Dr Brendan Mcgeever
-
Overview
Overview
Biography
Brendan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the Department of Psychosocial Studies. His core areas of specialism are the study of racism, antisemitism and anti-racism, historically and in the present day; the sociology of class; the study of the former Soviet Union, Marxism and Marxist theory. He is particularly interested in the relationship between racialization and antisemitism and exploring the extent to which these two areas of research can be brought together within the wider sociology of racism and ethnicity studies.
Brendan is the author of 'Antisemitism and the Russian Revolution' (Cambridge University Press, 2019). This work of historical sociology explores the Bolshevik response to antisemitism during the Russian Revolution, uncovering how it grappled with the racialization of class politics. It also traces anti-racist agency within the Bolshevik movement. Based on archival fieldwork in Russia, Ukraine and the United States, the book finds that the Soviet response to antisemitism was led not by the Party leadership, as is often assumed, but by a loosely connected group of radicals who mobilized around a Jewish political subjectivity.
As part of his wider interest in antisemitism, racism and class politics, Brendan has collaborated with Professor Satnam Virdee (University of Glasgow) on a project exploring the significance of antisemitism in the socialist movement of fin de siècle Europe. A collection of papers based on this work was published as a Special Issue of the journal Patterns of Prejudice in September 2017.
In 2019, Brendan was selected as a ‘New Generation Thinker‘ by the BBC and AHRC.
His most recent book, co-written with Satnam Virdee, is Britain In Fragments: Why Things Are Falling Apart, published by Manchester University Press in 2023.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Glasgow , 2015
Web profiles
Administrative responsibilities
- Programme Director, BA Psychosocial Studies and BA Psychosocial Studies with Principles of Psychodynamic Counselling
Professional activities
Editorial Board member: Ethnic and Racial Studies
Peer Reviewer: Policy Press, Bloomsbury Press, Routledge, Ethnicities, Identities, Ethnic and Racial Studies
Member: British Sociological Association
Member: Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
Member: British Association for Jewish Studies
Member: British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies
Member: American Sociological Association
Section Member: Marxist Sociology, American Sociological Association
Section Member: Comparative-Historical Sociology, American Sociological Association
Honours and awards
- BIAJS Annual Book Prize 2021, British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies ,
- Reginald Zelnik Book Prize 2020, Association for Slavonic, East European and Eurasian Studies ,
- 'Honourable Mention', W. Bruce Lincoln Book Prize 2020, Association for Slavonic, East European and Eurasian Studies ,
- Ronald Tress Prize 2019, Birkbeck, University of London ,
- 'Honourable Mention', Alexander Nove Book Prize 2021, British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies ,
- 2019 New Generation Thinker , BBC/AHRC,
-
Research
Research
Research interests
- antisemitism
- 'race’ and racism
- racialization
- the former Soviet Union
- Marxism
- social theory
- historical sociology
- ethnographies of the archive
- class
Research Centres and Institutes
- Research Associate , Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism
- Department Representative, Birkbeck Institute for Social Research
-
Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest: antisemitism, 'race’ and racism, racialization, class, the former Soviet Union, Marxism, social theory, historical sociology, ethnographies of the archive.
Former and current PhD projects include:
Dr Anna Shadrina 'Babushkas: Former Soviet Women Pensioners Ageing in Russia and the UK', supervised with Prof Lynne Segal and Prof Sasha Roseneil.
Ieisha James 'Bordering on whiteness? An intergenerational study of the racialised subjectivities of Italian migrants living in post-Brexit London', supervised with Dr Ben Gidley. UBEL DTP award.
Lizaveta van Munsteren, 'The Vicissitudes of Psychoanalysis in the Soviet Union', supervised with Prof Stephen Frosh.
Evan Sedgwick-Jell, 'Depression and the Political - Mental Health, System Antagonism and Social Transformation', supervised with Prof Felicity Callard
Annie Teriba, 'The New Black Atlantic: Empire, Class and Race in the Neoliberal Era', supervised with Dr Margarita Aragon. UBEL DTP award.
Yu Qian, 'The nation building and the national identity crisis in China: A case study of Hong Kong 2019 through an interdisciplinary lens of philosophy and psychoanalysis', supervised with Prof Stephen Frosh.
Current doctoral researchers
-
YU QIAN
Teaching
On the BA Psychosocial Studies I teach or have taught the following modules: 'Racism and Antisemitism', 'Power', 'Class', 'Dissertation'. At MA level I have taught on the following modules: 'Independent Research Module' and 'Masterclass in Social Research'.
Teaching modules
- Independent Research Module (SSPA085D7)
- Class (SSPA094S6)
- Dissertation Module (SSPA111D6)
- Key Concepts: Global Foundations in Sociology (SSPA161S4)
-
-
Publications
Publications
Article
- Mcgeever, Brendan (2022) Antisemitism, racism, revolution. Ethnic and Racial Studies 45 (8), pp. 1528-1535. ISSN 0141-9870.
- McGeever, Brendan and Gidley, Ben and Feldman, David (2020) Gauging antisemitism in Labour. RACE.ED
- Feldman, David and Gidley, Ben and Mcgeever, Brendan (2020) The EHRC report shows how difficult building real anti-racist politics will be. The Guardian ISSN 0261-3077.
- McGeever, Brendan (2020) How Jewish Socialists fought to stop the Pogroms of the Russian Civil War. Jacobin Magazine
- Feldman, David and Gidley, Ben and Mcgeever, Brendan (2020) The Labour Party and antisemitism: a crisis misunderstood. The Political Quarterly Blog
- Gidley, Ben and McGeever, Brendan Francis and Feldman, David (2020) Labour and Antisemitism: a crisis misunderstood. The Political Quarterly 91 (2), pp. 413-421. ISSN 0032-3179.
- Kuper, R. and McGeever, Brendan Francis and Segal, Lynne and Yuval-Davis, N. and Hakim, J. and Little, B. (2018) Antisemitism, anti-racism and the Labour Party. Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture 70, pp. 22-70. ISSN 1362-6620.
- McGeever, Brendan and Virdee, S. (2018) Race, class and Brexit: how did we get here?. LSE Brexit
- Feldman, David and Mcgeever, Brendan (2018) Corbyn’s Labour, British Jews and anti-Semitism: will peace now break out?. Haaretz
- Feldman, David and Mcgeever, Brendan (2018) Labour and antisemitism: what went wrong and what is to be done?. Independent ISSN 0951-9467.
- Virdee, S. and McGeever, Brendan Francis (2017) Rassismus, Klasse, Brexit, Krise. Geschichte der Gegenwart
- McGeever, Brendan Francis (2017) Revolution and antisemitism: the Bolsheviks in 1917. Patterns of Prejudice 51 (3-4), pp. 1-18. ISSN 0031-322X.
- McGeever, Brendan Francis and Virdee, S. (2017) Antisemitism and socialist strategy in Europe, 1880–1917. Patterns of Prejudice 51 (3-4), pp. 221-234. ISSN 0031-322X.
- Virdee, S. and McGeever, Brendan Francis (2017) Racism, crisis, Brexit. Ethnic and Racial Studies 41 (10), pp. 1802-1819. ISSN 0141-9870.
- Mcgeever, Brendan (2017) The Bolsheviks and Antisemitism. Jacobin Magazine
- Mcgeever, Brendan (2016) Racism and the EU referendum: a state of emergency. Open Democracy
- Mcgeever, Brendan (2016) The Easter Rising and the Soviet Union: an untold chapter in Ireland’s great rebellion. Open Democracy
- Ashe, Stephen and McGeever, Brendan (2011) Marxism, racism and the construction of ‘race’ as a social and political relation: an interview with Professor Robert Miles. Ethnic and Racial Studies 34 (12), pp. 2009-2026. ISSN 0141-9870.
Book
- Satnam, V. and Brendan, McGeever (2023) Britain in fragments: why things are falling apart. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526164599. (In Press)
- McGeever, Brendan (2022) L’Antisémitisme dans la Révolution russe (1917-1920). Paris: les nuits rouges. ISBN 2913112722.
- McGeever, Brendan Francis (2019) Antisemitism and the Russian Revolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107195998.
Book Section
- McGeever, Brendan Francis (2018) Bolshevik responses to Antisemitism during the Civil War: spatiality, temporality, and agency. In: Read, C. and Lindenmeyr, A. and Waldron, P. (eds.) Russia’s Home Front in War and Revolution, 1914-1922: Book 4. The Struggle for the State. Russia's Great War and Revolution, 1914-1922. Bloomington: Slavica Publishers. ISBN 9780893574284.
- McGeever, Brendan Francis (2017) Reaktsiia Bol'shevikov na Antisemitizm v 1918 godu. In: Kolonitskii, B.I. (ed.) Epokha Voin i Revoliutsii (1914-1922). St. Petersburg, Russia: Nestor Istoriia. ISBN 9785446911318.
Other
- McGeever, Brendan Francis (2017) 'Judenfeindschaft gab es auch ohne Pogrome' (interview with Jungle.world). jungle.world jungle.world.
-
Business and community
Business and community
I have media training.
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Antisemitism, racism, Russia and Russian history, class, Marx and Marxism
Outreach
2020 BBC Radio 3 'The Essay: Pogroms and Prejudice'
2019 BBC Radio 4 'History of Hate' discussing antisemitism and the Russian Revolution
2019 BBC Radio 3 'Free Thinking' discussing antisemitism and the exhibition 'Jews, Money, Myth'
2019 BBC Radio 3 discussing pogroms and 1919
2017 BBC Radio 4 'Making History' discussing the London roots of the Russian Revolution