Events

Public Lecture July 21st at University of Queensland

In a large metropolis, what is governed? by Professor Patrick Le Galès, Science Po

Monday, 21 July, 2014, 3pm – 5pm

 

Large cities are well known for being complex; too large, with too many actors and with too much informality. The planning literature, critical urban studies and anthropologists emphasise the ungovernability of major large cities as well as the role of social movements and insurgency. Despite these difficulties, it remains that projects are developed, utility networks built, new neighbourhoods established, and policies (including social, transport and education) implemented that have great impact for populations. The paper argues that the governance of large cities is not linear, is discontinuous and does not explain their whole development. The rise of governance capacities and the developments of policies are having influence from Mexico to Delhi, from London to Sao Paolo or Istanbul.

Patrick Le Galès, CNRS Director of Research at Sciences Po’s Centre d’Etudes Européennes and professor at Sciences Po has been elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Political Science section of the British Academy. His comparative research centres mainly on questions of governance, public action, the restructuration of the state, and the detransformation of cities. His key publications include European cities, social conflict and governance, and Gouverner par les instruments., co-authored with Pierre Lascoumes

 

WHEN

Monday 21 July 2014 3pm – 5pm

WHERE

Room 116
Sir Llew Edwards Building (14) The University of Queensland St Lucia campus

Afternoon tea will be provided

RSVP

Wednesday 16 July

m.carrett@uq.edu.au

limited places

Living in An Audit Society – Upcoming Public Lecture

Hi all,

The lovely Theresa Sauter has asked that we share this Public Lecture flyer.

The flyer advertises a public lecture by Professor Mike Power from the London School of Economics on “Living in an Audit Society: Performance Reporting Systems after the Global Financial Crisis.”

The public lecture will be held on Wednesday April 9th, 2014 at the University of Queensland in Brisbane (St Lucia campus). It is hosted by the UQ Schools of Social Work and Human Services and Education.
Afternoon Tea will be served and the lecture is free and open to the public.
Contact person for enquiries is Marion Carrett. m.carrett@uq.edu.au.
 
Thanks
Nick Hookway

‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium

On 25 November 2013, we held a one-day symposium on Cultural Sociology Today at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Tim Graham reflects on the event below.

Several weeks ago I had the great fortune of attending the ‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium. This well-attended event was hosted by La Trobe University and organised by the TASA Cultural Sociology Thematic Group and the Thesis Eleven Centre for Cultural Sociology. As a newcomer to Cultural Sociology, the Symposium served as somewhat of an introductory tour. Well, it left quite an impression on me! The depth and breadth of scholarship was astounding, with topics that included: the nature of culture itself; academic cultural pub crawls; teaching cultural sociology through music; mourning the dead on social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube; the ‘minimal self’ as a tool for charismatic empowerment; the threat of a meaningless death and the search for meaning in modern literature; why Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is not indeed great; the hidden anxieties of the American middle-class revealed in pop TV shows; the complexity and meaning of ‘class analysis’ in Australian history; and the search for a meaningful life as expressed in popular film and television narratives such as Toy Story and The Sopranos. I was not aware that such stimulating, and ultimately entertaining, topics constituted the basis for cultural sociological inquiry; nor was I aware of the scope and impact that Australian cultural sociology seems to be having with respect to key contemporary debates.

(more…)

TASA 2013 annual conference

Last week, the 2013 TASA conferences organisers Nick Osbaldiston, Catherine Strong and Helen Forbes-Mewett treated Australian sociologists to our annual get-together at Monash University in Melbourne. The special 50-year anniversary of TASA inspired a conference filled with memories, reflections, reunions and new connections. Keynotes by Professor John Holmwood, Professor Celia Lury and Professor Raewyn Connell all in one way or another reflected on the challenges and opportunities of the changing higher education landscape and sociology as a discipline. The stimulating plenaries also took up the conference theme, tackling questions such as the need for interdisciplinarity and the applicability of sociology outside of academia, as well as reflecting on the impressive history of sociology in Australia.

As in past years, the Cultural Sociology stream featured strongly in the TASA conference program. In eleven sessions we tackled theories and methods, the multiplication of modernity, professional subjectivities, state-public relations, memory and Australian identity, contested sexualities, styles, space and place, class and, of course, culture! It was fascinating to see once again the diversity and vibrancy of cultural sociological work in Australia. A particular highlight for us this year was to feature the first ever sessions on Digital Sociology in Australia. The abundance of papers around digital culture prompted us to put on two sessions on the theme and the popularity resonated in the jam-packed rooms.

Deborah Lupton opened the first session with her poignant characterisation of digital sociology. Her presentation was followed by some interesting case studies around Google Glass (Timothy Graham and myself, Theresa Sauter), the Google algorithm (David Collis), and Q&A (Erin Carlisle). In the second session I offered a critical perspective on the label ‘digital sociology’, illustrated with the example of Pinterest as a technique of self. Then, Tristan Kennedy reflected on ethical methodologies in online participant observation, Tim Jordan presented his research on ethical consumption apps (also on behalf of Kim Humphery) and Ashlin Lee theorised convergent mobile technology.

For those interested in the emergence of Digital Sociology as a sub-discipline, Deborah Lupton (deborah.lupton@sydney.edu.au), Alexia Maddox (alexia.maddox@curtin.edu.au) and I (t.sauter@qut.edu.au) are looking to establish an Australian Digital Sociology research network. Please contact any of us if you would like to join!

The Cultural Sociology group is now TASA’s largest thematic group. We are keen to strengthen the community further and to encourage collaborations between our members. A prime example of this was the pre-conference symposium on ‘Cultural Sociology Today’, which we held on Monday November 25, supported by La Trobe University Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Thesis Eleven Centre. (Please stay tuned for a more detailed blog-post about the day).

We hope those who attended the conference enjoyed the sessions. Many thanks to all speakers for their interesting presentations and to listeners for their collegiate, supportive engagement.

See you all at TASA 2014 in Adelaide and stay tuned for exciting new endeavours by the Cultural Sociology group in the new year!

REMINDER AND UPDATES: ‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium
La Trobe

Kandinsky big(Image: Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII)

‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium

Organised by the TASA Cultural Sociology Thematic Group
and the Thesis Eleven Centre for Cultural Sociology

Supported by La Trobe University
Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Speakers:
Peter Beilharz, John Carroll, Barbara Evers, Eduardo de la Fuente, Margaret Gibson, Sara James, Brad West, Gary Wickham

Venue: La Trobe University, Collins St City Campus
360 Collins St (between Elizabeth and Queen St)
Teaching room 4 (20th floor)

Date: 25 November 2013, 9.30am – 4.30pm

This is a free event. Afternoon tea will be provided. Lunch will be self-catered.

Culture connects and inspires individuals through shared patterns of meaning, myths, rituals and representations and shapes institutions and histories. It is neither an abstract ideology nor a tangible social structure. It is intimately entwined in the shaping of social life and human action, and simultaneously emerges from them. Cultural sociology recognises and studies the autonomy of culture, the textuality of social life and the establishment of specific (semiotic) mechanisms through which culture does its work.

This one-day symposium engages with recent developments in cultural sociology. It is hosted by the La Trobe University Department of Sociology and Anthropology and will feature the work of members of the department (including Peter Beilharz, John Carroll, and Sara James), and cultural sociologists from around Australia: Barbara Evers (Murdoch University), Eduardo de la Fuente (Flinders University) Margaret Gibson (Griffith University), Brad West (Uni SA), Gary Wickham (Murdoch University). Additionally, La Trobe cultural sociology postgraduate students will present their most recent work in the field (Harry Paternoster, Lana Chung, Marcus Maloney, Scott Doidge).

There will be ample opportunity for networking and developing ideas for collaborative work with presenters and attendees. The event will be free of charge. Afternoon tea will be provided, however please note that lunch will be self-catered.

Please email t.sauter@qut.edu.au to register your interest in attending.

Click here to access a PDF version of the ‘Cultural Sociology Today’ symposium flyer. (Please note the updated time and venue information)

‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium
La Trobe

Kandinsky big(Image: Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII)

‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium

Organised by the TASA Cultural Sociology Thematic Group
and the Thesis Eleven Centre for Cultural Sociology

Supported by La Trobe University
Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Speakers:
Peter Beilharz, John Carroll, Barbara Evers, Margaret Gibson, Sara James, Brad West, Gary Wickham, Rae Wilding

Venue: La Trobe University, Collins St City Campus

Date: 25 November 2013, 10am – 4pm

Culture connects and inspires individuals through shared patterns of meaning, myths, rituals and representations and shapes institutions and histories. It is neither an abstract ideology nor a tangible social structure. It is intimately entwined in the shaping of social life and human action, and simultaneously emerges from them. Cultural sociology recognises and studies the autonomy of culture, the textuality of social life and the establishment of specific (semiotic) mechanisms through which culture does its work.

This one-day symposium engages with recent developments in cultural sociology. It is hosted by the La Trobe University Department of Sociology and Anthropology and will feature the work of members of the department (including Peter Beilharz, John Carroll, Rae Wilding and Sara James), and cultural sociologists from around Australia: Barbara Evers (Murdoch University), Margaret Gibson (Griffith University), Brad West (Uni SA), Gary Wickham (Murdoch University). Additionally, La Trobe cultural sociology postgraduate students will present their most recent work in the field (Harry Paternoster, Lana Chung, Marcus Maloney, Scott Doidge).

There will be ample opportunity for networking and developing ideas for collaborative work with presenters and attendees. The event will be free of charge, however please note that it will be self-catered.

Please email t.sauter@qut.edu.au to register your interest in attending.

Click to access PDF version of ‘Cultural Sociology Today’ Symposium flyer

TASA Public Lecture – Sport: Scandal, Gender and the Nation

2013 AUSTRALIAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (TASA) 50th ANNIVERSARY PUBLIC LECTURE

Presented by the Institute for Culture and Society
and School of Social Sciences and Psychology
University of Western Sydney

Sport: Scandal, Gender and the Nation

Professor David Rowe
Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney

DATE: Thursday 12 September 2013
TIME: 5:30pm–8:00pm (including pre- and post-lecture refreshments)
VENUE: Jubilee Hall, Parramatta Town Hall
RSVP: 6 September 2013 to Christy Nguy at c.nguy@uws.edu.au

TASA ICS flyer

This has been a memorable year for sport, but not for reasons that would leave its followers with a warm, nostalgia-inducing glow. Sport has been beset with several celebrity scandals garnering global media coverage, including Lance Armstrong’s televised confession of doping to Oprah Winfrey, and the shooting by Oscar Pistorius of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Locally, the release of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) Report Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport has been described as “the blackest day in Australian sport”. There have been many other controversies in which sport has been central or implicated, including the racial abuse of Indigenous footballer Adam Goodes, accusations of assault of women by sportsmen, and cases of alcohol-related violence and other misbehaviour.

Sport is routinely treated as integral to national identity. For example, Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond, the official information booklet for the citizenship test, states that “Throughout our history, sport has both characterised the Australian people and united us”. If this proposition is accepted, a crisis of sport is also a crisis of Australian national identity. This public lecture addresses and analyses the sport-nation nexus, paying particular regard to two issues: the relationship between sport, gender and citizenship in view of the male domination of Australian sport; and the meaning of sport-based national identity in an increasingly demographically and culturally diverse Australia where identification with the nation through sport cannot be automatically assumed, and may be problematic. Discussion of these subjects will encourage sociologically informed public debate on one of Australia’s most cherished and flawed social institutions.

Traces of War 2013 Symposium

LoW snip 2Legacies of War snipNarratives of War Research Group

The NOW Biennial Symposium

20 – 22 November 2013
Magill Campus
University of South Australia

The Narratives of War Research Group Symposium will be held once more in November 2013.

Principal Guest Speaker: Dr Peter Stanley, University of New South Wales, Canberra; former head of the Research Centre at the National Museum of Australia and former Principal Historian at the Australian War Memorial. Prof Stanley is Research Professor in UNSW, Canberra’s Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society.

The title for the Narratives of War Symposium takes its theme from the way artefacts, diaries, media, art, music, memorabilia — letters, objects, the trappings of previous existence — indeed all manner of things, might be reflections and evidence of the traces left by war and conflict, and any aftermath and perhaps ensuing peace.

The Call for Papers has been distributed and is available on the NOW website

The NOW Biennial Symposium is also open to the community and aims to offer interested community groups the chance to participate in current research and writing by scholars and researchers who will offer a broad range of papers and presentations. A full program for the symposium will be available in September.

Inquiries about the NOW Traces of War Symposium 2013 can be directed to: kerry.green@unisa.edu.au or brad.west@unisa.edu.au

The NOW website will have continuing up-dates.

If you would like to register your interest please contact: Julie.white@unisa.edu.au

Professor Janis Jenkins talks at Monash University

In August 2013, Janis Jenkins, Professor of Anthropology and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego will be holding two talks at Monash University in Melbourne:

1. Creating Tangible Lives: Culture, Power, and Mental Illness

Tuesday, 20 August 2013

2 – 4 pm

Monash University
Caulfield campus
Building S (second level)
Lecture Theatre S232

This talk will discuss the convergence of anthropology and psychiatry and more broadly, the intersections of culture and psychopathology.

For further information please see Creating-Tangible-Lives.pdf

2. Culture, Biopower, and Mental Health: Science, Magic, and Religion in an Era of Pharmaceuticals 

Thursday, 22 August 2013

2 – 4 pm

Monash Conference Centre,
Level 7, 30 Collins Street,
Melbourne

Biologically-based neuroscience currently predominates research agendas for mental health and illness in the US and internationally. This research emphasis may appear to render the study of culture and mental health as nearly anachronistic. However the study of cultural processes is as crucial as it is complex for nearly every aspect of mental illness from etiology to outcome. Examination of cultural processes in relation to the classical anthropological triad of magic, religion, and science is developed for analysis of psychotropic medications. This talk draws on ethnographic materials from a study of ninety persons taking antipsychotic medications. It discusses the experience and meaning of  these medications.

For further information please see Culture, Biopower and Mental Health.pdf 

Biography:

Professor Janis Jenkins is a medical and psychiatric anthropologist, internationally recognized for her expertise on the convergence of anthropology and psychiatry. Her principal research interests are culture and psychopathology, psychopharmacology, gender, ethnicity, adolescence, migration, resilience, and qualitative methods. Her current research examines psychiatric disorder, cultural meaning, and structural violence among adolescents in residential facilities.

Professor Jenkins’ indicative publications include (edited) Pharmaceutical Self: The Global Shaping of Experience in an Age of Psychopharmacology (2011) and (co-edited with Robert J. Barrett) Schizophrenia, Culture, and Subjectivity: The Edge of Experience (2004).

RSVP by Wednesday, 14 August 2013 by contacting: caroline.hart@monash.edu