | Publisher : Wiley/Open University | Published : Milton Keynes

The individual in public and private: the significance of mothers and children (2002-02-21)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Edwards, Rosalind
In: Carling, Alan; Duncan, Simon and Edwards, Rosalind eds. Analysing Families: Morality and Rationality in Policy and Practice (pp. 199-217)
ISBN : 0 415250 39 0 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London, UK

Living on the edges: public knowledge, private lives, personal experience (1998)
Edwards, Rosalind and Ribbens, Jane
In: Ribbens, Jane and Edward, Rosalind eds. Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research: Public Knowledge and Private Lives. Social Research Methods Online (pp. 2-20)
ISBN : 9781849209137 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

Hearing my feeling voice?: An autobiographical discussion of motherhood (1998)
Ribbens, Jane
In: Ribbens, Jane and Edwards, Rosalind eds. Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research: Public Knowledge and Private Lives. Social Research Methods Online (pp. 25-37)
ISBN : 9781849209137 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

Family Troubles? Exploring Changes and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People (2013-04-04)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Hooper, Carol-Ann and Gillies, Val eds.
ISBN : 9781447304432 | Publisher : The Policy Press | Published : Bristol

Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research: Public Knowledge and Private Lives (1998)
Ribbens, Jane and Edwards, Rosalind eds.
ISBN : 9781849209137 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

Responses to Death, Care and Family Relations in Urban Senegal (2016-02)
Evans, Ruth; Ribbens McCarthy, Jane; Bowlby, Sophie; Wouango, Joséphine and Kébé, Fatou
University of Reading, Reading.

Children, young people and bereavement (2007)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
National Children's Bureau, London, UK.

Young People, Bereavement and Loss: Disruptive transitions? (2005)
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Jessop, Julie
National Children's Bureau, London, UK.