缅北禁地

I lecture in Sociology at 缅北禁地 where I am privileged to be a small part of a brilliant, hard-working and collegiate subject group.

I've spent a good part of my career trying to think at the intersection of ecological politics, fictional imaginaries and social theory. I work with speculative fiction to elucidate eco-social dilemmas and possibilities; think from sociology to situate and enrich environmental and climate imaginaries; and use more-than-human and post-human approaches to interrogate and extend sociology. These themes have taken on increasing urgency and weight in the light of the climate crisis.

I research and teach on social theory, utopian studies, environmental/Anthropocene futures, science fiction and social imaginaries. I'm also interested in epistemic cultures and gender and in empirical approaches to reading fiction.

I have been working on science fiction, fiction readers and science futures since the AHRC-funded project Unsettling Scientific Stories. Our new book on that topic is out! Written with , Dr Miranda Iossifidis and Professor Joanna Verran,, examines the relevance of speculative and fictional narratives for understanding science. Unlike most work on this topic, it centres research with ordinary fiction readers and explores everyday reading practices.

Research on reading, science and futures developed out of my long term focus on social thinking about green futures in fiction, policy, public debate and the sociological imagination and how it is changing in response to climate change and the Anthropocene. My book Green Utopias: Environmental Hope Before and After Nature (Polity 2017) explores some of these debates, along with recent articles and chapters (with Iossifidis Reimagining climate futures: Reading Annihilation. Geoforum 2022;   in Greentopia: Utopian Thought in the Anthropocene Springer, 2024).

My work on utopianism and utopian modes of theorising explores relationships between utopia, society and desire ( in the Journal for Cultural Research 2009); utopia, realism and futurity ( in the Routledge Handbook of Social Futures); and utopia, failure and weakness ('Climate and failure: for a weak utopianism' https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310251392829).

I am interested in supervising PhD projects in the broad areas of environmental and climate futures; Anthropocene social theorising; utopian studies; sociology, speculation and alternative futures; science fiction and sociology; fiction reading and public engagement with the climate crisis. 

2025/6 Semester 1 I will be co-Module Leader for SOC2058 Theorising Social Worlds, our reimagined introduction to social theory at Stage 2. We'll be unpacking and exploring key concepts and theories using a thematic approach with contemporary examples, drawing on the research insights of a range of sociology staff at 缅北禁地.

• Articles

  • Liebhaber N, Garforth L, Frick M, Keller L. . Pedagogy, Culture and Society 2025, 33(4), 1299-1316.
  • Garforth,L. . European Journal of Social Theory 2025. In Press.
  • Garforth L, Ramirez-Blanco J. . Re-visiones 2023, 2023(13).
  • Iossifidis M, Garforth L. . Geoforum 2022, 137, 248-257.
  • Garforth L. . Osiris 2019, 34(1), 238-257.
  • Garforth L, Gallinat A. . Learning and Teaching 2018, 11(1), 1-18.
  • Kerr A, Garforth L. . The Sociological Review 2016, 64(1), 3-20.
  • Garforth L. . Science, Technology and Human Values 2012, 37(2), 264-285.
  • Garforth L, Kerr A. . British Journal of Sociology 2011, 62(4), 657-676.
  • Garforth L, Kerr A. . Sociological Research Online 2010, 15(2), 11.
  • Garforth L, Kerr A. . Social Politics 2009, 16(3), 379-403.
  • Garforth L. . Journal for Cultural Research 2009, 13(1), 5-27.
  • Garforth L, Kraftl P. . Journal for Cultural Research 2009, 13(1), 1-4.
  • Garforth L. . Spaces of Utopia, An Electronic Journal 2006, (3), 5-26.
  • Garforth L. . Utopian Studies 2005, 16(1), 1-37.

• Authored Books

  • Chambers AC, Garforth L, Iossifidis MJM, Verran J. . London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025.
  • Garforth L. . Oxford, UK: Polity, 2017.

• Book Chapters

  • Garforth L. . In: Andreas Beitin, Sebastian Muhl and Dino Steinhof, ed. Utopia: The Right to Hope. Cologne: Verlag der Buchlandlung Wlather und Franz Koniz, 2025, pp.80-87.
  • Garforth L. . In: Angela Kalhoff; Eva Liedauer, ed. Greentopia: Utopian Thought in the Anthropocene. Cham: Springer, 2024, pp.17-33.
  • Garforth L. . In: Tabernero C, ed. Urban Narratives about Nature : Socio-Ecological Imaginaries between Science and Entertainment. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2024, pp.175-194.
  • Garforth L. . In: López Galviz, C and Spiers, E, ed. Routledge Handbook of Social Futures. London: Routledge, 2021, pp.292-303.
  • Garforth L, Chambers AC. . In: Neel Ahuja, Monique Allewaert, Lindsey Andrews, et al, ed. The Palgrave Handbook of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature and Science. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp.243-261.
  • Coulson S, Garforth L, Payne G, Wastell E. . In: Waller, R; Ingram, N; Ward, MRN, ed. Higher Education and Social Inequalities University Admissions, Experiences, and Outcomes. London, UK: Routledge, 2018.
  • Garforth L. . In: James D. Wright, ed. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier, 2015, pp.414-419.
  • Garforth L. . In: Heffernan, N., Wragg, D, ed. Culture, Environment and Ecopolitics. 缅北禁地 upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, pp.55-83.
  • Garforth L, Cervinkova A. . In: Felt, U, ed. Knowing and Living in Academic Research: Convergence and Heterogeneity in Research Cultures in the European Context. Prague: Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 2009, pp.169-226.
  • Garforth L. . In: Parham, J, ed. The Environmental Tradition in English Literature. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003, pp.100-116.

• Online Publication

  • Garforth L, Iossifidis M. . Central European University, 2020. Available at: .