Dr Marnie Howlett is a Departmental Lecturer in Russian and East European Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) and Oxford’s School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA).
Marnie is passionate about research methods and political science methods. She teaches undergraduates, Masters and DPhil students and is a Course Tutor of DPIR’s annual Spring School.
Over the last three years, Marnie’s teaching role has significantly grown. We spoke to Marnie about her research and life in DPIR.
She began by expressing her joy of teaching and learning with her students:
Marnie advocates for more women in politics and international relations:
Marnie’s current research focuses on her writing of a book based on original stories of Ukraine. Due to be published by Oxford University Press in February 2027 (which would be at the point of the five years anniversary of Russia’s full scale military invasion of Ukraine), she is trying to understand why ordinary people take up weapons and for their country in times of conflict. In order to answer this, Marnie is speaking with, and interviewing, 201 individuals who volunteered to serve and fight for Ukraine following Russia’s full scale military invasion. These individuals were not in the military prior to 24th February 2022 – in fact, the majority of them had never held a gun… these men and women volunteered to defend their country.
The main themes of the book include chapters on nationality, citizenship, family and loved ones and a state’s autonomy.
Marnie explains why telling and preserving their stories is so important:
Marnie tells us how important these stories are….