Category: Newsletter

Newsletter, report

Reports: “Vaccination in the Age of COVID”

by Emma Brown (New York University) On March 11, 2021, the Culture and Contemporary Life Talk Series hosted “Vaccinations in the Age of COVID,” a panel which discussed what cultural sociology uniquely reveals concerning the development and distribution of vaccines as well as the public reception of vaccines. Panelists Claire Laurier Decoteau (University of Illinois Chicago), Jennifer Reich (University of Colorado Denver), and Laura Mamo … Continue reading Reports: “Vaccination in the Age of COVID”

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Newsletter, report

Reports: “The Culture of Poverty Myth and Anti-Blackness in the 21st Century”

by Emma Brown (New York University) On February 17, 2021, the Sociology of Culture Section of the American Sociological Association held the second virtual event of the Culture and Contemporary Life Talk Series, which explores the pressing social issues of our time through a cultural lens. The topic of the event was “The Culture of Poverty Myth and Anti-Blackness in the 21st Century.” The panelists … Continue reading Reports: “The Culture of Poverty Myth and Anti-Blackness in the 21st Century”

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Newsletter

The Power of Speculative Fiction in Politics: Foucault’s Prophetic Truth

Chandra Mukerji (UC San Diego) Donald Trump’s lies galvanize his base. His followers cheer the loudest for outrageous claims. The crowds are energized by his hubris, treating his fantasies as exciting rather than misinterpretations of facts. Asking epistemological questions about his statements may be important to politics and journalism, but it is bad sociology. It does not explain how clear fictions could be so politically … Continue reading The Power of Speculative Fiction in Politics: Foucault’s Prophetic Truth

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ASA 2021, Newsletter

Podcasting for Sociologists: lessons learned from making an international teaching podcast on culture and inequality in pandemic times

By Luuc Brans and Giselinde Kuipers – Center for Sociological Research, KU Leuven, Belgium  As COVID-19 lockdowns swept across university campuses in early 2020, academics around the world shifted their teaching to virtual platforms. As students and their tutors soon found out, online teaching was challenging. Students found online lectures boring, academics found the lectures exhausting to deliver, class discussions were difficult to stimulate, and … Continue reading Podcasting for Sociologists: lessons learned from making an international teaching podcast on culture and inequality in pandemic times

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ASA 2021, Newsletter, Review

Book Review: “Creating the Creation Museum”

Oberlin, Kathleen C. 2020. Creating the Creation Museum: How Fundamentalist Beliefs Come to Life. New York: NYU Press. Reviewed by Gemma Mangione On January 22, 2017, Kellyanne Conway — a senior adviser to then-president Donald J. Trump — defended the White House’s press secretary’s recent assessment that attendance numbers at Trump’s 2016 inauguration exceeded that of Barack Obama’s in 2008. Despite photo evidence to the … Continue reading Book Review: “Creating the Creation Museum”

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ASA 2021, Conference Report, Newsletter

Report: “The 2020 Election: A Cultural Post-Mortem”

By Bo Yun Park (Harvard University) The Culture and Contemporary Life Talk Series is a new initiative launched by the Sociology of Culture Section of American Sociological Association. It provides an opportunity to discuss the pressing issues of our time and analyze them through a cultural lens. The members of the Culture and Contemporary Life Series Committee—Hannah Wohl, Lisa McCormick, Meltem Odabas, Matt Rafalow, and Shai … Continue reading Report: “The 2020 Election: A Cultural Post-Mortem”

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