Researcher

Dr Naama Blatman-Thomas

Keywords

colonial place making and identities

urban geography

city and urban planning

housing

prisons

comparative research

Fields of Research (FoR)

Urban geography, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-based research, Social geography, Urban and regional planning

Biography

I am a Scientia Senior Lecturer at the Cities Institute. As an urban and political geographer, my work has focused on two geographical locations: Israel/Palestine and Australia. My work applies a comparative lens and collaborative research practice with Indigenous communities to interrogate the histories, lived realities and futures in-the-making of settler colonial cities. Using archival and ethnographic methods, I examine how cities are...view more

I am a Scientia Senior Lecturer at the Cities Institute. As an urban and political geographer, my work has focused on two geographical locations: Israel/Palestine and Australia. My work applies a comparative lens and collaborative research practice with Indigenous communities to interrogate the histories, lived realities and futures in-the-making of settler colonial cities. Using archival and ethnographic methods, I examine how cities are planned and re/developed considering enduring yet dynamic structures of settler colonial and Indigenous urbanisms.

I am alumnus of the Urban Studies Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2020-2023) and previously held the positions of Research Theme Fellow at Western Sydney University (2022-2024) and Lecturer in Urban Geography at The University of Sydney (2019-2022). Prior to completing my PhD, I worked for several years in Human Rights and Palestinian non-for-profit organisations in Israel.

My Grants

Past and present grants (selected):

Geographical Society of NSW/ Symposium Funding Scheme (2024)

Urban Studies Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2020-2023)

The Henry Halloran Trust/ Research Seminar and Publication Scheme, The University of Sydney (Rogers D, Morton A, Troy L, Blatman N, Altun S) (2021)

Antipode Scholar-Activist Award (2019-2020)

My Qualifications

PhD, 2019 - Ben-Gurion University, Politics and Government

M.A., 2011 - Tel-Aviv University, Sociology & Anthropology

B.A., 2007 - Tel-Aviv University, Political Science, Sociology & Anthropology

My Research Activities

I am currently undertaking research in three main areas:

First, through collaborations with First Nations communities and organisations, we examine access to and activation of land rights, and land politics and relations in settler-colonial cities and how they play out vis-a-vis government policies, planning and development and financialisation processes.

Second, I apply abolitionist tools to work across several areas of carceral geographies, including mapping prison geographies in Australia, probing the historical links between urbanisation and incarceration and changes to carceral structures in the context of settler colonial policies, and examining the contemporary politics and economics of redevelopments of decomissioned urban prisons.

Third, methodologically I am focusing on the role of storytelling and lived experiences in urban development, particularly as tools for intervening in urban processes to achieve more equitable and just cities.

My Research Supervision

Areas of supervision

I am a keen supervisor who devotes considerable time and effort to my students. I am currently available to supervise HDR students in various fields of critical urban studies and am particularly interested in students who work across urban, political and historical geography, as well as carceral geographies (using abolitionist tools). In addition, I would love to support those undertaking multi-site or comparative urban research. If you are unsure if I am the right supervisor for you, please do reach out: I'd be happy to advise and/or refer you to a more suitable colleague at UNSW.

Specific areas of possible supervision:

- Indigenous and settler colonial histories/ realities/ visions of cities

- Critical interventions in urban planning and development (infrastructure, housing, land/property relations)

- Storytelling and collaborative methodologies in urban research

- Carceral geographies of cities

- Urban research in Israel/Palestine