| Dear ~~first_name~~
As a sociologist, what have you sought to understand? We welcome and encourage you to share your research stories with us. To do so, please email them to TASA Admin; we'll share them via this newsletter and Nexus. | | TASA Statement on the Climate Emergency | At the recent AGM, members endorsed a motion to recognise that we are facing a climate emergency
The Australian Sociological Association
1) Recognises that there is a climate emergency and the catastrophic impact and human suffering of anthropogenic climate change
2) Recognises the need for substantial and rapid changes in behaviours to reduce greenhouse emissions and limit the effect and causes of climate change on future generations
3) Acknowledges that systemic change requires non-violent disruption, positive and concrete new actions, and withdrawal of support for the embedded social, economic and political interests that are driving climate change
4) Commits to working with other social scientists to continuing and strengthening sociological research to support this necessary change
5) Commits to show leadership across sociology and academic networks for behaviours and concrete actions that can drastically reduce and offset emissions.
You can read the full statement here. | Sophie Lewis & Karen Willis et al.
Loneliness is a serious and rapidly growing social problem in Australia. Although the negative health effects and mounting healthcare costs of loneliness are known, effective responses to loneliness are not. Taking a sociological approach, this project aims to generate new knowledge about the experience and meanings of loneliness for people and communities, and the social factors implicated in the rise of loneliness in contemporary Australia. By focusing on loneliness in people with long-term health conditions, this knowledge will be used to develop policy and practice recommendations for the health- and community-care sectors in how to support people and communities experiencing loneliness.
Joanne Bryant & Sarah MacLean et al.
Aftercare for young people: A sociological study of resource opportunities. This project aims to understand the resourcing opportunities and needs of young people in the first year after exiting alcohol and drug (AOD) treatment. AOD treatment is successful for many people, yet it is also common for people to ‘relapse’ or return to treatment and to experience multiple periods of engagement, drop-out and re-engagement. Drawing on sociological concepts, and using a longitudinal qualitative design, this project aims to provide new evidence about the resourcing needs of young people – their perceptions of the resources available to them, and how they use these to maintain their AOD treatment outcomes. This will support the design of continuing care services that are responsive and relevant to young people’s needs.
Emma Lee et al.
This project aims to clarify the institutional and cross-sectoral conditions needed for successful implementation of emerging social procurement policy reforms; these seek through public spending to increase employment and business opportunities for people experiencing social exclusion. Via a mixed-methods comparative study in the leading jurisdictions of Victoria and Scotland, the project will extend scholarly knowledge of implementing policy reforms that rely on government and non-government actors working together in new ways, and practical understanding of what is needed to realise social procurement policy goals. This will contribute to effective public expenditure and ultimately help redress the societal consequences of exclusion. | | Heidi Hetz, who submitted her PhD a few months ago, was one of 5 postgraduate conference scholarship recipients this year. The title of Heidi's thesis is, ' The ‘Good Refugee’: Storytelling and Belonging in Australia’s Asylum Seeker Debates.' You can listen to Heidi talking about her TASA 2019 experience via one our Facebook page. | | | | Elaine Pratley also received a postgraduate conference scholarship this year. Elaine's PhD thesis is: “Food in everyday Peacebuilding : young people in Melbourne eating and cooking together”. You can listen to Elaine talking about her biggest take home from TASA 2019 postgraduate day via our Facebook page. | | | | Alexandra Ridgway (R), who gave birth to twins earlier this year, received an inaugural Carer's Bursary to attend TASA 2019. The title of Alexandra's thesis is, 'Migrating Wives: The spouse visa and experiences of divorce'. You can listen to Alexandra talking her TASA 2019 experience on our Facebook page. | | | Navigating Private and Public Healthcare: Experiences of Patients, Doctors and Policy-Makers | | This edited collection focuses on the global growth of privatisation and private sector medicine in both developed and lesser developed countries, and the impact of this on patients, health workers, managers and policy-makers. Drawing upon sociological theories, concepts and insights, as well as experts from several countries with extensive experience in researching the field either nationally or internationally, the collection offers a unique perspective on healthcare services and healthcare systems: a view from those trying to access healthcare services, working inside health systems, or responsible for managing and organising services. Collectively, the chapters contribute an international perspective on the navigation of healthcare systems, and addresses the growing salience of ‘choice’ between public and private medicine in a variety of different national systems and contexts. | | | Gender, Masculinity and Video Gaming: Analysing Reddit's r/gaming Community |  | | This book examines gender attitudes in Reddit’s popular video gaming community subreddit, r/gaming. Video gaming has long been understood as a masculinised social space and, while increasing numbers of girls and women now engage in the pastime, boys and men remain the predominant social actors. Furthermore, the gaming community has been widely identified as a prime case study in broader concerns around ‘toxic’ masculinity and gendered online harassment. However, there is also underexamined evidence of a growing movement in the community coming forward to voice its collective opposition. Utilising an innovative combination of computational and qualitative methods, the research undertaken here exposes this fuller picture, revealing significant contestation and a spectrum of attitudes that mark out this popular gaming community as a battleground for gender (in)equality. Students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including gender studies, media studies, cultural studies, sociology, games studies and computer sciences, will find this book of interest. | | | Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures | | Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield, & Crystal Abidin (2020) Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Cambridge: Polity Press. |  | Instagram is at the heart of global digital culture, having made selfies, filters and square frames an inescapable part of everyday life since it was launched in 2010.
In the first book-length examination of Instagram, Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield and Crystal Abidin trace how this quintessential mobile photography app has developed as a platform and a culture. They consider aspects such as the new visual social media aesthetics, the rise of Influencers and new visual economies, and the complex politics of the platform as well as examining how Instagram's users change their use of the platform over time and respond to evolving features. The book highlights the different ways Instagram is used by subcultural groups around the world, and how museums, restaurants and public spaces are striving to be 'Insta-worthy'. Far from just capturing milestones and moments, the authors argue that Instagram has altered the ways people communicate and share, while also creating new approaches to marketing, advertising, politics and the design of spaces and venues.
| | | An Ethnography of Severe Intellectual Disability: Becoming 'dirty Little Freaks' |  | | In this ethnographic investigation of a special education needs college in Australia, Jocelyn D. Avery explores how the self-identity of people with severe intellectual identities is influenced by carers and support people in their lives. Employing theoretical foundations of self-identity and embodiment and drawing largely on Douglas's (1996) notions of ritual and hygiene, purity and danger, Avery argues that students in this environment are treated as though they exist in a vacuum, rather than a highly complex social environment: strategies to "contain" their difficult selves ultimately lead to continued confinement, as if the students themselves were "contaminated." In the midst of this much-needed ethnography, Avery meditates on her own role as researcher: difficulties of consent, communication, and cooperation limit anthropological engagement with intellectual disability. The methodology provided here to sensitively engage with those with disabilities will provide a model for future research. | | | Michael James Walsh & Matthew Wade (2019) Soundtrack for love: wedding videography, music and romantic memory, Continuum, DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2019.1700216
Danielle Couch, Belinda O’Sullivan, Deborah Russell & Matthew McGrail (2019) ‘It’s so rich, you know, what they could be experiencing’: rural places for general practitioner learning, Health Sociology Review, DOI: 10.1080/14461242.2019.1695137
Alan Morris (2019) An impossible task? Neoliberalism, the financialisation of housing and the City of Sydney’s endeavours to address its housing affordability crisis, International Journal of Housing Policy, DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2019.1688634
Abidin, Crystal. 2019. “Minahs and Minority Celebrity: Parody YouTube Influencers and Minority Politics in Singapore.” Celebrity Studies (Online first) DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2019.1698816
Abidin, Crystal. 2019. “Tacit Labours of Digital Social Research as an Early Career Researcher.” Journal of Digital Social Research 1(1): 31-34. DOI: 10.33621/jdsr.v1i1.10
| Ash Watson (December 11, 2019) So Fi Zine, Edition 6.
This latest edition was inspired by Deborah Lupton’s creative, more-than-human, and future-oriented research, this edition brings you a variety of creative sociological pieces — short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art and illustration, and a guest editorial by Deborah Lupton. | Sociology and the Mystery of Class: Highlights from the first ten years of Journal of Sociology | Raewyn Connell introduces the inaugural JoS virtual special issue:
"JOS published its first issue in 1965. What landed in subscribers' letterboxes was a conservative-looking booklet with a pale beige cover announcing Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, followed by 68 pages of uncompromising grey text. It was locally produced, with no connection with Sage, and of course no online presence. If you wanted to read the journal you had to subscribe, or stroll into a university library that subscribed and pick it up from the Current Periodicals shelves."
You can access the special issue here. | | Also on JoS, did you know you can sign up for New Content alerts for Journal of Sociology and receive an alert for the latest full issue as well as when new articles are published online? See here. | 2020 Special Issue - call for papers
Sex, Health & Technology Special Issue
The Role of Bio-medical, Bio-mechanical, and Bio-digital Technologies in Sex, Sexual Health, and Intimacy. Full papers due: January 17th 2020. Read on... | 2021 Special Issue - call for papers
Towards a Global Sociology of Trans and Gender Diverse Health.
After years of advocacy for improved recognition and action, the health and well-being of trans and gender diverse people is receiving overdue attention. In some parts of the world, gender-affirming care is made available in forms which explicitly support a diverse range of gender identities, service preferences and affirmation goals. However, good quality models of care are unevenly available and face a range of threats, creating heightened uncertainty for those who need to access them.
The aim of this special issue is to enhance knowledge on what supports and complicates the provision of health care and support for trans and gender diverse people across different parts of the world.
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- Roger Patulny, University of Wollongong, was recently promoted to Associate Professor
- Sal Clark, Swinburne University, was recently promoted to Level B
| | The Jobs Board enables you to view current employment opportunities. As a member, you can post opportunities to the Jobs Board directly from within your membership profile screen. | | | New: Last chance: Education Focussed Lecturer, Sociology & Anthropology and Social Research & Policy
Continuing. UNSW
Applications close: this Monday December 16. Read on... | | The Scholarships Board enables you to view available scholarships that our members have posted. Like the Jobs Board, as a member, you can post scholarship opportunities directly from within your membership profile screen. | | | | Other Events, News & Opportunities | New: Using Visual Art Workshops in Research: Loved Objects and Other Tasks
15 January, 1-3 pm, 221 Goodsell, UNSW
For planning purposes, if you are interested and able to come, please let Deborah Lupton know you are attending.
Vicki Harman (University of Surrey, UK)
This workshop explores visual research methods as a way of accessing people’s multi-sensory experiences and affective ties to objects, imaginaries and people. I will be focusing on a research study which used visual art workshops with female survivors of domestic violence living in refuges in England and Portugal. This was an interdisciplinary project involving an artist (Susana Campos) a sociologist (Vicki Harman), and a marketing scholar (Benedetta Cappellini).
In the first part of the workshop I will introduce our project, its aims, rationale and the techniques utilized. I will then invite participants to try a selection of the activities we employed as part of the fieldwork. This will centre on representing objects which fall into certain categories for the participant (e.g. loved, lost, missed and wanted). These activities are optional and no art skills are required! Following this practical activity, there will be an opportunity to discuss how the activity went and how it felt to participate in the tasks.
In the second part of the workshop I will present a selection of the images produced by women who participated in the art-based workshops in England and Portugal. I will offer some reflective comments regarding the fieldwork and the findings, paying particular attention to the feminist notion of ‘giving voice’. I will argue that ‘giving voice’ is not unproblematically accomplished by using visual methods. This will be illustrated by discussing key issues that emerged during the fieldwork and when exhibiting the art work generated through the study. The workshop will end with group discussion about the possibilities for utilising similar methods in other spaces (e.g. schools, care homes, public libraries, academic conferences) and in relation to other topics of study. | Anthropology and Sociology Seminar Series | The University of Western Australia are currently planning for next year’s Anthropology and Sociology Seminar Series, held each Friday at 2:30pm - 3:30pm during semester. It is an opportunity for researchers to share their research with fellow anthropologists and sociologists, academics, postgraduate students and interested others. If you have a paper you would like to present, please fill this form, indicating available time slots, and email to Martin Forsey. Also, if you know or hear of someone who will be visiting Perth and who would be able to present a paper, please share this information with them. Submission deadline: January 17.
| Fieldwork Experiences Survey | Have you conducted fieldwork? Were there potential or actual emotional or physical safety issues for you as a researcher or your participants? If so, I would like to hear about your experiences via this anonymous online survey. Your contribution will help to upskill emerging research across academic disciplines and provide an evidence base for research ethics teaching. Complete the survey at https://redcap.sydney.edu.au/surveys/?s=ELDMPJKFMM
This project has been approved by the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (ref 2019/911)
For more information please contact Dr Rowena Forsyth at rowena.forsyth@sydney.edu.au.
| New: Logic and Methodology in Sociology
International Conference on Social Science Methodology (RC33)
September 8th – 11th, 2020, Nicosia, Cyprus
New: [curated conference stream] Pang, Natalie, Crystal Abidin, and Amelia Johns. 2020. “Weaponizing Digital Media.” CeDEM Asia 2020, Kuala Lumpur. 15-16 May 2020.
Submission deadline: December 20. Read on...
2020 Closing the Gap Indigenous Health Conferences
July 27-29, 2020 Sydney NSW Australia
Work, (In)equalities and Social Relations in the Digital Economy
IV International Meeting of Sociology (ISSOW)
16-17 March 2020
Lisbon School of Economics & Management, University of Lisbon.
Submission deadline: 15 December. Read on...
Expected Inequalities and Unintended Symmetries
11-12 May 2020 in Warsaw (Poland)
Polish Sociological Association, University of Warsaw and Polish Academy of Sciences.
Abstract submission deadline: December 15. Read on...
Bringing the Hope Back In: Sociological Imagination and Dreaming Transformation
The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP)
August 7-9, 2020, San Francisco, CA.
| | TASA Documents and Policies | | You can access details of TASA's current Executive Committee 2019-2020 as well as documents and policies, including the Constitution, Code of Conduct, Grievance Procedures & TASA History. | | Accessing Online Materials & Resources | | TASA members have access to over 90 peer-reviewed Sage Sociology full-text collection online journals encompassing over 63,000 articles. The image on the left shows you where to access those journals, as well as the Sage Research Methods Collection & the Taylor and Francis Full Text Collection, when logged in to TASAweb. | | | Gift memberships are available with TASA. If you would like to purchase a gift membership, please email the following details through to the TASA Office:
1. Name of gift recipient;
2. email address of gift recipient;
4. who the Tax Invoice should be made out to.
Upon receiving the above details, TASA will email the recipient with full details on how they can take up the gift membership. You will receive the Tax Invoice, via email, after the recipient completes the online membership form. | | Contact TASA Admin: admin@tasa.org.au | |