- Seeking Signs of Transparency: Audit, Materiality and Monuments to Active Citizenship in New Delhi Webb, Martin. 2019. Seeking Signs of Transparency: Audit, Materiality and Monuments to Active Citizenship in New Delhi. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 25(4), pp. 698-720. ISSN 1359-0987
- Our Electric Air Webb, Martin. 2017. Our Electric Air. Cultural Anthropology, ISSN 0886-7356
- On the Frontline: Travelling the Line, British Commuters and Southern Rail von Hellermann, Pauline and Webb, Martin. 2017. On the Frontline: Travelling the Line, British Commuters and Southern Rail. Discover Society(43),
- review of DEMOCRACY AND TRANSPARENCY IN THE INDIAN STATE: The Making of the Right to Information Act. Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series. By Prashant Sharma. London; New York: Routledge, 2015. xx, 238 pp. (Tables.) US$145.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-13-880217-9. Webb, Martin. 2017. review of DEMOCRACY AND TRANSPARENCY IN THE INDIAN STATE: The Making of the Right to Information Act. Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series. By Prashant Sharma. London; New York: Routledge, 2015. xx, 238 pp. (Tables.) US$145.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-13-880217-9. Pacific Affairs, 90(1), pp. 163-165.
- “Contemporary Indian anti-corruption movements and political aesthetics” Webb, Martin. 2015. “Contemporary Indian anti-corruption movements and political aesthetics”. FocaalBlog: Art and Visual Anthropology,
- Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi Webb, Martin. 2013. Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal(8),
- Disciplining the everyday state and society? Anti-corruption and Right to Information activism in Delhi Webb, Martin. 2013. Disciplining the everyday state and society? Anti-corruption and Right to Information activism in Delhi. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 47(3), pp. 363-393. ISSN 0069-9667
- Activating Citizens, Remaking Brokerage: Transparency Activism, Ethical Scenes, and the Urban Poor in Delhi Webb, Martin. 2012. Activating Citizens, Remaking Brokerage: Transparency Activism, Ethical Scenes, and the Urban Poor in Delhi. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 35(2), pp. 206-222. ISSN 1555-2934
- Success stories: rhetoric, authenticity, and the right to information movement in north India Webb, Martin. 2010. Success stories: rhetoric, authenticity, and the right to information movement in north India. Contemporary South Asia, 18(3), pp. 293-304. ISSN 0958-4935
Dr Martin Webb
Active citizenship, ethical politics, transparency and accountability, urban governance, citizen-state interfaces.
Staff details
My research engages with themes of activism and active citizenship, ethical politics, transparency and accountability, urban governance, mediation, and most recently, the effects of digital technology on citizen-state interfaces and access to social protection. I have carried out research exploring these themes in urban India and in the UK.
I am the anthropology convener for the MA Applied Anthropology, youth work, community development and community arts pathways. I also teach modules on the study of social movements and the anthropology of international development
I came to higher education in my mid-thirties as a mature student after a number of years employed in factories, on construction sites, and as a care worker. I am a firm believer in higher education as a way for adults to discover new directions and interests at any stage in their lives.
Academic qualifications
- Access to Higher Education: City College Brighton 1999
- BA Anthropology and Development Studies: University of Sussex 2003
- MSc Social Research Methods: University of Sussex (assisted by seedcorn funding from the university) 2005
- Dphil (PhD) in Anthropology: University of Sussex. (Supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Harrison and Dr. Geert de Neve) 2011
Teaching and supervision
- Convener of the MA Applied Anthropology & Community & Youth Work
- Convener of the MA Applied Anthropology and Community Arts
- Convener of the MA Applied Anthropology & Community Development
- Convener of SW71001B Contemporary Social Issues module Autumn and Spring Terms
- Convener of AN53023B/AN71022D The Anthropology of Development/Critical Voices in Development module
- Convener of AN53076A/AN71101A Learning from Social Movements
Research interests
My doctoral research at the University of Sussex focused on the organisation of Right to Information (RTI) activism in Delhi, India, and how initiatives to promote transparency, accountability and state reform play out across the social and economic terrain of the city.
Subsequent research while at Goldsmiths has followed the rise of anti-corruption movement politics in India, and in the UK Indian Diaspora, which emerged contemporary to the protests of the “Arab Spring”, “Occupy” and anti-austerity movements in the UK and Europe. This work led to the publication, with Prof. Pnina Werber and Dr Kathryn Spellman-Poots, of "The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: Beyond the Arab Spring" by Edinburgh University Press in 2014.
I am currently the principle investigator of the Goldsmiths QR-GCRF funded project titled Jaankaar (Knowledgeable): Leveraging Everyday Innovations in Governance and Accountability. Jaankaar brings together academic and NGO partners in Delhi to explore the role of community advocates in helping people to negotiate encounters with an increasingly digitised bureaucracy. I am also exploring these themes of digital advocacy and mediation in Lewisham, south east London, as access to essential services and forms of social protection are increasingly shifted online in the UK.
Featured publications
Grants and awards
2018: Goldsmiths QR-GCRF award for Jaankaar (Knowledgeable): Leveraging Everyday Innovations in Governance and Accountability. Phase 1
2019: Goldsmiths QR-GCRF award for Jaankaar (Knowledgeable): Leveraging Everyday Innovations in Governance and Accountability. Phase 2
Publications and research outputs
Book
- Digital Expressions of the Self(ie): The Social Life of Selfies in India Ray, Avishek; Dattatreyan, E. Gabriel; Raman, Usha; Webb, Martin; Gupta, Neha; Komarraju, Sai Amulya; Premika, Anuja; Azam, Riad; Salim, Farhat and Subramanian, Pravanesh. 2024. Digital Expressions of the Self(ie): The Social Life of Selfies in India. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032694788
Edited Book
- The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: The Arab Spring and Beyond Werbner, Pnina; Webb, Martin and Spellman-Poots, Kathryn, eds. 2014. The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: The Arab Spring and Beyond. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univerity Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-9334-4
Book Section
- Introduction: The digital self(ie) and world-making. Ray, Avishek; Raman, Usha; Dattatreyan, E. Gabriel and Webb, Martin. 2024. Introduction: The digital self(ie) and world-making. In: Avishek Ray; E. Gabriel Dattatreyan; Usha Raman; Martin Webb; Neha Gupta; Sai Amulya Komarraju; Anuja Premika; Riad Azam; Farhat Salim and Pranavesh Subramanian, eds. Digital Expressions of the Self(ie): The Social Life of Selfies in India. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 1-10. ISBN 9781032694788
- Putting the selfie to work: Image making and work/time discipline in the margins of the Indian state Webb, Martin; Salim, Farhat and Azam, Riad. 2024. Putting the selfie to work: Image making and work/time discipline in the margins of the Indian state. In: Avishek Ray; E. Gabriel Dattatreyan; Usha Raman; Martin Webb; Neha Gupta; Sai Amulya Komarraju; Anuja Premika; Riad Azam; Farhat Salim and Pranavesh Subramanian, eds. Digital Expressions of the Self(ie): The Social Life of Selfies in India. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 50-73. ISBN 9781032694788
- Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society in Development Webb, Martin. 2018. Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society in Development. In: Hilary Callan, ed. International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 9781118924396
Article
- Between hunger and contagion: digital mediation and advocacy during the COVID-19 emergency in Delhi Webb, Martin; Khan, Aasim; Suri, Venkata Ratnadeep; Azam, Riad and Salim, Farhat. 2024. Between hunger and contagion: digital mediation and advocacy during the COVID-19 emergency in Delhi. Third World Quarterly, 45(5), pp. 946-962. ISSN 0143-6597
- Introduction: Expressing the (in)dividual: Social media and technologies of the self Dattatreyan, E. Gabriel; Ray, Avishek; Raman, Usha and Webb, Martin. 2023. Introduction: Expressing the (in)dividual: Social media and technologies of the self. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 29(6), pp. 1417-1421. ISSN 1354-8565
- Digital Politics in the Diaspora: U.K. Aam Aadmi Party Supporters Online and Offline Webb, Martin. 2020. Digital Politics in the Diaspora: U.K. Aam Aadmi Party Supporters Online and Offline. Television and New Media, 21(4), pp. 420-433. ISSN 1527-4764