Staff profile

Biography and Research

I am a social and cultural geographer interested in encounterable life and the geographies of difference with a particular focus on contested forms of coexistence.

My current research focuses on the social, cultural and political dimensions of more-than-human cities and the ethical questions and challenges that are posed by species on the move. These questions are explored in depth through my work on urban kittiwakes in the UK and Norway, which examines the growth of seabird colonies in urban areas, the implications for urban planning and community, and how the presence of oceanic species are changing the way that we think about cities, threatened species, and coastal geographies. As part of this work, I am involved in collaborations with marine ecologists and anthropologists.

My interest in the contested politics of coexistence builds on my wider research around the geographies of encounter, the politics of tolerance, and manifestations of conflict that fold in questions of race, culture and species. It asks how people learn to live with difference in diverse contexts.

My recent book Robin offers a social and cultural history of the robin, cutting across varied geographies, folklore, art, literature and the ambivalent histories of the colour red. It is part of Reaktion’s Animal Series.

Prior to joining the department in 2017, I held lectureships and teaching positions at the University of Hull and Durham University and was a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester. I completed a BA, MA, and PhD (2011) at Durham University.

Keywords: encounterable life; difference; cities; affect and emotion; cultural theory; animal studies; environmental humanities; urban theory.

• 2021: Editor: Social & Cultural Geography

Authored book

• Wilson, H. F. (2022). Robin. Reaktion

Book review

• Featherstone, D., Wilson, H. F., Crossan, J., & Sanyal, R. (2017). Book review symposium: Metropolitan Preoccupations: The Spatial Politics of Squatting in Berlin. Urban Studies, 54(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098016674878
• Wilson, H. F. (2012). Book Review: A Women’s Berlin: Building the Modern City. Urban Studies, 49(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098011425600

Chapter in book

• Wilson, H. F. (in press). On the paradox of 'organised' encounter. In L. B. Christiansen, L. P. Galal, & K. Hvenegard-Lassen (Eds.), Cultural Encounters as Intervention Practices. Routledge
• Wilson, H. F., Burman, E., Miles, S., & Warren, S. Other(ed) childhoods: supplementary schools and the politics of learning. In N. Von Benzon, & C. Wilkinson (Eds.), Intersectionality and Difference in Childhood and Youth: Global Perspectives. Routledge
• Wilson, H. F. Animal Encounters: a genre of contact. In A. Bohm, & J. Ullrich (Eds.), Animal Encounters: Contact, Interaction and Relationality. J.B.Metzler
• Farías, M., & Wilson, H. F. (2020). Voluntary Spaces. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students. SAGE Publications
• Lobo, M., Kelly, D., & Wilson, H. F. (2020). Participatory Approaches. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography. SAGE Publications
• Wilson, H. F. (2020). Anonymity. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography. SAGE Publications
• Darling, J., & Wilson, H. F. (2020). Geography and Ethics. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography. SAGE Publications
• Wilson, H. F. (2020). Data Management. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography. SAGE Publications
• Wilson, H. F. (2017). Building Coalitions: Solidarities, friendships, and tackling inequality. In S. Oosterlynck, N. Schuermans, & M. Loopmans (Eds.), Place, Diversity and Solidarity (51-70). Routledge
• Wilson, H. F. (2016). Encounters. In M. Jayne, & K. Ward (Eds.), Urban Theory: New Critical Perspectives (109-121). Routledge
• Wilson, H. F. (2016). Encountering Havana: texts, aesthetics, and documentary encounters. In J. Darling, & H. Wilson (Eds.), Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York (203-220). Routledge
• Wilson, H. F. (2016). Sonic geographies, sound walks and more-than-representational methods. In M. Bull, & L. Back (Eds.), The Auditory Culture Reader (163-172). (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury
• Wilson, H. F., & Darling, J. (2016). The possibilities of encounter. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York (1-24). Routledge

Edited book

• Wilson, H. F., & Darling, J. (Eds.). (2020). Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students. SAGE Publications
• Darling, J., & Wilson, H. F. (Eds.). (2016). Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York. Routledge

Journal Article

• Wilson, H. (in press). Urban maintenance as compromise: Coming to terms with the multispecies city. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space,
• Wilson, H. F. (2024). Futility and environmentalism: Affective repertoires and the imposition of limits. New Formations, 112, 16-30. https://doi.org/10.3898/NewF%3A112.01.2024
• Wilson, H. F. (2023). Coming to terms with affective infrastructure. Dialogues in Human Geography, 13(1), 81-85. https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206231154347
• Wilson, H. (2022). Seabirds in the city: urban futures and fraught coexistence. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 47(4), 1137-1151. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12525
• Wilson, H. F. (2022). Arrival cities and the mobility of concepts. Urban Studies, 59(16), 3459-3468. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980221135820
• Wilson, H. F. (2020). Discomfort: Transformative encounters and social change. Emotion, Space and Society, 37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100681
• Anderson, B., Wilson, H., Foreman, P., Heslop, J., Ormerod, E., & Maestri, G. (2020). Brexit: Modes of Uncertainty and Futures in an Impasse. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 45(2), 256-269. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12348
• Wilson, H. F., & Anderson, B. (2020). Detachment, disaffection, and other ambivalent affects. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 38(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654420912445f
• Antonsich, M., Skey, M., Sumartojo, S., Merriman, P., Stephens, A., Tolia-Kelly, D., Wilson, H., & Anderson, B. (2020). The spaces and politics of affective nationalism. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 38(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654420912445
• Wilson, H. F. (2019). Contact zones: Multispecies scholarship through 'Imperial Eyes'. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 2(4), 712-731. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619862191
• Anderson, B., & Wilson, H. (2018). Everyday Brexits. Area, 50(2), 291-295. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12385
• Wilson, H. F. (2017). On the Paradox of ‘Organised’ Encounter. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 38(6), 606-620. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2017.1386631
• Wilson, H. F. (2017). On geography and encounter. Progress in Human Geography, 41(4), 451-471. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516645958
• Wilson, H. F. (2015). An urban laboratory for the multicultural nation?. Ethnicities, 15(4), 586-604. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796815577703
• Wilson, H. F. (2014). The Possibilities of Tolerance: Intercultural Dialogue in a Multicultural Europe. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 32(5), 852-868. https://doi.org/10.1068/d13063p
• Wilson, H. F. (2014). Multicultural learning: parent encounters with difference in a Birmingham primary school. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 39(1), 102-114. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12015
• Wilson, H. F. (2013). Post-socialist Cities and Urban Studies: Transformation and Continuity in Eurasia. Urban Studies, 50(16), 3463-3471. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098013505884
• Wilson, H. F. (2013). Collective life: parents, playground encounters and the multicultural city. Social and Cultural Geography, 14(6), 625-648. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2013.800220
• Wilson, H. F. (2013). Learning to think differently: Diversity training and the ‘good encounter’. Geoforum, 45, 73-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.10.001
• Wilson, H. (2012). Living with difference and the conditions for dialogue. Dialogues in Human Geography, 2(2), 225-227. https://doi.org/10.1177/204382061200200203
• Wilson, H. (2011). Passing Propinquities in the Multicultural City: the everyday encounters of bus passengering. Environment and Planning A, 43(3), 634-649. https://doi.org/10.1068/a43354

Other (Print)

• Wilson, H. F. (2017). The Geography of Brexit
• Wilson, H. F. (2017). The rise of intolerance? Brexit and the problem with stasis
• Wilson, H. F. (2016). BREXIT: ON THE RISE OF ‘(IN)TOLERANCE’