Dr Keith Spiller
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Dr Keith Spiller is a member of The Open University's Centre for Human Resource and Change Management.
You can email Dr Keith Spiller directly; but for media enquiries please contact a member of The Open University's Media Relations team.
Biography
My research interests focus upon spaces of consumption, retailing practices, identity, modernity, food, surveillance, sustainability and globalization. My PhD explored the act of buying and selling at farmers’ markets in the north east of England; and focused upon the construction of relationships between producers and consumers at the markets. The work unpacked the socio-economic impacts and implications generated when they meet and highlighted the social intricacies and subtleties that are produced within spaces of consumption. Previous work has detailed an historical account of consumption as an agent of modernity and social change (examining Irish Department Stores 1920-60), and I have also explored the fortification of identity through consumption practices in African-owned shops by recently arrived immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees to Dublin.
My theoretical grounding includes debates surrounding issues of consumption, social embeddedness, actor network theory, alternative food networks, affect, agency, performance, materiality and alterity. My work is heavily ethnographical, relying on methods such as interviews, focus groups, participant observation, field diaries, photography and coding through Atlas ti software.
Research interests
My research interests focus upon spaces of consumption, retailing practices, identity, modernity, food, surveillance, sustainability and globalization. My PhD explored the act of buying and selling at farmers’ markets in the north east of England; and focused upon the construction of relationships between producers and consumers at the markets. The work unpacked the socio-economic impacts and implications generated when they meet and highlighted the social intricacies and subtleties that are produced within spaces of consumption. Previous work has detailed an historical account of consumption as an agent of modernity and social change (examining Irish Department Stores 1920-60), and I have also explored the fortification of identity through consumption practices in African-owned shops by recently arrived immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees to Dublin. My theoretical grounding includes debates surrounding issues of consumption, social embeddedness, actor network theory, alternative food networks, affect, agency, performance, materiality and alterity. My work is heavily ethnographical, relying on methods such as interviews, focus groups, participant observation, field diaries, photography and coding through Atlas ti software.
Current projects
Publications
Testimonials
