Sociology Seminar Series - schedule of speakers to visit the school in semester two

The UCD School of Sociology are looking forward to welcoming the above list of speakers in semester two as part of the Seminar Series 2017-2018. All are welcome to attend.

Congratulations Mayte Calvo on passing PhD viva at the School of Sociology

The School of Sociology would like to congratulate Mayte Calvo who passed her PhD viva last Thursday.
The title of Mayte's PhD is "Structures of Prejudice: the Journey of Antigypsyism in Ireland".
Well done and many congratulations on this wonderful achievement. 

Corporate Warriors’ and Nationalism in the 21st Century - Sinisa Malesevic

Professor Sinisa Malesevic from the UCD School of Sociology will present as part of the Trinity College Seminar Series 2017-18.
 
Corporate Warriors’ and Nationalism in the 21st Century

Date: Wednesday 13th December
Time: 15.00-16.00
Venue: AB5012, 5th Floor, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

All are welcome to attend.

Students from Critical Race & Decolonial Theories interview Ms Naledi Pandor South African Minister for Science & Technology

Students from SOC40930 Critical Race & Decolonial Theories and the UCD Decolonising the Curriculum Platform following their interview with Ms Naledi Pandor South African Minister for Science & Technology (4^th from left) and her delegation; in association with staff from the School of Sociology

MSocSc in Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies, the School of Physics/Space Science Group, and UCD Parity Studios.

UCD awarded the Minister an Honorary Doctorate of Science 6 December 2017

For more information see www.racemigrationdecolonialstudies.com
Contact Alice Feldman (alice.feldman@ucd.ie)
www.facebook.com/DecoloniseUCD

Congratulations to Lorenzo Posocco on passing his PhD viva

The School of Sociology would like to congratulate Lorenzo Posocco who passed his PhD viva on Tuesday.

The title of Lorenzo's dissertation was: "Exhibiting the Nation. Museums, Power, and National Mythology in Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule"

The PhD was jointly supervised by Dr Iarfhlaith Watson (UCD, Dublin) and Prof. Hamit Bozarslan (EHESS, Paris)

Come to study with us! Applications for our Masters programmes are now open

The School of Sociology at UCD is the largest such school in Ireland and is an excellent place for graduate studies. Applications are now open for our Masters Programmes, full time and part time. More info available by following the links below.

 

Masters in Sociology

Masters in Comparative Social Change

Masters in Crime, Violence and Conflict

Masters in Cultural Sociology

Masters in Health, Wellbeing and Society 

Masters in Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies 

Masters in Social Data Analytics 

The School of Sociology congratulates students for their recent publication in the College Tribune

The School of Sociology wants to congratulate Kimberley Hogan, Ume-Farwah Zahidi, Mark Guilfoyle, Sarah O’Loughlin, Anna Jibukhaia from Dr. Mathew Creighton’s module on the Sociology of Health and Inequality for their recent publication in the College Tribune - Obesity in Ireland: A problem or not? .  It is wonderful to see the future of sociology in practice! 

Professor Andreas Hess - School of Sociology will present as part of the Humanities Institute lunchtime seminar series on Thursday 30th November.

Thursday, 30 November 2017

HI Seminar Room H.204 @ 1.10pm

Professor Andreas Hess

School of Sociology 

“The Liquefaction of Memory: a critique of Zygmunt Bauman's diffusionist social theory” 

All welcome!

Difficult Encounters: Stops, Searches and Police Legitimacy - Professor Ben Bradford, University of Oxford

Difficult Encounters: Stops, Searches and Police Legitimacy 
Professor Ben Bradford from the University of Oxford will be presenting as part of the School of Sociology seminar series on Thursday 30th November at 1pm.
D418, Newman Building.
All are welcome to attend.

UCD Sociology students are participating in the SAI Annual Postgraduate Conference in Belfast this Saturday.

The Sociological Association of Ireland Annual Postgraduate Conference takes place in ​Ulster University, Belfast this Saturday 25th November 2017.

The UCD School of Sociology are delighted to announce that we have three current postgraduate students participating in the conference.

Marta Antonetti (UCD) Gender and Political Suitability in the Irish Dáil. - A Vignette Experiment on the Perception of Legislators’ Suitability for Office.

Philip Ryan (UCD) Joining the everyday nation: A study of naturalisation rates and attitudes towards immigration.

Amelie Aidenberger (UCD) The contagiousness of norm violations: A relational approach.

Best Wishes to all attending.

Can human rights defeat nationalism? Dr. Lea David - Thursday November 23, 1pm, D418, Newman Building. All welcome.

School of Sociology – Seminar Series 2017-2018           

           

Thursday, November 23^rd, 2017, 1pm, D418, Newman Building

Dr. Lea David – Marie Curie Research Fellow

Can human rights defeat nationalism?

The focus of this lecture is the way in which collective memory and memorialization processes are understood within the human rights centred ideology and how such understanding affects nationalism. The basic difference between human rights and nationalist understanding and promotion of memorialization processes is that human rights stand for world-wide inclusion of all people into one moral community, whereas nationalism presumes nationally bounded collectives. For the ideology of nationalism, historical memory is perceived in terms of continuity, provides legitimacy for sovereignty, however, human rights as the grand narrative in the world polity, has provided a new definition – that of coming to terms with (one specific version of) the past - by which collectives are supposed to remember, a phenomenon coined here as “memorialization isomorphism”. Memorialization isomorphism refers to the standardized set of norms, promoted through human rights infrastructures in the world polity, through which societies are supposed to deal with the legacies of mass human rights abuses. States, in particular weak and post-conflict states with troubled pasts, are expected to conform to the international human rights norms of facing their criminal past and becoming accountable for past massive human rights abuses.

I ask here how successful memorialization isomorphism is in promoting universalist human rights values and whether memorialization isomorphism is capable of harvesting micro-solidarity in order to become an ideological cement that can overcome nationalism. Since the experience of micro-solidarity is not instinctive but rather a function of an interpretation of symbols and history, I argue that in contexts within which ethnic symbols and collective histories have played immediate roles in conflicts, and were further legitimized and embedded by peace agreements and human rights institutions, it is nationalist apparatus which has become the ultimate factor in the processes of recollecting micro-solidarity. In other words, I argue that at the world polity level, human rights have produced a norm of memorialization isomorphism that does not actually lead to the advancement of human rights values but is instead likely to further promote nationalist ideologies. Finally, I suggest we look at the current reappearance of nationalism world-wide partially as a result of a graduate and accumulative process of standardization of memory - from “duty to remember” as a moral instance onto policy-oriented “proper way to remember” and try to assess the impact such process has on the perception of the “self” and “other”.

Rituals of Exclusion? Identity, Ideology and Inequality in the Centenary Commemorations of the 1916 Rising - Ryan Nolan

UCD School of Sociology – Seminar Series 2017-2018

Thursday, November 16th, 2017, 1.pm, D418, Newman Building
Speaker: Ryan Nolan, PhD candidate, UCD School of Sociology

Rituals of Exclusion? Identity, Ideology and Inequality in the Centenary Commemorations of the 1916 Rising.

Looking at Irish nationalism and the 1916 Centenary Commemorations, this paper will shed light on the role that nationalism has in sculpting the parameters of these commemorative events. This study will focus on the role that rituals, nationalism and commemoration have in the (re)production of solidarity, nationalist identity and the legitimation of social organisations, social hierarchies, and social inequalities. Examining speeches dated throughout the Centenary Commemorative year sourced from key social and political actors in Ireland, this paper argues that these commemorative events hold more relevant information about Ireland in 2016, than Ireland in 1916. Adopting the methodology of critical-discourse analysis this paper strives to uncover the latent influences and subtle alterations of history adopted in this commemorative period.

This paper attempts to unearth the significant role that elite representations of the Rising have in rewriting the past into a cleaner and more accessible narrative. A narrative which generates legitimacy for Ireland’s political elites through the construction of inconsistent ties with Ireland’s past. This paper exposes the politicization of Irish memory by the political elite in these commemorations, and details how Irish history has been distorted in the 2016 commemorations to specifically generate ties of legitimacy and allegiance between the contemporary political elite and the history, ideologies and philosophies of the 1916 participants. This paper suggests that the centenary commemorations of the 1916 Rising, speak more about the contemporary Irish social and political climate, than an accurate and objective reading of Ireland’s past.

Podcast with MA students and Kathleen Martin and Linda Murray

In this new episode of Dublin Calling, the students of our Masters module Critical Race and Decolonical Theories (taught by Dr Alice Feldman, UCD Sociology) talk with Prof Kathleen Martin, California Polytechnic State University and with Linda Murray, University of California in Santa Barbara. The podcast was recorded as part of the Masters module after a lecture given by Kathleen and Linda with the title 'Native Handprints: Photographs and Stories Written on the Land'.

'Morals and Markets' in Royal Irish Academy, Thursday 9th November

We are pleased to invite you to the event 'Morals and Markets' in the Royal Irish Academy on Thursday 9 November, 11am. The event is partly organized by Prof. Andreas Hess from the School of Sociology (UCD). All are welcome.

Dr. Grund featured in UCD Connections magazine on internationalization

The latest edition of the UCD Connections Alumni Magazine features an interview with Dr. Grund (School of Sociology, UCD) about life as an international scholar at UCD and about internationalization at university more generally.

Click here for full-size page.

Huge congrats to Dr. Andreas Hess for promotion to Professor

We are very happy to congratulate our colleague Dr. Andreas Hess for his successful promotion to the academic rank of "Professor" at UCD. Well done! Here is a link to Andreas' research profile.

Podcast specials with Michael Macy, Wander Jager and ESSA conference participants

In these three podcast specials our students talk with Prof. Michael Macy (Cornell University) about (un-)predictability, Dr. Wander Jager (University of Groningen) about challenges for the social simulation community and with participants of the Social Simulation Conference 2017 - the annual conference of the European Social Simulation Conference held in Dublin - about shirking, fake news and fish.

Podcast special with Jos Elkink on North Korea

In this podcast special of "Dublin Calling" we talk with Jos Elkink (UCD, School of Politics and International Relations) about defection from North Korea. The podcast was recorded at the Social Simulation Conference 2017, the annual conference of the European Social Simulation Association, which took place at UCD.

Podcast special with Rainer Hegselmann and Nigel Gilbert

Another podcast special of "Dublin Calling" from the Social Simulation Conference 2017. This time we talk with Prof. Rainer Hegselmann from the University of Bayreuth and with Prof. Nigel Gilbert from the University of Surrey. Both are eminent scholars in the field of Social Simulation.

Podcast special with Flaminio Squazzoni

New episode of "Dublin Calling" - the podcast series of the School of Sociology at UCD. This time directly from the Social Simulation Conference 2017, which was held in Dublin in September 2017. In this episode, our students Mark Doyle, Grainne McKeever and Barbara Moore together with our faculty member Dr. Thomas Grund talk with Prof. Flaminio Squazzoni from the University of Brescia. Flaminio has also been former president of the European Social Simulation Association.

Photos of Social Simulation Conference 2017

Here are some photos from the SSC2017 (www.sim2017.com), the annual conference of the European Social Simulation Association, which took place at UCD last week (25th-29th September 2017). The conference was a fantastic success and several members of UCD School of Sociology played a lead role in hosting the SSC2017 including Diane Payne, Thomas Grund and Pablo Lucas.

See also here for album on Flickr.

Guide: Adding Youtube Player to your site

Powered by flickr embed.

School of Sociology Seminar Series - Professor Robbie Shilliam, How 'Black Deficit' Entered the Academy

Professor Robbie Shilliam will be presenting as part of the School of Sociology Seminar Series on Thursday 19th October at 1pm in Theatre B129, O' Brien Science Centre North. The title of the seminar is ' How 'Black Deficit' Entered the Academy'. All are welcome to attend.

Event Reminder Wednesday 4th October: TCD/UCD Public Lecture Series with Professor Mike Savage - The Politics of Nationalism and White Racism in the UK

TCD/UCD Public Lecture Series 2017-2018

The Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD), has initiated a series of public lectures in which internationally acclaimed speakers will discuss contemporary sociological issues. The aim of this TCD-UCD Sociology Public Lecture Series is to promote informed and non-partisan debate and to offer new ideas on cutting-edge sociological issues including but not limited to responses to the current crisis. It provides a platform to deepen research and teaching synergies between TCD and UCD especially in light of HEA’s policy ‘Towards a Future Higher Education Landscape’. The series features two public lectures per term with one event hosted at TCD and the other at UCD.

Speaker: Professor Mike Savage (LSE)
Title: The Politics of Nationalism and White Racism in the UK 
Date and time: 4th October 2017, 7pm
Venue: Thomas Davis Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

AbstractProfessor Mike Savage
The rise of populist nationalism in many parts of the developed world testifies to the resurgence of fears around intensified immigration and the renewed power of racism. My paper draws on a mixed methods study of the National Child Development study to consider, in the British case, how racist and nationalist attitudes intersect with social inequalities. My paper disputes the view that racism as a product of the ‘left behind’ white working class. I emphasise the continued power of ‘imperial nationalism’ amongst economically advantaged white Britons, and draw attention to the anti-establishment nationalism of the most disadvantaged which need not have strong racist overtones. This inter-twining of racism with other social and economic inequalities is intense and has the potential to generate increasingly visceral and volatile forms of political identification.

Biography
Mike Savage is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics where he is also co-director of the International Inequalities Institute. His recent books include the co-authored, and best selling Social Class in the 21st Century (2015) and Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: the politics of method (2010).

https://www.tcd.ie/sociology/events/public-lecture-series/

Professor Siniša Malešević at the launch of “ The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence”

Professor Siniša Malešević from the School of Sociology pictured above at the successful launch of
 “ The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence”
The book was launched by Professor Sylvia Walby from Lancaster University last Wednesday 20th September in UCD. Thank you to all who attended.

The book is available to buy now through Cambridge University Press

The Social Simulation Conference 2017 will take place in UCD next week

The Social Simulation Conference 2017 takes place next week, it will be held in the O' Brien Centre in UCD, Dublin on 25 – 29 September, 2017

This is the 13th Annual Conference of the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA) which is the main European scientific society to promote social simulation and computational social science.

The aim of this international conference is to share and foster a deeper understanding of how complex social problems can be understood through computational simulations and techniques.
This year’s conference will explore the theme “Social Simulation for a Digital Society” through stimulating cross-disciplinary research and using applied and methodological tools in a transforming society.

Please visit the website for more information regarding the programme and speakers attending.

Life raft debate: Arts vs Science with Dr. Grund, today 6pm, Fitzgerald Chamber

Recent publications by faculty from the UCD School of Sociology

Recent publications by faculty from the UCD School of Sociology in the Journal of Visual Studies.

Introduction to a visual sociology of smaller nations in Europe
Gerard Boucher & Iarfhlaith Watson

Fortress Europe as Empire and Ireland’s National Diaspora Centre
Gerard Boucher & Iarfhlaith Watson

Review of The Political Theory of Judith N. Shklar: Exile from Exile, Palgrave Macmillan: New York by Andreas Hess
Reviewed by: Christian Dayé, University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Full review is available from SAGE Journals

Theorising Changes in Violence, a seminar by Professor Sylvia Walby and a book launch by Professor Siniša Malešević

Two events taking place tomorrow Wednesday 20 September,  School of Sociology

A book launch by Professor Siniša Malešević (UCD Sociology) "The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence" with Cambridge University Press. 

5pm in the UCD Common Room, B104, Newman Building

Also as part of the School of Sociology Seminar series

Theorising Changes in Violence by Professor Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)

3pm, D418, Newman Building

All are welcome to both events.

Dr Grund publishes new article on criminal networks

Dr. Thomas Grund (School of Sociology, UCD) just published a new article on criminal networks. The article can be accessed freely here.

Grund, T. and Morselli, C. (20017)  Overlapping crime: Stability and specialization of co-offending relationships. Social Networks, Volume 51, October 2017, Pages 14-22.

Abstract:

Dyadic analyses of relationships between criminals have mostly ignored the multiplex nature of criminal ties. This study attempts to provide a more complete assessment of co-offending networks by incorporating the different types of crime that relate individuals with each other. Drawing on a large dataset of arrests in Quebec between 2003 and 2009, we focus on co-offending stability and specialization and illustrate how co-offending networks based on different types of criminal activities overlap. We portray a pattern of co-offending, which extends debate of criminal specialization/versatility to the dyadic level. Our study illustrates the ways in which the frequency and spectrum of crime include a relational component. More generally, the article emphasizes the need to consider the semantics of network ties, and further, the association between different types of networks, which ultimately offers a reassessment of social structure.

TCD/UCD Public Lecture Series 2017-2018 - Professor Mike Savage, The Politics of Nationalism and White Racism in the UK

TCD/UCD Public Lecture Series 2017-2018

The Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD), has initiated a series of public lectures in which internationally acclaimed speakers will discuss contemporary sociological issues. The aim of this TCD-UCD Sociology Public Lecture Series is to promote informed and non-partisan debate and to offer new ideas on cutting-edge sociological issues including but not limited to responses to the current crisis. It provides a platform to deepen research and teaching synergies between TCD and UCD especially in light of HEA’s policy ‘Towards a Future Higher Education Landscape’. The series features two public lectures per term with one event hosted at TCD and the other at UCD.

Speaker: Professor Mike Savage (LSE)
Title: The Politics of Nationalism and White Racism in the UK 
Date and time: 4th October 2017, 7pm
Venue: Thomas Davis Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

AbstractProfessor Mike Savage
The rise of populist nationalism in many parts of the developed world testifies to the resurgence of fears around intensified immigration and the renewed power of racism. My paper draws on a mixed methods study of the National Child Development study to consider, in the British case, how racist and nationalist attitudes intersect with social inequalities. My paper disputes the view that racism as a product of the ‘left behind’ white working class. I emphasise the continued power of ‘imperial nationalism’ amongst economically advantaged white Britons, and draw attention to the anti-establishment nationalism of the most disadvantaged which need not have strong racist overtones. This inter-twining of racism with other social and economic inequalities is intense and has the potential to generate increasingly visceral and volatile forms of political identification.

Biography
Mike Savage is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics where he is also co-director of the International Inequalities Institute. His recent books include the co-authored, and best selling Social Class in the 21st Century (2015) and Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: the politics of method (2010).

Programme orientation for MSc Comparative Social Change students

Welcoming our new group of students onto the MSc Comparative Social Change programme. This programme is jointly delivered by UCD School of Sociology and Trinity's Department of Sociology.
Best wishes to all of our students with your studies in the year ahead.

World Vision Ireland and UCD School of Sociology invite you to the screening of "Human" Theater L, Thursday 21 September, 6.30pm

“HUMAN” A film by Mr. Yann Arthus-Bertrand is being

screened in UCD,

In celebration of International Day of Peace,

On Thursday 21 September 2017, at 6.30 pm at

UCD, Theatre L, Newman Building (ARTS BLOCK)

Please be seated by 6:15 p.m.

The film will be followed by a discussion.

RSVP: via EventBrite or wvIreland@wvi.org before 19 September as the space is limited. 

Free Entrance

Why Now?

Each year, #PeaceDay is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly of the United Nations has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.” This year the theme is “Together for Peace: Respect,

Safety and Dignity for All.” In an ever more divided society, where inhumane conflicts and crises are unfolding before our eyes, we may feel powerless. But... Could power be found by exploring what it

means to be HUMAN? Could this understanding help strengthen the unity of our fractured society?

This event is co-hosted by World Vision Ireland and UCD School of Sociology. All UCD staff and students welcome.

Associate Professor Kieran Allen has published a new book on Emile Durkheim

Associate Professor Kieran Allen (UCD Sociology) has published a new book together with Brian O’ Boyle (NUIG). The book is titled “Durkheim: A Critical Introduction”

Emile Durkheim, along with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is one of the three ‘founding fathers of sociology’. This is the first book to situate his sociology in the context of his republican politics, freeing his ideas from more conventional studies and allowing the reader to see his ideas afresh.

This critical introduction argues that Durkheim’s defence of Republican France in the 1890s had a considerable influence on his sociology, which cannot be fully understood when removed from its historical and political context. His dismissal of economic factors in suicide rates, the influence of his anti-feminist position on his findings on marriage rates, and the idealism behind his claim that religion is the key determinant in shaping society are all discussed.

Through analysing his writings, including The Division of Labour in Society, Suicide and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, this book provides a fascinating, critical counterpoint to the existing works on this key figure of sociology.

The book will be released by PlutoPress on September 20th, 2017 and is available to Pre-order here.

Seminar: Pathological Integration - How East Europeans Use Racism to Become British

UCD School of Sociology – Seminar Series 2017-2018

Pathological Integration: How East Europeans Use Racism to Become British
Dr. Jon Fox – University of Bristol

Thursday 14th September 2017, 1.00PM
D418, Newman Building

For the last decade, East Europeans have been quietly integrating into life in the UK. Part of this process entails learning to get along with their new neighbours, the diverse segments of the British population. But part of it also involves not getting along with certain neighbours. Integration isn’t confined to benevolent forms of everyday cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism, and conviviality; it can also include more pathological forms, like racism. Whilst integration is generally seen as desirable, the elements of acculturation it involves necessarily include the adoption of multiple practices and norms, including those deemed less desirable. The aim of this paper is to show how East Europeans in the UK have been acquiring specifically British competencies of racism. This doesn’t mean all East Europeans are racist or they always use racism; it does mean, however, that racism is one part of the integration equation. We focus on the racist and racialising practices of Poles, Hungarians, and Romanians in Bristol in the UK. These East Europeans are not simply deploying the variants of racism they learned and used in their countries of origin. Rather, they are learning to use new forms of racism that they have been acquiring since coming to Britain. (The paper is co-authored with Magda Mogilnicka).


All are Welcome!

The School of Sociology is delighted to welcome the new MSocSc Students for 2017

The School of Sociology is delighted to welcome the new MSocSc Students to their programme orientation this morning.
Wishing you all the best of luck with your studies during the year ahead.

Congratulations to former MSc Comparative Social Change student Niall Foster

The School of Sociology would like to Congratulate one of our former Students from last year's Comparative Social Change programme; Niall Foster. Niall has been selected as one of 7 Irish citizens to participate in the International Youth Development Exchange Programme, which is funded by the Japanese Government.

The programme will take place in Japan from the 26th of September to 11th October 2017. The purpose of the programme is to promote mutual friendship and understanding between Japanese youth and youth from overseas countries. Also, to nurture the development of global leaders for the future. It offers a unique opportunity for Irish youths to be introduced to Japan, it’s culture and its society while also fostering career development.

Congratulations Niall and best wishes on the trip!

Book launch: The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence

Professor Siniša Malešević (UCD Sociology) published the new book "The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence" with Cambridge University Press. The book will be launched on 20 September, 5pm in the UCD Common Room, B104, Newman Building, UCD. Everybody is welcome. 

Challenging the prevailing belief that organised violence is experiencing historically continuous decline, this book provides an in-depth sociological analysis that shows organised violence is, in fact, on the rise. Malešević demonstrates that violence is determined by organisational capacity, ideological penetration and micro-solidarity, rather than biological tendencies, meaning that despite pre-modern societies being exposed to spectacles of cruelty and torture, such societies had no organisational means to systematically slaughter millions of individuals. Malešević suggests that violence should not be analysed as just an event or process, but also via changing perceptions of those events and processes, and by linking this to broader social transformations on the inter-polity and inter-group levels he makes his key argument that organised violence has proliferated. Focusing on wars, revolutions, genocides and terrorism, this book shows how modern social organisations utilise ideology and micro-solidarity to mobilise public support for mass scale violence. 

Recent publications by faculty from the UCD School of Sociology

Recent publications by faculty from the UCD School of Sociology in the Journal of Visual Studies.

The Visual Studies Journal is a major international peer-reviewed journal published on behalf of the International Visual Sociology Association. The journal publishes articles that are visually-oriented across a wide range of disciplines. It represents a long-standing commitment to empirical visual research, studies of material and visual culture, the development of visual research methods and the exploration of visual means of communication about social and cultural worlds. 

Andreas Hess - Leadership in bronze democratising Bilbao’s public space. Journal of Visual Studies.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1472586X.2017.1358106

Marco Martiniello & Gerard W. Boucher – The Colours of Belgium: red devils and the representation of diversity. Journal of Visual Studies.

Siniša Malešević - From sacrifice to prestige: visualising the nation in 19th and 21st-century Serbia and Croatia. Journal of Visual Studies.

UCD School of Sociology Seminar Series 2017-2018

The UCD School of Sociology are delighted to welcome the above list of speakers as part of the Seminar Series 2017-2018. The first seminar by Dr Jon Fox from the University of Bristol entitled Pathological Integration: How East Europeans Use Racism to Become British will take place on Thursday 14th September at 1.00pm in D418, Newman Building.

The scientific programme for the Social Simulation Conference (SSC) 2017 available now to view and download

Scientific Programme* We're delighted to make the scientific programme for the Social Simulation Conference (SSC) 2017 available to view and download. Featuring top speakers, the ESSA@Work programme, workshops and an exciting social programme, we feel that SSC 2017 is not to be missed! *Programme correct at time of publishing, subject to change.

Download Programme

Final Reminder - Updates to your previously submitted paper. We would also like to remind you that an updates to your previously submitted papers must be made no later than August 11th. Updates are important for those wishing to be considered for our special edition publications - see website for more information.

Looking for student volunteers - Social Simulation Conference 2017

The Social Simulation Conference 2017 will be held in the O'Brien Centre in UCD, Dublin on
25 – 29 September, 2017.
This is the 13th Annual Conference of the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA) which is the main European scientific society to promote social simulation and computational social science.

The aim of this international conference is to share and foster a deeper understanding of how complex social problems can be understood through computational simulations and techniques.

We are currently looking for student volunteers to help at the conference.

If you would like to register for volunteering at SSC2017, go to

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/volunteersSSC

International Conference on Traditional & Alternative Medicine - St Thomas College Palai, India

Please see brochures below for information regarding the International conference on Traditional & Alternative Medicine – St. Thomas College Palai

In September Dr Ronnie Moore from the School of Sociology will be giving a series of papers at several universities in Kerala and North India.

St Thomas College Palai – Medical Sciences
Mahatma Ghandhi University – Medical Sciences – Key Note
Payyanur University Kunnur – Medical Sciences – Primary Speaker, Inaugurate Conference
University of Delhi – Social Sciences – Key Note

International Conference on Traditional and Alternative Medicine

Call for Papers and Programme Schedule

Congratulations to Clay Darcy for passing PhD viva

Congratulations to our current student Clay Darcy who passed his PhD viva this week, pictured here with Dr Alan Dolan, University of Warwick. The thesis is titled  "Here are the Drug Takers: Men, Masculinities and Illicit Recreational Drug Use" and was supervised by Dr Sara O' Sullivan. Below is an abstract of Clay's PhD dissertation.

Despite the significant gender disparity in Ireland’s illicit drug landscape, this thesis argues that, men’s gender invisibility has contributed to their predominance as drug users being overlooked and under-examined from a masculinities standpoint. To address this knowledge gap, the study makes visible men’s drug taking as a gendered activity, revealing how masculinities and men’s recreational use of illicit drugs converge. The research utilised a combined theoretical and analytical approach, incorporating masculinities theory as the primary lens, whilst also drawing from symbolic interactionism and sociological theories of drug use. The study employed a qualitative methodology. Nine focus groups were carried out with Irish men exploring their views on Irish masculinities and illicit drug use. In addition, twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with men who identified as illicit recreational drug users, exploring their drug taking histories and drug experiences.

This study revealed a complex tapestry of interwoven connections, symbolisms and meanings between masculinities and men’s recreational use of illicit drugs. The drug takers in this study used illicit drugs for a variety of reasons, some of which related to pursuing, maintaining or contravening conventional or hegemonic masculine behaviours. The research uncovered varied rationales for men’s drug taking, which provide new explanations for men’s propensity to engage in illicit recreational drug use. The central argument of the PhD is that illicit drugs are symbolic social objects that men can use to communicate messages about their masculine identity. By ascribing gendered meanings to their drug taking, men’s recreational use of illicit drugs becomes part of their gender performance. Thus, drug taking men can do masculinities by doing drugs. However, not all drug taking contributes to masculinities and not all men view drug taking the same way. Therefore this PhD argues, depending on the situated perception and interpretation of the observer, men’s drug taking can be perceived as enhancing and/or detracting from masculinities.