Dr Calogero Giametta

I am a sociologist and lecturer in Criminology, I joined the University of Leicester in 2022. I obtained an MA in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths College (2007) and a PhD in Sociology from London Metropolitan University (2014), as such my research profile sits well in interdisciplinarity. Since 2014 I have been teaching and doing research in universities across the UK and France at Sciences Po Paris and Aix-Marseille University. In my work, I have examined how migration control operates in Europe, and I have studied different forms of forced migration and the specific impact of anti-human trafficking policies on migrant sex workers and the right of asylum for LGBTQ+ people in France, Italy and the UK. More recently, my research focus has shifted towards understanding the links between the criminalisation of sexuality and gender identity and the sociology of migration since the 1960s. Currently I am the Principal Investigator of the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Ageing LGBTQ+ Lives in the UK and Italy: Criminalisations and Migrations (2015-2017).

For the past 15 years I have studied and worked on research topics related to sexuality, gender, and migration across Italy, France, and the UK. Inspired by participatory research, my approach has always been multi-sited and interdisciplinary, combining ethnographic fieldwork with gender and sexual minorities applying for asylum in Europe, migrants doing sex work in France, as well as with immigration lawyers and decision-makers.

Between 2010 and 2014 my PhD examined the experiences of LGBTQ+ refugees, and the discourses linking the politics of sexuality and the UK refugee granting process. This resulted in the publication of my book titled 'The Sexual Politics of Asylum' (Routledge 2017).

From 2014 to 2020 I was a postdoctoral research fellow within two projects led by Professor Nick Mai. The first was 'Embodied Borders: Problematizing Sexual Humanitarianism Through Experimental Filmmaking' (end Jan 2016). The second was 'Sexual Humanitarianism: Migration, Sex Work and Trafficking' funded by the European Research Council (end Jan 2020). Alongside conducting ethnography to analyse migrants’ agency and vulnerability to exploitation, it was through these two studies that I developed a keen interest and experience in ethnographic filmmaking as a social research method.

Since 2022, the year I joined the School of Criminology, I started to examine more systematically the links between historical and contemporary criminalisation and repression of LGBTQ+ identities and histories of migration and mobility within the UK and Italy.

I am happy to accept applications to supervise PhDs on the following topics:

• Borders and migration governance
• Forced migration and asylum
• Migrant sex work
• Human trafficking 
• LGBTQ+ experiences of the criminal justice system 
• History of gender and sexualities 
• Hate Crime 
• Creative research methodologies

• Crime, Borders and Migration (CR3005 - Year 3)
• Victims of Crime (CR1006 - Year 1 core module) 

• Colonialism and Queer Refugees
• Migration Studies Meets Sexualities
• Sex Work, Women's Rights, and Migrants' Control
• Sex Work Exit Programmes in France
• The Impact of the Swedish Model of Sex Work in France
• What do sex workers think about the French Prostitution Act? REPORT
• Interview - The Sexual Politics of Asylum study on Estonian feminist site

Feel free to get in touch for interviews and opinion pieces on the topics listed on my research profile page.

Selected Conferences

• University of Neuchatel (26 November 2021). Organised a full-day conference titled: The Intersectionality of Queer Migration Studies.
• European Geographies of Sexualities V Conference at University of Prague (26-29 September 2019). Organised Panel: Provincialising Europe: New Directions in Research on Sexualities, Gender, and Migration.
• The 8th International Critical Geography Conference at University of Athens (19-23 April 2019). Organised Panel: Gender, Bodies, and Sexuality: Embodied Neoliberalism and New Forms of Migration Control.
• AIDS 2018 Global conference in Amsterdam RAI centre (26 July 2018). Paper Title: ‘Ending demand’ in France: The impact of the criminalisation of sex workers’ clients on sex workers’ health, security and exposure to HIV.
• Roundtable: Monstrosity and the ’refugee/migrant crises’ at Birkbeck College, London (12 June 2018). Paper Title: ‘Radical alterity’ and witchcraft: the case of Nigerian women in the anti-trafficking mechanism in France.
• Queer migration, diaspora and asylum in Europe at UCL University of London (9 December 2017). Paper Title: New Asylum Protection Categories and Elusive Filtering Devices: The Case of Queer Asylum in France and Britain.
• Observatoire Sociologique du Changement Seminar Series at Sciences Po Paris (1 December 2017). Paper Title: Queer Asylum in France and the UK.
• 'Men in Movement Conference' at University of Rome (5-6 December 2016). Paper Title: ’Fragmented’ Masculinities on the Move.
• Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie at University of Basel (11-13 September 2016). Paper Title: Exploring Sexual Humanitarianism: Presentation of Research Findings.