Terri Moreau

BA in Anthropology (East Carolina University 2005)
MA in Geography (East Carolina University 2008)

Funding: 
ORSAS Award (Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme) 
Thomas Holloway PhD Studentship

Awards:
SEDAAG: Best Masters Paper Award winner (2007, Charleston, SC)
AAG: Communication Geography Specialty Group Stanley Brunn Student Paper Award runner-up (2008, Boston, MA)

Supervisor: Professor Tim Cresswell
Advisor: Professor Klaus Dodds
Email: t.a.moreau@rhul.ac.uk

Subversive Sovereignties: Micropatrias Enclaved by the United Kingdom

My doctoral research investigates how micropatrias that are within the territory claimed by the British government to be part of the United Kingdom represent themselves.  My working definition of micropatrias, inspired by the work of Frederick Lehmann, is that they are little known nations, statehoods, territories, and countries lacking sovereignty or general recognition by sovereign countries.  They are often started by individuals and are usually small in scale.  Micropatrias exist in a variety of forms and have been founded for numerous reasons.  The practice of creating non-sovereign nations has existed for ages and the oldest recorded and still active micropatria was established around 950 BC.  Yet, as long as this practice has existed, it has also been ignored by other governments.  Surprisingly, academics have also given almost no attention to these highly political and cultural entities.  In unpacking micropatrial formation and representation, I plan to answer the following research questions:

• How do land claiming micropatrias, that reflect mimetic sovereign language and practices, represent themselves? 
• What are the discourses and manifestations of these types of micropatrias, including their virtual presences as an aspect of their nation?
• And what are the greater implications of these grounded entities?