Dr Viji Kuppan
Last modified: April 1, 2026
About
PhD Cultural Sociology
Member of British Sociological Association
About the organisation(s) I've worked for
Organisation name:
Loughborough UniversityAbout my experience and expertise
Personal statement:
I am a Cultural Sociologist and Ethnographer. My current research at Loughborough University contributes to a UNEP-linked project developing a co-produced toolkit to support biodiversity, nature and climate action within cricket. Previously, I worked on a major Leverhulme-funded study exploring how racism is experienced and expressed in rural England. I am currently also advising on a National Trust/University of Exeter project Beyond Ableism: Inclusive Nature Access and Biodiversity Renewal.
My research, teaching and public engagement are shaped by a concern with the intersectional inequalities of race, disability and gender. I draw on Black and transnational feminisms, disability justice, and critical race studies. My research uses qualitative, participatory and creative methods, including in-depth interviewing, ethnographic and arts-based approaches, collaborative knowledge production, and critical interpretive writing.
Key topic areas of research or interest:
Race, place and belonging
Disability, access and inclusive participation
Environment, biodiversity and social, cultural and evironmental change
Sport, heritage, public culture and nature
Qualitative, participatory and creative methods
Collaboration opportunities:
I am interested in building collaborations with researchers, cultural organisations, environmental partners and community-based organisations working across questions of inequality, participation, place and environmental change. I am particularly keen to contribute to interdisciplinary and collaborative projects that connect qualitative research with public engagement, inclusive practice and co-produced forms of knowledge.
Publications:
Kuppan. V. (2026) Black Dog, Brown Disabled Man, White World in C. Bates and E. Jackson, eds. Walking: A Sociological Field Guide. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 225-336.
Yip, A., Keighley, R., Kuppan, V., Fowler, C., Kelalech, K., Chakraborti, N., Nisic, M. and Clarke, A. (2025) Is There Anywhere Left That is not Considered Racist? Demystifying the Online Backlash Against Rural Racism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, pp. 1-21.
Kuppan, V., Fowler, C., Keighley, R., Clarke, A., Chakraborti, N., Yip, A. and Nisic, M. (2025) Unpacking Expressions of Hostility: Historical, Cultural and Symbolic Expressions of Rural Racism and Resistance Through Arts Based Media. Full Report 2. Leicester: University of Leicester. https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.29626433.v2
Kuppan, V. (2024) Black Crip Killjoys: Dissident Voices and Neglected Stories from the Margins in K. Crenshaw, K. Andrews and A. Wilson, eds. Blackness at the Intersection. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 95-106.
Kuppan, V. (2018) Crippin’ Blackness: Narratives of Disabled People of Colour from Slavery to Trump in A. Johnson, R. Joseph-Salisbury and B. Kamunge, eds. The Fire Now: Anti-racist Scholarship in Times of Explicit Racial Violence. London: Zed Books, pp. 60-73.
Other projects and networks:
Alongside my academic work, I have been involved in public and community-based initiatives. For example, with Nottingham Himmah, a social justice organisation tackling food poverty, racism and educational inequalities. I am also a keen walker, and interested in walking as a social, political and place-based practice. In summer 2025, I joined Anti-Racist Cumbria on a walk from Ulverston to Carlisle to raise awareness of anti-racism, Black/Brown joy, and collective environmental action.
