ISRF Mid-Career Fellowship Competition Launch: 4th January 2016 Deadline: 19th February 2016 The Independent Social Research Foundation wishes to support independent-minded researchers to do interdisciplinary work which is unlikely to be funded by existing funding bodies. It is interested in… Read More ›
Archive for January 2016
Techno-Religions and Silicon Prophets
Interesting talk via the BSA Digital Sociology group:
Special issue of @bigdatasoc on data and agency
Guest Editors: Helen Kennedy, University of Sheffield Thomas Poelle, University of Amsterdam José van Dijck, University of Amsterdam This special theme explores the location of agency in the massive flows of data circulating between devices, institutions, industries and users. Because Big Data… Read More ›
The Diary of Natty Samuels – 21 December 2015
by Natty Mark Samuels As yesterday, I focused on reflection – and the writing of the first installment of the diary – so today, I review the words of the previous day, including fire – nar; field – haql; forest… Read More ›
Fashion Fusion or Cultural Appropriation
Globalised modern medleys of fashion fusion, or cultural appropriation? You decide.
The Language of Donald Trump
An entertaining (and accurate) video via Phil BC:
20% off Social Media for Academics
20% off the book when you order from Sage using the code UK15AUTH2 (not 25% as originally claimed, sorry! Thanks to Sarah Lewthwaite for spotting this) Ordering the book from Sage: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/social-media-for-academics/book243690 Social media is an increasingly important part of academic life that… Read More ›
Environment and Human Health – Social Perspectives
BSA Climate Change, Environment & Health, and London Medical Sociology study groups present Environment and Human Health – Social Perspectives London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London Friday 19 February 2016, 10am – 4.30pm Keynote speaker: Professor… Read More ›
Smart Phones and Workplace Repression
A really interesting BuzzFeed article about the use of smart phones on building sites to increase efficiency (the 30% of on-site time that is regarded idle, for reasons attributed to ‘miscommunication and disorganisation’) and their implications for workplace surveillance. What’s particularly striking… Read More ›
The Diary of Natty Samuels – 20 December 2015
by Natty Mark Samuels Dec.20th Amongst other words in my head as I awoke this morning, was the name Eric Clapton! Every morning when I awake, I give myself a review, of the previous day’s learning. Yesterday, one of the… Read More ›
Natty Samuels – Beginning an Arabic Language Learning Journey
by Natty Mark Samuels In November 2015 – I decided to learn Arabic. As we go along, I shall speak of the reasons why. For now, I would like to say that this idea, which has turned into a great… Read More ›
‘Othering’ in Education
by Tait Coles This week David Cameron (your prime minister) suggested that English language classes for Muslim women could help stop radicalisation. Yes, you read that correctly. He went on to explain that Muslims arriving in the UK on a… Read More ›
An atheist observes online Islamophobia after showing solidarity #JeSuisHijabi
by Sadie Hamilton Last week, York University in Toronto, where I study, set up tables in the halls. University approved organizations may use this space for fundraising, recruiting members for their club, or raising awareness. As I was passing by… Read More ›
Terraced House, not Terrorist House
by Amar Alam The case of a 10 year old Muslim boy who mistakenly wrote “terrorist house” instead of “terraced house” when his teacher asked him to write down the type of house he lived in was documented recently… Read More ›
Making The Familiar Strange: A Festival of Critical Social Thought
A small collective is currently in the early stages of planning Making The Familiar Strange: A Festival of Critical Social Thought for summer 2017. See here for some background to the event. If you’d like to get involved, we’re having a planning meeting: Tuesday… Read More ›
“in an ideal world, American sociology would look like British sociology before it became Americanised”
A really nice interview with Doug Porpora by Tim Rutzou. But it ends on a jarring suggestion: “in an ideal world, American sociology would look like British sociology before it became Americanised”. What do you think?
Dear PhDs/ECRs: need funding to go to a conference? @thesocreview can help (but ask now!)
The Sociological Review is running another round of its support scheme for unfunded PhDs and ECRs. Find out more and apply here within the next few days: We are pleased to announce our latest round of funding, supported by The Sociological Review Foundation. Funds… Read More ›
The Higher Groupthink: A Look at the Academic Spin Cycle in a Workshop
I recently attended a workshop in which some very intelligent and informed people from several countries were brought together to discuss a range of topics that had been presented in advance as a set of interconnected, open questions. Although everyone… Read More ›
One Week Left! The @bigdatasoc & @digitalsocsci essay competition
The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and Big Data & Society (BD&S) intend to award a prize of CHF 1,000 for the best essay on the topic ‘Influence and Power’. This is a topic, not a title. Accordingly, authors are… Read More ›
“now listen you queer!”: the origins of contemporary political punditry
I just watched Best of Enemies, a great film about the rivalry between William Buckley and Gore Vidal that was most famously captured in this scene: A subsequent exchange of words in high brow magazines then led to an exchange of… Read More ›
Call for book proposals: Theory as method in education research
From Mark Murphy at Social Theory Applied: I am currently in negotiations with a book publisher regarding a potential book series on the topic: Theory as method in education research. I am keen to talk to those of you who are… Read More ›
Google Anything, So Long as It’s Not Google
I just came across this fascinating article, now 10 years old, detailing how former Google CEO Eric Schmidt cut off relations with CNET after a reporter there had the temerity to detail the information she was able to find out about… Read More ›
David Cameron & Muslim Women: Old Orientalism, New Racism
By announcing that £20m will be spent to “teach thousands of Muslim women to speak English”, David Cameron’s portrayal of them as linguistically deficient, culturally suppressed and visibly alien is reminiscent of a long line of colonial repression. The prime… Read More ›
The Sound of 18th-Century Paris
A remarkable soundscape produced by the musicologist Mylène Pardoen (HT Su Oman). See here for more information. Paris as you have never heard it before! This novel experience is offered by Mylène Pardoen, a musicologist at the Passages XX-XXI laboratory,1 through the… Read More ›
A Visual Poem of Contentment
In this Visual Poem of Contentment, a young book lover tries desperately to get the book everyone else has: Produced by the extremely talented @Blendiculous
The Challenge of Life Planning in a Digital Age
I just got back from the CSO workshop in Paris where I gave a paper on the challenge of flourishing amidst variety. My interest is in how social digitalisation ‘opens up’ the archive, albeit in a deeply uneven way, as well the… Read More ›
PhD-course: Education for social justice in education – human rights and intersectionality
In this intensive seminar for doctoral candidates (5 ECTs), we examine how the concepts of human rights and intersectionality might together inform educational theory and praxis to enable social justice. It is open to international participants researching educational inequalities in… Read More ›
Only a couple of weeks left: the @BigDataSoc and @DigitalSocSci essay competition
The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and Big Data & Society (BD&S) intend to award a prize of CHF 1,000 for the best essay on the topic ‘Influence and Power’. This is a topic, not a title. Accordingly, authors are… Read More ›
Book Review: Muslims, Schooling & The Question of Self-Segregation
reviewed by Sadia Habib Muslims, Schooling & The Question of Self-Segregation by Dr Shamim Miah (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) Muslims and education are frequently ‘hot topics’ in media and political discourses. Academics have highlighted how pessimistic media and political rhetoric about… Read More ›