Registration open for The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life

The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life

Economies |Cultures| Politics| Aesthetics

Thursday 16^th and Friday 17^th June 2016

University of York, UK

This two-day conference, co-organised by the Department of Sociology and CURB (Centre for Urban Research) at University of York, is an attempt to provide a lively, open-minded forum for urban sociologists to gather and discuss the challenges of conducting the craft of urban sociology in a fragmented, hierarchical urban world; an urbanizing planet where the very concept of ‘the city’--traditionally  the unit of analysis for urban sociologists—faces unprecedented levels of scepticism.  The title of the conference is a riff on T.J. Clark's (1984) book on Manet and Paris, The Painting of Modern Life. As such, the conference aims to engage with contemporary urban life in a  critical manner, using a  multiplex of economies, cultures, politics and aesthetics to explore  our contemporary urban experience/s (with or without the city).  The conference will also address the distinctive role that urban sociology has played, does play and may in the future play within the broader academic endeavour of Urban Studies.

Confirmed speakers include:

·         Fran Tonkiss (LSE)

·         Michael Keith (Oxford)

·         Emma Jackson (Goldsmiths, London)

·         Phil Hubbard (Kent)

·         Ayona Datta (Leeds)

·         David Pinder (Roskilde) 

·         Richard Sennett (LSE) (a public lecture given as part of the York Festival of Ideas).

There are also four panel sessions. Full details of the full programme is available here: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/about/news-and-events/department/2016/urbansociology/

Registration is £40.00 (full) or £20.00 (student/ postdoctoral) for the full conference. One day rates are also available. The direct link to payment pages is here: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/about/news-and-events/department/2016/urbansociology/#tab-2

Final call for papers: The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life: Economies |Cultures| Politics| Aesthetics

The final call for papers for an exciting event titled ‘The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life: Economies |Cultures| Politics| Aesthetics’ on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th June 2016 has just been announced.

This two-day conference, co-organised by the Department and CURB (Centre for Urban Research), is an attempt to provide a lively, open-minded forum for urban sociologists to gather and discuss the challenges of conducting the craft of urban sociology in a fragmented, hierarchical urban world; an urbanizing planet where the very concept of ‘the city’—traditionally the unit of analysis for urban sociologists—faces unprecedented levels of scepticism.  The title of the conference is a riff on T.J. Clark's (1984) book on Manet and Paris, The Painting of Modern Life. As such, the conference aims to engage the contours of contemporary urban life in a comparable critical manner, using a  multiplex of economies, cultures, politics and aesthetics to explore  our contemporary urban experience/s (with or without the city).  The conference will also address the distinctive role that urban sociology has played, does play and may in the future play within the broader academic endeavour of Urban Studies.

Several leading urban sociologists have already agreed to speak at this event including Fran Tonkiss (LSE), Michael Keith (Oxford), Emma Jackson (Goldsmiths, London), Phil Hubbard (Kent), Ayona Datta (Leeds), David Pinder (Roskilde) and Richard Sennett (LSE) (a public lecture given as part of the York Festival of Ideas).

However, the intention is also to run a limited number of open streams and will be considering abstracts for papers that connect empirically or theoretically with the four interconnecting themes of the event. 

250 word abstracts should be sent to both Gareth Millington (gareth.millington@york.ac.uk) and Daryl Martin (daryl.martin@york.ac.uk) by Friday 25th March please. Decisions on abstracts will be made the following week. We especially welcome contributions from early career researchers. Registration details for non-speakers will be released shortly.

Sociology Unpolished Papers

A series of “unpolished papers” begins Wednesday 11^th November. These sessions, organised by Gareth Millington, allow staff, visiting staff and postgrad students the opportunity to present research ideas, unfinished or unpolished papers to a friendly and encouraging audience. Open minds and constructive criticism have been essential in making this termly series a success. Since the series started in 2013, at least three unpolished papers  have gone on to be published in leading journals.

Gareth Millington, Unpolished Papers Series Convenor

Our first paper this term (11/11) is ‘Showing Pain, Violence and Death: Reflections on the use of graphic content in academic presentations’ by Holly Steel and Anaïs Duong-Pedica. 

On 18/11 visiting scholar Ryan Du Toit will give a paper titled ‘Reproductive justice? A critical examination of pre-termination of pregnancy consultations in the public health sector in South Africa and in Great Britain’ . 

Finally on 25/11 Matt Spokes and Paul Chappell will present a paper titled ‘Dealing with dirty data: five years in beers’. All talks are in w/243 and start at 3pm.

New Publications on Marshall Berman

Gareth Millington has recently published a second paper on the work of Marshall Berman (1940-2013), author of key Marxist Humanist texts on the city such as All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (1982) and On The Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square (2006). 

Gareth’s paper, titled ‘The Right to the City (If You Want It): Marshall Berman and Urban Culture’, appears in the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies. Gareth’s earlier article on Marshall Berman appeared in CITY and is titled ‘Remaining Faithful to the City: Marshall Berman’s Provocative Optimism’. These publications are the latest products of Gareth’s long term and ongoing interest in the work of Marshall Berman.

Symposium: Fiction and the Social Imaginary

As part of the Culture Cluster, Dave Beer and Gareth Millington are running a symposium in March and are putting out a call for abstracts.

York is active with events and reports

The Department of Sociology has been featured in this month's edition of the British Sociology Association Network magazine highlighting all the events and activities that have taken place in the past few months.

Every event and seminar is posted on the Sociology blog at http://uoysociology.blogspot.co.uk/  Do keep up with us all by bookmarking this link

• Research students organised an annual sociology postgraduate researcher conference, entitled Access and Opportunity, which focused on multi-disciplinary research and international collaboration. 
• The department and the Centre for Urban Research (Curb) hosted a one-day symposium entitled 'Marxism with soul: Marxist humanism after Marshall Berman'. The event was organised by Dr Gareth Millington 
• The European Sociological Association's PhD summer school 'A sociological imagin-ation for the 21st century' is taking place at York from 27 to 29 July. It is directed by the Head of Department, Professor Ellen Annandale.
• Dr Rowland Atkinson has published the edited collection Shades of Deviance: A Primer on Crime, Deviance and Social Harm, with accounts of war, murder, paedophilia, human experimentation, stalking, sexting and other issues.
• Dr Nathan Manning, with Dr Anna Barker, University of Bradford, and Dr Ala Sirriyeh, Keele University, has published a report based on research on Bradford's City Park.
• Dr Merran Toerien facilitated a week-long workshop 'Conversation analysis: a hands-on workshop' at Rhodes University, South Africa, funded by a British Academy International Partnership and Mobility Award.
• Dr Sian Beynon-jones presented her research on temporalities and abortion at the BSA Yorkshire Medical Sociology group inaugural meeting in Sheffield