Profile

Lecturer in Politics

Convenor of Political and Social Thought Research Group

Contact

Room: Rutherford S2.E1
Tel: 01227 (82)4507
I.MacKenzie@kent.ac.uk

Iain Mackenzie joined the School in 2005. After studying Politics at Glasgow University, Iain MacKenzie's job was as a Lecturer in Politics at Queen's University Belfast (1993-2002). As one might expect, teaching politics in Northern Ireland provided an excellent education in the need for political studies to keep its feet on the ground and for those 'on the ground' to reach for the skies. During his time there, he developed an interest in the idea of critique; a form of practical, theoretical and creative activity that reaches beyond the indifference that necessarily results from the mere to-and-fro of opinion. This research was significantly enhanced with a year as Senior Lecturer in Modern European Philosophy at Middlesex University (2002-2003) where he taught, and learned much from, many of the classics of the critical tradition. From August 2003 until January 2005 he enjoyed the no less demanding role of house-husband, during which time his daughter and son educated him in the creative ways of the (young) critical mind. His current position at Kent has brought him back to the rigours of political studies. In particular, the ways in which the classics of modern political thought and the contemporary classics of feminist political theory provide an endlessly rich source of inventive, conceptually challenging and analytically powerful critical material that can be brought to bear upon contemporary social and political life.

Iain MacKenzie is the School's Outreach Officer, Director of MA in Political Theory and Practices of Resistance and Convenor of the Political and Social Thought Research Group.