Study Group News and Events
ESA RN03 Coordinators and Board in collaboration with the BNIM study group of the Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI):
A two-day interactive online event: “Biographical work in a time of social distancing: interview(s), analysis, interpretation”
25-26 September 2020
The mid-term event will focus on methodological issues of biographical research in new societal circumstances. The ‘social architecture’ of teaching has changed, but how might empirical, biographical research respond to the new challenges? What can biographical methods offer in times of social distancing and isolation? Leading biographical researchers will be invited to speak to the RN03 network members and participants on the new evolving landscape of biographical research. At this difficult time the network will also address how to improve participation of the PhD students who are using or considering biographical methods in their research and publications.
Currently, we are looking for submissions from PhD students to participate in interactive webinar sessions on Friday and Saturday September 25th and 26th 2020. The details are below.
Session title: Turning inwards when studying other people’s lives: the effects of biographical research on researchers (PhD students’ session).
Hosts: Ana Caetano (Portugal), Baiba Bela (Latvia), Agnieszka Golczyńska-Grondas (Poland) and Lisa Moran (SAI, Republic of Ireland).
Date: Friday September 25th 2020
This session focuses upon the impact of doing biographical research upon the researcher. Acknowledging that researchers are not “faceless interviewers” is crucial to understand that, on the one hand, the way they deal, at an autobiographical level, with the research affects all stages of the study, and, on the other hand, the research can have a direct influence on their personal perspectives, emotions and actions, as well as on their scientific practice. We welcome contributions reflecting on how biographical research can impact researchers in the different stages of research.
Session title: PhD Orientation Session coordinators: ESA RN03 Board and SAI BNIM study group
Hosts: Agnieszka Golczyńska-Grondas and Aleksandra Sobańska (Poland)
Date: Saturday September 26th 2020
The orientation session will create a virtual platform for PhD students and other beginners in their ‘journey’ with biographical methods, providing an opportunity to introduce themselves in person, to meet and to connect. During the first part of the session we will ask you to briefly present yourself and your research interests. Next, experienced biographical scholars will answer your questions which the coordinators of the session will gather in advance and engage in dialogue that both appreciate the benefits and challenges of doing biographical research.
If you have any questions about this session or you would like to participate, please contact the following email address: ESARN03webinars@oxford-xxi.org OR you can contact Lisa at her email: lisa.moran@edgehill.ac.uk
Please forward submissions of maximum 250 words to ESARN03webinars@oxford-xxi.org on/by August 15th 2020 if you would like to take part.
We look forward to receiving them!
Funding Opportunities
ISRF Grants for Small Groups CompetitionLaunch: 17th August 2020
Deadline: 9th October 2020The Foundation intends to award on a competitive basis, to candidates of sufficient merit, a number of grants providing flexible support (for instance: relief from teaching and/or administration, research and travel expenses, fieldwork and practical work) for a period of (up to) one year for the activities of a small research group.
The awards are intended as enabling one or more short periods of face-to-face joint group work such as workshops, working-in-pairs, or short academic visits over a period of up to one year, and must be taken up (i.e. commence) no later than end of December 2021.
The amount of an award depends on the nature of the work proposed and individual circumstances – the ISRF expects applications for grants up to a maximum of £5,000 or €5,500.*
Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply as Principal Investigator(s) to lead a small group of 2-10 scholars (which may include graduate students). Principal applicants should hold a PhD and will normally have a permanent appointment at an institution of higher education and research. Applications may be made by those whose sole or principal post is part-time equivalent. Independent scholars with an academic affiliation may also apply.
Applicants should consult the Criteria as set out in the Further Particulars, and show that they meet them. Applicants should follow the Application procedure and should present their Proposal in the format specified there.
Closing date for applications is 5pm (GMT) on 9th October 2020.
More Information at: http://www.isrf.org/funding-opportunities/grant-competitions/fg7/
Call for Papers
The Irish Sexualities and Genders Research Network invites postgraduate students and early career researchers to submit abstracts for consideration to participate in a one-day symposium on queer methodologies, to take place on Friday 20 November 2020 at University College Dublin.
This symposium seeks to highlight the ways Irish scholars are contributing to queer methodological debates by providing a snapshot of how queer methodologies are currently being developed and deployed within gender and sexualities research practices in Ireland. We hope for it to be an interdisciplinary symposium, and so invite postgraduate students, both Masters and PhD candidates, and early career researchers from any academic discipline to submit abstracts for 15-minute paper presentations.
We are seeking papers discussing projects that are engaging with queer methods and methodologies in meaningful ways. Broad topics that papers could address include but are not limited to:
• The queering of traditional research methods
• The development of novel distinctively queer methods
• Researcher/researched identities and relationships
• The boundaries and dynamics of the research field
• Queering quantitative methods/methodologies, statistics and measurements
• Participatory action research
• Feminist and/or decolonial methodologies
• Embracing failure in research
• The ‘queering’ of academic disciplines
Further, if your research has been disrupted or if your methodology and methods have been altered by the covid-19 pandemic we will also welcome papers that critically explore these disruptions and the realities and possibilities of undertaking queer methodological research during a pandemic.
The intention is for the symposium to take place in person on the University College Dublin campus on Friday 20 November 2020 and to adhere to all social distancing guidelines that may be in place at the time, with the option of remote participation available for anyone unable to travel and meet in person. However, the symposium may move online depending on the covid-19 situation and guidelines at the time, and as such the final decision about the symposium location and format will be made closer to the time.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to both Andrew McCartan (andrew.mccartan@ucdconnect.ie) and Mark Doyle (mark.doyle.2@ucdconnect.ie) by end of day on Friday 28 August 2020. You can learn more about the research network and some of our members at irishsexualitiesandgendersresearchnetwork.wordpress.com
Sibeal Feminist and Gender Studies Network invites you to the 2020 Online Conference 'The impact of crisis on marginalized groups: feminist perspectives’ on 20th-21st November 2020. Sibeal accepts contributions from undergraduates, postgraduates, and early academics and has a feminist interdisciplinary scope. Please send your abstract (max 250 words), a short CV (max 100 words) and up to 5 keywords until the 15th of September 2020 at sibealnetwork@gmail.com. Keynote speakers will be announced soon.
Sibeal Feminist and Gender Studies Network is the first feminist postgraduate and early academic organization in Ireland.
Sibeal Annual Conference 2020 Open Call:
The theme of this year’s conference is Crisis and Marginalization, influenced by global fear and uncertainty concerning disease control, police brutality and population vulnerability. In this vein we welcome contributions that explore and problematize the effects and management of crisis on already marginalized groups, such as women, people of colour, disabled persons, LGBTQI+ individuals, migrants and sex workers. In particular, we are interested in feminist perspectives that validate and give voice to the experiences, agency and oppression of marginalized communities and individuals, as well as explore the dynamics of the crisis and its management from the perspective of gender, race, class, ability, and citizenship.
Undergraduate Essay Competition
There is no set theme for this competition; rather, candidates are encouraged to submit work in the area of gender and/or feminist studies. Submissions can be within any discipline in the field.
There will be a prize of 50 euros/ 50 pounds book token for the winning essay, along with free registration at the annual Sibéal conference to be held online in November 2020.The winning candidate will be given the opportunity to present the essay at the conference.
Rules and Regulations:
1. The competition is open to all undergraduate students in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and further afield.
2. Essays should be 2,500 words maximum.
3. Please do not include any identifiable information on your essay submission.
4. Electronic submissions should be submitted to sibealnetwork@gmail.com by 15th Sept 2020.
The Arts in Society Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of the role of the arts in society. It is a place for critical engagement, examination and experimentation, developing ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world – on stage, in studios and theaters, in classrooms, in museums and galleries, on the streets and in communities.
For more information on their 2021 conference just click the link: https://artsinsociety.com/2021-conference/special-focus
Book Chapters
Date: September 30, 2020
Subject Fields: Sociology, Social Sciences, Humanities In sociology, ‘the body’ is currently examined in a multitude of ways and has an interesting and contested role in sociological thinking and research. However, while a significant corpus of theoretical literature (Turner, 1996; Shilling, 1993; Synnott, 1993; Featherstone, et al., 1991) has generated rich knowledge about the role of the body in everyday social life, ‘the body’ usually acts in such work simply as an abstract and overly theoretical object of investigation which scholars talk about.
But where is the researcher’s body in all the describing and interrogating talk about the body? Such a starting point involves an understanding of the human body by undertaking the lived experiences that permeates it. We title this call for proposals ‘(Re)imagining body work’ as a moniker to capture researchers who fully engage with their participants and their activities. Far from having an absent presence, this book foregrounds current embodied fieldwork of sociologists who discuss and explore the lived body as a topic of, and resource in, empirical social science.
The book is not a textbook on how to do qualitative research or fieldwork. The idea behind the book is to collect original and creative ‘body work’ in sociology which makes the body a focus of enquiry and supports more research from a current embodied fieldwork perspective.
Hence, this invitation for chapter proposals calls not just for traditional ‘on the ground’ ethnography, but also for innovative and adaptive methods in finding ways to address real-world encounters and specific challenges. Possible methodological approaches are:
Proposals should include the contributor’s/author’s name, a brief biography, and an abstract (max. 500 words). Complete chapter lengths should be between 6000-8000 words. Please send proposals to Cornelia Mayr (cornelia.mayr@aau.at)
Deadline for proposals: 30th September, 2020
Shilling, C. (1993). The body and social theory. London: Sage Publications
Synnott, A. (1993). The Body Social. Symbolism, Self and Society. London: Routledge.
Turner, B. (1996). The Body & Society: Explorations in Social Theory. London: Sage Publications.
Contact Info: Cornelia Mayr at cornelia.mayr@aau.at
William Whitehead at william.whitehead@vernonpress.com
Contact Email:
cornelia.mayr@aau.at
URL: http://www.vernonpress.com
Publications
Special Issue on Collective Memory-Work edited by Robert Hamm
Collective Memory-Work is a method of research, a method of learning and reflection, developed by Frigga Haug and the group Frauenformen in the 1980s at the intersection of academic research in sociology and critical psychology, feminist and Marxist theory, and political practice. In its original format it entails a group reflecting on a topic of shared interest by using short written memory scenes of the group members as the core material. It can be used in, e.g., social research, adult education, social activist groups, professional reflection processes.
The term Collective Memory-Work is prone to a common misunderstanding. Here it refers to a group working collectively with individual memories, hence Collective Memory-Work. It does not refer to working with collective memories (or cultural memories) as, e.g. in history workshops.
Over more than three decades the method has been successfully used in a variety of fields. It has been adapted and adjusted according to purposes of the applications, institutional frameworks, organisational necessities and methodological considerations.
From the outset Collective Memory-Work was intended to be an emancipatory method with a consciously open form. Over three decades the method has been successfully used in academic research in a variety of fields. It has been adapted and adjusted according to purposes of the applications, institutional frameworks, organisational necessities and methodological considerations, leading to further developments of the method. Narrative transformation, collective autoethnographic memory-work, mind-scripting, collective biography are some of the terms that reflect these developments.
In a special issue of Other Education edited by Robert Hamm (https://www.othereducation.org/index.php/OE/issue/view/17) you will find a range of essays, contributions and reviews of books, all of which are connected to Collective Memory-Work as a method of emancipatory learning. Bringing together contributions by authors from the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Austria, South Africa crosses boundaries in a manner that has not yet been applied in publications on Collective Memory-Work. Thus a bandwidth of discussions about adaptations of the method becomes visible that reflects its ongoing dissemination across continents, and disciplines.
The contributions in this issue are derived from discussions of educational topics. They should however be seen as closely related to a much broader development in which Collective Memory-Work becomes increasingly interesting to people in a wide variety of fields. An extended attempt to bring practitioners, proponents and critics of Collective Memory-Work into a dialogue with each other is the Symposium Collective Memory-Work (http://collectivememorywork.net) that is planned for August 2021 at Maynooth University, Ireland. It is meant to offer a forum for exchange about experiences with the method, methodological rationales in adapting it, visions for further improvements and fruitful applications, as well as critical scrutiny of Collective Memory-Work.
ESA RN03 Coordinators and Board in collaboration with the BNIM study group of the Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI):
A two-day interactive online event: “Biographical work in a time of social distancing: interview(s), analysis, interpretation”
25-26 September 2020
The mid-term event will focus on methodological issues of biographical research in new societal circumstances. The ‘social architecture’ of teaching has changed, but how might empirical, biographical research respond to the new challenges? What can biographical methods offer in times of social distancing and isolation? Leading biographical researchers will be invited to speak to the RN03 network members and participants on the new evolving landscape of biographical research. At this difficult time the network will also address how to improve participation of the PhD students who are using or considering biographical methods in their research and publications.
Currently, we are looking for submissions from PhD students to participate in interactive webinar sessions on Friday and Saturday September 25th and 26th 2020. The details are below.
Session title: Turning inwards when studying other people’s lives: the effects of biographical research on researchers (PhD students’ session).
Hosts: Ana Caetano (Portugal), Baiba Bela (Latvia), Agnieszka Golczyńska-Grondas (Poland) and Lisa Moran (SAI, Republic of Ireland).
Date: Friday September 25th 2020
This session focuses upon the impact of doing biographical research upon the researcher. Acknowledging that researchers are not “faceless interviewers” is crucial to understand that, on the one hand, the way they deal, at an autobiographical level, with the research affects all stages of the study, and, on the other hand, the research can have a direct influence on their personal perspectives, emotions and actions, as well as on their scientific practice. We welcome contributions reflecting on how biographical research can impact researchers in the different stages of research.
Session title: PhD Orientation Session coordinators: ESA RN03 Board and SAI BNIM study group
Hosts: Agnieszka Golczyńska-Grondas and Aleksandra Sobańska (Poland)
Date: Saturday September 26th 2020
The orientation session will create a virtual platform for PhD students and other beginners in their ‘journey’ with biographical methods, providing an opportunity to introduce themselves in person, to meet and to connect. During the first part of the session we will ask you to briefly present yourself and your research interests. Next, experienced biographical scholars will answer your questions which the coordinators of the session will gather in advance and engage in dialogue that both appreciate the benefits and challenges of doing biographical research.
If you have any questions about this session or you would like to participate, please contact the following email address: ESARN03webinars@oxford-xxi.org OR you can contact Lisa at her email: lisa.moran@edgehill.ac.uk
Please forward submissions of maximum 250 words to ESARN03webinars@oxford-xxi.org on/by August 15th 2020 if you would like to take part.
We look forward to receiving them!
Funding Opportunities
ISRF Grants for Small Groups CompetitionLaunch: 17th August 2020
Deadline: 9th October 2020The Foundation intends to award on a competitive basis, to candidates of sufficient merit, a number of grants providing flexible support (for instance: relief from teaching and/or administration, research and travel expenses, fieldwork and practical work) for a period of (up to) one year for the activities of a small research group.
The awards are intended as enabling one or more short periods of face-to-face joint group work such as workshops, working-in-pairs, or short academic visits over a period of up to one year, and must be taken up (i.e. commence) no later than end of December 2021.
The amount of an award depends on the nature of the work proposed and individual circumstances – the ISRF expects applications for grants up to a maximum of £5,000 or €5,500.*
Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply as Principal Investigator(s) to lead a small group of 2-10 scholars (which may include graduate students). Principal applicants should hold a PhD and will normally have a permanent appointment at an institution of higher education and research. Applications may be made by those whose sole or principal post is part-time equivalent. Independent scholars with an academic affiliation may also apply.
Applicants should consult the Criteria as set out in the Further Particulars, and show that they meet them. Applicants should follow the Application procedure and should present their Proposal in the format specified there.
Closing date for applications is 5pm (GMT) on 9th October 2020.
More Information at: http://www.isrf.org/funding-opportunities/grant-competitions/fg7/
Call for Papers
The Irish Sexualities and Genders Research Network invites postgraduate students and early career researchers to submit abstracts for consideration to participate in a one-day symposium on queer methodologies, to take place on Friday 20 November 2020 at University College Dublin.
This symposium seeks to highlight the ways Irish scholars are contributing to queer methodological debates by providing a snapshot of how queer methodologies are currently being developed and deployed within gender and sexualities research practices in Ireland. We hope for it to be an interdisciplinary symposium, and so invite postgraduate students, both Masters and PhD candidates, and early career researchers from any academic discipline to submit abstracts for 15-minute paper presentations.
We are seeking papers discussing projects that are engaging with queer methods and methodologies in meaningful ways. Broad topics that papers could address include but are not limited to:
• The queering of traditional research methods
• The development of novel distinctively queer methods
• Researcher/researched identities and relationships
• The boundaries and dynamics of the research field
• Queering quantitative methods/methodologies, statistics and measurements
• Participatory action research
• Feminist and/or decolonial methodologies
• Embracing failure in research
• The ‘queering’ of academic disciplines
Further, if your research has been disrupted or if your methodology and methods have been altered by the covid-19 pandemic we will also welcome papers that critically explore these disruptions and the realities and possibilities of undertaking queer methodological research during a pandemic.
The intention is for the symposium to take place in person on the University College Dublin campus on Friday 20 November 2020 and to adhere to all social distancing guidelines that may be in place at the time, with the option of remote participation available for anyone unable to travel and meet in person. However, the symposium may move online depending on the covid-19 situation and guidelines at the time, and as such the final decision about the symposium location and format will be made closer to the time.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to both Andrew McCartan (andrew.mccartan@ucdconnect.ie) and Mark Doyle (mark.doyle.2@ucdconnect.ie) by end of day on Friday 28 August 2020. You can learn more about the research network and some of our members at irishsexualitiesandgendersresearchnetwork.wordpress.com
Sibeal Feminist and Gender Studies Network invites you to the 2020 Online Conference 'The impact of crisis on marginalized groups: feminist perspectives’ on 20th-21st November 2020. Sibeal accepts contributions from undergraduates, postgraduates, and early academics and has a feminist interdisciplinary scope. Please send your abstract (max 250 words), a short CV (max 100 words) and up to 5 keywords until the 15th of September 2020 at sibealnetwork@gmail.com. Keynote speakers will be announced soon.
Sibeal Feminist and Gender Studies Network is the first feminist postgraduate and early academic organization in Ireland.
Sibeal Annual Conference 2020 Open Call:
The theme of this year’s conference is Crisis and Marginalization, influenced by global fear and uncertainty concerning disease control, police brutality and population vulnerability. In this vein we welcome contributions that explore and problematize the effects and management of crisis on already marginalized groups, such as women, people of colour, disabled persons, LGBTQI+ individuals, migrants and sex workers. In particular, we are interested in feminist perspectives that validate and give voice to the experiences, agency and oppression of marginalized communities and individuals, as well as explore the dynamics of the crisis and its management from the perspective of gender, race, class, ability, and citizenship.
Undergraduate Essay Competition
There is no set theme for this competition; rather, candidates are encouraged to submit work in the area of gender and/or feminist studies. Submissions can be within any discipline in the field.
There will be a prize of 50 euros/ 50 pounds book token for the winning essay, along with free registration at the annual Sibéal conference to be held online in November 2020.The winning candidate will be given the opportunity to present the essay at the conference.
Rules and Regulations:
1. The competition is open to all undergraduate students in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and further afield.
2. Essays should be 2,500 words maximum.
3. Please do not include any identifiable information on your essay submission.
4. Electronic submissions should be submitted to sibealnetwork@gmail.com by 15th Sept 2020.
The Arts in Society Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of the role of the arts in society. It is a place for critical engagement, examination and experimentation, developing ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world – on stage, in studios and theaters, in classrooms, in museums and galleries, on the streets and in communities.
For more information on their 2021 conference just click the link: https://artsinsociety.com/2021-conference/special-focus
Book Chapters
Date: September 30, 2020
Subject Fields: Sociology, Social Sciences, Humanities In sociology, ‘the body’ is currently examined in a multitude of ways and has an interesting and contested role in sociological thinking and research. However, while a significant corpus of theoretical literature (Turner, 1996; Shilling, 1993; Synnott, 1993; Featherstone, et al., 1991) has generated rich knowledge about the role of the body in everyday social life, ‘the body’ usually acts in such work simply as an abstract and overly theoretical object of investigation which scholars talk about.
But where is the researcher’s body in all the describing and interrogating talk about the body? Such a starting point involves an understanding of the human body by undertaking the lived experiences that permeates it. We title this call for proposals ‘(Re)imagining body work’ as a moniker to capture researchers who fully engage with their participants and their activities. Far from having an absent presence, this book foregrounds current embodied fieldwork of sociologists who discuss and explore the lived body as a topic of, and resource in, empirical social science.
The book is not a textbook on how to do qualitative research or fieldwork. The idea behind the book is to collect original and creative ‘body work’ in sociology which makes the body a focus of enquiry and supports more research from a current embodied fieldwork perspective.
Hence, this invitation for chapter proposals calls not just for traditional ‘on the ground’ ethnography, but also for innovative and adaptive methods in finding ways to address real-world encounters and specific challenges. Possible methodological approaches are:
- Ethnography
- Ethnography applied to the internet
- Autoethnography
- Visual ethnography
- Grounded theory
- Case study
- Phenomenology
- Mixed methods
Proposals should include the contributor’s/author’s name, a brief biography, and an abstract (max. 500 words). Complete chapter lengths should be between 6000-8000 words. Please send proposals to Cornelia Mayr (cornelia.mayr@aau.at)
Deadline for proposals: 30th September, 2020
Shilling, C. (1993). The body and social theory. London: Sage Publications
Synnott, A. (1993). The Body Social. Symbolism, Self and Society. London: Routledge.
Turner, B. (1996). The Body & Society: Explorations in Social Theory. London: Sage Publications.
Contact Info: Cornelia Mayr at cornelia.mayr@aau.at
William Whitehead at william.whitehead@vernonpress.com
Contact Email:
cornelia.mayr@aau.at
URL: http://www.vernonpress.com
Publications
Special Issue on Collective Memory-Work edited by Robert Hamm
Collective Memory-Work is a method of research, a method of learning and reflection, developed by Frigga Haug and the group Frauenformen in the 1980s at the intersection of academic research in sociology and critical psychology, feminist and Marxist theory, and political practice. In its original format it entails a group reflecting on a topic of shared interest by using short written memory scenes of the group members as the core material. It can be used in, e.g., social research, adult education, social activist groups, professional reflection processes.
The term Collective Memory-Work is prone to a common misunderstanding. Here it refers to a group working collectively with individual memories, hence Collective Memory-Work. It does not refer to working with collective memories (or cultural memories) as, e.g. in history workshops.
Over more than three decades the method has been successfully used in a variety of fields. It has been adapted and adjusted according to purposes of the applications, institutional frameworks, organisational necessities and methodological considerations.
From the outset Collective Memory-Work was intended to be an emancipatory method with a consciously open form. Over three decades the method has been successfully used in academic research in a variety of fields. It has been adapted and adjusted according to purposes of the applications, institutional frameworks, organisational necessities and methodological considerations, leading to further developments of the method. Narrative transformation, collective autoethnographic memory-work, mind-scripting, collective biography are some of the terms that reflect these developments.
In a special issue of Other Education edited by Robert Hamm (https://www.othereducation.org/index.php/OE/issue/view/17) you will find a range of essays, contributions and reviews of books, all of which are connected to Collective Memory-Work as a method of emancipatory learning. Bringing together contributions by authors from the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Austria, South Africa crosses boundaries in a manner that has not yet been applied in publications on Collective Memory-Work. Thus a bandwidth of discussions about adaptations of the method becomes visible that reflects its ongoing dissemination across continents, and disciplines.
The contributions in this issue are derived from discussions of educational topics. They should however be seen as closely related to a much broader development in which Collective Memory-Work becomes increasingly interesting to people in a wide variety of fields. An extended attempt to bring practitioners, proponents and critics of Collective Memory-Work into a dialogue with each other is the Symposium Collective Memory-Work (http://collectivememorywork.net) that is planned for August 2021 at Maynooth University, Ireland. It is meant to offer a forum for exchange about experiences with the method, methodological rationales in adapting it, visions for further improvements and fruitful applications, as well as critical scrutiny of Collective Memory-Work.