Rate My Professor Colin Hearfield

Dr. Colin Hearfield is affiliated with the Geography and Planning department at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, Australia, and serves as a member of the Centre for Local Government within the UNE Business School, part of the Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law. He earned his PhD in philosophy and social theory from UNE, an MA (Hons) from UNE, a BA from Macquarie University in Sydney, and a BA from L'Université de Montréal. Hearfield has worked as a casual academic at UNE, including coordinating the LS355 Jurisprudence course in the School of Law in 2013. His scholarly contributions span social theory, local governance, regional development, and environmental planning.

Hearfield authored the book Adorno and the Modern Ethos of Freedom (Ashgate, 2004; Routledge reissue, 2018), which critically engages Theodor Adorno's ideas on modernity, freedom, and the ethos of the present. Key peer-reviewed publications include 'Representative Democracy in Australian Local Government' (2009, with Brian Dollery, Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance), examining structures of representation in local councils; 'Regional Economic Governance: A Technology of Government or Regional Autonomy in New South Wales?' (2009, with Tony Sorensen, Space and Polity); 'New England Australia: What follows from regional status? A comparative, political economy approach' (2011, International Journal of Wine Business Research); 'Taking a de-binarised envirosocial approach to reconciling the environment vs economy debate: lessons from climate change litigation for planning in NSW, Australia' (2014, with Robyn Bartel and Paul McFarland, Town Planning Review); and 'Critical Literacy and Transformative Social Practice: An Ethical Grounding' (2018, with Bob Boughton, English Teaching: Practice and Critique). Additional works feature contributions to edited volumes such as Crime, Justice and Social Democracy (2013, chapter on 'Modes of Criminal Justice, Indigenous Youth and Social Democracy' with John Scott) and book reviews on Michel Foucault (2008, Journal of Sociology). His research has garnered citations across disciplines including political science, planning, and education.