Andy Merrifield

Andy Merrifield (born 1960) is a Marxist urban theorist.

Background

He was born in Liverpool, UK and attended Quarry Bank School until 1976. He left school at 16 and did office jobs and travelled. He graduated in geography, philosophy and sociology from Liverpool Polytechnic in the mid-1980s. Merrifield received his PhD in geography from Oxford University in 1993, supervised by David Harvey.[1]

Merrifield spent most of his early career teaching geography at the University of Southampton and King's College London, before moving to Clark University, USA in 2000. He was denied tenure in 2003, on grounds of collegiality, having chosen to live 178 miles away in Manhattan.[2] He moved to France with his partner, initially to Haute-Loire and then to Lavoûte-Chilhac, south of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne in France as an "independent scholar".[3]

Family

Andy Merrifield has a wife called Corrina Hawkes and a daughter called Lily-rose

Work

He returned to the academic system in 2011. In 2011-12 he was a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Manchester.[4] He is currently Supernumerary Fellow in Human Geography at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge[5]

Scholarship

Merrifield is a prolific writer, and was a leading proponent of the idea of 'The Right to the City', a phrase associated with Henri Lefebvre. In later work he supports the 'politics of the encounter' in a globalised world, rather than the more restrictive 'right' to urban space.[5][6] He draws heavily on the work of Lefebvre and his theories.[7]

Merrifield has published articles in various left-wing publications and mainstream magazines and newspapers, including New Left Review,[8] Adbusters and The Nation.[9]

A departure was his 2008 book, The Wisdom of Donkeys, completed after his departure from academia in the US. It offers insights into a slowing of life and having time for reflection, while undertaking a journey on foot with a donkey through France's Auvergne region. The book has proven popular worldwide: for example, copies are on display at the gift shop at the Grand Canyon Village in Arizona.[10]

Awards and honors

Books

References

  1. ↑ Staff writer. "Andrew Merrifield". greystonebooks.com. Greystone Books.
  2. ↑ Batterbury, Simon (June 2008). "Tenure or Permanent Contracts in North American Higher Education? A Critical Assessment". Policy Futures in Education. Sage. 6 (3): 286–297. doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.3.286.
  3. ↑ Thwaite, Mark (25 November 2005). "Andrew Merrifield (interview)". readysteadybook.com. Ready Steady Book... for literature.
  4. ↑ "Staff profile: Andrew Merrifield". staffprofiles.humanities.manchester.ac.uk. University of Manchester.
  5. 1 2 "Profile page: ANDY MERRIFIELD, D.Phil. (Oxon)". murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk. Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Staff writer (17 January 2013). "Author meets critics". International Journal of Urban and Regional Research via Wiley-Blackwell. Pdf.
  7. ↑ Andy Merrifield (2012). Discussion: Wither Urban Studies. University of Manchester via YouTube.
  8. ↑ Merrifield, Andy (November–December 2000). "Chronicle of a city foretold". New Left Review. New Left Review. II (6).
    Review of the book Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US Big City by Mike Davis.
  9. ↑ Staff writer. "Author bios: Andy Merrifield". thenation.com. The Nation. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010.
  10. ↑ Lewis, Roger (21 June 2008). "The Wisdom of Donkeys". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  11. ↑ Alison Flood (6 March 2012). "New prize for radical writing announces shortlist". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
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