Dr Justin Beaumont

Profile

Justin Beaumont is Research Associate at the Center for Critical Research on Religion in Newham, MA in the US as well as Honorary Research Fellow at Queen Mary. He has a Ph.D. in human geography from Durham University (UK) and has held positions in the UK and the Netherlands. His books include: Exploring the Postsecular (co-edited with A. L. Molendijk and C. Jedan; Brill 2010); Postsecular Cities (co-edited with C. Baker; Continuum 2011); Faith-Based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities (co-edited with P. Cloke; Policy Press 2012); and Working Faith (co-edited with P. Cloke and A. Williams; Paternoster 2013). His research blends human geography and urban studies with social justice, critical theory, and postsecularity. He’s currently working on his first single-authored monograph Enlightened City at Palgrave Macmillan and an edited volume on Russian intellectual history and its impact on geographical scholarship at Bloomsbury.

Research

Research Interests:

My international and multidisciplinary research develops a keen sense of how social science focuses on issues of social and spatial justice, including a dynamic appreciation of how cities in a global context are understood and developed as progressively political and ethically enlightened assemblages. I deal with three interrelated strands of inquiry:

1. reflexive secularization, multiple postsecularisms including decolonizing the secular, and progressive postsecular politics of hope in the enlightened city;
2. influence of Russian philosophy, theology and literary ideas on human geography; and
3. critically recovering the “human” in times of rapacious posthumanism in human (cultural) geography.

The research is formative in recognizing that political economy approaches require opening out to alternative grammars of interpretation including participatory political movements and third-sector involvement (including faith-based actors) in social governance within postsecular urban space and society.

Keywords: Human geography; social and cultural geography urban-social-political; critical theory; postsecularity.

Publications

Articles in refereed journals

• Hasanov, M. and J. Beaumont (2016) ‘The value of collective intentionality for understanding urban self-organisation’, Urban Research and Practice, 9(3): 231-49.
• Yazid, Z. E., Abdul Hamid, A. F., Folmer, H. and J. R. Beaumont (2014) ‘Secularisation in western society: an overview of the main determinants’, Pensee, 76(6): 393-413.
• Cloke, P. and J. Beaumont (2013) ‘Geographies of postsecular rapprochement in the city’, Progress in Human Geography, 37(1): 27–51.
• Beaumont, J. R. (2008) ‘Introduction: faith-based organizations and urban social issues’, Urban Studies, 45(10): 2011-17.
• Beaumont, J. R. (2008) ‘Faith action on urban social issues’, Urban Studies, 45(10): 2019-34.
• Beaumont, J. R. (2008) ‘Dossier: faith-based organizations and human geography’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 99(4): 377-81.
• Beaumont, J. R. and C. Dias (2008) ‘Faith-based organizations and urban social justice in The Netherlands’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 99(4): 382-92.
• Beaumont, J. R. and W. J. Nicholls (2008) ‘Introduction to the symposium: plural governance, participation and democracy in cities’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 32(1): 87-94.
• Beaumont, J. and M. Loopmans (2008) ‘Towards radicalized communicative rationality: resident involvement and urban democracy in Rotterdam and Antwerp’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 32(1): 95-113. 
• Beaumont, J. R. and W. J. Nicholls (2007a) ‘Guest editorial: investigating the geographies of justice movements’, Environment and Planning A, 39(11): 2549-53.
• Beaumont, J. R. and W. J. Nicholls (2007b) ‘Between relationality and territoriality: investigating the geographies of justice movements in The Netherlands and the United States’, Environment and Planning A, 39(11): 2554-74. 
• Beaumont, J., Loopmans, M. and J. Uitermark (2005) ‘Politicization of research and the relevance of geography: some experiences and reflections for an ongoing debate’, Area, 37(2): 118-26.
• Beaumont, J. and S. Musterd (2005) ‘Guest editorial: governance and urban development programmes in Europe’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 96(4): 358-62.
• Blanc, M. and J. Beaumont (2005) ‘Local democracy within European urban development programmes’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 96(4): 409-20.
• Nicholls, W. J. and J. R. Beaumont (2004) ‘Guest editorial: the urbanisation of justice movements?’, Space & Polity, 8(2): 107-18.
• Nicholls, W. J. and J. R. Beaumont (2004) ‘The urbanization of justice movements? possibilities and constraints for the city as a space for contentious struggle’, Space & Polity, 8(2): 119-36.
• Beaumont, J. R. (2003) ‘Governance and popular involvement in local antipoverty strategies in the UK and The Netherlands’, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: research and practice, 5(2-3): 189-207.

Books

• Beaumont, J. (ed) (2018) The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, Abingdon: Routledge (in press).
• Nicholls, W., Miller, B. and J. Beaumont (eds) (2013) Spaces of Contention: spatialities of social movements, Farnham: Ashgate.
• Cloke, P., Beaumont, J. and A. Williams (eds) (2013) Working Faith: faith-based organizations and urban social justice, Milton Keynes/ Carlisle: Paternoster Press.
• Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (2012) (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (eds) (2011) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum.
• Molendijk, A. L., Beaumont, J. and C. Jedan (2010) Exploring the Postsecular: the religious, the political and the urban, Leiden/ Boston: Brill.

Contributions to edited volumes

• Beaumont, J. and K. Eder (2018) ‘Concepts, processes, and antagonisms of postsecularity’. In Beaumont, J. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, Abingdon: Routledge (in press.)
• Mendieta, E. and J. Beaumont (2018) ‘Reflexive secularization’. In Beaumont, J. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, Abingdon: Routledge (in press.)
• Beaumont, J. and Z. Yildiz (2016) ‘Entering a knowledge pearl in times of creative cities policy and strategy’. In Gerhard, U., Hoelscher, M. and D. Wilson (eds) Inequalities in Creative Cities: issues, approaches, comparisons, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Nicholls, W., Miller, B. and J. Beaumont (2013) ‘Conceptualizing the spatialities of movements’., In Nicholls, W., Miller, B. and J. Beaumont (eds) Spaces of Contention: spatialities of social movements, Farnham: Ashgate.
• Beaumont, J. and H. Noordegraaf (2013) ‘The Working Group The Poor Side of The Netherlands-EVA’. In Cloke, P., Beaumont, J. and A. Williams (eds) Working Faith: faith-based organizations and urban social justice, Milton Keynes/ Carlisle: Paternoster Press.
• Davelaar, M., Williams, A. and J. Beaumont (2013) ‘Adventures at a border crossing: the Foundation for Diaconal Work in Rotterdam, The Netherlands’. In Cloke, P., Beaumont, J. and A. Williams (eds) Working Faith: faith-based organizations and urban social justice, Milton Keynes/ Carlisle: Paternoster Press.
• Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (2012) ‘Introduction to the study of FBOs and exclusion in European cities’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Cloke, P. and J. Beaumont (2012) ‘Conclusion: the FBO phenomenon’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Herman, A., Beaumont, J., Cloke, P. and A. Walliser (2012) ‘Spaces of engagement in postsecular cities’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Romanillos, J., Beaumont, J., and M. Sen (2012) ‘State-religion relations and welfare regimes in Europe’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Baker, C. and J. Beaumont (2011) ‘Postcolonialism and religion: new spaces of “belonging and becoming” in the postsecular city’. In Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (eds) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum, pp. 33-49.
• Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (2011) ‘Introduction: the rise of the postsecular city’. In Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (eds) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum, pp. 1-11.
• Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (2011) ‘Afterword: Postsecular cities’. In Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (ed.) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum, pp. 254-66.
• Beaumont, J. (2010) ‘Transcending the particular in postsecular cities’. In Molendijk, A. Beaumont, J. and C. Jedan (eds) Exploring the Postsecular: the religion, the political and the urban, Leiden/ Boston: Brill, pp. 3-17.
• Dias, C. and J. Beaumont (2010) ‘Postsecularism or late secularism? Faith creating place in the US’. In Molendijk, A. Beaumont, J. and C. Jedan (eds) Exploring the Postsecular: the religion, the political and the urban, Leiden/ Boston: Brill, pp. 267-79.
• Beaumont, J. R. (2006) ‘London: deprivation, social isolation and regeneration’. In Musterd, S., Kestelooot, C. and A. Murie (eds) Neighbourhoods of Poverty: urban social exclusion and integration in Europe, Shropshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 139-61.
• Beaumont, J. (2004) ‘De-industrialisation’. In Kazepov, Y. (ed.) Cities of Europe: changing contexts, local arrangements, and the challenge to urban cohesion, with accompanying CD-Rom, Oxford: Blackwell.
• Beaumont, J. R. (2004) ‘Workfare, associationism and the “underclass” in the United States: contrasting faith-based action on urban poverty in a liberal welfare regime’. In Noordegraaf, H. and R. Volz (eds) European Churches Confronting Poverty: social action against social exclusion, Bochum: SWI Verlag, pp. 249-78.
• Beaumont, J., De Decker, P. and J. Vranken (2003) ‘Concluding comments: on convergence and divergence’. In De Decker, P., Vranken, J., Beaumont, J. and I. van Nieuwenhuyze (eds.) On the Origins of Urban Development Programmes in Nine European Countries, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant, pp. 181-87.
• Beaumont, J., van Kempen, R., Musterd. S., Decker, K., Staring, R., Dukes, T. and J. Burgers (2003) ‘Urban policy in The Netherlands’. In De Decker, P., Vranken, J., Beaumont, J. and I. van Nieuwenhuyze (eds) On the Origins of Urban Development Programmes in Nine European Countries, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant, pp. 119-37.
• Beaumont, J., Loopmans, M. and J. Uitermark (2003) ‘Sustainability and politics of scholarship in policy-oriented research: analysing neighbourhoods in Belgium, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom’. In Schmitz, S. and H. Meert (eds) Evaluer la capacité du milieu – De capaciteit van het milieu geëvalueerd. Les Journées des Géographes Belges – De Belgische Geografendagen, Liège: Editions BEVAS/SOBEG, pp. 137-43.
• De Dekker, P., Vranken, J., Beaumont, J. and I. van Nieuwenhuyze (eds) (2003) On the Origins of Urban Development Programmes in Nine European Countries, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant.

Public Engagement

I am actively involved in Emmaus-UK, especially in the St. Albans and Norfolk & Waveney local contexts as well as the newly established Emmaus Values Forum. At one time a volunteer and honorary companion at Emmaus St. Albans, I am working towards new ways of thinking to combat poverty, injustice and homelessness within the Emmaus network—in the UK and internationally— drawing upon my work on the enlightened city and postsecularity.