Grants Awarded from the UCD College of Social Sciences and Law Research Funding Scheme

Three applications from the School of Sociology have successfully received funding from the UCD College of Social Sciences and Law Research Funding Scheme 2019/20.

The successful applicants are:

• Lea David (with Katherine O’Donnell, Philosophy & Dawn Walsh and Ben Tonra, Politics and International Relations) ‘Reflexive policy making and policy relevant research’

• Alexander Kondakov (with Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila, Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice) ‘A participatory research intervention among LGBT+ minority migrants’

• Sinisa Malesevic (with Timothy Mooney, Philosophy), ‘Honour and Shame in Ireland’

Congratulations to the awardees!

Announcing! MA Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies Artist in Residence 2020-2021 is Rajinder Singh

‘Decolonising the Body, Decolonising the Mind’ - Rajinder Singh is the UCD MA Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies Artist in Residence 2020-2021

Rajinder Singh:

'Choreography is a score for a bodily or movement practice that purveys a politics. Through choreography, power relations and ideological effects can be rendered visible. My work with choreography enters domains beyond the aesthetic, and to me any piece of choreography can be seen as the product of choices that represent the social and political consequences of a given action.

'I am interested in how choreography and the moving body create conditions of resistance to different hegemonic regimes such as colonialism and capitalism as well as magico-religious belief systems. I think of the intercultural encounter as performative, as a choreographed activity. And I think of any kind of oppression or discrimination as a type of choreopolicing -- a prevention of any formation or expression of the political. How do choreopolitics interact with the choreopolicing of oppression within/during any intercultural encounter? Using choreographic practice as a frame of reference, can new resonances be developed through the innovative spirit of creative praxes to sensitise the body to meaningful intercultural encounters?

'In this residency, I will be exploring questions like:

• How does the project of 'decolonising the mind' relate to the project of 'decolonising the body'?
• What are the possibilities of other ways of thinking about interculturality through the bodypolitics of knowledge?
• Is it possible to learn from the movements of the Other in an intercultural encounter?'

You can learn more about Rajinder's work on his website.

The MA Race, Migration and Declolonial programme is run by Assistant Professor Alice Feldman at the UCD School of Sociology.  A Graduate Diploma is also available.  More information on the programme and subject matter can be found through the UCD programme info page and the   programme website.

If you're interested in speaking to someone about applying please contact:

Lucia Suchorova
lucia.suchorova@ucd.ie
Masters Programme Administrator
+353 1 716 8674
​
Alice Feldman, Programme Coordinator
alice.feldman@ucd.ie

Go to the link at the bottom of this page to apply.

UCD Sociology's Barbara Gornicka and Mark Doyle awarded SPARK funding for Sex-Ed project

The Sex Ed you wish you had: towards better sexual health, enjoyment and empowerment in UCD. The project has two overarching aims:

1. To give UCD students the knowledge and skills they need to make informed choices about their non-involvement or involvement in sexual activity that will support their happiness, health and wellbeing.
2. To build responsible and respectful attitudes towards gender and sexuality.

These aims will be realised by developing and delivering workshops that will educate and inform students in a range of issues pertinent to sex, sexuality and sexual identity.

Recent academic research and available sexual health data indicates that younger people have significant knowledge gaps regarding sexual health contributing to increased rates of sexually transmitted infections (EMIS, 2019; Courtenay, 2019). Sexual consent is also an important topic for younger people, with many lacking appropriate understandings of how to negotiate their consent (O’Higgins, 2010). These gaps in knowledge are not surprising in the Irish context given the paucity of sex education in Irish secondary schools. Though some sex education is provided, it is yet to be provided in an inclusive and accessible manner where younger people are empowered to make positive choices regarding their sexuality. An effect of this being, students commencing third level education where they may lack the necessary literacy to make informed and safe choices. Technological change is also defining younger people's sexual experiences and opening up new risks. However, this can be countered with appropriate training.

In an effort to tackle the issues listed above, we are proposing a series of workshops that will be held from January - April 2020:

1. Sexual Health
2. Porn Literacy
3. Digital Dating, Sex and Safety

These workshops are a pilot before up-scaling and hopefully becoming an important part of the UCD student experience. The end result will be a student body who have greater awareness about their decision making. The workshops will be an open, safe and non-judgmental space underpinned by an ethos of empowerment. The workshops are interactive and participatory with discussions, quizzes as well as practical activities. This creates varied sessions which hold the interest of the young participants and increase their ability to integrate their awareness.

To find out more about this project, you can contact the project lead: barbara.gornicka@ucd.ie

New Publication by Prof Steven Loyal and Sinisa Malesevic - 'The Sociology of Randall Collins'

We are delighted to announce that Professors Steven Loyal and Sinisa Malesevic of School of Sociology have recently edited a special issue of Thesis Eleven - 'The Sociology of Randall Collins' which has just been published: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/thea/current on Thesis Eleven.

The other contributors are Michael Mann, Barry Barnes, Anthony King, Lea David, Su-Ming Khoo, Ralph Schroder and Randal Collins responds to all the papers in teh volume. Click here for more information now!

Social Circus as international Encounter

The School of Sociology is delighted to announce the start of a new Erasmus Plus project in the field of Education, Training and Youth promoting intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and social inclusion through development of innovative arts- and research-based training for social circus trainers working with youth from migrant, refugee and ethnic minority backgrounds.

For more information, see https://www.racemigrationdecolonialstudies.com/current-event

Prof Andreas Hess has published his new edition : Between Utopia and Realism

Professor Andreas Hess (UCD Sociology) has published his new edition together with Samantha Ashenden (UL). The book is titled “Between Utopia and Realism”

The essays collected in Between Utopia and Realism reflect on and refract Shklar's major preoccupations throughout a lifetime of thinking and demonstrate the ways in which her work illuminates contemporary debates across political theory, international relations, and law. Contributors address Shklar's critique of Cold War liberalism, interpretation of Montaigne and its connection to her genealogy of liberal morals, lectures on political obligation, focus on cruelty, and her late reflections on exile. Others consider her role as a legal theorist, her interest in literary tropes and psychological experience, and her famed skepticism.

Between Utopia and Realism showcases Shklar's approach to addressing the intractable problems of social life. Her finely honed political skepticism emphasized the importance of diagnosing problems over proffering excessively optimistic solutions. As this collection makes clear, her thought continues to be useful in addressing cruelty, limiting injustice, and combating the cynicism of the present moment.

The book will be released by University of Pennsylvania Press and for more information please see link below:

https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/16034.html

Prof. Malesevic interviewed by Al Jazeera for International Day of Peace

Prof Sinisa Malešević interviewed by Al Jazeera Balkans TV Programme and commemorating the international day of peace (21st September 2019). The topic of this TV debate was ‘War and Peace in the Contemporary World’.