SJ
Cooper-Knock
(they/them)

School of Law

Senior Lecturer in Criminology

EDI Director

Image of SJ Cooper-Knock
Profile picture of Image of SJ Cooper-Knock
s.j.cooper-knock@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6798
EF03, Bartolomé House

Full contact details

SJ Cooper-Knock
School of Law
EF03
Bartolomé House
Winter Street

Sheffield

S3 7ND

Profile

My research focuses on the politics of urban in life in South Africa. The current focus of my work includes: everyday policing and punishment; being and belonging in the city; the politics of crisis; and concepts of urban justice.

I completed my undergraduate in History and Politics (BA Hons) at the University of Nottingham. Later, I studied for my MPhil and DPhil in International Development at the University of Oxford.

I worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science in International Development before moving to the University of Edinburgh where I was jointly appointed by Social Anthropology and the Centre of African Studies.

I joined the University of Sheffield as a joint appointment between the School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations and the School of Law in 2021. I am also a member of the Sheffield Institute for International Development and the Centre for Criminological Research.

I am also an Associate Researcher at ACMS at the University of the Witwatersrand, I am on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies and Critical African Studies.

Qualifications
  • PhD, University of Oxford
  • MPhil, University of Oxford
  • BA(hons) University of Nottingham
Research interests
  • My research focuses on the politics of urban in life in South Africa. The current focus of my work includes: everyday policing and punishment; being and belonging in the city; the politics of crisis; and concepts of urban justice. It includes:
  • Everyday Policing and Punishment, exploring different forms of policing and punishment and their consequences in South Africa, as well as topics of police abolition
  • Off-grid Cities, exploring elite off-grid decisions around energy and their broader consequences for sustainability and justice with Gauteng City Regional Observatory, University of Cambridge, University of the Western Cape, and University of the Witwatersrand.
  • The Politics of Fire Project exploring informal settlement fire in the Western Cape with the IRIS Fire Team (University of Edinburgh, University of the Western Cape, University of Stellenbosch).
  • I am also academic lead for Education for Sustainable Development at TUoS
Publications

Journal articles

  • Cooper-Knock SJ, Berg J & Diphoorn T (2024) . Policing and Society, 34(1-2), 87-103.
  • Macdonald A, Cooper‐Knock SJ & Hopwood J (2022) . Law & Society Review, 56(4), 509-531.
  • Cooper‐Knock SJ & Super G (2022) . Antipode, 54(1), 174-196.
  • Cooper-Knock SJ & Macdonald A (2020) . African Affairs, 119(477), 552-577.
  • Wairuri K & Cooper-Knock S-J () . South African Crime Quarterly(74), 27-41.

Book chapters

  • Cooper-Knock SJ (2021) A moral economy of citizenship post-apartheid South Africa?, Political Values and Narratives of Resistance Social Justice and the Fractured Promises of Post Colonial States (pp. 55-72).
Research group

I am a member of the Sheffield Institute for International Development and the Centre for Criminological Research.

Teaching interests

I teach on a range of criminology modules at the School of Law and the School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations.

Teaching activities

The UG modules I teach are:

  • Non-State Policing: Insights from Across the Globe
  • Solidarity: Politics, Practices, and Possibilities 
Professional activities and memberships
  • Editorial Board Journal of Southern African Studies
  • Editorial Board Critical African Studies