The University of Sheffield
Department of Politics

Academic Staff: Inanna Hamati-Ataya

Inanna Hamati-AtayaDr Inanna Hamati-Ataya, BA, MA, PhD (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Lecturer

Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 1662
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 1717
Room: 1.31 Elmfield
Feedback and Consultation Hours: Wednesday 11.30 – 13.30

Email: i.hamati-ataya@sheffield.ac.uk

Profile

Inanna Hamati-Ataya graduated from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France, where she was awarded a PhD in Political Science in October 2006. Before joining the Department of Politics at Sheffield in September 2011, she was an Assistant Professor at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon (2007-2011), where she also served as Head of the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration.

Dr. Hamati-Ataya’s research focuses on the philosophical and socio-political foundations of knowledge-production in the social sciences, more specifically in International Relations and Social/Political Theory. She is particularly interested in the socio-political underpinnings of epistemic, ontological, and deontological debates in these disciplines, such as those pertaining to objectivity, representation and values. As such, part of her work is meta-theoretical and engages political theory as a social construct, from a sociology-of-knowledge and politics-of-knowledge perspective. This, in turn, informs her research as a theorist engaging political reality from a post-foundationalist perspective. This research agenda was first shaped by her PhD thesis on the place and role of values in the epistemic postulates of Realism in International Relations Theory (IRT), and has since developed into a more general commitment to reflexivism as a different perspective on knowledge and scholarly praxis.

Teaching

This year, I taught two undergraduate modules, and co-taught two MA modules.

POL113 Introduction to Political Analysis and POL3018 Advanced Political Analysis are part of the Department’s core training in political analysis and methodology. In POL113, led by Professor Matthew Flinders, first-year undergraduates are introduced to key concepts in Political Science, which they actively discuss in seminar groups by reflecting on empirical case-studies. Students put together a Study Skills Portfolio, which is an individual assignment wherein they discuss a given political concept by reviewing the core literature, and reflect on their own research process. The module also provides them with the opportunity to work as a group by creating a website on a chosen political concept or phenomenon, thereby mobilizing all the skills and knowledge they have acquired in their readings, lectures, seminar discussions, and individual assignments.

POL3018 is the third-year module on political analysis led by Professor Colin Hay. Students discuss, at a more advanced level, some fundamental epistemic and ontological concepts/debates in political science, such as the nature of politics and power, agency and structure, and the role of ideas in politics and political analysis. They keep a Learning Log that helps them reflect on their learning experience, and write a 3,000-word essay on one of the core themes of the module, which they are expected to actively engage and debate. In addition to this substantial individual piece of research, students are divided in sub-groups in workshop seminar sessions in the last part of the module, where they work together to research a chosen topic, which they then present in the form of a poster.

In both modules, I draw on my own research in political and international theory to guide students’ discussions of different political concepts, debates, and problems. Seminar discussions are an opportunity for undergraduate students to actively engage the stuff of political reality and gradually gain the conceptual knowledge and academic skills that enable them to reflect on their political environment in a methodical and analytically rigorous way, but also in a critical, and even self-critical, manner. I am therefore committed to preserving their freedom of expression, and also encourage them to engage one another’s opinions and arguments and to reflect on their own views. To make this learning experience optimal, I combine conceptual analysis with discussions of empirical cases from political reality.

At the MA level, I co-teach POL6970 Theory and Practice of International Relations, with Dr. Rhiannon Vickers. This seminar is the core module for the MA in International Studies. I mainly cover the Theory part of the module, which is one of my main areas of expertise. Students are first introduced to IR Theory and its main traditions (Realism, Liberalism, English School, Post-positivist IR, and Cosmopolitanism) and then address specific aspects of international practice. They are evaluated on the basis of two essays, covering both halves of the module. In the first half, they are expected to engage the core texts of IR Theory, and discuss/contrast their different epistemic, ontological, and deontological assumptions, their explanatory power and validity as representations of world politics, but also their hidden ideological and cultural underpinnings. One of my key commitments in teaching IR Theory is to combine an analytical, meta-theoretical understanding of the theories themselves, with a sociological reflection on their cultural and political context of emergence, which includes the academic/intellectual condition of their authors and the discipline as a whole. This provides students with the means to critically assess, not only the validity of these theories, but also their meaning as social constructs and as historical representations of the world.

I also co-teach, with Dr. Daniel Viehoff from the Department of Philosophy, PHI6690 Politics and Values. This seminar is the core module of the Politics-Philosophy joint MA in Political Theory. Students are trained to read, analyze and discuss core issues in Political Philosophy, focusing on the problems of political authority, legitimacy, freedom and coercion. Students submit one essay for this module.

New UG Module for 2012-13:

POL3125 Dissident Perspectives on World Politics (Level 3, with project in Semester 2)

This module explores key anti-mainstream theories of world politics and approaches to world order, including critiques of International Relations (IR) itself. It first examines the core assumptions of different post-positivist schools of thought by focusing on their epistemic/ontological stances, methodologies, and thematics, as well as their political and deontological commitments. It then moves on to study specific instances of anti-mainstream IR (Critical Theory, Critical Constructivism, Feminism, Post-Colonialism, Post-Structuralism, and Reflexivism), using key empirical studies of Western and non-Western regional/international politics to highlight their critiques of mainstream IR and their own contribution as alternative approaches to world politics.

New MA Module for 2013-14:

Theories of Ideology

Ideology is one of the key concepts of modern and contemporary political thought. This module introduces students to the history and genealogy of Ideology Theory, and examines different theoretical approaches to Ideology, focusing specifically on its origin, nature, and social function, as well as its relation to power, language, knowledge, and the construction and reproduction of political order. The different analytical frameworks and methodologies that support the investigation of these thematics are then illustrated through empirical case studies of specific domestic and international manifestations of ideological structures, discourses, and practices.

Professional activities and recognition

Current Research

I am currently working on two different research projects. The first one draws on my current research on reflexivity in IR/Social Theory, and is a book project tentatively titled “Reflexivist International Relations Scholarship: Knowledge and Praxis in a Post-Foundationalist Era.” This is an opportunity for me to complete and finalise my work on a coherent reflexivist approach to the study of world politics, that provides a consistent perspective on the cognitive and praxical/deontological dilemmas of IR Scholarship.

The second project is related to my interest in the social construction of specific concepts and deontological values – including the notions of objectivity, value-freedom, neutrality, and political engagement – and the way they shape social agents’ dispositions and practices, both within their professional field and in the public sphere more generally. I am particularly interested in two social groups that share common characteristics: academics (more specifically scholars in the field of International Relations) and journalists.

Key Publications

View Dr Hamati-Ataya's full list of publications

PhD Supervision

I am currently a second supervisor on three PhD theses in the Department of Politics, and would welcome students passionate about any of the following areas of research: