Teaching and Practice Co-ordinator in Health and Social Care (Birmingham Study Hub)

Following on from completing my PhD in Sociology in 2009, I have been teaching widely in the social sciences, with an emphasis on sociology, at a range of UK institutions of higher education.

I have worked as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, the University of Leeds and Durham University and for a period of time as a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Nottingham Trent University.

Having joined the University of Bedfordshire and its Birmingham Study Hub in May 2021, it is my role to take a lead on learning-and-teaching practices in Birmingham.

I strive to be working with colleagues and students in a collaborative spirit. I am committed to co-creating inclusive classrooms with students which allow for learning as critical consciousness-raising.

Qualifications

• PhD Sociology – University of Erfurt, Max Weber Centre for Advanced Social and Cultural Studies, Germany
• PG Cert Higher Education Learning & Teaching – University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• MA Sociology and Theology – Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, German

Teaching Expertise

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Contemporary Social Issues

Research Interests

• Theory, especially critical and queer approaches
• Sociology of non/religion
• Gender and sexualities
• Sociology of health and illness; health inequalities

External Roles

Member of PPI group: Patient and Public Involvement & Engagement (University of Aberdeen, 2021- )

Publications

• Finger, A. (2020), Wake-Up Calls: Sleep Discipline and Its Subject/s.: A Study in Ideology Critique, the Critique of Religion and Cultural Criticism, pdf, 224 pp. Published electronically at: www.db-thueringen.de/receive/dbt_mods_00046254
• Finger, A. (2017), ‘Four Horsemen (and a Horsewoman): What Gender is New Atheism?’, chapter 9 in: Cotter, Christopher R./Quadrio, Philip A./Tuckett, Jonathan (eds.), New Atheism: Critical Perspectives and Contemporary Debates, Dordrecht et al.: Springer; 155-170. 
• Finger, A. (2016), ‘Homosexualität/en und Religion/en’ [‘Homosexualities and Religion/s’], in: Unterrichts-Konzepte Ethik [Lesson Plans Ethics], Munich: Stark Verlag, 82-3; longer version previously published as part of Online Special, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (German Federal Agency for Civic Education), www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/gender/homosexualitaet/38892/homosexualitaet-und-religion-en?p=all
• Finger, A. (2011), ‘Learning through Research: Students as Participant Observers of Religion/s‘, Discourse, vol. 10, no. 3.
• Finger, A. (2011), ‘Todes Bruder: Schlaf-Bett-Bezüge’ (~‘Brother of Death: Sleep-Bed-Covers’), Polar: Endlich. Tod und Gesellschaft, vol. 10; 117-9.
• Finger, A. /Ullmann, P. (2010), ‘Auf Schulinspektion mit Althusser: Ideologietheoretische Reflexionen’ (‘School Inspection with Althusser: Reflections on the Theory of Ideology’), in: Krüger, Katja/Ullmann, Philipp (eds.), Von Geometrie und Geschichte in der Mathematikdidaktik: Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Lutz Führer ('Of Geometry and History in Maths Teacher Training: Festschrift for Lutz Führer's 65th Birthday'), Eichstätt: Polygon-Verlag; 195-210.
• Finger, A. (2009) [2007], ‘Ambivalence – The Pains and Pleasures of Opium, Religion, and Modernity: A new view of Robert Owen’, Chapter 5 in: Michael R. Ott (ed.), The Future of Religion: Toward a Reconciled Society (= Studies in Critical Social Studies 9), Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books; 147-164 [Republication of 2007, Studies in Critical Social Studies 9, Leiden/Boston: Brill].

Contact Details

E: anja.finger@beds.ac.uk