About the Author:

Dr Kelly Hignett is a historian, focusing primarily on communist and post-communist Eastern Europe, and a Lecturer in the School of History and Classics at Swansea University.

Kelly’s research focuses on the historical analysis of crime and social deviance, particularly in the central and east European region and the former USSR; crime, deviance and underground movements/sub-cultures in communist regimes; the evolving relationship between state and society and experiences of ‘the everyday’ under communism. Her PhD research, which she is currently revising for publication, drew on a combination of archival research and oral testimony to explore the  evolution of criminal networks in  East Central Europe from the 1970s to the early post-communist period. Kelly has previously published articles in peer-review journals and edited collections, contributed a series of short analyses of  contemporary East European crime issues to Jane’s Intelligence Digest and presented numerous papers about her research internationally, in countries including the UK, USA, Poland, Slovakia, Germany and Morocco.

In addition to continuing to develop her research into crime and deviance, more recently Kelly has also begun research into the borderlands of Eastern Europe. From an initial interest in the historical development of crime and attempts to control crime in border regions,  she has become increasinglyinterested in some of the broader historical, political and socio-economic aspects of life among communities who have historically existed on the margins of state control. She plans to develop her initial research into a broader comparative study of this area.

Contact Details:

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Email:  thevieweast@googlemail.com

A Few Recent Publications:

K Hignett, ‘Transnational Organised Crime and the Global Village’ in F Allum and S Gilmour (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Transnational Organized Crime, (November 2011):

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415579797/

K Hignett, ‘Crime in Communist and Post-Communist Eastern Europe’, Law, Crime & History, SOLON Online Journal, 1/1 (2011) @

http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/hjournalVol1Iss1.htm

K Hignett, ‘The Changing Face of Organised Crime in Post-Communist East Central Europe’ in Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 18/1, (April 2010), pp. 71-88

Hignett,  ‘Co-option or Criminalisation? The State, Border Communities and Organised Crime’, in M Galeotti (ed), Organised Crime in History (Routledge, 2009)

Major Current/Forthcoming Research Projects:

The Evolution of Criminal Networks in East Central Europe: The Criminal Underworld from the Brezhnev Era to Postcommunism (Monograph)

Underworld: A History of Organised Crime (Monograph)

In the Shadows of Socialist Society: Underground Activities in the Post-Stalin Era (Collaborative Project)

The Guardians of Bohemia: A History of the Chodove People

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