Profile

Biography

My PhD project is an ethnography of how the 'waste' materials of the corpse (e.g. bodily tissues, metal & ceramic medical implants etc.) yield a form of value as they pass through the disposal cultures of cremation and natural burial in the UK. The overall aim is to decipher a definition of this value to better understand the management practices that exist within these UK corpse disposal processes today.

Publications

Full publications list

Journal Articles:

• Robins, D, (2017), ‘Toxic Necro-Waste’, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 6, (10), 39-42.

Other Publications:

• Robins, D, (2017), ‘Dealing with Toxic Necro-Waste’, Discover Society.
• Robins, D, (2017), ‘Corpses in the Threshold: Overcoming Toxicity’, Threshold.

Conference Presentations:

• Robins, D. (2019). ‘The Gatekeeping of Dead Waste’. The 14th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal. University of Bath, Bath. 4-7 September.
• Robins, D, (2019). ‘The Discarding of Dead Waste’. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Corpse Work. University of York, York. 13 June.
• Robins, D. Smith, R. (2018). ‘(Dis)Posing of Monsters’. Death and Culture II. University of York, York. 6-7 September.
• Robins, D. (2018). ‘Disposing of Necro-Waste’. Nineteenth Colloquium on Cemeteries. University of York, York. 18 May.
• Robins, D. (2018). ‘Disposing of Necro-Waste’. Skeletons, Stories, Social Bodies. University of Southampton, Southampton. 20-22 March.
• Robins, D. (2017). 'The Poisonous Corpse: Disposing of Toxic Necro-Waste'. Invited Speaker. Encountering Corpses III. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester. 9-10 December.

Public Events

• Robins, D. Smith, R. (2019). ‘How do We Dispose of Mass Murderers?’. The York Festival of Ideas, 6 June.
• Robins, D. (2019). ‘Cremation or Burial: What Happens to Your Body After You Die?’. Invited Speaker. The York Dead Good Festival, 13 May.

Teaching

Undergraduate

Current

• Introduction to Social Theory

Previous

I have previously conducted lectures and seminars on the following modules:

• Introducing Social Psychology
• Crime, Culture, and Social Change
• Theoretical Criminology

Postgraduate

Previous

• Themes and Issues in Contemporary Sociology