Dr Monica Thomas

Lecturer in Criminology

School of Social Sciences

Email:: Monica.thomas@bcu.ac.uk

Dr Monica Thomas is a Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University. Monica’s research is situated within the intersecting fields of Black feminist thought, Black feminist criminology, matricentric criminology and narrative epistemology, through which she aims to critically challenge institutional contexts of confinement - such as the prison - and the systematic processes of marginalisation that surround it.

Monica is particularly concerned with issues relating to racialised injustice, reproductive oppression as well as collective strategies of resistance. This is reflected in her PhD thesis “Just because I’ve gone to prison, my mum hat doesn’t switch off”: An analysis of Black mothers’ narratives of imprisonment and life after release, funded by the ESRC.

Through her previous work in the third sector, Monica also has experience working with and advocating alongside people and families impacted by the criminal legal system of England and Wales. She views teaching and research, when approached with from a critical, imaginative and collaborative standpoint, as an additional form of social activism as well as a means of community nurturing in and of itself.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Memberships

Publications

Doctoral Thesis:

Thomas, M. 2023. Just because I’ve gone to prison, my mum hat doesn’t switch off”: An analysis of Black mothers’ narratives of imprisonment and life after release [Doctoral Thesis]. Cardiff: Cardiff University. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/163001

Book Chapters:

Thomas, M. and Bozkurt, S. 2023. "Racism is very much there”: Validating Racial Trauma in the Context of Criminal Justice. In: L, Baldwin. Gendered Justice: Women, Trauma and Crime. Sherfield on Lodden: Waterside Press. https://www.watersidepress.co.uk/books/gendered-justice-lucy-baldwin/

Conference Papers and Research Webinars:

Thomas, M. 2024. “It Was Hard Work and It Is Still Hard Work”: Towards a Black Feminist Typology of Imprisoned Motherwork, Radical Mothering in Europe: Everyday Forms of Resistance. The Radical Mothering Research Collective: Warwick University.

Thomas, M. 2022. ‘Narrative Methods: Centring Black Mothers' experiences of imprisonment’, Capabilities and Carers Conference. 27 April. Cardiff: Cardiff University.

Thomas, M. 2021. ‘Restricted Mothering’, SOCSCI Doctoral Conference. 28 June. Cardiff: Cardiff University.

Thomas, M. 2021. ‘"Straight Away I Was Aware That I Was Black": Narratives from Black mothers in and After Prison’ [Webinar]. 28 November. The Black Criminology Network.

Thomas, M. 2020. ‘Unlocking Stories and Conducting Race Conscious Research’ [Webinar]. 8 April. Cardiff: The Migration, Ethnicity, Race, and Diversity Research Group, Cardiff University.

Thomas, M. 2020. ‘Getting on to Get Out’, SOCSCI Doctoral Conference. 27 July. Cardiff: Cardiff University.

Thomas, M. 2019. ‘Experiences of Mothering amongst Black Women in Prison’, SOCSCI Doctoral Conference. 14 June. Cardiff: Cardiff University.

Thomas, M. 2019. ‘The Blame Game: The Construction and Portrayal of Black Victims in British Crime Reports. 11 December. Cardiff: The Migration, Ethnicity, Race, and Diversity Research Group, Cardiff University.

Briefings and Reports:

Hunter, G. Thomas, M. and Campbell, N. 2024. Experiences of public law care proceedings: A briefing on interviews with parents and special guardians. London: Revolving Doors and the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research. https://revolving-doors.org.uk/publications/lived-experience-of-the-law-pilot-phase-briefing-experiences-of-public-law-care-proceedings/

Book Reviews:

Thomas, M. 2020. Should schools be colorblind? [Book Review]. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, pp. 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649220922156