1 the sociologist 5 December 2008

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 contribu-tors 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 news-

letter 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…

Jenn Tomomitsu-Tomasson

a postgraduate newsletter

Sociologist13 March 2009

The

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

contentseditorial scribble

Photo Credit: Sergio Fava

2 the sociologist 5 December 2008

1. In a few sentences, can you describe what your pro-ject is about and why you chose this particular topic?

My PhD title is “The role of gendered social practices and markers in a group friendship formation: the case study of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association”. It explores how a women’s friendship group is con-structed, practiced, reconfigured and maintained. I chose the topic because I’m interested in how people get to know each other and why they do what they do. 2. What has been the most enjoyable part about doing research on your thesis?

I liked meeting the interviewees and I like those ‘light bulb’ moments when you’re writing. 3. Can you describe a worst and best moment during your PhD?

The best moment had to be when one of my research participants gave me an Easter Egg. That was a true highlight.

The worst was when I was presenting at a conference and discovered mid-presentation that many of my

PowerPoint slides mysteriously disappeared. At this point I completely forgot what a PhD was; let alone what mine was about.  4. Three words which describe how you feel about your project:  

Must – finish- soon

5. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?  Probably in a place that I didn’t predict!

6. If you could do another PhD, what topic would you choose?

Students’ experiences of doing a PhD: the untold truth. I think that I would get a lot of research partici-pants and some interesting stories.

 7. What advice would you give to people who are just starting their PhD?

Learn how to make nice chocolate brownies and then give them to all your friends. While they are eating the brownies, moan to them about your PhD. 

lancaster sociology pg research highlight :

Lia KinaneOne 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 Soci-ology Department. We recently caught up with Lia to ask her some questions in relation to her project:

3 the sociologist 5 December 2008

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 semi-nars 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 ca-reer will I pursue after my PhD?’ For some students, the answer involves a move away from academic life alto-gether 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 aca-demic 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 sociolo-gists? One of the most common ways of earning experience is to land a job as a Research Associate (RA). Al-though there is less autonomy when it comes to designing a particular pro-ject, 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 ad-dressed when several of the depart-ment’s PhD students came together to hear a presentation by Jo Armstrong and Griet Scheldeman on Monday, December 8th.

During the one-hour session entitled ‘Getting Your First Research Associate Job’, Jo and Griet, Research Associates with QUING and the Lancaster Envi-ronment Centre (LEC), respectively, provided a variety of useful titbits. They went into detail about how long it took to find these particular posi-tions and how they applied for them, as well as how to prepare for the inter-viewing process.

One of the points both Jo and Griet emphasized was how important net-working was to their success. For Jo, networking was simply a case of con-tinuing to spend time around the uni-versity after submitting her thesis. Having coffee with friends and staff members helped to keep her ‘in the loop’. After hearing of ‘potential bits of work’ in Educational Research, Jo sent an e-mail and her CV to the depart-ment. This led to some part-time re-search, starting with one day per week, which was soon extended to three days and supplemented by teaching. Hav-ing acquired this initial experience as an RA, Jo felt she was in a stronger position when she applied for the full-time post in Sociology. In Griet’s case, getting experience as a teaching fellow at Aberdeen University provided her with valuable leverage when applying for a position on the Walking and Cy-cling Project being run by LEC. In addition to providing standard sug-gestions about revising your applica-tion to suit the position and highlight-ing how you fit the criteria that have been outlined for the position, Jo and Griet also provided very specific exam-ples of the type of questions that they were asked at interviews. They dis-cussed considering whether the jobs they applied for were right for them, and the difficulty of either not getting interviewed for your ideal job or apply-ing for a job that focuses on topics far removed from your PhD research. Griet noted that there’s nothing worse

than lacking enthusiasm for the job at hand and feeling that you’re sacrific-ing 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 pro-ject, 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 know you can effectively manage this.

These insights were also supple-mented by Elizabeth Shove’s com-ments regarding what interviewers are generally looking for and the roles that the different panel members play in the interview. Some of the most use-ful, and in some cases surprising, suggestions were:

1. Monitor the panel’s body language in order to see when you have actually answered their questions, as it is im-portant to know when to stop talking.

2. Reference letters don’t necessarily matter much in swinging the decision unless they highlight something par-ticularly negative, as it is assumed that everyone should be able to find some-one willing to provide a good reference Those hiring for RA positions aren’t necessarily looking for someone who is brilliant, but rather someone who will safely and competently be able to get things done for the 2-3 year posi-tion. You therefore have to strike a balance between showing your own opinions and ideas and demonstrating that you’re not so attached to them that you can’t get on with work in a team situation.

Overall the session was very interest-ing, and many thanks go to Jo, Griet, and Elizabeth for their willingness to share their experiences with us.

reviews2nd and 3rd Year Postgraduate Colloquium, by Allison Hui and James Tomasson

4 the sociologist 5 December 2008

An early Christmas gift

this year included an 8 giga byte USB flash drive. De-

spite having 8 times as much space as my previous clumpy data stick, this new gadget is miniscule - its vital sta-tistics 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 sug-gested 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 it-self 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 prop-erly. A good friend at Keele had an ad-ditional year added to her PhD because of data loss. Shit happens unfortu-nately. 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 All-way 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!)

managing your researchA Personal Note on Data Storage by Tom Roberts

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 merci-lessly ended.  

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 immedi-ately, and forked out money for an up-dated 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-While-You-Write feature that allows you to insert citations from the program di-rectly into Word while writing a paper, or the ability to then change bibilio-graphic 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-

come the starting point of a vast net-work of information.  EndNoteX has made it possible to save these attach-ments as part of your library file, and so you could send your library to a col-league and s/he would be able to ac-cess not only the entries, but the at-tachments as well.  

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 possi-bilities from my library, instead of scouring old papers and notes to try and find mention of the elusive article.

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 exist-ing style files, trying to create the out-put 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, End-Note has embedded itself as an indis-pensable 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.

EndNote by Allison Hui

5 the sociologist 5 December 2008

Photographs 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 stu-dent in the department. David’s research is about polic-ing protest.

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 build-ing—the symbol of both Hungary and Budapest.

An antiwar protester at Aldermaston is taken down from a ‘tripod’ and arrested for obstruction of the highway

Protesters gather in a freezing Hyde Park for an antiwar rally

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.

Similar to other workspaces featured in this spot, my of-fice 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 of-fice 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 ab-solutely 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 fea-ture’ 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 oppo-site; 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 liv-ing creature (of the human variety, at least).

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

My Ph.d Office

You are spending hours, weeks, months and even years of your life with a research object. You think about it, read about it, ob-serve 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 Anne-marie Mol, a Science and Tech-nology Studies researcher. She wrote 129 pages about the prob-lem 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 be-ing 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 men-tioning 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. Fi-nally 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 de-cided 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 be-tween subjective, personal inclu-sion in research and objective, scientific debates. Feminist sci-entists as well as STS researchers have investigated these connec-tions, only to name two strands of research. What about explor-ing them more? Let’s tinker and try! What would happen if the social science methods class taught us how to become pas-sionate instead of teaching us how to be objective and unbi-ased? 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?

musesWhere is your passion? by Anna Mann

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.

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 some-one you’ve never met before. The answer is on the bottom of the last page.

guest who?

My knee-jerk reaction to seeing the slo-gans ‘British jobs for British workers’ and the protests at the Lindsey Oil re-finery 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 in-sidious form of capitalism out there that is ‘playing the field’ to its advan-tage? Traditionally, politicians in de-fence of free trade and single markets have deliberately conflated and tainted bioregional labour and business inter-ests with the discourse of racist bigotry. The media too has been complicit in this process. But this imaginary and fallacious alliance between protection-ism 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 con-sidered, an incredibly effective defen-sive entanglement which can ensnare and besmirch anyone foolhardy enough to take it on.Protectionism, according to that schol-arly source Wikipedia, is ‘the economic policy of restraining trade between na-tions, through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other restrictive gov-

ernment regulations designed to dis-courage imports, and prevent foreign take-over of local markets and companies.’* But globalised corpora-tism 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 tar-iffs and trade barriers in a non-zero-sum-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 exam-ples 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 re-examined. 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, bank-rupt 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 be-nevolence 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 be-nevolently!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 re-warding themselves with multimillion-dollar bonuses in a recession for having saved the company so much money. Greed is what the economic system being constructed by the corporate lib-ertarians 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 so-ciety’. She argues that the globalised marketplace is the prevailing force in our lives, undermining the real impor-tance of our human communities and our planet. She continues, ‘...society should be embedded within the ecosys-tem, and that markets and economies are social structures that should re-spond to social and environmental pri-orities’†. Our current predicament quite literally puts the cart before the horse, so that the orthodoxy of the single (European /Global) market reigns su-preme trampling upon cultural distinct-iveness, human and animal welfare ΩΩ

OPINION PIECESProtectionism good bad or inevitable?By Tom Roberts

Fig 1: The wolf. I dedicate to those whom we lost long ago.

A long time ago, we lost the connec-tion 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, (ex-cept “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 ac-cess. The “urban” and its borders, dis-eases, dirtiness, homelessness, suicide, alienation, fragmentation of its public space, the fear of eye contact with for-eigners, 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 be-comes paranoia.

However, all of these I explained until now depend on the human as an aso-cial and a-public subject. There is an-other side of urban life, besides these. Bohemian life, cosmopolitan culture, squares, hybridity and mixing, becom-ing shattered into parts because of noise and crowds that you don’t want

to escape and the taste of it and flan-euring... There are others as well. When we look at those who are differ-ent from us, whom we do not count as humans or as valuable as humans and do not respect, the city becomes a to-tally 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 Eng-land were those whom I could not see

The City and the Dog

By Basak Tanulku

issues, and environmental resource considerations. It is not accountable to the underlying system of bio-physical throughput (as per ecologi-cal 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 gener-ating more capital. This trans-boundary 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 empha-sis 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 indus-tries in the UK leaving a once skilled and productive workforce unem-ployed and disillusioned. It is also what we have to thank for the lower-ing of environmental standards and their diminished enforceability. Corporations’ accountability is to shareholders whose overriding pri-ority is profit not economic, social and environmental wellbeing. Abroad, globalised corporatism is perpetuating the exploitation of for-eign 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 Tho-mas 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 dan-gerous 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 protection-ism but unaccountable mobile globalised corporatism that perpetu-ates 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

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 tradi-tional 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 home-less people near the main bus station. Smell? Yes, my lungs would be filled with the smell of shit when I was walk-ing 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 country-side, 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. How-ever, 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, espe-cially 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 stand-ing 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 sand-wiches 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; defen-siveness when they were beaten and guilt when there was a broken window in the neighbourhood. Then there were birds. When we went to Emi-nonu, 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 defe-cated on their clothes and bought a ticket from “Nimet Abla” for the next National Lottery†.

Fig 3: The New Mosque and birds…

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 bullfight-ing. 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 kill-ing in His name. He was the same God who ex-pelled 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

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-wolf-snow_image.html accessed on 22.02.2009.

2. Photo taken from the web pagehttp://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 penin-sula 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.

† 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.

By Gail Crowther

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

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 fur-thermost up the shore stay dry. Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach is a fine example of a public art in-stallation 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 fan-tasy life of those who view them. Furthermore, by encour-aging a fragmented and individualistic interpretation of these figures, I will argue that the figures not only chal-lenge our experience of space but allow a psychoanalytic reading of our responses to absence and presence.

Figure 2These figures are not alone on the beach. Less than a kilo-metre north, beyond the sea side café and the small public toilets, beyond the final cast iron figure and the car park, another, accidental and largely unnoticed art has been in-stalled. 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, chim-neys 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 photo-graphs this curiously natural sculpt-ing of an industrial thing. It is the cast iron figures, the beautiful so-lidness of the deliberate art installa-tion 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, unmov-ing 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 chal-lenge 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 installa-tion is about death. Certainly there is a melancholy in unmoving fig-ures staring at the horizon, all si-

lent, all identical. Others have ar-gued 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 fig-ures, but also other natural ele-ments. 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. De-pending 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 fig-ures snag the eye-scan of the beach, both in their vertical unexpected-ness 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 at-tached 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 our-selves to be a little less prescriptive about the intention and meaning behind these figures and consider their usage as a postmodern frag-mentation of taste. Each person’s gaze creates their own art and im-

bues their own meaning. Judith Williamson (1992) claims the func-tion 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 in-terpretation. Indeed Gormley him-self appeared to be aware that he would have little control over the interpretation, and in a way, ac-knowledges 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 mak-ing 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 ac-count 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 acces-sible and to a certain extent control-lable. Certainly what we choose to make public is within our power. So our responses to the (physically) still yet (emotionally) moving fig-ures 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 distur-bance of place, for people must

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 melan-cholic 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 3People 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 hori-zon? Each time I saw another face, another body, resolutely looking out to sea, I came up with another reason, maybe even 100 reasons…

Of the futility of human endeavour? Of our human smallness? Of the monotony of the horizon and its unending bar-

rier 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)

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 ac-tivity and loses its fleshiness, transcending its physical limitations. This is the inherent contradiction that Gorm-ley 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 re-lationship to them is such that we project then consume ‘their’ thoughts. We desire answers, even if we do not al-ways 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. Cat-tle with numbers stamped through their ears, concentra-tion 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 associa-tion. 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.

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 mak-ers, 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 under-stand 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 ques-tion 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 min-gles 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 build-ings. 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 roman-ticised industrial north where we can construct an alternative story, an al-ternative historical narrative. We can smooth over time and place with par-tialities. We can think ourselves into the working buildings in the same way we can think ourselves into Gormley’s iron figures. Defamiliar-ised 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 de-liberately 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 acci-dental art installation at odds with the iron figures carefully placed at inter-vals 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 acci-dental art of ruined factories lies nes-tled 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

Staring at the Sea

acknowledgementsMany 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/6081202.stm2.–5. taken by Gail Crowther

Bibliography

Barthes, Roland (1977) Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes University of California Press: BerkeleyGordon, Avery (1997) Ghostly Matters: haunting and the sociological imagination University of Minnesota: MinneapolisSamuel, Raphael (1994) Theatres of Memory Verso: LondonWilliamson, Judith (1978) Decoding Advertise-ments: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising Boy-ors: London

Five Thesis Writing Guides I’d like to SeeBy Anonymous Sociology PG

Comedy corner

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 profes-sional 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 devi-ants 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 procras-tinating. 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 encour-aged 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 soci-ologist Steve Woolworth. Thinking that a change of scen-ery 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 thera-peutic. 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 PerspectiveBy 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 common-sense, 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 full-length chapters Ga Ga! Goo Goo! readers will learn valu-able 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 construct-ing a convincing theoretical sociological argument; and the real reasons why one shouldn’t ‘wriggle around’ when hav-ing 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 -

Himself!”ger. Thesis-Writing for the Little Guy…By ‘The Big Man’ By Arnold Schwarzenegger

From muscleman to movie superstar and onto the Gover-nor 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 fence-sitters 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!”

By the Big Man Himself

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 pre-fers the extremes of Canadian prairie weather to Lancaster’s nearly constant rain, her mobil-ity to this place has fed her cur-rent research that examines the interaction between mobilities and practices in the case of en-thusiasts and enthusiasms.

Contributors to the sociologist

Anna MannAnna 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 Brit-ain?

David Mansley David is a second-year PhD student in Sociology and Criminology. His research topic is protest policing.

James TomassonJames is in the final year of a PhD focusing on the materiality and practices of Aga cook-ers and reclaimed tim-ber flooring. When he’s not busy contrib-uting to ‘The Sociolo-gist’ and working on his research, he enjoys hiking in the Lake Dis-trict, cooking vegetar-ian meals and watch-ing ‘Grand Designs’.

Jennifer Tomomitsu-TomassonJennifer is a 3rd year PhD student research-ing 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 RobertsTom is a PhD candidate in the Centre for the Study of Envi-ronmental 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 cam-paigns, achieved fairtrade status for the University and drafted an ethical investment policy.

Gail CrowtherGail is a third year PhD stu-dent studying reader re-sponses to the work of Sylvia Plath. When she’s not doing this, she’s read-ing Sylvia Plath and sometimes other people as well.

Lia KinaneLia is currently writing-up up her thesis in the Centre for Gender and Women's Stud-ies. Her re-search interests include friend-ship, national-ity and rurality.

Nicola SpurlingNicola is a 3rd year PhD student inter-ested in the implica-tions of university reform for the career biographies and eve-ryday practices of so-ciologists.

Basak TanulkuBasak is a PhD stu-dent and is cur-rently writing up her thesis. Her re-search is on gated communities in Istanbul and she is interested in urban studies, and social and spatial segrega-tion. In her spare time, Basak enjoys traveling, walking and spending time in the countryside.

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floorball

Try out floorball by joining the weekly game – Tuesdays from 12–1pm in the Minor Hall colleagues from Sociology, Geogra-phy, 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).

Sociology PG Colloqui-ums

First year17th March

2nd + year24th March: 'Academic Careers in Sociology: Past, Present and Fu-ture' with Nicola Spurling

FYI: 2008/09 PG Representative Com-mitteeFor 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/Student_reps.htm

MA RepsCarla Banks and Sue Starling

Women’s Studies PhD RepClare Hollowell

Sociology PhD Reps1st year: Julien McHardy 2nd year: Allison Hui 3rd + year: Jennifer Tomomitsu-Tomasson Tutor Rep: Julian Muller

PG Tips:

Allison Hui

Need to improve your writing skills? Not sure where to start?

In the past there have been vis-iting 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 cur-rently. You can also check with other students or subject li-brarians 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.

Gender/Women’s Stud-ies PhD Workshops

Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30/5:00Dates for future sessions are: 6 May (week 3, Summer term)

- room tbc

See http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/centres/gws/event for updates

Credit: Bill Waterson

date speaker title venue17 March Steve Hinchcliffe Working on the Biosecurity

BorderlandsBowland North Seminar Room 2 16.15-18.00

26 May 2009 Anthony D'Andrea Cultural Hypermobility and Nomadic Identities: towards a theory of Neo-Nomadism

Room TBA16.15-18.00pm

3 April 2009 Confirmed Speakers:Gail Lewis

Renata Salecl Divya Tolia-Kelly

Emotional Labour Sympo-sium

Management School, Lecture Theatre 49:00 – 5:00 p.m.

23 April 2009 Pam Meecham CeMoRe / CGWS Sailing Proud Seminar

Venue TBC4.15pm - 6.00pm

6th May 2009 Cami Rowe(politics and IR)

Lunchtime SeminarTitle: TBA

12:00 – 1:00Venue TBC

13th of May Lucy Easthope Lunchtime Seminar Title TBA

12:00 – 1:00Venue TBC

date title venue info

18 March 09 Materiality/Specificity Workshop

9.30 - 17.00

Meeting Room 4, Conference Centre, Bowland College

Closing date for Registration is March 16th.For more information: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/event/2728/

18 March 09 CGWS: Feminists Re-think Neo-Liberalism - Workshop Two

14:00 – 18:00 p.m.

Venue TBC

For more information:http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/event/2793/

26/27 March 09 Animation/Automation Workshop

9:30 – 18:00

Day I (March 26) will take place at Manchester Univer-sity

Day II (March 27) will take place in Lancaster's Institute for Advance Studies, Meeting Room 1

For registration details:http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/event/2727/

Upcoming Workshops

CalendarDepartmental

Seminars

*Please note: this schedule is still preliminary as speakers, paper titles and dates may change in the upcoming weeks

CGWS Seminars

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?

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!

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