Photo Credit: Sergio Fava
The
Sociologist a postgraduate newsletter
editorial scribble
13 March 2009
contents
Jenn Tomomitsu-Tomasson Welcome to the spring instalment of the Sociologist. Since its first release several months ago, I am happy to report that the newsletter has progressed from just a few sparse pages outlining research tips and departmental events, to include a more substantial assortment of PhD-related topics, commentaries, think pieces and entertainment. Admittedly when we began this publication last term, it was never certain where the road would lead, but thanks to the many contributors and editors, the goal of creating a positive and reflective space for Sociology postgraduates is slowly being achieved. While it may be tempting as researchers to become isolated with your ideas, we hope you will continue to use this newsletter as a fun and open means to experiment, rant, or wax poetic about a wide variety of topics. Until next time, keep thinking, keep pondering and keep writing…
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Postgraduate Research Highlight – 2 Colloquia Review: ‘Getting Your First RA Job’ – 3 Managing Your Research: notes on USB’s and Endnote - 4 Photographs from the Field – 5/6 My PhD Office – 7 Muses: “Where is Your Passion?” and Mystery Guest Interview - 8 Opinion Pieces – 9-12 Feature: “Staring at the Sea: Fantasy and the Disturbance of Place” – 13-16 Comedy Corner: Five Theses Writing Guides I Would Have Liked to See - 17 The Sociologist Contributor Profiles – 18 The Soci-Classified Ads – 19 Calendar of Events – 20 Call for Submissions – 21
lancaster sociology pg research highlight:
Lia Kinane One of the aims of this newsletter is to promote postgraduate research in the department. For this issue, we’re happy to introduce Lia Kinane, a final year PhD student from the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in the Sociology Department. We recently caught up with Lia to ask her some questions in relation to her project: 1. In a few sentences, can you describe what your project is about and why you chose this particular topic?
PowerPoint slides mysteriously disappeared. At this point I completely forgot what a PhD was; let alone what mine was about. My PhD title is “The role of gendered social practices and markers in a group friendship formation: the case 4. Three words which describe how you feel about study of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association”. It your project: explores how a women’s friendship group is constructed, practiced, reconfigured and maintained. I Must – finish- soon chose the topic because I’m interested in how people get to know each other and why they do what they do. 5. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? 2. What has been the most enjoyable part about doing Probably in a place that I didn’t predict! research on your thesis? 6. If you could do another PhD, what topic would you I liked meeting the interviewees and I like those ‘light choose? bulb’ moments when you’re writing. Students’ experiences of doing a PhD: the untold 3. Can you describe a worst and best moment during truth. I think that I would get a lot of research particiyour PhD? pants and some interesting stories. The best moment had to be when one of my research 7. What advice would you give to people who are just participants gave me an Easter Egg. That was a true starting their PhD? highlight. Learn how to make nice chocolate brownies and then The worst was when I was presenting at a conference give them to all your friends. While they are eating the and discovered mid-presentation that many of my brownies, moan to them about your PhD.
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reviews 2nd and 3rd Year Postgraduate Colloquium, by Allison Hui and James Tomasson ΩΩ Getting Your First Research Associate Job Although we all enter the sociology department as post-graduate students, for most of us the courses and seminars we attend are usually seen as part of a larger process of acquiring the skills and training with which to build a career. Yet, despite the comfort of knowing that we’ve still got several years of lessons left before we have to seek full-time employment, in the back of our minds often lurks the ominous question: ‘What kind of career will I pursue after my PhD?’ For some students, the answer involves a move away from academic life altogether and a foray into the private or non-governmental sector. For others, however, submitting the thesis is only the first step on the way up the academic ladder. For those of us hoping to earn a living doing research, there are a few options available. Ideally, the best situation is one where we get paid to design and carry out our own research project. It comes as no surprise, however, to learn that post-doc fellowships and ESRC funding are both rare and fiercely competitive. So what other options are there for aspiring sociologists? One of the most common ways of earning experience is to land a job as a Research Associate (RA). Although there is less autonomy when it comes to designing a particular project, being an RA enables one to gain research experience and begin the vital task of publishing journal articles. But how does one become an RA? And what exactly does an RA do? These and many other questions were addressed when several of the department’s PhD students came together to hear a presentation by Jo Armstrong and Griet Scheldeman on Monday, December 8th. 3 the sociologist 5 December 2008
During the one-hour session entitled ‘Getting Your First Research Associate Job’, Jo and Griet, Research Associates with QUING and the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC), respectively, provided a variety of useful titbits. They went into detail about how long it took to find these particular positions and how they applied for them, as well as how to prepare for the interviewing process.
than lacking enthusiasm for the job at hand and feeling that you’re sacrificing yourself too much, and Jo added that your willingness to leave behind concepts that you have worked with in the past, for the sake of a group project, was a question posed to her in her interview. This aspect of negotiating competing theories and ideas is an aspect of collaborative research that Griet pointed out isn’t tested in your PhD work, and employers need to One of the points both Jo and Griet know you can effectively manage this. emphasized was how important networking was to their success. For Jo, These insights were also supplenetworking was simply a case of con- mented by Elizabeth Shove’s comtinuing to spend time around the uni- ments regarding what interviewers are versity after submitting her thesis. generally looking for and the roles that Having coffee with friends and staff the different panel members play in members helped to keep her ‘in the the interview. Some of the most useloop’. After hearing of ‘potential bits of ful, and in some cases surprising, work’ in Educational Research, Jo sent suggestions were: an e-mail and her CV to the department. This led to some part-time re- 1. Monitor the panel’s body language search, starting with one day per week, in order to see when you have actually which was soon extended to three days answered their questions, as it is imand supplemented by teaching. Hav- portant to know when to stop talking. ing acquired this initial experience as an RA, Jo felt she was in a stronger 2. Reference letters don’t necessarily position when she applied for the full- matter much in swinging the decision time post in Sociology. In Griet’s case, unless they highlight something pargetting experience as a teaching fellow ticularly negative, as it is assumed that at Aberdeen University provided her everyone should be able to find somewith valuable leverage when applying one willing to provide a good reference for a position on the Walking and Cy- Those hiring for RA positions aren’t cling Project being run by LEC. necessarily looking for someone who In addition to providing standard sug- is brilliant, but rather someone who gestions about revising your applica- will safely and competently be able to tion to suit the position and highlight- get things done for the 2-3 year posiing how you fit the criteria that have tion. You therefore have to strike a been outlined for the position, Jo and balance between showing your own Griet also provided very specific exam- opinions and ideas and demonstrating ples of the type of questions that they that you’re not so attached to them were asked at interviews. They dis- that you can’t get on with work in a cussed considering whether the jobs team situation. they applied for were right for them, and the difficulty of either not getting Overall the session was very interestinterviewed for your ideal job or apply- ing, and many thanks go to Jo, Griet, ing for a job that focuses on topics far and Elizabeth for their willingness to removed from your PhD research. share their experiences with us. Griet noted that there’s nothing worse
managing your research A Personal Note on Data Storage by Tom Roberts An early Christmas gift this year included an 8 giga byte USB flash drive. Despite having 8 times as much space as my previous clumpy data stick, this new gadget is miniscule - its vital statistics being 12.4 mm (w) by 34.3 mm (l) by 2.2mm (t); Weight: 1.62 g! It seems strange that in this techno nano world the limits really do seem endless – I’m pretty sure they could have chucked another 8gigs in there and it still would have been the same size. My main concern now is that I’ll lose the damn thing! Indeed a friend suggested I make it into an earring or some form of body art, or perhaps I could clip it in behind the ear and boost my brain’s data storage capacity?
Cyborgs aside, it’s nifty ‘cause its so small and free of any ‘clever software’ which automatically tries to install itself whenever you plug it in to a USB slot. However, while I may lose my data stick – or should it be data ‘twig?’ at least I know I will not lose my data. It is every academic’s worst nightmare: ‘nothing found in all locations for query x...’ If only I’d backed it up properly. A good friend at Keele had an additional year added to her PhD because of data loss. Shit happens unfortunately. Entropy is up there with death and taxes as the only certainties in life. As some wise guy once said, “it’s not a matter of if, but a case of when your computer will fail”. And it did with me too. My FASS laptop (for which I’m most grateful) died. Luckily for me I’ve
become rather obsessive about data backup, and have downloaded a new free tool that with one click updates and copies files across from laptop to data-stick or vice versa. It’s called Allway Sync, and can be installed very easily. Simply visit http://allwaysync.com/. This means that I will always have three of the same copies all the time (one on my PC at home, a copy on my FASS laptop and a copy on my data stick). One word of caution however, do make sure the arrow is facing the correct way, and the appropriate folders are selected first (you only have to do this once, then hit Analyze and Synchronize et voila!)
EndNote by Allison Hui I truly don't know what my life was like before EndNote. The memories of having to page through style guides and track down citations to include in the bibliographies I had to hand-type are blurry, painful, and relegated to a period of life that EndNote has mercilessly ended.
come the starting point of a vast network of information. EndNoteX has made it possible to save these attachments as part of your library file, and so you could send your library to a colleague and s/he would be able to access not only the entries, but the attachments as well.
My first encounter with EndNote was when my Masters' supervisor loaned me an old version and told me to try it out. I was addicted almost immediately, and forked out money for an updated version of my own within weeks. It's hard to decide what is most useful about the program - the fact that it keeps records for all your resources in one place, the brilliant Cite-WhileYou-Write feature that allows you to insert citations from the program directly into Word while writing a paper, or the ability to then change bibiliographic styles without having to re-type all citations and references. You can attach PDF’s, websites, documents, or images to your reference files as well, and so in my case EndNote has be-
One of the simplest, but most useful functions is the ability to search the library and call up all references that contain certain key words or authors. Often while working I will remember reading something about a certain topic, but not know where I read it. This function has saved me a great amount of time by letting me scan through a much shorter list of possibilities from my library, instead of scouring old papers and notes to try and find mention of the elusive article.
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Though it has made my life easier in many ways, there are some limitations. Although EndNote comes with a vast number of bibliographic output styles, often the ones I have
needed for submissions haven't been among them. As a result, I have spent time fiddling with the coding in existing style files, trying to create the output style I need. Though this has been frustrating, the good part is that after figuring it out, I can save the style and easily choose it again in the future. It is also frustrating that, although there are templates for many different types of resources, EndNote does not have a template for Live Performances, Music, or non-conference lectures. Hopefully these features are added in a future version of the program. Even despite these limitations, EndNote has embedded itself as an indispensable part of my working life. I would strongly recommend getting and making use of this software to anyone who plans on continue reading and writing for years to come.
Photog raphs from the field
Have you ever wondered what your fellow researchers get up to when they’re out in the field collecting data? As part of an ongoing series, the Sociologist would like to introduce the second set of ‘photographs from the field’ taken by David Mansley, a second year PhD student in the department. David’s research is about policing protest. Protesters gather in a freezing Hyde Park for an antiwar rally An antiwar protester at Aldermaston is taken down from a ‘tripod’ and arrested for obstruction of the highway
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photo of travel books with the parliament on the cover (left): When opened in 1902, the Hungarian Parliament was the largest in the world. It immediately became an iconic building—the symbol of both Hungary and Budapest.
The SOCPA 2005 controversially banned unauthorised protests outside Parliament and placed restrictions at designated military sites
It is an offence under §60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 not to remove a facemask if instructed to by an officer.
My Ph.d Office Do you have a story about your office that you’d like to share? Do you love your office? Do you hate it? Send us your thoughts as we’d like to learn more about how postgrad’s create work spaces for themselves. This issue’s office belongs to Nicola Spurling Similar to other workspaces featured in this spot, my office is a project in coziness and creating a space where I’m content to spend long periods of time. It is because of this that shortly after beginning my PhD I moved the office from the smallest, coldest and most remote room of my house (the upstairs box room) to the biggest and most central one (the open plan dining room/kitchen).
I generally work at the dining table sat next to my fire, with my feet up on a chair. During the winter there’s absolutely no temptation to move from this position, as it’s the only place in the house that’s warm. The kettle is to hand, about 4 paces away along with provisions of food, tea and coffee. I generally have my digital radio babbling in the background, which reminds me of the non- PhD world that exists somewhere ‘out there’. In the corner of the room are my clarinet and piano, which I play at some point each day when I need to zone out of the PhD or clear my head. That’s the office then, but the brief of the ‘My PhD feature’ asks about how we create work spaces for ourselves. That’s why I’ve also included a picture of the hills next to my house, where I clock up around 40k each week in my
running shoes. As with the clarinet and piano, this can be a good way to zone out, but more often I find the opposite; being outside, in motion, away from the desk seems to free up space - to think about the latest challenge of my work, or to deal with the more affective side of the PhD. This is one of the reasons why pacing the paths stays top of my list, even when things get stressful and the natural reaction is to stay in and continue to battle with the latest paper. It also means I get a least an hour’s daylight each day, even in winter, which has got to be good for any living creature (of the human variety, at least).
muses Where is your passion? by Anna Mann You are spending hours, weeks, months and even years of your life with a research object. You think about it, read about it, observe it, ask your interviewees questions about it, dream about it, live with it. But what makes you care for it, stick to it, hate it or and love it? Situation one: Last weekend I was reading a book about health care by Annemarie Mol, a Science and Technology Studies researcher. She wrote 129 pages about the problem of patient choice. Hospital Z exemplified the contemporary health system in the Netherlands, nurses and doctors who care, and active patients who do not give up. In the midst of reading I stumble over a remark by the author pointing to her own state of health. She tells that she was ill at the moment of doing field work. The remark is accompanied by a tiny footnote: “Some people who read earlier versions of this text urged me to take out this reference to my being ill. As it happened, I was ill for much of the time that I was working on this book, but why was this relevant to the reader? Or, another concern, why would I make myself vulnerable by mentioning it? As you can see, I did not take it out.” There she is, an ethnographer doing research on health for years. It’s only in a little footnote but nevertheless, she tells us about her state of health, her own body, and her intermingling with her research object. Situation two: A couple of years ago, my mother, my aunt, my little niece and I made a city trip to Paris. To get from one monument to the other, from the Tour Eiffel to the Sacre Coeur, we decided to take the Métro, the underground. It
took us a little while to figure out how to get a ticket. And as it is typical for tourists, we didn’t know exactly how the turnstiles and the automatic doors worked. My mother inserted her ticket into the machine and passed through. I did the same. But when my aunt validated her ticket and pushed the stroller, the automatic doors closed too quickly and my niece got two fingers tucked between the stroller and the door. She was crying and screaming and it was horrible to see her in pain. Finally an attendant came and helped us. My little niece kept on weeping for a couple of minutes, but finally stopped. A few months later, I had to write a paper for the course “Urban Sociology of Paris”. Having still had in mind the horrible struggle with the automatic doors, I decided to write exactly about this topic. So it was the imprint of this experience which formatted my research, inciting me to do ethnography about the entrance to the underground. Of course there have been a lot of reflections about the relation between subjective, personal inclusion in research and objective, scientific debates. Feminist scientists as well as STS researchers have investigated these connections, only to name two strands of research. What about exploring them more? Let’s tinker and try! What would happen if the social science methods class taught us how to become passionate instead of teaching us how to be objective and unbiased? If the thesis chapter on methods describes how we got attached to and moved by our research? To try this out, we could simply start to talk more about passion. So what makes you care for your research object, stick to it, hate it and love it?
guest who? Each issue we will question a mystery postgraduate student in the Sociology department. See if you can guess this issue’s mystery interviewee! Who knows, it might be your office-mate, your best friend or someone you’ve never met before. The answer is on the bottom of the last page.
1.Use three words to describe yourself: Considerate, sleepy, sensitive 2. Worst habit? Bad time management. Honestly, I always sleep too much; therefore it is not easy for me to get up early. 3. What’s your most valued possession? I have a very cute toy whose name is Smiling Frog. I got it from my best friend while I studied abroad in Lancaster and was home sick last year. 4. Favorite food? Bean curd, tofu in Chinese. I really love tofu especially Taiwanese stewed tofu. 5. Something you’re good at: I am good at cooking tofu since I love it so much. I think I am also good at doing yoga. I have been practicing yoga for 4 years. Falling to sleep immediately is also very easy for me. 6. An ideal vacation for you is… I want to see the Northern Lights so I dream about going to the northern part of Scandinavia to see that. 7. The world needs a lot less… Mosquitoes, especially in Taiwan; and less rain in Lancaster. 8. Recount a memorable childhood moment: My father telling a goodnight story before my brother, sister and I fell asleep. 9. Describe a moment in history you’d like to have been there for: As a Taiwanese, I would have liked to talk with the Ching Dynasty so that Taiwan was not given over to the Japanese Government after defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War.
OPINION PIECES Protectionism good bad or inevitable? By Tom Roberts My knee-jerk reaction to seeing the slogans ‘British jobs for British workers’ and the protests at the Lindsey Oil refinery in Lincolnshire the other month, was to feel deeply uncomfortable. This can only lead to xenophobic violence and increasing racial tensions, I thought. But then, having listened to a few highly eloquent and savvy union leaders keen to distance their protests from inciting xenophobia, I looked again. Was protectionism the economic bogeyman that it is made out to be? Is it really synonymous with a fascist agenda or is there a more pernicious and insidious form of capitalism out there that is ‘playing the field’ to its advantage? Traditionally, politicians in defence of free trade and single markets have deliberately conflated and tainted bioregional labour and business interests with the discourse of racist bigotry. The media too has been complicit in this process. But this imaginary and fallacious alliance between protectionism and right wing politics is a sham deliberately constructed by advocates of global corporatism to taint anyone who dares question the dominant ideology of neo-liberalism. It is, all things considered, an incredibly effective defensive entanglement which can ensnare and besmirch anyone foolhardy enough to take it on. Protectionism, according to that scholarly source Wikipedia, is ‘the economic policy of restraining trade between nations, through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other restrictive gov-
ernment regulations designed to discourage imports, and prevent foreign take-over of local markets and companies.’* But globalised corporatism is no longer accountable to nation states. Perhaps we can try to distinguish between two types of protectionism; aggressive tit-for-tat protectionism – by which I mean the use of economic tariffs and trade barriers in a non-zerosum-game (the escalation of the banana wars between the EU and the US who imposed a retaliatory range of 100% import duties on European products, encompassing everything from Scottish cashmere to French cheese is a good example of this) – and what we might call diligent protectionism, which could be agreed on an international basis to give emphasis to economic policy that puts environmental, social and local needs before the profits of globalised multinationals. Some emerging examples of this diligent protectionism might include Local Economic Trading Schemes (LETS), and even Fairtrade. The fallacy of the invisible hand as a benevolent force needs to be reexamined. It was never proposed by Smith in this way. Granted, it can and does, if watched carefully, allocate goods and services pretty effectively, but that same hand can pickpocket, bankrupt and hold hostage if it is not held to account. Smith in that over-quoted quote (WN I.ii.2, 26-7) was right to point out that: ‘It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own in-
terest’. But given this, surely we cannot regard the hand to be acting purely benevolently! There is also an issue of the scale of self interest. Smith was talking about small farmers and artisans trying to get the best price for their products to provide for themselves and their families. That is self-interest for survival, not greed. Greed is high-paid corporate executives firing 10,000 employees and then rewarding themselves with multimilliondollar bonuses in a recession for having saved the company so much money. Greed is what the economic system being constructed by the corporate libertarians encourages and rewards. From a corporate libertarian point of view, trade barriers are obstacles to profit, but from a small local trader’s perspective, they are a vital shelter in which to take refuge. In her book Green Economics (2008 Earthscan see review) Molly Scott-Cato argues for a vision of the ‘convivial society’. She argues that the globalised marketplace is the prevailing force in our lives, undermining the real importance of our human communities and our planet. She continues, ‘...society should be embedded within the ecosystem, and that markets and economies are social structures that should respond to social and environmental priorities’†. Our current predicament quite literally puts the cart before the horse, so that the orthodoxy of the single (European /Global) market reigns supreme trampling upon cultural distinctiveness, human and animal welfare ΩΩ
issues, and environmental resource considerations. It is not accountable to the underlying system of biophysical throughput (as per ecological economics Daly et al and Steady State Economics 1977), it does not value worker’s rights, but neither does it value consumer’s health; the surplus values goes back into generating more capital. This transboundary capitalism we can call globalised corporatism. Globalised corporatism is, after all, what has got us into this economic mess in the first place. As Marx, Schumpeter and others pointed out eons ago, capitalism holds the seeds of its own destruction. The emphasis on unsustainable growth, the exploitation of the sub-prime through 100% plus mortgages and loans to those on or beneath the
breadline serve as accidents waiting to happen. Globalised corporatism is what has killed off healthy and vibrant industries in the UK leaving a once skilled and productive workforce unemployed and disillusioned. It is also what we have to thank for the lowering of environmental standards and their diminished enforceability. Corporations’ accountability is to shareholders whose overriding priority is profit not economic, social and environmental wellbeing. Abroad, globalised corporatism is perpetuating the exploitation of foreign workers, including slave-like conditions and child labour. Many foreign workers in the 3rd world are often not even allowed to unionise for fear of reprisals (See Mark Thomas Belching out the devil for an
amusing read on the gap between reported CSR and the reality on the ground with CocaCola Inc) and as a result work very long hours in dangerous conditions. Globalised corporatism is what has brought us cheaper than cheap goods. BUT as every economist will tell you, there is no such thing as a free lunch – someone is paying a very high cost for our cheap goods. Finally, it is not diligent protectionism but unaccountable mobile globalised corporatism that perpetuates inequalities, driving a wedge between nations and peoples and fuelling resentment, xenophobia, and violence making the world a more insecure place. π notes: * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism † http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=34067
The City and the Dog By Basak Tanulku
Fig 1: The wolf. I dedicate to those whom we lost long ago.
A long time ago, we lost the connection between the Earth and Earthlings, and still we are in deep trouble that we cannot get out of. Our lives have long been problematic at least since the 1970s due to the economic and social problems which have reflected upon our living spaces, especially cities, (except “gentrified” areas); “luxurious” verticalities and horizontalities which
shape urban and suburban lands and the “rich” countryside that only the selected few can have the right to access. The “urban” and its borders, diseases, dirtiness, homelessness, suicide, alienation, fragmentation of its public space, the fear of eye contact with foreigners, while increasing use of virtual “faces” which we change day by day on the basis of our ever-changing “moods”. Increasing rates of crime or the fear of crime which is shaped by the gossip you hear everyday then becomes paranoia. However, all of these I explained until now depend on the human as an asocial and a-public subject. There is another side of urban life, besides these. Bohemian life, cosmopolitan culture, squares, hybridity and mixing, becoming shattered into parts because of noise and crowds that you don’t want
to escape and the taste of it and flaneuring... There are others as well. When we look at those who are different from us, whom we do not count as humans or as valuable as humans and do not respect, the city becomes a totally different place: it becomes neither a prison of our souls nor a free town. If you ask why I am interested in this topic, it was when I was surprised at not seeing those same people in the streets of England, as a person who was familiar to them in Turkey. During the summers, I was unwilling to return back to Istanbul, because of the hot weather. However, this could not prevent me from also becoming excited because of seeing my parents again. Coming home. I was thinking about what made Istanbul so different. Those whom I could not meet in England were those whom I could not see
at first sight*. Was it the smell of the streets? Or the crowd? The noise of vendors and cars, together with the smell of exhaust, sea and simit (a traditional bagel covered with sesame), all of these in Istanbul made me like I was walking into a movie studio. When I returned back to Lancaster, that old, small and beautiful town, something would seem different to my eyes. Poverty? I was used to seeing the worst of it in Lancaster such as homeless people near the main bus station. Smell? Yes, my lungs would be filled with the smell of shit when I was walking from the campus to town. The smell coming from the herds was mixed with the smell of trees and soil. People? Yes, not only “good morning” was said in a different language. Homes? Even I was living in a small town not comparable to Istanbul. Houses were so different from each other by being old, middle-classed, “for students only”, residence-styles for “sexy people in the city”. And those that were continuing to respect their history. Then there was the strikingly beautiful countryside, which stopped time with its beautiful “cottages” and made me travel to the past. The British countryside, I would call it, was so beautiful that I’d want to be drowned in it, like a deep green lake without a bottom. Sky? It was raining in Istanbul and then there were storms, which would bring snow so that we were locked inside our homes. In Lancaster the weather did not fluctuate so much. However, this does not mean that the weather was stable and that you could always see a clear blue sky. Rather, black rain clouds were dancing together with their cotton-like relatives, inviting me.
After rain stopped, I was feeling as if I was tucked in a muddy mass. However, those whom I could not meet at first sight surprised me the most. This feeling would not leave me alone when I was travelling across different parts of Britain. For instance, there was the Lake District where I became paralysed and isolated from reality. How can a place be so beautiful? Or the “wild” Scotland which seemed a place lost in history. The forest was surrounding and protecting my soul. However, something was missing. These places are so empty and sterile, I was telling myself. Who kept telling me this? Streets smelt of vomit, especially during the weekends. If you ask me about street fights, yes, there were the best fights. There was the chaos which made streets similar to the streets of Istanbul. You could easily understand from seeing broken glasses over the streets that a “fast” weekend had passed. ‘Oh, the youth!’ was the old saying and life was going on. Those who surprised me the most were those whom I could not meet in the first sight. They were the dogs whom we can only realise in the last sight, sometimes cannot even realise at all, by walking without noticing them, by even rendering a last sight for them as “too much”. Yes, the stray dogs, which we know - ugly, shapeless, mixed, unnoticeable. They were standing behind us, without interfering into our lives. They were the owners of the voices which were cutting the darkness in half and intervening into the talks between family members, of the howls which were waking someone up in the middle of the night. There were also those shepherd dogs who were only
howling against the Morning Prayer coming from the local mosque which reminded their old relative, the wolf. The beginning of my story is animals.
Fig 2: The underdogs of Istanbul: Street children taking drugs and a stray dog…
I did not realise they have always been a part of our lives that until I came to England. There were fat and beautiful cats who were begging for our sandwiches while we were sitting in the “view” of the campus to see Bosporus when I was an undergraduate student. There were also their colleagues whose births we witnessed during a lecture while there were “campus dogs” who would not bark at anyone except for the staff who behaved badly. They had strange bodily shapes as the hybrids in different varieties. The only thing common to them were their beautiful eyes in which you could read more emotions than you could read inside a person’s eye: sorrow when their friends died; happiness when they were cuddled by a child; obstinacy when they could not have that food; rebellion against their enemies; defensiveness when they were beaten and guilt when there was a broken window in the neighbourhood. Then there were birds. When we went to Eminonu, we’d see those who were feeding them. Sellers, students, women, and believers each coming to the New Mosque and the tourists who came to
the Historical Peninsula of Istanbul. And there were those who became happy when a bird defecated on their clothes and bought a ticket from “Nimet Abla” for the next National Lottery†. Fig 3: The New Mosque and birds…
photo credits: 1. I also dedicate to those who follow the path of Beatrix Potter, James Oliver Curwood, John Ruskin, and William Wordsworth who search for the Call of the Wild… Photo taken from the web page http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/enlarge/grey-wolfsnow_image.html accessed on 22.02.2009. 2. Photo taken from the web page http://www.bianet.org/goruntu/sokak_cocuklari/buyuk_fotograflar /max11_jpg.jpg accessed on 22.02.2009. 3. The photo is taken from the web page http://www.yenicami.nerededir.com/ accessed on 22.02.2009. The New Mosque is one of the important points in the historical peninsula of Istanbul which was completed in 1665 AD.
notes: * I make the difference between love at the first and last sight on the basis of Benjamin’s critiques’ of Baudelaire. By “love at last sight” Benjamin means love for those whom we lost (we cannot see another time) in the city. I use this to refer to those whom we lost and could not see anymore.
Art works, furniture, paintings, sculptures, table sets have become full of animal motifs while their real counterparts were pushed to the peripheries of the life. On the other hand, they were exterminated to be used in fashion as fur or feathers for “trendy women”, in making shoes and boots as leathers, in cosmetics to make perfume, soap and creams as bodily fat, while their innocence was killed in order to reserve a place in Heaven. We reflected our wish to kill upon sports such as hunting and bullfighting. We created a sterile world, without any danger, starting from the West. By cleaning the forests of the wolves, the dogs have become the patron of our homes. By cleaning the streets of the dogs, the peace ruled all over world. However, all things that belong to people have become legitimised, such as murder, rape, theft, genocide, war, and the rivers which divide us, created more violence day by day, in a continuous race against each other. We were the best and superior; there were no Gods except us, who were praying in a God who legitimise killing in His name. He was the same God who expelled us from Eden and at the same time gave the right to rule the World over Nature. With all these dilemmas in my mind, I would ask ‘If we are so superior, then do we need a God? Or did we create our God, to legitimise and bless our superiority over Nature?’ We should re-evaluate our meanings and then try to establish the lost link with other creatures, called Earthlings‡. π
† This behaviour of birds is considered as “luck” in Turkey. “Nimet Abla” is one of the offices of the National Lottery which has become famous in Turkey to sell “lucky” tickets. ‡ For a good discussion about animals see the documentary “Earthlings” (2003) directed by Shaun Monson.
Staring at the Sea: Fantasy and the Disturbance of Place I'm interested in the central paradox that we are finite, material, organic, biological beings with a finite time/space experience and yet we have this imaginative ability to overcome the horizons of our physical limitation through mental and imaginative activity; an inherent contradiction, but one that is eternally engaging. Antony Gormley
Figure 1
By Gail Crowther Imagine, if you will, one hundred cast iron figures stood on a beach. All are placed at different distances up and down the shoreline; all are staring out in the same direction to the horizon, across the sea, across the sand. As time passes and the tide changes, some of the figures disappear completely beneath the waves, others are waist deep and the ones furthermost up the shore stay dry. Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach is a fine example of a public art installation disrupting the eye space of place and exploring the use of fantasy. This article will discuss possible readings of these figures and the impact that they have on the fantasy life of those who view them. Furthermore, by encouraging a fragmented and individualistic interpretation of these figures, I will argue that the figures not only challenge our experience of space but allow a psychoanalytic reading of our responses to absence and presence.
Figure 2 These figures are not alone on the beach. Less than a kilometre north, beyond the sea side cafÊ and the small public toilets, beyond the final cast iron figure and the car park, another, accidental and largely unnoticed art has been installed. For the sea defences at this point on the beach are made from smashed up buildings – old mills and industrial factories. Fragments of a time long gone, shattered and
Staring at the Sea battered by the incoming tide. Walls, bricks and tiled signs, chimneys and windows and doorways, placed layer upon layer on the beach, their original usage long forgotten. Their very existence now, unnoticed. Yet this haunting of the beach by a lost industry, by ruined buildings, has itself turned into something very beautiful, for those bricks are now worn and smoothed by the waves coming and going. Each stone, pebble and brick curved like a fine Barbara Hepworth piece or a valuable ancient sculpture. Tiles smooth and salty and bits of chimneys lay like an immense sea sculpture, a sort of nautical spewed up art gallery. Yet no one notices. No one stops and stares or photographs this curiously natural sculpting of an industrial thing. It is the cast iron figures, the beautiful solidness of the deliberate art installation that catches our eye and our imagination. We do not stop to think upon the rubble of a time gone by. We are too mystified by the gaze of the iron men. What is it they are looking at? What is it we are looking at? The most striking feature of the figures is their solidness. There is nothing ephemeral or phantom-like about them. They are there, unmoving and they stay there through time and tide. Yet within that stasis there is also change, for at any given time the figures which are subject to the air and the gaze of observers are also at another time subject to the movement of the waves and live a submerged life of invisibility. So these figures challenge the very notion of absence and presence. Depending upon time they are both there and not there and yet they do not move. Some have speculated this installation is about death. Certainly there is a melancholy in unmoving figures staring at the horizon, all si-
lent, all identical. Others have argued it is about emigration, placed as it is near a port. The comings and goings of people and things and objects. The traces. Certainly this piece deals with the notion of change, for it is not just the impact that time and tide have on the figures, but also other natural elements. The rain, the wind, snow, the sea mists that creep from the sea and wrap themselves around legs and necks. So, the cast iron figures are no longer unmarked metal, but green with oxidisation and salt, a sort of metallic fungus crawling across lips and eyes. Depending upon the shift of the sand, some are buried knee deep, others expose the solid iron plinth they are secured onto. Thus Another Place disjoints space and time. The figures snag the eye-scan of the beach, both in their vertical unexpectedness and their uncanny ability to transgress boundaries of visibility and invisibility at various times of the day. The notion of change is further highlighted by the curious tags attached to the wrist of each figure. Stamped in metal is a number, seemingly in no particular order but nevertheless imprinting a sense of individuality on these identical pieces. Again we are faced with a paradoxical quandary, of something being both alike and yet different at the same time. Another Place – both here and somewhere else. Identical figures each with their own number. Are we to prescribe individual meanings to each piece? Do the numbers have significance beyond simple labelling? However perhaps we can allow ourselves to be a little less prescriptive about the intention and meaning behind these figures and consider their usage as a postmodern fragmentation of taste. Each person’s gaze creates their own art and im-
bues their own meaning. Judith Williamson (1992) claims the function of art is to connect the objective and subjective. For her the linking of internal thoughts and feelings with something external is a crucial feature in any creation of meaning. And as observers of art, we are not passive, but rather respond to the stimuli and construct our own interpretation. Indeed Gormley himself appeared to be aware that he would have little control over the interpretation, and in a way, acknowledges that this fluidity is part of his purpose when he describes his hope that the work will act like “an acupuncture of people’s dream world” so that “each person is making it again...its actually an open space that people can make their own”. It is worth questioning Gormley’s use of the phrase ‘dream world’ here. If by this he means daydreams and fantasies then this seems more usable that the literal meaning of the word suggesting an unconscious and uncontrollable reaction. In fact, it is because of the unmanageable nature of dreams that Barthes claimed; “Dreaming (whether nicely or nastily) is insipid (nothing so boring as the account of a dream!) On the other hand, fantasising helps pass any interval of waiting, of insomnia; a kind of pocket novel you can always carry with you and can open anywhere without anyone seeing anything..” (1977:87)
Thus, the private pocket novel of thoughts and desires is ever accessible and to a certain extent controllable. Certainly what we choose to make public is within our power. So our responses to the (physically) still yet (emotionally) moving figures on the beach, waist high in water or submerged by the waves, are open. Yet it seems, it is this very openness that creates the disturbance of place, for people must
Staring at the Sea employ fantasy if the figures are to mean anything at all. For those who fail to do this, the figures are a nuisance, a health and safety issue – people may mistake them for drowning figures and drown themselves trying to save them. Yet a mere cursory glance is enough to indicate that these solid and unmoving figures are not human. They have no body and they are not even intended to represent a body. “I have been interested in asking what is the nature of the space a human being inhabits. What I try to show is the space where the body was, not to represent the body itself." (Gormley). So although the figures are casts of the artists own body, it is a body that is no longer there. It is a melancholic shell left, an absence filling the space, an absence replicating itself along the beach. More interestingly it is a solid absence that becomes animated through imagination.
Figure 3 People visiting the statues stand next to them and stare out to sea following their gaze. What is it they are looking for? In a Freudian twist the observers appear to introject the melancholic stillness of the figures and project their own questions onto the iron statues. And what are they “thinking” as they look out to the horizon? Each time I saw another face, another body, resolutely looking out to sea, I came up with another reason, maybe even 100 reasons…
Despite the absence of a body, observers imbue the figures with human-like qualities. They are able to ‘see’ (what are they looking for?); they are able to ‘think’ (of what?) Thus embodiment somehow transforms itself into a mental activity and loses its fleshiness, transcending its physical limitations. This is the inherent contradiction that Gormley refers to, that improbable disruption of our assumed knowledge that allows us to suspend disbelief and identify with an empty iron cast of an absent body. The questions we think they might be asking are our own creations. Thus the figures become like our questioning alter-ego. Our relationship to them is such that we project then consume ‘their’ thoughts. We desire answers, even if we do not always know what the questions will be. When I saw the numbered tags on the wrists, I firstly tried to see if they were in any order, but they weren’t. Then I wondered if the numbers had any relevance? I could not get out of my mind the association these tags created. Cattle with numbers stamped through their ears, concentration camp victims tattooed with numbers, expensive price tags…and then I realised this was one of the great things about the piece, because it was like a game of word association. There were no fixed meanings. It didn’t have to mean one thing – it could mean anything at all and it was up to me what the associations were. This was very liberating. The power of the gaze then, the Derridean ‘difference’ within language that translates and works visually so we experience a flurry of unrelated, fragmented thoughts and ideas. A curious coherency created from incoherency that makes sense for the individual and leaves ideas as vast as the beach spread before them. The simple act of standing next to an iron figure creates a jam of space, time traffic, crisscrossing, random, unpredictable.
Of the futility of human endeavour? Of our human smallness? Of the monotony of the horizon and its unending barrier between sea and sky? Of acting in defiance or solidarity? Of hopefully waiting for help or a sign or an arrival? Of what had been, what was, what could be? (Observer’s blog)
Figure 4
Staring at the Sea The sense of past, at any given point of time, is quite as much a matter of history as what happened in it.” (Raphael Samuel 1994:15)
What is this? What was this? A messy pile of rubble half grown over with sandy reeds and beach grasses. Where did it come from? What was it used for? How old is it? We can tell it was a building once because the bricks are still there. Here are the names surviving from the brick makers, Liverpool, Southport, the long dead industrial north sheds its grainy remains on the beach. A smashed up name is tiled into the brick. The very names and places and people who worked in these buildings haunt the beach. Where are they now? What happened to them? To understand a ghostly story like this, is to understand how the past can be seized in an instant (Avery 1997), how a pile of rubble on a beach can blast through linear temporality and make us question that which is both there and not there, both visible and invisible. The wavey boundaries of time and space! Industrial ruins, according to Tim Edensor, have long symbolised the fear that civilisations eventually crumble and that industrial ruination engenders a post-industrial nostalgia. In industrial ruins, the gothic mingles the living (plants, insects, birds) with the dead, the disorder mocks the past production and progress and strict time keeping of the managers. Fragments of ordered space from an ordered time tumble into disuse and change their context. Yet here on Crosby Beach, we do not have ruined buildings, but buildings that have been deliberately smashed to pieces, a wrecking ball through time and space that leaves dust, bricks and a salty decay. The port that now stands empty and clanking perhaps once shipped goods made in these buildings. The people coming and going, the emigration, the trade, the sale of
goods. The industrial north gone out like the tide. ‘Ghosts flit across space; they cannot be captured or classified. Bearing traces of the past, they cannot explain it but they allude to forgotten sensations and thoughts. By virtue of their partiality they are not whole bodies or coherent solid entities – ghosts are echoes which refuse reconstruction.’ (Edensor 19:48)
Thus, the curious juxtaposition of Gormely’s cast iron figures, not solid coherent entities but the space where a body used to be against the very real and whole bricks of factories and warehouses and production lines. The ghosts that belong to these places are out of time and context and it is this very disjointedness that makes us employ our fantasy to recreate this pile of rubble into its original urban setting – its chimneys and factories, cobbles and dark streets. The romanticised industrial north where we can construct an alternative story, an alternative historical narrative. We can smooth over time and place with partialities. We can think ourselves into the working buildings in the same way we can think ourselves into Gormley’s iron figures. Defamiliarised we have underfoot on an expanse of open and natural beach, a hulk of the past. Yet it is not just the rubble that is out of time and place, for it has been deliberately moved. No longer housing the rush and bustle of industry, the shattered bricks now serve a different purpose defending the land from the sea. The bricks and chimneys are portable ruins that are not only changed themselves but bring change also. The beach space awash with sand and shells is suddenly invaded by a mass of ruined factories, an accidental art installation at odds with the iron figures carefully placed at intervals along the beach. If the silent melancholy of the iron men staring at the horizon is haunting, then the
smash and crumble of these once busy buildings deafens the beach with their silence. In the dune grasses the sand hoppers skip and jump. The pom pom plants and sharp blades flatten with the sea wind. Gravel is dragged in and out in a shingle boom on the tide. The accidental art of ruined factories lies nestled in dock leaf and spiky beach grass. Curved and smooth, honed and grainy, it sits in its curious unnatural naturalness. Figure 5
The traces seep into the grasses, into the beach. The memories are picked up and towed away by the tide. They follow peoples’ gazes and thoughts. They follow peoples’ lives out of the port and across the sea. Meaning leaks into the beach. The port clanks. The horizons dip. A lone gull answers itself far out on the receding tide. π acknowledgements Many thanks to Lynne Pearce for telling me to look beyond the iron men on the beach. Photograph 1. taken from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6 081202.stm 2.–5. taken by Gail Crowther Bibliography Barthes, Roland (1977) Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes University of California Press: Berkeley Gordon, Avery (1997) Ghostly Matters: haunting and the sociological imagination University of Minnesota: Minneapolis Samuel, Raphael (1994) Theatres of Memory Verso: London Williamson, Judith (1978) Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising Boyors: London
By the Big Man Himself
Comedy corner
Five Thesis Writing Guides I’d like to See By Anonymous Sociology PG
Shiver Me Timbers! A Pirate’s Guide to Completing your PhD Thesis By Dr. Sam ‘Peg Leg’ McGee “If yar think writing a thesis be tough laddie, ya sha’ try sailing thar seas a da’ North ‘lantic in Decem-bar!” And thus begins one of the most unique books in recent times dedicated to helping postgraduate students grapple with the challenges of writing a thesis. Based on the experiences of Mr. McGee, a thirty-year pirating veteran, readers will learn first hand how to construct an air-tight argument, cope with scurvy, tie proper ‘real man!’ sailor knots and the proper usage of the always-tricky semi-colon; Other useful tips include: where to find the best beaches to hide one’s treasure, the inappropriate situations in which to yell ‘Arghhhhh!’ and the secret software package all professional pirates use to write their bibliographies. Quit Your &@!# Complaining and Just &%# Write It! How joining the Hells Angels helped me finish my thesis By Dr. Sarah Leroux Often deemed as murderers, drug dealers and social deviants with no real purpose in life, this inspirational tale works to correct these labels by showing a lighter side to the world’s most notorious biker gang. Readers will learn how Hells Angels members helped Sarah overcome her fear of failure thereby enabling her to submit her thesis on time and with no corrections. “Up until I met the Angels, I just never seemed to find the motivation to avoid procrastinating. If there were any chores or errands that needed doing you could bet they’d be done before I started my writing for the day. However, thanks to the perseverance and enthusiasm of the Angels - not to mention their daily death threats and drive-by shootings - I was really encouraged to stay at home in my ultra-secure panic room and write! I can honestly say that if it weren’t for my biker ‘friends’ I most certainly would have been murdered and ended my life with only an MPhil. But now when I go for my weekly therapy session in order to cope with my case of post-traumatic stress disorder, I’m addressed as Doctor Leroux! Thanks Hells Angels!” Baaaaaa! What the Art of Sheep Herding Taught Me about Thesis Writing By Dr. Steve ‘Woolie’ Woolworth After struggling with his thesis for over a decade, time was running out for avid sheep enthusiast and aspiring sociologist Steve Woolworth. Thinking that a change of scenery might do him some good, Steve traded his life in the
city for a stone-walled shack in the barren plains of the Scottish highlands. Now, for the first time ever, readers will learn how following the herd can sometimes be a good thing and why eating on all fours is actually quite therapeutic. In addition, Steve gives some excellent tips on how to avoid all those nasty cuts and nicks one acquires when trying to earn some extra money by shaving off all your body hair and selling it on Ebay. Ga Ga! Goo Goo! Developing Critical Thinking Skills From a Toddler’s Perspective By Jessica Ramsey “Critical thinking is so hard. But all my professors keep telling me I need to learn how to do it. If only there was someone really smart who could teach me how…” Have you ever found these words running through your head? If so, then this book for you! Flying in the face of commonsense, this introductory text written by two-year old Jessica Ramsey proves that high-level thinking skills are not the sole domain of the academic elite. Through fifty-seven fulllength chapters Ga Ga! Goo Goo! readers will learn valuable tips including: the perils of being spoon-fed…by both parents and supervisors; the amazing similarities between recognizing if your clothes are on inside-out and constructing a convincing theoretical sociological argument; and the real reasons why one shouldn’t ‘wriggle around’ when having a diaper changed or draft chapter critiqued. If Jessica can do it, so can you. Or, as the young author herself says, “Spurgle spurgle bock back. Me yum yum neee-mo!” Yes indeed, Jessica!
“My name is Arnie. But you can call me Mr. Schwarzeneg ger. Thesis-Writing for the Little Guy…By ‘The Big Man’ Himself!” By Arnold Schwarzenegger From muscleman to movie superstar and onto the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown he can dominate any field he enters. Now he tackles his most difficult assignment to date – writing a sociology thesis. With chapter titles such as “I’ll be back…ing up my data!” and “Hasta La Vista…Typos!” this book is guaranteed to be a hit with every one from the first year sociology freshman to cynical old professor emeritus. And for all those fencesitters out there who are wondering if they really should buy this book, here are some encouraging final words from the Terminator: “Buy this book! Or I will find you and kill you with my bare hands!”
Contributors to the sociologist
Allison Hui Allison is a second-year PhD student in Sociology who has managed to immerse herself in Lancaster life thoroughly in the last year. Though she still prefers the extremes of Canadian prairie weather to Lancaster’s nearly constant rain, her mobility to this place has fed her current research that examines the interaction between mobilities and practices in the case of enthusiasts and enthusiasms.
David Mansley David is a second-year PhD student in Sociology and Criminology. His research topic is protest policing.
Anna Mann Anna Mann started her PhD in Sociology / Science Studies a couple of weeks ago, investigating food and taste in cooking practices. She misses the organic bread of Munich and wonders where have all the bakers gone in Britain?
Basak Tanulku Basak is a PhD student and is currently writing up her thesis. Her research is on gated communities in Istanbul and she is interested in urban studies, and social and spatial segregation. In her spare time, Basak enjoys traveling, walking and spending time in the countryside.
Gail Crowther Gail is a third year PhD student studying reader responses to the work of Sylvia Plath. When she’s not doing this, she’s reading Sylvia Plath and sometimes other people as well.
Lia Kinane Lia is currently writing-up up her thesis in the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies. Her research interests include friendship, nationality and rurality.
James Tomasson James is in the final year of a PhD focusing on the materiality and practices of Aga cookers and reclaimed timber flooring. When he’s not busy contributing to ‘The Sociologist’ and working on his research, he enjoys hiking in the Lake District, cooking vegetarian meals and watching ‘Grand Designs’.
Nicola Spurling Nicola is a 3rd year PhD student interested in the implications of university reform for the career biographies and everyday practices of sociologists.
Jennifer TomomitsuTomasson Jennifer is a 3rd year PhD student researching scientific imaging practices at the nano scale. As a reprieve from writing and field work, she enjoys yoga, playing the guitar or escaping to the world of HBO television.
Tom Roberts Tom is a PhD candidate in the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change (CSEC) looking at the role of narrative and storytelling in imagining, engaging and enrolling publics in energy futures. Tom is also Environmental Coordinator at Lancaster University and has helped recruit an environment team, run environmental campaigns, achieved fairtrade status for the University and drafted an ethical investment policy.
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Sociology PG Colloquiums
Allison Hui
First year 17th March
Need to improve your writing skills? Not sure where to start? In the past there have been visiting professors in the English Department who were willing to meet with students to discuss their writing style and ways to improve it. Check to see if there is anyone doing this currently. You can also check with other students or subject librarians for helpful books such as Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. There are also courses and help-groups on campus for international students who need to improve their writing skills.
2nd + year 24th March: 'Academic Careers in Sociology: Past, Present and Future' with Nicola Spurling
Gender/Women’s Studies PhD Workshops Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30/5:00 Dates for future sessions are: 6 May (week 3, Summer term) - room tbc
Credit: Bill Waterson
See http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/centres /gws/event for updates
FYI: 2008/09 PG Representative Committee For those of you just joining Sociology, there are a number of postgraduate representatives in the department. If you have any major concerns, questions or issues you would like to raise about your experience of being a postgraduate, feel free to contact any of the reps below. *Email addresses can be found on the department web page: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/current/phd/Stude nt_reps.htm MA Reps Carla Banks and Sue Starling Women’s Studies PhD Rep Clare Hollowell Sociology PhD Reps 1st year: Julien McHardy 2nd year: Allison Hui 3rd + year: Jennifer Tomomitsu-Tomasson Tutor Rep: Julian Muller
floorball
Try out floorball by joining the weekly game – Tuesdays from 12–1pm in the Minor Hall colleagues from Sociology, Geography, and other departments come together for a fun game. All you need is running shoes and a sense of adventure (i.e. no skill required).
Calendar date
speaker
Departmental Seminars
17 March
Steve Hinchcliffe
26 May 2009
Anthony D'Andrea
CGWS Seminars
3 April 2009
23 April 2009 6th May 2009
Upcoming Workshops
Lucy Easthope
date
title
18 March 09
Materiality/Specificity Workshop
18 March 09
CGWS: Feminists Rethink Neo-Liberalism Workshop Two
26/27 March 09
Working on the Biosecurity Borderlands Cultural Hypermobility and Nomadic Identities: towards a theory of Neo-Nomadism
Confirmed Speakers: Emotional Labour SympoGail Lewis sium Renata Salecl Divya Tolia-Kelly Pam Meecham CeMoRe / CGWS Sailing Proud Seminar Cami Rowe Lunchtime Seminar (politics and IR) Title: TBA
13th of May
venue
title
Lunchtime Seminar Title TBA venue
Bowland North Seminar Room 2 16.15-18.00 Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
Management School, Lecture Theatre 4 9:00 – 5:00 p.m. Venue TBC 4.15pm - 6.00pm 12:00 – 1:00 Venue TBC 12:00 – 1:00 Venue TBC info
9.30 - 17.00
Closing date for Registration is Meeting Room 4, Conference March 16th. For more information: Centre, Bowland College http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociolo gy/event/2728/ 14:00 – 18:00 p.m. For more information: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociolo Venue TBC gy/event/2793/
Animation/Automation 9:30 – 18:00 For registration details: Workshop http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociolo Day I (March 26) will take place at Manchester Univer- gy/event/2727/ sity Day II (March 27) will take place in Lancaster's Institute for Advance Studies, Meeting Room 1
*Please note: this schedule is still preliminary as speakers, paper titles and dates may change in the upcoming weeks
we want to hear from you! Call for submissions: Next deadline: June 5, 2009 Want to write a review about a book, article or conference? Have a story to tell about doing field work? Is there a bit of advice you’d like to offer other postgraduates in the department? Or do you have suggestions for improving the newsletter?
Were you able to guess this mystery guest? A: Li-Wen Shih
Please email us your articles, tips, reviews, stories or rants to thesociologist@live.com. We also welcome research-related photographs/artwork so please send them along!