Sexual Violence on Television

Following her appearance on Radio 4 'Body Count Rising' Ruth Penfold-Mounce has been featured on Minster FM relating to the 'crime porn' on television. Ruth spoke about the rise in graphic violence towards women (and men) on television and how often the visual violence could be removed and still leave a compelling story and characters.

Follow the link to read, see and hear more: Crime Porn

New Member of Sociology Staff - Tim Huijts

Welcome to Tim Huijts who has joined the Sociology Department as Senior Lecturer. Tim has studied and worked in the Netherlands and also in Oxford before arriving in York this August.

Tim has research interest in socioeconomic inequalities in health, political regimes, gender equity and depression and ethinic diversity. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Health and Medical Sociology.

Death and Culture Comes to York

The Death and Culture Conference is next week (1st-3rd Sept).

The badges are made, the programme is being printed and the conference meals have been chosen and ordered.

Its still not too late to register if you want to come.

Making the Difference Award

Ruth Penfold-Mounce, Daryl Martin and Clare Jackson have received the Making the Difference Award. This award is part of the University wide recognition scheme of excellence among its staff. The award was granted on the basis of the Ruth, Daryl and Clare's work as a team on the implementation of the York Pedagogy (YP).

Ruth Penfold-Mounce

Daryl Martin

Clare Jackson

Katy Mann Benn, part of the ProPel team and a member of University Teaching Committee nominated the team on the basis of 'their sheer hard work, commitment and outstanding achievement in ushering in the York Pedagogy.' The University Teaching Committee working group were ‘very impressed by the work and output’ and the Programme Learning Outcomes and Statement of Purpose for one of the programmes was selected to be used on the York Pedagogy website as an exemplar. 

Katy Mann Benn

Katy described working with the YP team as having been a 'consistently productive experience and have been impressed by the collaborative, diligent and thoughtful approach they have consistently demonstrated. Their ability to engage constructively and meaningfully with the review process has been outstanding. I have been particularly impressed by the dedication of the team and the well-organised, conscientious review that they have enabled. Moreover, they have sought feedback from colleagues across the university to inform their plans to enhance the programmes.'

John Robinson

The leadership demonstrated by the YP team has been widely noted including by John Robinson Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching, Learning and Students who said 

‘I know of the contribution of Clare, Daryl and Ruth indirectly through the reports of the ProPEL team and.... can confirm that it accords with the evidence, and that I judge it to be an excellent appraisal of a team who are making a difference in learning and teaching.’

Many congratulations to Ruth, Daryl and Clare.

Congratulations Class of 2016

On thursday 14th July our Sociology Department Graduands gathered at Central Hall for their Graduation Ceremony. It was certainly a memorable event with too witty and fairly political speeches by the Honourary Doctoral recipients - Dr the Lord Victor Adebowale and Professor Sir Ian Kennedy. Victor talked about wanting to look the future in the eyes and to encourage the graduands to make sure they went to places they shouldn't go and make a difference. Ian meanwhile reflected on the Brexit and the challenges ahead. Nik Brown did a fine job presenting our Sociology students and got most of the names pronounced correctly - its a nerve wracking job!

By the closing of the ceremony our 2016 graduands became graduates and we couldn't be more proud. Congratulations to you all.

Ruth Penfold-Mounce, Wes Lin and Steph Lawler

Wes Lin, Ruth Penfold-Mounce and Nik Brown

Sociology and YUSU Excellence Awards

Sociology has been recognized for its excellence in 2016 though the YUSU Excellence Awards.

There were a range of staff and postgraduates who teach (PGWTs) to be nominated this year by anonymous undergraduates. There was a total of 18 nominations in a range of categories:

• 5 nominations for Teacher of the Year
• 4 nominations for Supervisor of the year
• 2 nominations for Most Inspiring
• 2 nominations for Most Enthusiastic
• 3 nominations for Most Supportive
• 1 nomination for Best Communicator
• 1 nomination for Promoting Diversity

Staff were genuinely honored to receive this recognition from our students. Thank you to those individuals who took the time to nominate us.

Scholarship for Masters in the Department of Sociology

We're delighted to announce a new annual scholarship for taught Masters-level study in the Department of Sociology at the University of York.  The Maria Bourboulis scholarship is awarded in memory of York Alumna Maria Bourboulis. We are able to to offer one scholarship each year for EU/ UK fee paying applicants.

Details

• The scholarships include a fee waiver covering fees (Home/EU) with £12,000 paid as a stipend towards living costs
• The scholarships are tenable for up to one year of full time Masters study

Eligibility

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic excellence and are eligible for all applicants that hold a conditional and/or unconditional offer from the University for 2016 study for the following MA courses:

• MA in Social Research
• MA in Criminology and Social Research
• MA in Social Media and Social Research
• MA in Society, Culture and Globalisation

It's not too late to apply for these courses in time to also apply for the scholarship.  Deadline for scholarship applications is 1 July 2016.  See: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/postgraduate/masters/pgt_funding/#tab-2 for more information.

Sociology wins Bronze for Green Impact

We're delighted to announce that the Sociology Department won Bronze Award for our Green Impact actions for 2015-16.  This is the third consecutive year that we've achieved Bronze and we're very proud to be one of the longest serving Green Impact teams at York!  

Well done to all who contributed and let's finally get that much coveted Silver award next year...

Dr Merran Toerien receiving the award on behalf of Sociology from Professor Saul Tendler, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of York.

BA Criminology ranked 2nd in League Tables

Georgia Ladly, a third year BA Criminology student

The BA Criminology degree has successfully ranked 2nd in the Guardian University League Tables
This is a real achievement for single honours degree run by two departments - Sociology and Social Policy and Social Work. We are just about to see our second cohort of Criminology students graduate in July and its fabulous to see the degree flourishing.

Dissertation Conference

On Thursday, 19th May, from 10am in W/222, the Department will be holding it's annual Dissertation Conference. Some of our 3rd year students will be presenting work based on their recently completed dissertations. It's a good opportunity to hear about the research of classmates and if you're a 1st or 2nd year then come and be inspired ready for your final year.

The programme contains some really exciting and interesting projects.

10:15 – 11:15: Media, Representation and discourse

A Contemporary Civilising mission? Media Representations of Asylum Seekers in Europe

Tess Corina

7 British Muslim Women, One Destination: A Discursive analysis of Muslim Women’s Identity in British Media

Samantha Woodcock

Menstruation in the Media: A discourse on disgust

Hazel McMillan

11:30 – 12:30: Gender & Social Life

Gendered Play: An observational study

Sophie Potter

Love Aptually: An investigation into young adults’ experiences and perceptions of mobile dating

Melissa Whitaker

Women in the Criminal Justice System

Grace Phillips

1:15 – 2pm Identity & Society

The Normalization of University: A Bourdieusian Analysis of First-Generation Undergraduate Entry to the University of York

Abby Bowling

The Impact of Globalisation on Cultural Identity: A study of Yorkshireness.

Charlotte McNeils

2pm – 2:40pm: Politics, State and Society

Devolution in the UK: An exploratory study into Political Participation and Engagement amongst University Students from London & Yorkshire & Humber

Richard Crawshaw

A Theoretical Paper on the Civilian-Military gap in Singapore & USA.

Gwyn Ng

Refreshments will be provided, all welcome, hope to see you there!

For further information contact Michael Watkins (mw1196@york.ac.uk) or nathan.manning@york.ac.uk

Racism, Rights and Resistance: Poetry and Spoken Word Event

Last Friday, 13^th May, Nisha Kapoor and Kasia Narkowicz held a poetry and spoken word event in a community centre in York as part of the Deport Deprive Extradite research project investigating themes around Race, State and Citizenship. Four poets were invited to respond to issues around racism, rights and resistance. 

The event was introduced by the principal investigator Nisha Kapoor, followed by performances by Talha Ahsan, Hafsah Aneela Bashir, Hodan Yusuf and Elmi Ali. During the event the audience engaged on Twitter under the #ResistanceYork hashtag:

  

 Images from the event:

Nisha Kapoor introducing Deport Deprive Extradite to members of the public, Priory Street Centre

Poets (from left): Hodan Yusuf, Talha Ahsan, Elmi Ali, Hafsah Aneela Bashir

Racism, Race & Resistance at Priory Street Centre #ResistanceYork

Elmi Ali (@madmulla) reading poetry

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

Dave Beer on the history of Big Data

Dave Beer has just had an article published in the open access journal Big Data & Society. The article, which is titled 'How Should We Do the History of Big Data?', argues that we need to think in detail about the work that is being done by the concept of 'big data'. The piece is available here http://bds.sagepub.com/content/3/1/2053951716646135

This is the abstract for the piece:

Taking its lead from Ian Hacking’s article ‘How should we do the history of statistics?’, this article reflects on how we might develop a sociologically informed history of Big Data. It argues that within the history of social statistics we have a relatively well developed history of the material phenomenon of Big Data. Yet this article argues that we now need to take the concept of ‘Big Data’ seriously, there is a pressing need to explore the type of work that is being done by that concept. The article suggests a programme for work that explores the emergence of the concept of Big Data so as to track the institutional, organisational, political and everyday adoption of this term. It argues that the term Big Data has the effect of making-up data and, as such, is powerful in framing our understanding of those data and the possibilities that they afford.

Dave's new book Metric Power will be published in June. And his earlier book Popular Culture and New Media: The Politics of Circulation has just come out in paperback.

Media Impact and the Hairy Bikers

Ruth Penfold-Mounce

Academics are increasingly called to have 'impact' and to be public intellectuals outside of the ivory towers of universities. This often calls for working outside of the comfort zone of many academic researchers - talking to and appearing in the media. Ruth Penfold-Mounce, Lecturer in Criminology reflects on her experience of filming with the BBC:


'Last year in March I received an email from the BBC who wanted to ask some questions about the book I'd written Celebrity Culture and Crime in which I had done a case study of the East End of London 1960s gangster twins, the Krays. Phone conversations followed emails and before I knew it I had been asked to be an 'expert' on the Krays and to walk the Hairy Bikers through a murder scene in The Blind Beggar pub in London. It was an offer I couldn't refuse despite being horribly nervous at the thought of appearing on national television.

The Hairy Bikers

On Friday 29th April 2016 the episode for which I had filmed was shown. Admittedly I was nervous as to how I would come across but after watching it I feel really proud to have done it. Getting out of my comfort zone and appearing on television was a fabulous opportunity to share my passion for celebrity and criminality. I am also glad that I thought in advance about how to make this opportunity into something more than just dissemination of knowledge. I made sure that I got to have a say on the voice over content and I have kept the emails as evidence of my 'impact'.

For fellow academics thinking about how to make the most of media opportunities and to turn it in to impact I would encourage you to consider keeping evidence of how you contributed. Are their suggestions you made that led to a change in emphasis or direction of the debate? If there were phone conversations make sure you send a follow up email confirming what you have suggested - keep the paper trail. We are now (somewhat sadly) in a time where it is vital to think tactically in order to maximize your impact.'

Before I Die Festival 2016 Programme

For more information about the Before I Die Festival to be held in York follow the link to see the programme.

Before I Die: A festival for the living about dying

Doctoral Student Anais Duong-Pedica writes about the Before I Die festival:

'This year will mark the 7th national Dying Matters Awareness Week.  This week of events, initially founded by the National Council for Palliative Care, is an opportunity to initiate discussions about death, dying and bereavement at a local and national level. The events put in place aim to change public knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards death and dying as well as making good deaths more accessible to people.

 

Dying Matter Awareness Week will take place May 9th-15th in England and Wales. For this occasion, the University of York will contribute to the conversation with its own weekend of events: The Before I Die Festival. The festival takes place on the weekend of May 7^th-8^th and gathers a dozen of events at York, which focus on death. A few members of the department will be contributing to these discussions. Our very own Ruth Penfold-Mounce will be talking about Celebrity Death and Public Grieving – a topic particularly relevant this year since the recent deaths of Alan Rickman, David Bowie, and more recently, Prince. Meanwhile Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson will be leading a session on the end of life planning tool - Advance Decisions and  I will be holding a discussion on Dying and Grieving in the Age of Social Media.

Anais Duong-Pedica

In this one-hour session, I wish to start a dialogue on what it means to die and grieve online today. This will be a space where personal experiences will be welcomed and encouraged. We will be exploring different aspects of death and grief, specifically on social media, from the perspective of the individual who is dying/dies, but also from the perspective of close friends, family and acquaintances. I hope to raise awareness of crucial discussions that people ought to have about their death or the death of loved ones and social media: What would I like my account(s) to become? What types of grieving am I comfortable with people doing online? How do social media accounts remind us of the dead and how does that impact our grieving? How do we navigate discomfort with the way other people grieve online? And even, how do we experience grieving for people we only know online?

Not only does the Before I Die Festival play a major role in creating conversations around issues related to death, dying and bereavement and normalising good deaths, it also locates itself within an environment of growing interest for death research. The University of York is home to the Centre for Modern’s Studies’ Death Network and Cemetery Research Group led by Julie Rugg (Department of Social Policy and Social Work). Ruth Penfold-Mounce, Jack Denham and myself (Department of Sociology) also organised a well-attended symposium on Marginal Death Research last October and Ruth Penfold-Mounce, Jack Denham and Julie Rugg will be holding the three-day Death and Culture conference in September this year.  

You can support Dying Matters Awareness Week by sharing the programme on Twitter, visiting the Dying Matters website, and by going along to some of the events.  We also encourage everyone to have “the Big Conversation” – talk with friends and family about your own death and the importance of preparing for it.'