Sophie Woodward
Lecturer in Sociology
Email: sophie.woodward@manchester.ac.uk
Research interests
Material culture; feminism; feminist theory; clothing, fashion; consumption; intimacy and relationships; the everyday; ordinariness; qualitative research methods.
I have carried out ethnographic research into women's wardrobes and have a continued interest in clothing as a form of material culture as this is involved in the construction of selfhood, and relationships to others. I have also carried out research into everyday practice and sustainability (as part of DEFRA funded project into attitudes to sustainability).
I am interested in developing innovative methodologies in both carrying out research and also in forms of collaboration. I have just finished a book co-authored with my mother Kath Woodward on contemporary feminism and cross-generational dialogues. I am collaborating with Prof Daniel Miller in the Global Denim Project (www.ucl.ac.uk/global-denim-project), which is a network of academics working on diverse aspects of denim around the globe. We have just edited a book entitled Global Denim, and I have just carried out an ethnography into the wearing of denim jeans, with Daniel Miller, in London (funded by the British Academy), which aims to explore the concept of ordinariness. We are working this into a book manuscript entitled: Denim, the art of Being Ordinary.
Recent publications
Books
Miller, D and Woodward, S (2012) Blue Jeans: The art of the ordinary. Berkley: University of California Press.
Miller, D and Woodward, S (2010) Global Denim. Oxford: Berg.
Woodward, K and Woodward, S. (2009). Why Feminism Matters: Lost and Found. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Buy on Amazon [new window]
Woodward, S. 2007. Why Women Wear What they Wear. Oxford: Berg. Buy on Amazon [new window]
Journal Articles:
Woodward, S. ‘The Myth of the Street’ in Fashion theory, March, 2009, Volume 13, no 1. Oxford: Berg.
Woodward, S. ‘Digital Photography and Research Relationships: Capturing the Fashion Moment’ in Sociology (Vol 42 no 5: 857-872) October 2008. London: Sage.
Miller, D. and Woodward, S. ‘A manifesto for the study of denim’, in Social Anthropology 15, 5. pp 335-351. November 2007. London: Blackwell.
Book Chapters:
Woodward, S. 2010 ‘Jeanealogies: the (im)permanence of relationships’ in Miller, D and Woodward, S (eds). Global Denim. Oxford: Berg.
Woodward, S. 2008 ‘Standing out as one of the crowd’ in Salazar, L (ed) Fashion and Sport (V and A Publications)
Woodward, S. 2005. ‘Looking good, feeling right: aesthetics of the self’ in Miller, D, and Kuechler, S. (eds) Clothing as Material Culture (Oxford: Berg).
Reports:
Fisher, T, Cooper, T, Woodward, S, Hiller A and Goworek H, (2008) Public Understanding of Sustainable Clothing: A report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Defra, London.