Newsletter Announcements

New Books Presser, Lois. 2022. Unsaid: Analyzing Harmful Silences. University of California Press.This book advances a methodological approach for determining what is not said within texts. Researchers and laypersons alike suspect that some text is “coded” – that it contains some “subtext.” They are keen to identify that subtext, to make out what a text is taking for granted or communicating surreptitiously, for left implicit, … Continue reading Newsletter Announcements

Book Review – Symbolic Objects in Contentious Politics

Symbolic Objects in Contentious Politics is an ambitious and wide-ranging edited collection in which the editors, Benjamin Abrams and Peter Gardener, highlight the importance of paying attention to a distinctly undertheorized field. While contentious politics have been extensively theorized, the role that objects play in these contexts has been markedly less so – the editors attest, for example, that there is currently very little literature … Continue reading Book Review – Symbolic Objects in Contentious Politics

Event Report – “Memorial Conference for Xiaohong Xu”

On May 24, 2024, the Department of Sociology and the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan held an emotional conference in honor of sociologist Xiaohong Xu. Professor Xu, who passed away on December 12, 2024 at the age of 45, was a much beloved scholar and teacher, and a most original sociologist of Chinese politics, culture, political economy, and history. At … Continue reading Event Report – “Memorial Conference for Xiaohong Xu”

Letter from the Chair

Dear colleagues in the culture section, The ASA Meetings are fast approaching, so it is time to look ahead to the conference and to look back on the section activities of the past academic year. Just because I am looking forward to it, I begin with an invitation to the section’s reception at the conference, which will be a joint reception with the Theory Section … Continue reading Letter from the Chair