The
Sociologist a postgraduate newsletter
10 August 2009
editorial scribble Dear Readers: Welcome to the last issue of the Sociologist until the new academic year. I have nothing new or exciting to add to this summer edition of the newsletter, so I simply want to say a word of thanks. Thanks to the contributors who have volunteered to write; thanks to the various editors who have devoted their time; thanks to the readers for their ongoing support; and a special thanks to David for his fantastic job on the layout and design of the newsletter. We hope you enjoy this new issue and we look forward to doing it all over again in October. Jenn Tomomitsu
Photo taken with permission from Stock Xchng: http://www.sxc.hu
contents Postgraduate Research Highlight – 2 Workshop Review: “Urban Spaces and Inequalities” – 3 Tom’s Tech Corner – 5 2009 Intellectual Party Highlights – 6 Photographs from the Field – 8 My PhD Office and Mystery Guest Interview – 10 Opinion Piece: “Stooges for business or critical scientists?...” – 11 Muses: “Reading, Pleasure and Drinking” - 13 “A Grave Pursuit” – 14 Contributor Profiles – 17 The Soci-Classified Ads – 18 Calendar of Events – 19 Call for Submissions – 20
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lancaster sociology pg research highlight:
Lisa Ashmore One of the aims of this newsletter is to promote postgraduate research in the department. For this issue, we’re happy to introduce Lisa Ashmore a second year PhD student in the Sociology Department. We recently caught up with Lisa 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? I have recently discovered my project is about sameness in medicine: the quest for sameness and what constitutes sameness. I’m doing an ethnographic study of Image Guided Radiotherapy, which is a technique aimed to improve accuracy in Radiotherapy (cancer treatment using x-rays). Before starting my PhD I worked in Radiotherapy and became increasingly aware that technologies were introduced into practice despite practitioners’ fears or concerns regarding evidence or risk. 2. What has been the most enjoyable part about doing research on your thesis? I have to say, I have enjoyed all of the PhD process so far (I hope that doesn’t mean the worst is yet to come!) If I had to pick a ‘most’ enjoyable part, it would be the fieldwork. I was so scared about going into the field and, if I was to be completely honest, kept putting it off, but once I was there, I was so engrossed in the machine that every story, every anecdote became so relevant and important. 3. Can you describe a worst and best moment during your PhD? The worst: losing my laptop. It was stolen while I was on my last field work trip. I had backed it up, sporadically, and even then it was only the completed documents – things which I was able to retrieve from my supervisors. The other things, data transcripts, notes, photos and those little supporting documents all went. The best: in my first year, there was a week when I found out I had ethics approval at my first hospital site, I had an abstract accepted for a conference in Rot-
terdam and I got ESRC funding for the next two years. It was a good week! 4. Three words which describe how you feel about your project: Engrossed – possessive – protective. 5. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? I’m expecting a baby any day now so it is hard to see past that. I would love to do a post-doc once I’ve finished the PhD – there is so much I am going to have to leave out of my thesis, I would love to be able to do justice to everything, which just isn’t possible. In 10 years though, that’s a long way ahead. 6. If you could do another PhD, what topic would you choose? I am completely absorbed and engrossed in my topic but I must admit, when I hear about people doing their research in far flung places, I wonder why I opted to spend my time sitting on the floor in various hospitals. Everyone else’s research always sounds more exotic than your own. 7. What advice would you give to people who are just starting their PhD? Throw yourself into everything. I’ve attended seminars on topics which, on first inspection, have absolutely nothing to do with my topic but then when you get there you find so many connections. How you funnel these into something productive has yet to be seen.
reviews ΩΩ Review of
the Workshop “Urban Spaces and Inequalities” by Basak Tanulku, Abhinaya Ramesh and Katharina Manderscheid On the 5th of June, we organised a workshop entitled “Urban Spaces and Inequalities”, two interconnected subjects which the three of us share interest in. Held at the Institute of Advanced Studies, we aimed to create a discussion arena for both academic staff and students at Lancaster University and to bring people together who were working on these particular issues. The event was well attended by people from different departments and we had the opportunity to discuss different forms of inequality such as the representation of culturally excluded groups in different contexts; space and mobility, tourism and immigrants, gender and space, and questions of sustainability under capitalism. Two papers in particular focused on culturally excluded groups. First, Basak Tanulku in her paper “Social Segregation across Cultural Colours in Istanbul” outlined the socio-economic and spatial changes which have occurred in Turkey since the 1980s and which led to a new “urban vocabulary” with diverse terms such as “arabesque”, “kiro”, “maganda” and “varos”. However, Basak argues that one thing which made Turkey and Istanbul interesting was the use of “colour” to define cultural fragmentation such as “White
Turks”, “Black Turks” and recently, “White Muslims”. In this respect, it was cultural, rather than physical characteristics which created exclusion and difference. The second paper to deal with culturally excluded groups was “Celebrity Chavs: Fame, Femininity and Social Class” by Imogen Tyler. As one of the “underdogs” of material and symbolic spaces, Imogen examined how “chavs” as a socially excluded and marginalised group, are represented in the media. She explained that female celebrities in particular are described as socially abject and are thus represented as grotesque bodies. In this sense, the working class are constructed as shameful. Imogen described this process as a new form of social racism which could create panic around “anti-social behaviour”. In other words the ban of “hoodies” for example, could potentially lead to the exclusion of “ordinary” chavs from urban and general public spaces. These presentations showed that there were similarities between Turkey and the UK in the sense that the creation of the “Other” has been achieved through the invention of exclusionary terms. Alongside Imogen Tyler’s paper, gender as another dimension of inequality, was also an important
topic of the workshop. With a focus on German architectural history since the 1920s, Oliver’s paper “Housing and Gender Equity” explored the gendered design of apartments. This was shaped by ideals of the nuclear family and gendered divisions of labour which made alternative living difficult to attain. However, due to changes in family structure and the emergence of an individualised lifestyle, the search for alternative forms of housing has gained increasing attention through the development of socially sustainable community housing projects. Oliver’s paper thus opened up discussions about the relation and difference between a “gendered” version and a “sexist” version of a place. This also raised issues around who was using these houses (i.e. is there a difference between “mass” suburban houses and “upper class” houses in terms of using the interior of a house?). Still on the topic of gender, Abhinaya Ramesh examined gender inequality in a different social context. In her paper “Women and Public Space in Mumbai”, Abhinaya discussed “intersectionality” between caste and class and explained that while public spaces of Mumbai are full of women of lower class; their voices are unheard in the public realm. On the
reviews ΩΩ contrary, the “invisibles” in the urban space, such as female academics, businesswomen and politicians are the most “visible” in the public arena.
the ghosts of the past such as patriarchy, body, gender and race are integrated into the capitalistic tourism sector to reproduce inequalities. Gareth also showed how capitalism is using “difference” to creCornelia Graebner analysed ine- ate similar inequalities under its quality and mobility from a litera- rule. ture perspective, thus creating a more subjective view. In her paper Javier Caletrio, in his paper “What “Literary and Cinematic Represen- if Benidorm is not that Bad After tation of Mobility and Inequality in all? Cultural Barriers and OpportuUrban Spaces”, she discussed how nities to Low Carbon Tourism immigrants in New York and Mex- Landscapes in the Mediterranean” ico City are excluded via mobility discussed a different kind of immiregimes. By analysing poems and gration: that of upper and lower movies, she showed how urban class tourists in Spain. He comspace and travelling in the same pared Benidorm, a lower-class tourcity are structured by social ine- ism landscape designed for the quality. Cornelia explained how masses, and Altea, an upper-class Puerto Rican immigrants in Span- area designed for the privileged ish Harlem in New York experi- few. While Benidorm was mostly ence a sense of being “stuck” in regarded as an example of bad taste their neighbourhood and how spa- of lower classes, it was far more tial mobility appears closely inter- “green” and “sustainable” than woven with various forms of social idyllically represented, but arromobility. In Mexico City, the rich gantly consuming Altea. This made travel by car as a symbol of prestige it criticisable in the debates about and luxury, whereas the poor have climate change and the Kyoto Proto rely on travelling in “the under- tocol. ground”, a dark and hidden place separated from the places reserved Sustainability was another topic in for the rich. connection with space and inequality. Noel Cass’s paper “Building, “Immigrants” was another subject Energy and Equity” examined the of the workshop which Gareth Mat- relations between sustainable space thews explored in his paper entitled and equity. While cities have been “The Ghost in t h e the major consumer of carbon in Smile: Inequality in the Socio- the UK, they have ironically bespatial Fixes of Commercial Hospi- come the home for “fuel poverty” tality”. Gareth examined how tour- of those who cannot afford suffiism and mobility reproduce ever- cient energy to heat their resiexisting inequalities of immigrant dences. Inequality also arises in the workers and how tourism, ironi- invisible elements of space, such as cally relies on the immobility of the building infrastructure. Will hotel workers. Gareth argued that Medd tackled this issue in his pa-
per “The Everyday Experiences of Flood Vulnerability” by discussing the flood vulnerability of the poor in the Hull area in England and how inequality is reproduced through flood management practices. By drawing on research material he argued that flood resilience could not be viewed as being isolated from other aspects of people’s lives. The last paper on sustainability was presented by Katharina Manderscheid and was entitled “Sustainable Mobility Futures. Social Equity in Spatial Planning Scenarios”. Drawing on the spatial turn and the mobilities paradigm in sociology, she analysed the discourses on social justice in spatial planning policies in Germany. Against this sociological background, she discussed the view of ‘space as container’ and the ‘social as sedentary’ which appear highly truncated and which foster a neoliberal logic of regional competitiveness. The organisers would like to thank all participants and the administrative staff of the Department of Sociology who made this event an interesting forum for discussion and exchange. The workshop was organised by: Katharina Manderscheid, lecturer at the Department of Sociology, the University of Innsbruck and a former visiting academic at CeMoRe between 2007-2009. Abhinaya Ramesh, PhD student at the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University. Basak Tanulku, PhD student at the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University.π
tom’s tech corner: “pimp my pc” by Tom Roberts
A quick caveat before I upset any of our feminist colleagues here. Has anyone seen that awful show where they take an old banger and “pimp it up” – No? Thought not! Anyway it’s a TV show produced by MTV. Each episode consists of taking one car in poor condition and restoring it, as well as customising it. Anyway I digress. The point is this: newer and ever more sophisticated software demands ever more sophisticated memory. Perhaps you’ve noticed your computer has become really, really sluggish – like running in treacle. It’s so frustrating that you feel yourself becoming angry and abusive towards your machine.
S… L… O…W then you might need to replace your DDR SDRAM (double-data-rate synchronous dynamic random access memory) – your RAM or memory to you and me. You see I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of these large computer companies deliberately hand out the minimum memory specification knowing full well that the pace of electronic and computing power will mean that you’ll come running back in a couple of years to buy a whole new machine. Well you needn’t. OK, so if your machine is over 10 years old and you have to crank a handle then maybe it’s time to have a rethink and get a new one, but in most cases it seems to me that it’s all about computer sales. So if your PC or laptop* is otherwise working ok, but still taking ages for programmes to open, then a solution is to buy extra memory. Now I wish I was a cyborg – that would be so useful! But seriously all you need do is go to a website called: Crucial http://www.crucial.com/uk/system scanner/?click=true
Now before you throw it out the window or start to attack it, there is a less violent and a lot greener remedy to this. There could be a number of reasons for this, and it’s important to ensure that you don’t have a virus, that you have the latest virus definitions, and that you defrag your hard drive from time to time too. But if it’s still painfully
Download the scanner which will see what memory you already have, as well as tell you what memory you can usefully get. For a PC it’s best to get them in pairs; you could go for the maximum but there is a diminishing return as you scale up, and obviously if it is an old-ish machine then you don’t want to spend too much money it. That being
said, if for £30 to £40 you can get your machine running at top speed again it’s definitely worth it. Now for the scary bit. When the memory arrives in the post it will be in a special static proof bag. Make sure your laptop / PC is properly shut off, with all cables unplugged**. For a PC, open up the side panel and you will see a huge board (called the mother board) and you will also see a series of identical (probably vertically hanging slots – most likely there’ll be an empty bar one). Be sure not to be wearing nylon slippers and rubber boots! Take the memory out of the bag and slot it in, ensuring the metal contact fits into the grooves. It will click in as there are two plastic flanges on either side. Press quite hard and it will slot into place. That’s it, you’re ready to go and your computer will work so much faster! For a laptop, carefully turn it upside down, and you can see a little compartment with some screws usually marked ‘memory’. Undo this and simply slot the memory into the void. *A couple of words of caution: If it’s a University owned computer then it’s probably best to leave it to ISS to deal with. **When opening up your machine only slot in the memory, but don’t touch other components. And do make sure it is unplugged!π
ď‚Ť
2009 Intellectual Party Photo Highlights This year’s Sociology postgraduate conference was another great success with over 60 participants from abroad and all across the UK. Here are some photographic highlights from the 3 day event (more images can be found on the conference webpage: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events /sociology/summerconference/)
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.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE FIELD
rs what your fellow researche Have you ever wondered a? t in the field collecting dat get up to when they’re ou e lik uld wo ist log ies, the Socio As part of an ongoing ser the m fro of ‘photographs to introduce the fourth set in , a first year PhD student field’ taken by Anna Mann
earch investigates the relathe department. Anna’s res are taste and pleasure. Below tions between food, good ich wh te’ ‘tas tes related to some images and field no work in home kitchens and ld were taken during her fie restaurants:
Where and what is ‘good taste’? In my research I investigate food and taste. But what is taste? In order to find an answer to this question, I went to several places: a dairy, a private household, a restaurant. I looked and listened and tasted. The photos show the things I saw and – in the case of the private household and the restaurant – they are accompanied by the conversations overheard. Cooking and eating at home Peter “Did you put a little bit of oil into the boiling water for the noodles?” Anita “Yes, I did.” Peter “Perfect. That makes them much better.”
Peter “I think the dish is better with the Taiwanese noodles.” Anita “The noodles are too... The Taiwanese noodles are better.” Peter “I don’t think so, because I cooked it with one of my friends at my place. I used also wholemeal noodles there, because he couldn’t eat white noodles. And that was good. Because they were much thinner and stickier.” Anna “Okay, so the size is wrong.” Anita “Yes, and also the flavour. I don’t know how to explain the flavour.” Anita takes another spoon full of noodles.
ΩΩ PHOTOGRAPHS
FROM THE FIELD
The dining room of the restaurant
The waiter puts the plates in front of everybody. Mia “Oh, look how nice it is presented.” Samuel “Oh, mine is definitely the best one. It has mushrooms!” Waiter “Enjoy your meal!”
Samuel “Can we have the bill please?” Eve “How much is it?” Samuel “It’s 20 Euro per Person. For what we had, it was good value for good money.” Mia “And how much tip do you give?”
The dairy Here is the place where ‘the good taste’ is made: This machine presses slowly the curds which swim in whey. The loaves take shape.
Knocking on the loaf of Emmentaler cheese, the expert can hear ‘the good taste’. If the sound is too dull, there are not enough holes in the cheese. If it rattles, the loaf has cracks inside.
Do you have a story about your office that you’d like to share? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Send us your thoughts as we’d like to learn more about how postgrads create work spaces for themselves. This issue’s postgraduate office belongs to Gail Crowther.
MY PH.D OFFICE
I have just moved my office to the very top of my house at the back; a cosy attic room with a sloping ceiling that looks across the cricket field and the graveyard. There is something soothing about sitting and writing with the plop and clonk of the cricket ball against the bat. Some people like their office in the heart of the house, but I like mine here, way up, out of my living space, and so does Alfie my cat. The room catches the morning and afternoon sun so while I work away, Alfie dozes on the blue sofa by the window following the path of the sun. At the moment because it is new, my office is meticulously tidy, all books where they should be, desk space clear. I like space when I work and my desk is L shaped with my computer on the smaller edge and then a desk length
that runs the full length of the back wall for me to spread papers and notes and books. I have an old record player in here and there is something great about listening to my old records while I work. On my walls I have a Bergman film poster for ‘Persona’, a blue Mark Rothko and a small postcard of a white lighthouse against a red sky. I also have pictures of Sylvia Plath and D.H. Lawrence. The two shelves directly above my keyboard have feminist literature and read like a map of my university studies from undergraduate through to postgraduate. My office is still too new for me to really have a feel for it, but I like the feeling of being high up and away from everything under the eaves in my attic.
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: rucksack, procrastination, great-friends
Preparing a wonderful and delicious portion of British porridge (every morning).
2. Worst habit? Complaining about British public services. 3. What’s your most valued possession? My library (card). (Damn, still trying to become an intellectual)
6. An ideal vacation for you is… getting away from the internet/cell phone.
4. Favorite food? There is not one favourite but many. One of which is the falafel that is being served at the "Artisan" at the Morecambe Waterfront. Hmmm, it's soooo goooood! 5. Something you’re good at:
7. The world needs a lot less… ... fluffy bread. 8. Recount a memorable childhood moment: Getting a ring stuck on my finger, resulting in a real panic (That's probably why I am still not married :-)). 9. Describe a moment in history you’d like to have been there for: The opening of the St.Gallen Art Museum in 1877.
OPINION PIECES
Stooges for business or critical scientists? The university in an age of economic imperialism by Julian Müller
A quick glance through the Times Higher Education makes it amply clear that it has become quite common to complain that universities are increasingly run like businesses, that they are pervaded by a ‘managerial’ spirit, or that students have developed a ‘consumerist’ attitude to the tuition they receive. And rightfully so, for what seems to be the dominant and most lamentable trend in the field of higher education (HE) and research is its colonisation by the economic: the subjection of teaching, learning and researching to the goals and criteria of economic usefulness, which have little to do with what the people actually working in these institutions would consider good or important. This trend, while not confined to the UK, appears particularly strong here. Government bodies focus their research funding on so-called STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) to the detriment of research in other disciplines that are apparently deemed less crucial to the competitiveness of the British economy. The content of university courses is increasingly brought into line with the goals of the employability agenda, which, if followed to its logical conclusion, would turn higher education into little more than a supplier to the labour market. As a result, the knowledge par-
ticular to a discipline, i.e. its distinctive theories and methods as well as its peculiar intellectual history, is treated as less important than transferable skills that would be useful to future employers. These and many other examples that could be given add up to the dramaticsounding diagnosis given above: that research and education, like other areas of society, are becoming colonised by the particular goals and rationalities of the capitalist economy, leading to the subordination of the peculiar rationalities of science and education. This trend has two main aspects. First, there seems to be the tendency, mentioned above, of bringing the contents of research and HE in line with the imperatives of economic competitiveness and the demands of employers. This turns universities and other higher education institutions into suppliers to the economic system. Second, these institutions are themselves ever more organised like businesses, required to generate a good return on investment and to manage themselves like private firms. (It only seems appropriate, therefore, that Lancaster University is audited by KPMG, an accounting firm whose main area of expertise lies with large business clients). This colonisation by ‘the economic’ needs to be resisted on both levels if universities – as institutions
where research and education take place – want to maintain a shred of dignity. Accountability? It is possible, of course, to put a positive spin on these developments. Instead of talking about the encroachment of a monetary/managerial logic upon HEI institutions, one could frame this in the rhetoric of ‘accountability’. Why should universities not be accountable to wider society? Why should they not also be made to ‘deliver’ a service, given that they do not raise all of their financial means but instead remain heavily dependent on tax money? There is some merit to this argument. I do not mean to say that teaching and research should not engage with the wider society or that universities should remain self-centred ‘ivory towers’. But society is not only made up of the economic system or the business community! Still, they seem to have a hugely disproportionate power to influence and define what is held to be socially useful and to therefore determine where public money goes to. (With the occasional input also coming from the established political institutions that like to support research that is taken to be in the interest of ‘national security’, the ‘war on terror’ and the like.) There are other and possibly more legitimate concerns
ΩΩ and interests, too, and there is no reason why teaching and research should not favour those over narrowly economic ones. Restructuring along what lines? So there is, in principle, no harm in universities opening up and becoming more transparent to the wider society. It is also true that, with widening participation in HE in the UK and other European countries the cosy, traditional university of earlier times is not a viable model any more, nor is it desirable. Therefore, restructuring was and is a necessity. However, the way in which this has been done in Britain is utterly disgraceful, thanks to the neo-liberal policies of all UK governments since Margaret Thatcher. One of the core articles of faith of Thatcher in particular and neo-liberalism in general, is that the ways of organising and coordination in the private sector are always superior to those of the public sector: market coordination produces better results and private sector management is generally preferable. Therefore, the public sector was forced to emulate this model by introducing competition on various levels and using the techniques of business organisations in the management of its own organisations. This is why universities are increasingly run like private businesses led by managers that try to sell a product (a degree, or education more generally) to a customer (the student) for whose favour they have to compete with others on the market for higher education. Does it apply to us? One could, of course, argue that we need not worry about this, as surely, the developments referred to above do not apply to sociology, but more to the traditional bread-and-butter disciplines, such as management or law, as well as to sciences and engineering where research results are more di-
rectly useful for economic gain. After all, isn’t there still a lot of critical research being done right here in our own department? That may be true, but we are not exempt from the general trend. It would be too simple to argue that the content of our research and taught courses is now tailored towards the requirements of business and labour markets. But, as an institution, sociology departments seem to be more strongly compelled to compete for sources of income, be they fee-paying students or research funding bodies. This inevitably gives a subtle influence to those whose money we are competing for. Due to high top-up fees and a fiercely competitive labour market, students (somewhat understandably) have a consumerist attitude towards the education they receive: they want value for their money, i.e. a degree that will enhance their career chances. So when it comes to attracting students, universities and individual departments are under increasing pressure to produce satisfied customers. Keep them happy and you will score well in the National Student Survey (essentially a customer satisfaction survey) and the various league tables, which should help you attract more revenue sources (aka students). The outcome is a way of teaching and learning increasingly removed from some of the humanist ideals that have informed HE. Regarding research funding, one must adapt (or at least pretend to adapt) to the agenda of governments and/or government-funded institutions such as HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England). Governments do not simply follow economic goals narrowly defined. But their strategies in most developed countries have become strongly focused on the aim of improving the economic competitiveness of their
societies as a whole. After all, the overarching necessity is to be able to compete with other countries in a globalising economy. Therefore, all policy fields – including research and education – are asked to contribute to this general goal. Gordon Brown’s recent troubles notwithstanding, it is surely no coincidence that the latest cabinet reshuffle resulted in the merger of DIUS (Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills) and BERR (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) into the Department for Business, Skills, and Enterprise under the leadership of ‘Lord’ Peter Mandelson. One of the reasons given for this merger is that it puts “the UK’s Further Education system and universities closer to the heart of government thinking about building now for the upturn”. Of course, measures like this one do not result in radical change overnight. For us, it will be mostly business as usual. But they will have and already have had subtle and perhaps not so subtle effects in the medium and long term. In conclusion: opening up the university to society can and should not be restricted to the economic system. So what could an alternative look like? We need to have more of a debate about which of society’s requirements are legitimate and should be paid attention to, and which are maybe not. Such a debate will be inextricably linked to the question of what kind of science, what kind of university we want. And then we need to try to implement this at all levels - our departments and universities as well as the national legislations and European regulations. As for sociology, the critique of power, domination and exploitation as well as the empowerment that such a critique can achieve are certainly among its nobler traditions – one that is well worth maintaining. That does not fit in too well with subservience to business and the state.π
muses ΩΩ Reading, Pleasure and Drinking Cliff Laine, LICA
I read recently something by the musicologist Tia DeNora (who surely must go straight in at number one for Best Names for Social Scientists) who said that there should be more studies of the affective nature of music to complement the textual, analytic studies that characterise some approaches to classical music. She didn't say “dry, overintellectual” but I thought that was the implication. I wonder how often the sheer physical pleasure of reading overtakes its meaning. I often have times when a passage of particularly beautiful prose has made me want to grab the arm of the nearest slightly weak-looking person who'll tolerate you doing it without putting in a harassment charge, and say “Oh God, this book I'm reading is fantastic!” It made me think about what provokes the purely sensual pleasure that can arise from academic reading. I need to point out that that this is not at all a common experience for me. A typical morning's reading is followed by writing seven sentences, deleting six of them, saving from the cull only a laboriously-crafted sentence which has taken forty minutes to perfect despite failing to address the underlying incoherence in my argment, before thinking that by rejecting outdated bourgeois prandial conventions, 11.35 can be considered lunchtime. It's interesting that Mathematics has always centred on the role of beauty despite having a most unpromising expressive mode—rather like the way that German-speaking composers have written gorgeous lieder using a language full of fricatives. Mathematicians sometimes refer to the way that two equally theoretically appealing hypotheses, the most aesthetically attractive will be preferred; beauty in Mathematics seems to be an ally of the discipline's precision and descriptive power. In the social sciences, on the other hand, we seem to struggle with the concept of beauty in our technical lan-
guage. At its worst, the search for it leads us into the temptations of gendered stereotyping. My own field of the contemporary arts has no shortage of (usually female) academics complaining about the hard, thrusting prose which they find everywhere, opposing to this a soft and kitten-like écriture féminin. Perhaps some find this essentialising classification helpful in discovering the pleasures of a sensual engagement with text. But we should also be able to do it without struggling for some sort of “feminine” literary style. Besides the obvious literary and stylistic devices which can help us discover beauty in the text— clear, insightful writing which undermines established theories; unusual words used correctly; an effortless and seemingly inevitable narrative structure, and so on—I want to suggest another catalyst for this type of pleasure, for which I can vouch from firsthand experience. It is that of drinking whilst reading. Drinking does not, to my great regret, release the floodgates that I used to delude myself were holding back a tide of insightful ideas married to their fluent expression. But as a way of encouraging the way that the act of reading can collapse bodily and intellectual pleasures, drinking is almost unparalleled. It's a time-consuming project as you have to read the text again when sober if you want to do such workaday things as assess the argument, relate it to proximate theories, find its weaknesses and so on. But as a way of finding a delight in the written word—which played an important part in my decision to pursue postgraduate studies in the first place—the gently enveloping seduction of the text as it slowly loosens the binds of sobriety, reminds me of those pleasures of fiction and poetry elbowed out by the demands of our academic reading schedules, whilst being caused by the latter. But at this point I find my glass is empty, thus reifying a distinction between theory and practice which I should overcome with a trip to the bar.π
STORIES FROM THE FIELD
“A Grave Pursuit” by Gail Crowther
I just don’t think there is anything in the world that can beat a good graveyard. I really don’t. I can daydream an afternoon away in a classic country churchyard dappled with willows and swishing yews, the ivy clinging to old headstones askew in the grass and the hum and bumble of bees bouncing from petal to petal.
Or I can huddle in a wind blasted, gothic cliff top church yard [pictured above], the sea crashing onto the cliffs below and the boom and rumble of sea caves echoing up through the ground. Here the stones are grey and dark because it is always dark and the wind
always howls. If you are really lucky have gone to some trouble to seek out you get sea mist as well – a sort of a number of resting places of dead added extra. celebrities and thought this fine publication of The Sociologist might like to There are also the newer, somehow share my findings. more symmetrical, well-ordered graveyards where everything follows geo- To carry out my research, I have had to metrical lines and flowers seem to be endure the inconvenience of travelling under orders not to droop or fade. to places such as the South of France Here the stones are shiny and black, and Paris. I have needed food and wine sometimes with pictures or rainbows. I to sustain me on my travels (and that don’t like these quite as much. I see was just trying to get around Pere Lathem as the new and soulless shop- chaise in a day). ping malls of graveyards. My average daily ration of wine: However, with a weak tendency to be swayed by a well known name and a liking for gallows humour (I am studying Sylvia Plath after all), there’s nothing I like better than celebrity grave spotting. Most of the time, in a shockingly amoral way, I am prepared to visit graves of people I don’t particularly admire just to have a look, like a kind of grisly voyeur. Over the years I
“a grave pursuit” But I feel sure you will be dazzled by my persistence and dedication to judge the final resting places of those I admire and those I don’t. I have summarised my findings below in what I hope will be a helpful manner, or ‘rough guide’ for those of you wishing to follow in my footsteps. celebrity graves Pere Lachaise, Paris Oscar Wilde [pictured below]: big, bold with a rude bit missing. I was more excited to find etched on the back of this tomb “Thank you for the inspiration, Love Morrissey”. This was the point when I realised I had left my camera at home. No problem! These things can always be solved by a couple of hours of sulking and railing against the world. However, by the time I had gone home (to the UK that is) to collect my forgotten camera and returned to Paris some months later, the gravestone had been sand blasted and cleaned up. (I’m not proud, but on this particular visit I had a bit of a tantrum).
Auvers-sur-Oise, France Vincent & Theo Van Gogh: Beautiful, bouncy graves entwined with thick, lush ivy. Simple, effective and movJim Morrisson: uncouth and skanky. ing. Behind the wall of the church is Still, appropriate I suppose. the wheat field (and it still has crows in it). Montparnasse, Paris Jean Paul Sartre and Simone du Highgate Cemetery, London: Beauvoir: They are buried together in Karl Marx Visit I: Vulgar. What’s with a fairly uninspiring grave which un- the little fence thing? fortunately I got distracted from after about 5 seconds because there was a George Elliot: exactly how you would large statue behind them of a man imagine her gravestone to be – all with half his head missing (much Victorian green, small grassy hillocks more exciting). and a little aslant. Proust: Shiny, low, black, classy gravestone with his father dominating proceedings.
Monaco Grace Kelly: pretty depressing stone in the ground in the cathedral, quite badly lit. More memorable for the fierce ladies in the church who allowed absolutely no sound AT ALL and would descend upon you quite murderously if you crinkled a packet or coughed or dared to whisper. I fled. In these situations I always find myself developing a tickly throated and uncontrollable cough. Had I not left when I did, I might not be here passing on handy dos and don’ts.
Karl Marx Visit II Years later: I wanted to check out the little fence thing to make sure I hadn’t misremembered how awful it was, but I got stopped and told off by a grumpy, elderly man in a booth at the gates who told me there were still 30 seconds until opening time and I had to pay. By the time he’d told me this, the 30 seconds were up at which point he explained he was busy and I would have to wait longer. Dante Gabriel Rossetti*: I thought while I was waiting for the grumpy man to allow me access to Marx’s grave, I would wander across the road to the older part of the cemetery and
“a grave pursuit” look at Rossetti’s grave. However, as I was crossing the road, the grumpy man from the booth ran in front of me and installed himself in another booth over that side and informed me that wasn’t open either. (In another shameful moment I find myself recalling not so much throwing a tantrum but engaging in a fine and lively exchange of words with the grumpy man until finally and not so politely he asked me to leave). Coniston Church, Coniston. John Ruskin: This one was no geographical challenge but more an intellectual challenge. If the urban myths are true, I wasn’t sure a visit to the grave of a man who didn’t quite seem to fully understand female biology could be in any way rewarding, but he had a nice sort of masculine looking cross thing with some engravings on, although there were sign posts to his grave – always a bad move in my opinion. Monks House, Sussex Virginia Woolf: a sort of wall plaque indicating where her ashes were scattered in the garden of her final house now privately owned but also somehow involving the National Trust. As such, there was a hefty cost to pay just to view this grave so I proceeded back into Brighton to visit the crematorium where her funeral service was held – for free. I don’t think this article would be complete with perhaps a sort of top wish list of celebrity graves – the ones that would get you real kudos when dropped into a conversation at dinner parties as you do (“Oh yeah, I was hanging around Elvis’s grave the other day when…”). Unfortunately, most of these seem to be in America which poses a problem for this researcher and her aversion to flying. But in an ideal world where placing yourself in several tonnes of metal with highly flammable fuel, sparking engines, 37 000 feet in the air and travelling at 600 miles per hour doesn’t seem quite such a reckless and suicidal act, I’m guessing my wish list would be Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Judy Garland – the big greats I suppose. There are also lots of other celebrities’ graves I would like to visit but they haven’t died yet.
So as you can see, most researchers suffer for their art. Visiting the graves of celebrities is not as straightforward as it may seem and as you will have gathered by the above account, the visits do not always go to plan, particularly if they involve grumpy old men in booths. But so what? You get to hang around calm and quiet oasis of places. You get to lurk around celebrities without them needing to take an injunction out against you. And just think of the endless dinner party opportunities (“I must tell you about the time I was loitering behind Anne Bronte’s grave when…”). I like graveyards. I just can’t help it. Lucky really, I suppose.π
notes * I suppose I am falsely misleading the reader since I didn’t actually get to see this grave, but what can you do? illustrations English churchyard www.sxc.hu Whitby churchyard www.flickr.com Bottles of wine www.telegraph.co.uk Oscar Wilde Grave www.theflews.com Karl Marx Grave www.flickr.com Judy Garland Grave www.flickr.com
Contributors to The Sociologist Jennifer Tomomitsu Jennifer is a third year PhD student researching scientific imaging practices at the nano scale. As a reprieve from writing and field work, she enjoys yoga, cycling, playing the guitar or escaping to the world of HBO television. David Mansley David is a second-year PhD student in Sociology and Criminology. His research topic is protest policing.
Anna Mann Anna started her PhD in Sociology / Science Studies a few months ago, investigating food and taste in cooking practices. She misses the organic bread of Munich and wonders: where have all the bakers have gone in Britain?
Lisa Ashmore Lisa is a full time PhD student supervised by Maggie Mort (Sociology) and Brian Bloomfield (DOWT). She qualified as a Therapeutic Radiographer in 2000 and started her PhD at Lancaster in October 2007. She is currently spending 6 months being a full time mum to her new son, Nate, and is due back from maternity leave in January 2010. 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. Julian Müller Julian is in the third year of his PhD, and is a proud nerd. As such he tries to understand seemingly technical practices that yet shape our world and the relations of power within it. This is one of the reasons why he is doing research on the international regulation of Cliff Laine Cliff is a postgraduate student in the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts who writes strokable prose for his MA on social aspects of the contemporary performing arts. He wrote his article in Wetherspoons. 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.
Soci-classified ads 2009/2010 Sociology Departmental Seminars For 2009-2010, our Sociology Departmental Seminar Series will be organized around two unique formats. Some of the seminars will be studentsupervisor double acts, with former Lancaster PhD students returning to give a paper, and one of their former supervisors acting as a discussant. The rest of the seminars will be organized around landmark books or papers, the authors of which will be invited to revisit, comment and reflect on their previously published work. Where possible, we will also be including opportunities for guest speakers to spend a few hours in workshops with PhD students while they are visiting Lancaster. Finally, in the interests of fostering more opportunities for discussion, we will be having receptions with food in the department after seminars, rather than going into town for meals. The series looks to be very exciting, and we hope you will be able to join us!
NEWSFLASH: ‘EXPERIMENTALITY’ Experimentality will be a year-long collaborative exploration of ideas and practices of experimentation in domains such as science and technology, the arts, commerce, politics, popular culture, everyday life, and the natural world. The programme will bring together leading practitioners from various fields; academics from the social and natural sciences, arts and humanities; and members of the wider public. It will use the notion of the experiment to explore questions about the relationship between knowledge and power, freedom and control in the modern world, and explore the power of experimentation to shape the conditions of emergence of the future. The programme is designed to facilitate various kinds of interaction between different combinations of academics from a wide number of fields, practitioners and publics, and will include: - a series of interdisciplinary workshops bringing together academics and practitioners: Experiment as Event, Experimental Subjects, Experimental Objects (held at the Storey Creative Industries Centre, Lan-
Save these dates! (also see the events calendar on page 17) 13 October - David Tyfield, Sociology, Lancaster 10 November - Frank Trentmann, History, Birkbeck College, University of London with discussant Tim Dant 24 November 19 January - Jan Selby, International Relations, Sussex and his former supervisor Elizabeth Shove 9 February - Kevin Hetherington, Geography, Open University and his former supervisor John Urry 2 March - Nigel Thrift, VC, Warwick 11 May - Steve Woolgar, Marketing, Oxford *Organizing Committee: Jen Southern, Julien McHardy, Elizabeth Shove and Allison Hui 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).
caster), Experimentality in Nature, and The Experimental City (held in Manchester) - a programme of public art events in Lancaster (with the Public Arts at Lancaster University, the Storey Gallery and Litfest) and Manchester (a four-day festival of art, music, urban design and politics on ‘The Experimental City’ with FutureEverything in May 2010); - a major international conference, The Experimental Society, in Lancaster in July 2010. Others involved in planning the programme include John Urry and Monika Buscher in Sociology, and others across campus and at the University of Manchester. The academic speakers during the programme will include Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Ulrich Beck, Emily Martin, Celia Lury, Nigel Thrift, Ash Amin, Ian Diamond, Helga Nowotny, Tim Ingold, John Pickstone, Bruno Strasser, Dieter Daniels, Kaushik Sunder Rajan, Gisli Palsson, Melissa Leach, David Lomas, Eva Jablonka, Marion Lamb, Jeffrey Schwartz, Steven Shennan, and many others. Contact Bron Szerszynski for more details: bron@lancaster.ac.uk
Calendar date Departmental Seminars *Please note: this schedule is still preliminary as speakers, paper titles and dates may change in the upcoming weeks
13 October 2009
3 November 2009
speaker
David Tyfield, Sociology, Departmental Seminar Lancaster Series: Title TBA Anthony D'Andrea
10 November 2009
Frank Trentmann, History, Birkbeck College, University of London with discussant Tim Dant 24 November 2009 TBA
venue
title Room TBA
Mobilities Seminar: Cultural Room: Institute for Advanced Hypermobility and Nomadic Studies MR1 Identities 16:15 – 18:00 Departmental Seminar Series: Title TBA
Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
Departmental Seminar Series: Title TBA
Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
19 January 2010
Jan Selby and his former Departmental Seminar Sesupervisor Elizabeth ries: Shove Title TBA
Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
9 February 2010
Kevin Hetherington and Departmental Seminar Sehis former supervisor ries: John Urry Title TBA
Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
2 March 2010
Nigel Thrift
Departmental Seminar Series: Title TBA
Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
11 May 2010
Steve Woolgar
Departmental Seminar Series:
Room TBA 16.15-18.00pm
Title TBA
we want to hear from you! Call for submissions: Next deadline: October 23, 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?
Were you able to guess this mystery guest? A: Christoph Michels
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!