Dr Chantelle Jessica Lewis
I am a public sociologist, and Black feminist intellectual whose research is situated at the intersections of race and class; gender studies, social theory, queer theory, politics and family studies.
In the broadest sense, my intellectual project is interdisciplinary, but primarily focused on collaborative scholarship and dialogical knowledge production; as well as the democratisation of generative modes of understanding and navigating education. Throughout my work and research so far, I have remained attentive to uplifting and supporting people whose thinking, organising and creative expressions have been overlooked, denied and rejected amongst our research and teaching communities. As a neurodivergent scholar, I am passionate about inclusive education and creative scholarship produced beyond the written word.
I am co-founder, co-host and executive producer of the Radio Academy award nominated podcast Surviving Society Productions. I have led the curation and production of more than 300 episodes; featuring leading academics, activists and community organisers from across the world. Our work has been funded by universities and research councils, and we have become one of the leading digital resources for the project of public sociology. Over the past four years, we have developed into a sociological media production company focused on producing themed teaching resources. With a listenership concentrated across Europe, Africa and North America primarily, Surviving Society has become a staple of social sciences and humanities reading lists both in UKHE and internationally.
In Spring 2025 my debut book with Professor Jason Arday (University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education), will be published by Princeton University Press. The book is titled We See Things They'll Never See: Love Hope and Neurodiversity (2025) and is a sociological intervention on the intersectional nature of disability justice. It is a Black feminist and humanist discussion of the gendered and racialised subjectivity of neurodiversity and disability in contemporary society.
Peer-reviewed Articles
2024: Skeggs, B., Lewis, C., Benson, M. Revisiting Formations of Class and Gender, 25 years on: a conversation with Beverley Skeggs. The Sociological Review
2023: Lewis, C. J., & Arday, J. We’ll see things they’ll never see: Sociological reflections on race, neurodiversity and higher education. The Sociological Review, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261231184357
2022: Campion, K.; Lewis, C.J. Racial Illiteracies and Whiteness: Exploring Black Mixed-Race Narrations of Race in the Family. Genealogy , 6, 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6030058
2021: Lewis, C. (2021). The perpetuation of inequality. Soundings: A journal of politics and culture 79, 134-137
2021: Lewis, C., Regis, T., & Ofori-Addo, G. (2021). Sociological podcasting: radical hope, care and solidarity in a time of crisis. Soundings: A journal of politics and culture 79, 94-109
2020: Lewis, C. Retrieving memories of dialogical knowledge production: COVID-19 and the global (re) awakening to systemic racism, European Journal of Women’s Studies 27(4): 13-19.
2019: Benson, M. and Lewis, C. Brexit, British People of Colour in the EU-27 and everyday racism in Britain and Europe, Ethnic and Racial Studies 42(13): 2211-2228.
Policy and Research Reports
2021: Report consultant and reviewer for Cancer Research UK diversity data in grant funding report
2019: Williams, P., Bath, S., Arday, J. and Lewis, C. The Broken Pipeline: barriers to black PhD students accessing research council funding – This report has proven to have a promising impact on multiple sectors beyond its substantial influence in Higher Education. Our recommendations have been cited as inspiring at least seven BAME PhD scholarships at UKHEI’s since 2019 and is cited as a key reference for the 2021 Office for Students £8 million Funding competition to improve access and participation for black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in postgraduate research study
Print and Digital News Media
2020: Lewis, C. ‘Blended Families Showed Up For Each Other In Lockdown. Let's Embrace That’, Huff Post.
2019: Lewis, C. Please Can We Stop Talking About ‘Mixed-Race’ Identity (On Its Own)? Discover Society
2019: Lewis, C. Black History Month Interview, E-International Relations
2019: Benson, M. and Lewis, C. Talking with British People of Colour in the EU27, LSE Brexit Blog
2018: Lewis, C. ‘How I make my stepfamily work’, Black Ballad
2018: Lewis, C. ‘“No, where are you really from?”: Being a UK citizen of colour living in the EU27’, LSE Brexit Blog
2017: Lewis, C. “Bringing Voices Together: Inclusivity in Independent Publishing in Contemporary Britain”, The British Library Blog
The Surviving Society Podcast - https://linktr.ee/survivingsocietypodcast
Leading Routes - https://leadingroutes.org/
Dr Chantelle Jessica Lewis
I am a public sociologist, and Black feminist intellectual whose research is situated at the intersections of race and class; gender studies, social theory, queer theory, politics and family studies.
In the broadest sense, my intellectual project is interdisciplinary, but primarily focused on collaborative scholarship and dialogical knowledge production; as well as the democratisation of generative modes of understanding and navigating education. Throughout my work and research so far, I have remained attentive to uplifting and supporting people whose thinking, organising and creative expressions have been overlooked, denied and rejected amongst our research and teaching communities. As a neurodivergent scholar, I am passionate about inclusive education and creative scholarship produced beyond the written word.
I am co-founder, co-host and executive producer of the Radio Academy award nominated podcast Surviving Society Productions. I have led the curation and production of more than 300 episodes; featuring leading academics, activists and community organisers from across the world. Our work has been funded by universities and research councils, and we have become one of the leading digital resources for the project of public sociology. Over the past four years, we have developed into a sociological media production company focused on producing themed teaching resources. With a listenership concentrated across Europe, Africa and North America primarily, Surviving Society has become a staple of social sciences and humanities reading lists both in UKHE and internationally.
In Spring 2025 my debut book with Professor Jason Arday (University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education), will be published by Princeton University Press. The book is titled We See Things They'll Never See: Love Hope and Neurodiversity (2025) and is a sociological intervention on the intersectional nature of disability justice. It is a Black feminist and humanist discussion of the gendered and racialised subjectivity of neurodiversity and disability in contemporary society.
Peer-reviewed Articles
2024: Skeggs, B., Lewis, C., Benson, M. Revisiting Formations of Class and Gender, 25 years on: a conversation with Beverley Skeggs. The Sociological Review
2023: Lewis, C. J., & Arday, J. We’ll see things they’ll never see: Sociological reflections on race, neurodiversity and higher education. The Sociological Review, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261231184357
2022: Campion, K.; Lewis, C.J. Racial Illiteracies and Whiteness: Exploring Black Mixed-Race Narrations of Race in the Family. Genealogy , 6, 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6030058
2021: Lewis, C. (2021). The perpetuation of inequality. Soundings: A journal of politics and culture 79, 134-137
2021: Lewis, C., Regis, T., & Ofori-Addo, G. (2021). Sociological podcasting: radical hope, care and solidarity in a time of crisis. Soundings: A journal of politics and culture 79, 94-109
2020: Lewis, C. Retrieving memories of dialogical knowledge production: COVID-19 and the global (re) awakening to systemic racism, European Journal of Women’s Studies 27(4): 13-19.
2019: Benson, M. and Lewis, C. Brexit, British People of Colour in the EU-27 and everyday racism in Britain and Europe, Ethnic and Racial Studies 42(13): 2211-2228.
Policy and Research Reports
2021: Report consultant and reviewer for Cancer Research UK diversity data in grant funding report
2019: Williams, P., Bath, S., Arday, J. and Lewis, C. The Broken Pipeline: barriers to black PhD students accessing research council funding – This report has proven to have a promising impact on multiple sectors beyond its substantial influence in Higher Education. Our recommendations have been cited as inspiring at least seven BAME PhD scholarships at UKHEI’s since 2019 and is cited as a key reference for the 2021 Office for Students £8 million Funding competition to improve access and participation for black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in postgraduate research study
Print and Digital News Media
2020: Lewis, C. ‘Blended Families Showed Up For Each Other In Lockdown. Let's Embrace That’, Huff Post.
2019: Lewis, C. Please Can We Stop Talking About ‘Mixed-Race’ Identity (On Its Own)? Discover Society
2019: Lewis, C. Black History Month Interview, E-International Relations
2019: Benson, M. and Lewis, C. Talking with British People of Colour in the EU27, LSE Brexit Blog
2018: Lewis, C. ‘How I make my stepfamily work’, Black Ballad
2018: Lewis, C. ‘“No, where are you really from?”: Being a UK citizen of colour living in the EU27’, LSE Brexit Blog
2017: Lewis, C. “Bringing Voices Together: Inclusivity in Independent Publishing in Contemporary Britain”, The British Library Blog
The Surviving Society Podcast - https://linktr.ee/survivingsocietypodcast
Leading Routes - https://leadingroutes.org/