Dr Rachel Sharples

Challenging Racisms and Enhancing Social Belonging

Western Sydney University

Rachel is the senior researcher in the Challenging Racism Project (CRP), School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University (WSU). She is a member of the Diversity and Human Rights Research Centre (DHRRC) at Western.

Rachel plays a key research role in the development and dissemination of research material relating to a number of CRP projects, including racism and anti-racism, bystander anti-racism, Islamophobia and racism in digital platforms such as social media and the sharing economy services. Rachel’s research interests are interdisciplinary, spanning anthropology, sociology, ethnic and racial studies, communications, cultural studies and politics. Key areas of research include displaced persons, refugees and migrants in local and global settings; the construction and projection of ethnicity, culture and identity; statelessness, citizenship and belonging; and spaces of solidarity and resistance. With a focus on the projection of identity, she also explores forms of narrative, cultural and artistic expression and oral storytelling.

Recent publications include claims of anti-white racism in Australia (Journal of Sociology), discrimination in sharing economy platforms (Geoforum) and the segmentation of Islamophobia in the Australian population (Ethnicities). Rachel’s manuscript, Spaces of Solidarity, was published by Berghahn Books in 2020.