Publications: DR James Esson

( 2026 ) . It Is a Team Game: Safeguarding Leads’ Experiences of Implementation Within Football Member Associations . Social Sciences vol. 15 , ( 2 )

Koroma A, Scott R, Esson J ( 2025 ) . Informal waste pickers in Africa: social reproduction, marginalisation and sustainability . Local Environment vol. ahead-of-print , ( ahead-of-print ) 1 - 25 .

Esson J, Amankwaa E, Gough K, Mensah P, McQuaid K, Wignall R ( 2025 ) . Later life mobilities at the margins of urban geography . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

Day T, Esson J ( 2025 ) . Visualising an undergraduate geography field class using generative AI: Intent, expectations and surprises about the racial depiction of students . Area vol. 57 , ( 2 )

Jöns H, Okorie CA, Deakin-Smith H, Esson J ( 2024 ) . Critical geographies of professional careers: contributions to the spatial turn in the social sciences . Globalisation Societies and Education vol. 23 , ( 3 ) 589 - 603 .

Mason C, Rhind D, Esson J, Manoli AE, Yilmaz S ( 2024 ) . Sporting integrity and preventing abuse in football . Integrity and Sustainability in Sport , Taylor & Francis

Drywood E, Darby P, Esson J, Mason C, Yilmaz S ( 2024 ) . Children’s rights, sport and migration . Handbook on Sport and Migration , Edward Elgar Publishing

Esson J, Mills S, Blazek M, Pickerill J, Tebet G, Kraftl P ( 2024 ) . Reading Peter Kraftl's After childhood: Re-thinking environment, materiality and media in children’s lives . Political Geography vol. 110 ,

Cranston S, Esson J ( 2024 ) . Producing international students: Migration management and the making of population categories . Geographical Journal vol. 190 , ( 4 )

Wells K, Cortés-Morales S, Esson J, Horgan D, Nxumalo F, Phoenix A, Rautio P, Rosen R ( 2024 ) . Israel’s war on Gaza and the violation of children’s rights . Children's Geographies vol. 22 , ( 2 ) 197 - 200 .

Agha Z, Esson J, Griffiths M, Joronen M ( 2024 ) . Gaza: A decolonial geography . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers vol. 49 , ( 2 )

Darby P, Esson J, Ungruhe C ( 2024 ) . Women's transnational migration through football: Possibilities, responsibilities, and respectability in Ghana . International Review for the Sociology of Sport vol. 59 , ( 5 ) 747 - 765 .

Mason C, Rhind D, Esson J, Manoli AE, Yilmaz S ( 2024 ) . Sporting integrity and preventing abuse in football: A coherent, holistic and systems-based approach . Integrity and Sustainability in Sport Business Environmental and Social Goals ,

Esson J, Breines M, Brickell K, Hope J, Koh SY, Lawrence AM, McFarlane C, McLean J et al. ( 2023 ) . Way‐finding agendas through Transactions . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers vol. 49 , ( 1 )

Wilby RL, Esson J ( 2023 ) . AI literacy in geographic education and research: Capabilities, caveats, and criticality . Geographical Journal vol. 190 , ( 1 )

Darby P, Esson J, Ungruhe C ( 2023 ) . African football migration, Aspirations, experiences and trajectories . Manchester University Press

Okorie CA, Esson J, Smith DP ( 2023 ) . Obligatory return migration and the career aspirations of Nigerian Commonwealth Scholars . Globalisation Societies and Education vol. 23 , ( 3 ) 618 - 632 .

Bailey AJ, Breines M, Emmerson P, Esson J, Halvorsen S, Hope JC, Joronen M, Koh SY et al. ( 2023 ) . Care for Transactions . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers vol. 48 , ( 1 ) 2 - 8 .

Esson J, Amankwaa EF, Mensah P ( 2020 ) . Boys are tired! Youth, urban struggles, and retaliatory patriarchy . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers vol. 46 , ( 1 ) 193 - 207 .

Amankwaa EF, Esson J, Gough KV ( 2020 ) . Geographies of youth, mobile phones, and the urban hustle . Geographical Journal vol. 186 , ( 4 ) 362 - 374 .

Esson J, Last A ( 2020 ) . Anti‐racist learning and teaching in British geography . Area vol. 52 , ( 4 ) 668 - 677 .

McQuaid K, Esson J, Gough KV, Wignall R ( 2020 ) . Navigating old age and the urban terrain: Geographies of ageing from Africa . Progress in Human Geography vol. 45 , ( 4 ) 814 - 833 .

Esson J ( 2020 ) . Playing the victim? Human trafficking, African youth, and geographies of structural inequality . Population Space and Place . vol. 26 ,

Judge RC, Blazek M, Esson J ( 2020 ) . Editorial: Transnational youth mobilities: Emotions, inequities, and temporalities . Population Space and Place . vol. 26 ,

Esson J, Last A ( 2019 ) . Learning and teaching about race and racism in geography . Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Geography ,

Mason C, Darby P, Drywood E, Esson J, Yilmaz S ( 2019 ) . Rights, Risks and Responsibilities in the Recruitment of Children within the Global Football Industry . The International Journal of Children's Rights vol. 27 , ( 4 ) 738 - 756 .

Wignall R, McQuaid K, Gough KV, Esson J ( 2019 ) . ‘We built this city’: Mobilities, urban livelihoods and social infrastructure in the lives of elderly Ghanaians . Geoforum vol. 103 , 75 - 84 .

Gough KV, Yankson PW, Esson J ( 2018 ) . Migration, housing and attachment in urban gold mining settlements . Urban Studies vol. 56 , ( 13 ) 2670 - 2687 .

Blazek M, Esson J, Smith DP ( 2018 ) . Relational geographies of human trafficking: Inequality, manoeuvring and im/mobility across space and time . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers vol. 44 , ( 1 ) 63 - 78 .

Esson J ( 2018 ) . “The why and the white”: Racism and curriculum reform in British geography . Area vol. 52 , ( 4 ) 708 - 715 .

Yilmaz S, Esson J, Darby P, Drywood E, Mason C ( 2018 ) . Children’s rights and the regulations on the transfer of young players in football . International Review for the Sociology of Sport vol. 55 , ( 1 ) 115 - 124 .

Blazek M, Esson J ( 2018 ) . The absent presence: Children's place in narratives of human trafficking . Area vol. 51 , ( 2 ) 324 - 331 .

Esson J, Drywood E ( 2018 ) . Challenging popular representations of child trafficking in football . Journal of Criminological Research Policy and Practice vol. 4 , ( 1 ) 60 - 72 .

Esson J, Noxolo P, Baxter R, Daley P, Byron M ( 2017 ) . The 2017 RGS‐IBG chair's theme: decolonising geographical knowledges, or reproducing coloniality? . Area vol. 49 , ( 3 ) 384 - 388 .

Yankson PWK, Gough KV, Esson J, Amankwaa EF ( 2017 ) . Spatial and social transformations in a secondary city: the role of mobility in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana . Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography vol. 117 , ( 2 ) 82 - 92 .

Oteng-Ababio M, Smout I, Amankwaa EF, Esson J ( 2017 ) . The divergence between acceptability of municipal services and urbanization in developing countries: insights from Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana . Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography vol. 117 , ( 2 ) 142 - 154 .

Esson J, Wang K ( 2016 ) . Reforming a university during political transformation: a case study of Yangon University in Myanmar . Studies in Higher Education vol. 43 , ( 7 ) 1184 - 1195 .

Esson J, Gough KV, Simon D, Amankwaa EF, Ninot O, Yankson PWK ( 2016 ) . Livelihoods in motion: Linking transport, mobility and income-generating activities . Journal of Transport Geography vol. 55 , 182 - 188 .

Esson J, Gough KV, Simon D, Amankwaa EF, Ninot O, Yankson PWK ( 2016 ) . Livelihoods in motion: Linking transport, mobility and income-generating activities . Journal of Transport Geography vol. 54 , 34 - 40 .

ESSON J, SAXONBERG S, PERREAULT T, WILLIA D, LAWHON M ( 2016 ) . Book Reviews . International Development Planning Review vol. 38 , ( 2 ) 221 - 228 .

Esson J ( 2015 ) . Escape to victory: Development, youth entrepreneurship and the migration of Ghanaian footballers . Geoforum vol. 64 , 47 - 55 .

Esson J ( 2015 ) . You have to try your luck: male Ghanaian youth and the uncertainty of football migration . Environment and Planning A Economy and Space vol. 47 , ( 6 ) 1383 - 1397 .

Esson J, Ertl H ( 2014 ) . No point worrying? Potential undergraduates, study-related debt, and the financial allure of higher education . Studies in Higher Education vol. 41 , ( 7 ) 1265 - 1280 .

Esson J ( 2014 ) . Better Off at Home? Rethinking Responses to Trafficked West African Footballers in Europe . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies vol. 41 , ( 3 ) 512 - 530 .

ESSON J, ERTL H ( 2013 ) . Securing the Future of Higher Education in England . The Political Quarterly vol. 84 , ( 3 ) 404 - 409 .

Esson J ( 2013 ) . A body and a dream at a vital conjuncture: Ghanaian youth, uncertainty and the allure of football . Geoforum vol. 47 , 84 - 92 .

Collins R, Esson J, Gutierrez CO, Adekunle A ( 2013 ) . Youth in motion: spatialising youth movemen(s) in the social sciences . Children's Geographies vol. 11 , ( 3 ) 369 - 376 .