Dr Josephine Cornell

Lecturer

School of Social Sciences

Email:: Josephine.cornell@bcu.ac.uk

Dr Josephine Cornell is a Lecturer in Psychology. Before arriving at BCU in January 2022, she worked in South Africa. Josephine completed her PhD in social psychology at the University of Cape Town in 2021.

Josephine’s work has largely been situated within critical social and community psychology. In particular, Josephine’s research interests are focused on issues of identity, belonging, discrimination, violence, resistance and social change and she frequently employs participatory action research methods, such as Photovoice.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Teaching

Research

Publications

Journal Articles

Parker, S. & Cornell, J. (Accepted). “The asylum system is completely broken”: An analysis of justifications and resistance for the UK Government’s Rwanda policy in parliamentary debates. Critical approaches to discourse analysis across disciplines.
Dumani, N., Morkel, J., Malherbe, N., Cornell, J., & Suffla, S. (2023). Critical psychosocial interventions: A scoping review. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 9(2), 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1285/i24212113v9i2p1
Parker, S. & Cornell, J. (2023). ’Just say hi’: Forced migrants’ constructions of local neighbourhoods as spaces of inclusion and exclusion in South Wales. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 5, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100147
Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2023). Researching Protest Policing in South Africa: A Discourse Analysis of the Police-Researcher Encounter. Policing, 17. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac079
Malherbe, N. & Cornell, J. (2022). Articulating discursive community psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 16, e12661. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12661
Cornell, J., Kessi, S., & Ratele, K. (2022). Examining the dynamics of belonging and alienation in higher education through photovoice. Health Promotion Practice: Photovoice Special Issue, 23(2), 325–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399211054779
Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2022). Reflecting critically on the researcher-participant encounter in focus groups: Racialized interactions, contestations and (re)presentations of South Africa’s ‘protest culture’. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19(1), 221-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2019.1577519
Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2021). Discourses of gender and political violence in South Africa. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxab005
Day, S., Cornell, J., & Malherbe, N. (2021). Discourses of ‘service delivery protests’ in South Africa: An analysis of talk radio. Critical Discourse Studies, 18(2), 245-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2019.1676279
Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., Cornell, J., & Taliep, N. (2021). Three pathways for enlarging critical African psychology. South African Journal of Psychology, 51(3), 430-440. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246320963201
Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Cornell, J., Day, S., Helman, R., Makama, R., Titi, N., Suffla, S., & Dlamini, S. (2020). Elaborations on (a) decolonising Africa(n)-centred feminist psychology. Psychology in Society, 59, 1-19.
Cornell, J., Seedat, M., Malherbe, N. & Suffla, S. (2020). Splintered politics of memory and community resistance. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(5), 1677-1695. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22394
Malherbe, N., Day, S., Cornell, J., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2020). Exploring police-protester interactions. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 26(3), 236–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000441
Day, S., Seedat, M., Cornell, J., & Suffla, S. (2019). A multimodal reading of public protests. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 37(6), 1005–1023. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654418818550
Ratele, K., Cornell, J., Dlamini, S., Helman, R., Malherbe, N., & Titi, N. (2018). Some basic questions about (a) decolonizing (Africa(n)-centred) psychology considered. South African Journal of Psychology, 48(3), 331-342.
Cornell, J. & Kessi, S. (2017). Black students’ experiences of transformation at a previously ‘white only’ South African university: A photovoice study. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1882-1899.
Cornell, J., Ratele, K., & Kessi, S. (2016). Intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in student experiences of violence and resistances on a university campus. Perspectives in Education, 34(2), 97-119.
Kessi, S., & Cornell, J. (2015). Coming to UCT: Black students, transformation and discourses of race. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 3(2), 1–16.

Peer-Reviewed Chapters in Edited Books

Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Cornell, J., & Suffla, S. (2023). Queer masculinities and political struggle in apartheid South Africa. In J. Hearn, K. Aavik, D. Collinson, A. Thym (Eds.), Routledge handbook on men, masculinities and organizations: Theories, practices and futures of organizing (pp. 276-290). Routledge.
Day, S. & Cornell, J. (2023). Walking interview method. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.) Handbook of social sciences and global public health. Springer. Cornell, J., Hearn, J., Ratele, K., Kessi, S. (2023). Sexual Justice and Sexualities. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.) Handbook of social sciences and global public health. Springer.
Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Ratele, K. & Suffla, S. (2023). Whiteness, masculinity and the decolonising imperative. In R. Andreassen, S. Keskinen, C. Lundström, & S. Tate (Eds.), Routledge handbook of new critical race and whiteness studies (pp. 321-334). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003120612
Cornell, J. & Kessi, S. (2022). Discrimination in education. In C. Tileagă, M. Augoustinos, & K. Durrheim (Eds.), Routledge handbook of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination (pp. 167-183). Routledge.
Cornell, J., Kessi, S. & Ratele, K. (2021). Constructing places of belonging and exclusion: A spatial reading of South African university students’ affect and identity. In S. Yamada, A. Takada & S. Kessi (Eds.) Knowledge, school, and social structure in Africa (pp. 85-127). Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Publishers.
Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Cornell, J., Day, S., Makama, R., & Suffla, S. (2020). Putting psychology into question in our context: What is African-centred psychology? In D. Donald, S. Lazarus, & N. Moolla (Eds.), Educational psychology in social context: Ecosystemic applications in Southern Africa (pp. 34-39). Cape Town, South Africa: Oxford University Press.
Cornell, J., Mkhize, L, & Kessi, S. (2019). Envisioning photovoice as decolonial feminist praxis. In F. Boonzaier & T. van Niekerk (Eds.), Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology (pp. 59-76). New York, NY: Springer.
Cornell, J. & Kessi, S. (2018). Black Students’ Resistances to Stigmatizing Discourses in Higher Education: A Photovoice Study. In T. Shefer, J. Hearn, K. Ratele, & F. Boonzaier (Eds.), Engaging youth in activist research and pedagogical praxis: Transnational perspectives on gender, sex, and race (pp. 215-234). New York, NY: Routledge.
Cornell, J., Kessi, S., & Ratele, K. (2018). Dynamics of privilege, identity and resistance at a historically white university: A photovoice study of exclusionary institutional culture. In N. Oke, C. Sonn, & A. Baker (Eds.), Places of privilege: Interdisciplinary perspectives on identities, change and resistance (pp. 173-193). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Conference Presentations

Cornell, J., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2019, March). Policing violent public protest in South Africa: Narratives of complex policing identities. Poster presented at the International Convention of Psychological Sciences, Paris, France.
Cornell, J. & Kessi, S. (2018, October). Envisioning photovoice as decolonial feminist practice. Presented at the 7th International Conference on Community Psychology, Santiago, Chile.
Cornell, J. (2018, October). Dynamics of identity and space in higher education: A photovoice study of a ‘transforming’ university. Presented at the 7th International Conference on Community Psychology, Santiago, Chile.
Cornell, J., Mochudi, M., Suffla, S., Makama, R., Seedat, M. (2017, September). Public protest in a low-income South African community: A contested oral history. Presented at the 1st Pan-African Psychology Congress, Durban, South Africa.
Cornell, J., Ratele, K., & Kessi, S. (2017, February). ‘Transformation’ at a previously ‘white only’ South African University: Black students’ experiences of belonging and resistance. Presented at the Place, Politics & Privilege Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
Cornell, J., Seedat, M., Simelane, A., & Suffla, S. (2016, August). Understanding the drivers of public protest in South Africa. Presented at the 1st South African National Conference on Violence, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Day, S., Cornell, J., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2016, August). Reconstructions of the individual and collective body of the black protester on talk radio. Presented at the 1st South African National Conference on Violence, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Cornell, J., Seedat, M., Simelane, A., & Suffla, S. (2016, May). Dimensions of violence in community level service delivery protests in South Africa. Presented at the 6th International Conference on Community Psychology, Durban, South Africa.
Day, S., Seedat, M., Suffla, S., and Cornell, J. (2016, May). ‘The monster the government created’: Negotiating legitimacy of and accountability for service delivery protests. Presented at the 6th International Conference on Community Psychology, Durban, South Africa.
Cornell, J., Kessi, S. and Ratele, K. (2016, May). Intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in student experiences of violence and resistances on a university campus. Presented at the 6th International Conference on Community Psychology, Durban, South Africa.
Cornell, J., Ratele, K., & Kessi, S. (2015, September). Imagining a decolonised university: How university students construct a future transformed university space. Presented at the 21st South African Psychology Congress, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Cornell, J., & Kessi, S. (2014, November). Black students' experiences of transformation in higher education: A photovoice study. Paper presented at the 1st South African Political Psychology Conference, Cape Town, South Africa.