Bannister, Catherine, Dr

Dr Catherine Bannister

BA (Hons), MA (Distinction), PhD

School of Education

Research Associate

c.j.bannister@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 2228162

The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Catherine Bannister
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH

Research interests: Uniformed youth organisation socialising practices; their group cultures, play, performances and ceremonial. Contemporary rites of passage for and by children and young people, their families and communities, and children's own agentic interpretations and (re)imagining of culture and custom. Folklore of childhood and youth. Archives of children's experiences.

Publications

Bannister C (2022) Scouting and Guiding in Britain The Ritual Socialisation of Young People. Springer Nature.

Scott F, Chesworth L, Bannister C, Kuria D, Roscoe S & Wang Y (2026) . Reading Research Quarterly, 61(2).
Scott F, Chesworth L, Kontovourki S, Murcia K, Murris K, Balnaves K, Bannister C, Christofi AM, Kuria D, Maditsi K , Menning SF et al (2025) . New Media & Society.
Olusoga Y, Bannister C & Bishop JC (2024) . Global Studies of Childhood, 14(1), 26-41.
Scott F, Marsh J, Murris K, Ng’ambi D, Thomsen BS, Bannister C, Bishop J, Dixon K, Giorza T, Hetherington A , Lawrence C et al (2023) . International Journal of Play, 12(3), 349-374.
Cowan K, Potter J, Olusoga Y, Bannister C, Bishop JC, Cannon M & Signorelli V (2021) . Je-LKS : Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 17(3), 8-17.

Bannister C, Bishop J & Somerset-Ward A (2025) Folklore, friendships and reciprocity: hearing the epistolary relationships in the multi-vocal archive of Iona and Peter Opie In Burn A, Potter J, Cowan K & Bishop J (Ed.), Playing the Archive: From the Opies to the digital playground. (pp. 31-62). London: UCL Press.
Olusoga Y & Bannister C (2023) In Beresin A & Bishop J (Ed.), Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation (pp. 395-426). Open Book Publishers
Olusoga Y & Bannister C (2023) , Play in a Covid Frame (pp. 395-426). Open Book Publishers
Olusoga Y, Bannister C, Bishop J & Signorelli V (2022) SAGE Publications, Ltd.
Bannister C (2014) , Informal Education, Childhood and Youth (pp. 36-47). Palgrave Macmillan UK

Scott F, Chesworth L, Kontovourki S, Murcia K, Murris K, Balnaves K, Bannister C, Christofi AM, Kuria D, Maditsi K , Menning SF et al (2024) Children’s digital play and well-being. Research Report.

Bannister C Scary stories for kids: All ��TV Ghosts is a non-fiction book that gave me all the knowledge to spot spectres.

Bannister C & Olusoga Y (Mine)crafting Custom: collecting children's folklore in a digital age.. The British Academy, London.

Teaching interests: Ethical and participatory research methods for children and young people, social constructions of childhood past and present, children's play and peer cultures.

Professional activities and memberships: BBC Radio 4 (2020), The Green Lady in the Toilets. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mj1m British Academy (2025), Yinka Olusoga and Catherine Bannister, ‘(Mine)crafting custom: Collecting children's folklore in a digital age’, Folklore Reimagined, British Academy, https://youtu.be/JW2tz8uyvWg?si=e0hMbuGGHHbAEwzu BBC Radio 4 (2025). Iona Opie and the People in the Playground [consultant].https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002czvj Folklands (2024). The Lore of the Playground. https://shows.acast.com/folklands/episodes/the-lore-of-the-playground Bannister, C. (2025). Scary stories for kids: All ��TV Ghosts is a non-fiction book that gave me all the knowledge to spot spectres. The Conversation, 30 October. https://theconversation.com/scary-stories-for-kids-allabout-ghosts-is-a-non-fiction-book-that-gave-me-all-the-knowledge-to-spot-spectres-268244