Our Seminar Series 2024-2025
About our Seminar Series
The Department of Sociology & Criminology hosts a regular seminar series. This is a time for all of us (Staff and Postgrads) to come together and share our work and ideas with one another. We want to create a positive and encouraging atmosphere so that we can have some fruitful exchanges and really learn about what each of us are working on to create and contribute to an ongoing conversation. Seminars also help to establish good professional links and contacts, and just generally facilitate our department’s research community.
The seminars are open to all interested staff and postgraduate students from other departments in the university, and beyond.
Below is our programme for 2024-2025 - click on any date to go direct to details on that seminar.
All seminars take place in Safari G01 unless otherwise stated.
Oct 9th - Dr Gema Kloppe Santa-Maria (UCC)
Title: Violence, Religion, and the Secular: Towards a Decolonial Approach to Violence and Conflict in Mexico
Oct 16th 2024 - Dr Tom Boland (UCC)
Title: Iconoclastic Critics?: Understanding the ‘just like a religion’ critique.
Contemporary commentators, primarily on the broad right, tend to critique their opponents as being ‘just like a religion’, invoking figures of zealots, dogma, mantras, high-priests and so forth. While openness to debate is often a key value of these commentators, this discursive manoeuvre tends to position the other as an unthinking ideologue or a duplicitous manipulator. In books, articles, blogs and social media posts, this iconoclastic critique has become commonplace, disfiguring opponents as ‘post-modernists’, ‘critical social justice’ or ‘woke’ in a negative valance. These ‘iconoclastic critics’ position themselves as reasonable, dedicated to debate, and describe opponents via a dichotomy of ideology and critique, employing metaphors of depth. Crucially, they tend to distort or disfigure their opponents’ claims, redescribing them through religious metaphors. This analysis informs a reflexive consideration of critical discourse generally and considering the extent to which characteristics of this ‘iconoclastic critique’ are shared across political divides.
Nov 6th 2024 - Dr Julius-Cezar Macarie (UCC)
Title: Nightnography: We Are Not Night Creatures
This seminar talk is based on a book chapter ‘Nightnography: We are not night creatures’, published in Invisible Nightworkers in 24/7 London (MacQuarie 2023). This chapter is now available Open Access via CORA (Cork Open Research Archive), University College Cork. Download here.
Abstract: The chapter maps out the emerging sub-field in anthropology – nocturnal ethnography. Nightnography is a multi-mixed method that stems from anthropology. Nightnography, that is, in-person observation in the late hours after dark or at night (MacQuarie 2021; MacQuarie 2023), marks a radical departure from established diurnal work patterns in anthropology, not only because it approaches the participants through reversing the diurnal temporal axis – at night. But also, because it teaches how essential studying licit activities between sunset and sunrise is, as opposed to studying illicit ones through which people tried to make a living (such as theft, burglaries and prostitution), often associated with the night or darkness. This talk will show that nightnography is wide in scope, and that it can be used in many disciplines or fields, which use ethnographic approaches, such as geography, sociology, migration and business studies, by novice or seasoned researchers.
Nov 13th 2024 - Dr Robert Porter (University of Ulster)
Title: The University in Crumbs: A Register of Things Seen and Heard
Reading from his latest book, The University in Crumbs, 'Robert' will talk specifically, and somewhat parochially, about the place and purpose of critique in the contemporary academy, and make a bit of a tit of himself doing so. He will rant about how the very notion of critique is 'shot through with the logic of the commodity-form'. He will caustically describe the contemporary academy as a 'spectacle of disintegration'. He will dismiss critique in and of the academy as ' cynical', 'highly stylised' and 'mannerist'. In other words, 'Robert' will slip into his usual supposedly 'critical' academic persona, succumbing to the generic pull of a kind of 'slam-dunk philosophism' that is little more than diatribe.
Occupying a space in-between conventional scholarship and imaginative storytelling, The University in Crumbs: A Register of Things Seen and Heard is an experimental work that dramatizes the everyday life of the academy. Consisting primarily of a series of five first-person reports, Robert Porter, Kerry-Ann Porter and Iain Mackenzie provide the reader with a number of stories that attempt to capture some of their everyday experiences of academic life in the UK, roughly between 2017 and 2022.
Robert Porter is a social, cultural and political theorist at Ulster University and the author of seven books. His latest book, co-authored with Richard Ekins, is a sociology of popular music entitled: The Politics of Authenticating: Revisiting New Orleans Jazz. Currently, Robert is working on a new book looking at 'astrological reasoning' in various forms of organisational, cultural and political life.
Nov 19th - Dr Myles Balfe (UCC)
Title: Abjection in Nirvana’s In Utero
Nirvana's 'In Utero' was one of the most important Grunge albums, and albums more generally, of the 1990s. In Utero is much harsher and more abrasive than Nevermind. It's lyrics are also more idiosyncratic and darker. This seminar argues that the main theme of In Utero is abjection.
This seminar, like Nirvana's music, directly addresses the topics of suicide, illness, self-harm and sexual violence. Some listeners might find this upsetting.
Dec 4th 2024 - Dr Nadia Aghtaie (University of Bristol)
Title: Victim-Survivor and Practitioner Perspectives on Religious Arbitration within the Muslim Faith
Abstract:
This presentation examines the perspectives of victim-survivors and practitioners on religious arbitration within the Muslim faith, with a specific focus on Sharia councils in the UK. Drawing on two studies, the research explores how "justice" is understood, sought, and experienced by women engaging with these councils and the professionals supporting them. The findings suggest two key themes: (1) spiritual abuse, where religious teachings are misused to justify or perpetuate abuse, and (2) structural coercion, where systemic barriers compel women to use religious arbitration systems to achieve justice. These themes highlight the complexities faced by women navigating faith-based mechanisms in the UK and the broader challenges in ensuring their agency and equity in these processes. The presentation offers critical insights for policymakers, practitioners, and advocates working to address gender-based violence in faith-based contexts.
Biographical note: Dr Nadia Aghtaie is an internationally recognised academic specialising in violence, justice, and gender-based violence (GBV). Her research spans interpersonal, cultural, structural, and spiritual abuse, with a particular focus on the Muslim context. Dr Aghtaie is also an expert in participatory research methodologies and has extensive expertise in young people’s experiences of GBV. Her current project focuses on sextortion, further advancing the understanding of coercion and abuse in digital and social contexts.
Semester 2 - Date TBC - Dr Susannah Chapman (UCC)
Title: The Affective Relations of Loss: Respect and Abandonment in the Conservation/ Life and Death of “Agricultural Biodiversity”
Semester 2 - Date TBC - Dr Marina Bell (UCC)
Title: Carceral Abolition, Eco-Climate Justice, and the Role of Othered Knowledge Traditions
2023-2024 Seminars
10th June, 12-1.30pm, Askive G01, Professor Corinne Squire, Bristol University
Title: Supporting refugees into higher education: Oppositional and alter-political strategies
Corinne Squire is Chair in Global Inequalities at Bristol University, a co-organiser of the Association of Narrative Research and Practice, and coordinator of the UK Open Learning Initiative (OLive), a collaboration between Refugee Education UK and Bristol University. Her research interests are in refugee education and politics, narrative theory and practice, and HIV and citizenships. Recent publications include Stories changing lives (2021) and Researching family narratives (with Ann Phoenix and Julia Brannen, 2021).
2nd May, 12-2pm, Askive, G01, Professor Saara Liinamaa, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph, ON, Canada
Title: The New Spirit of Creativity: Creativity, Compromise and Cultural Workers
“They say artists don’t know how to compromise, but they don’t work here.” - Kat, study participant
How does the creative ideal of the passionate, uncompromising artist measure against contemporary cultures of work and bureaucracy? Based on fieldwork conducted at three art and design universities in Canada, this talk examines the day-to-day work, organization, and administration of artistic creativity and its clashes with a "new spirit" of creativity that has widely taken hold; the combined uncertainties of higher education and cultural work make for a volatile mix. For artists, designers, and other creative practitioners employed at these art schools, a day at work can involve quarreling over planning objectives, funding allotments, and evaluation formats. But that’s just the surface. More deeply felt, these workers must navigate heightened ambiguity around artistic identity and creative excellence. Against this context, in this talk I will explain how my recent book, The New Spirit of Creativity, rethinks the relationship between creativity and compromise in culture-based work and occupations. While creativity may be inequitably recognized and rewarded across the art school, compromise, given its close companionship with critique, can support or erode creative diversity.
Bio
Saara Liinamaa works in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph (ON, Canada). As a cultural sociologist her research combines interests in culture, creativity, and everyday life with published work on sociability in/and public space, migrant agricultural labour, cultural theory, and creative work and occupations. Her recent book, The New Spirit of Creativity was awarded the 2023 Canadian Sociology Book Award.
15th March, 12-1pm, Askive G01, Dr Nasrin Khandoker, Department of Sociology and Criminology, UCC
Title: Songs of Desire and Defiance: Subjectivity, Emotions and Authenticity in Bhawaiya Folk Songs of North Bengal.
Bhawaiya is one of the most popular folk song genres among Bengalis. While all Bangla folk songs express the emotions and the stories of the most marginal people, Bhawaiya is significant for expressing the female passion grounded in day-to-day material reality through the stories of the female subject of the songs. The passionate lyrics of Bhawaiya, when expressing love and desire for a woman’s lover, are not always bound to marital or ‘legitimate’ sexual relations. In this research, through the lens of these songs, I located those desires that often seem deviant but can defy normative control by constructing female subversive subjectivities. Through my ethnographical research of the ‘Bhawaiya people’, such as singers, producers, and researchers in the main Bhawaiya areas, I see how those emotions are evoked through performances and how they make connections between the performers and the listeners. Through these songs, I examined the subversive possibilities within Bangla folk songs for the people on the margins, tracing the construction of the perils and pleasures of sexual subjectivity through a variety of Bangla social-cultural fields.
28th November, 12-2, Safari G01, Professor Nicola Ingram, School of Education, UCC
Title: THE DEGREE GENERATION: THE MAKING OF UNEQUAL GRADUATE LIVES
Abstract: This seminar draws on a recent book which traces the transition to the graduate labour market of a cohort of middle-class and working-class young people who were tracked over seven years through their undergraduate and post-graduation lives in the UK. Its aim is to provide insights into the ways in which the dominant policy goals of social mobility and graduate employability are experienced by young people themselves. The book traces the unfolding of their young graduate lives, through analysis of a unique longitudinal qualitative data set gathered over a seven-year period. Using personal narratives and voices, it provides in-depth insights into the group’s experience of graduate employment and shows how life-course transitions are shaped by social background and education. Critically evaluating current government and university policies, the book explores the attitudes and values of this generation, their hopes and aspirations with regard to employment and their futures as graduates in a challenging socio-economic context.
24th November, 10-12, Askive G01, Professor Nicola Carr, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham
TIME, PUNISHMENT AND PROBATION
Time is a strangely neglected aspect in the study of punishment, despite its centrality to many philosophies of punishment, the imposition of criminal sanctions and the experiences of people subject to punishment. This presentation explores how the subject of time has featured across different criminological literature. This includes as as a structuring logic for punishment, and as a feature of the carceral experience. Looking beyond the prison, the presentation will also explore temporal aspects of community sanctions and measures through a focus on an empirical study of the use of pre-sentence reports in the Irish criminal justice system. Using the frame of the chronotope it will explore how the use of pre-sentence reports shifts the spatio-temporal logics of the court process towards a different sphere of governance.
Bio
Nicola Carr is a Professor of Criminology in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. She has recently co-edited (with Gwen Robinson) a book on Time and Punishment – New Contexts and Perspectives published by Palgrave. She is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Sociology and Criminology, UCC in Autumn 2023.
14th November, 12-2, Safari G01, Professor Louise Ryan, London Met University
Title: NAVIGATING THE HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT - AFGHAN EVACUEES IN LONDON
Following the dramatic evacuation from Kabul airport in August 2021, the British government proclaimed its commitment to a 'warm welcome' for Afghans. This paper draws on original qualitative research to explore the emerging experiences of evacuees, and other recent arrivals, during their first year in London. Using the narratives of our Afghans participants, as well as insights from key stakeholders, we show how they navigated slow, opaque bureaucratic processes and lack of communication with official agencies. As a result of these lengthy processes, many thousands of evacuees remained in temporary hotel accommodation for 2 years. The paper argues that the ad hoc response of the Home Office and the Foreign Office has created ‘false distinctions’ between categories of Afghan refugees, reinforcing notions of 'deserving' versus 'underserving' migrants. This distinction allows the British government to present itself as humanitarian, 'rescuing' people from Afghanistan, while simultaneously maintaining its commitment to the 'hostile immigration environment'.
This event is organised in collaboration with ISS21 https://www.ucc.ie/en/iss21/
Belonging and Narrative Symposium, ORB G027, 1-4pm, Sept 20th 2023.
- Professor Molly Andrews, UCL
- Professor Nira Yuval-Davis, UEL
- Professor Maggie O'Neill, UCC
- Dr Caitriona Ní Laoire, UCC
- Dr Ulrike M Vieten, Queens Belfast
- Dr Mastoureh Fathi, UCC
Programme available to download here: Programme for our Sociology Symposium Sept 20th 2023
2022-2023 Seminars
March 7th 2023
Dr John O'Brien, UCC: The Belfast Rape Trial: A forensic sociological analysis
Grit Hoppener (UCC)
February 22nd 2023
Dr Ulrike M Vieten, Queen's University Belfast, presented 'The Normalization of colonial continuity: anti-migration discourse and gender toxicology'
January 18th 2023
Dr Simone Varriale, Loughborough University gave a talk entitled Changing imaginaries of unequal EU migrations
The paper draws on a larger book project, titled Coloniality and Meritocracy in Unequal EU Migrations (Bristol University Press, 2013). The book is based on 57 biographical interviews with working-class and middle-class, White and Black Italian migrants, and with both migrant women and men.
November 16th 2022
Professor Brenda Murphy, University of Malta and UCC, gave a talk entitled Boundaried spaces and the pursuit of happiness feminist practices: from academy to activism.
2021-2022 Seminars
June 2nd 2022
Dr David Honeywell
Life After Prison: Liminality, identity and who gets to decide how 'moving on' looks like.
See our news item here for info and RSVP detail:
May 25th 2022
Book launch of Criminal Women - Gender Matters
See this listed in our news item https://www.ucc.ie/en/sociology/news/book-launch-criminal-women-gender-matters.html
May 9th 2022
Professor Gary Craig
The Racist Tail Wags the Welfare Dog
April 6th 2022
Diana Stypinska, NUIG
The pantomime of critique: On decadent indignation and the (im)possibilty of radical social change.
February 28th 2022
Lorraine Bowman Grieve (WIT)
Researching the Radical Right online: Stormfront and the Women's Forum
February 21st 2022
Professor Louise Ryan
Is it who you know?
Exploring the direct and indirect roles of social migrants' accessing labour markets
2020-2021 Seminars
29th March 2021
Professor Pádraig Carmody and Dr. Su-Ming Khoo
Revisiting Development Theories
24th November 2020
Dr Ebun Joseph, Ismail Einashe, Dr Jacqui O'Riordan and Dr Mike FitxGibbon
Migration, Race & Ethnicity
8th October 2020
Professor Ursula Kilkelly
Transforming Youth Detention: the Oberstown story? Making rights real in youth detention
2019-2020 Seminars
10th October 2019
Professor David Wall
‘Cybercrime Kingpins: The changing division of criminal labour within the modern cybercrime ecosystem’
19th November 2019
Dr Annie Cummins
‘Understanding the nature of play in after-school settings in Ireland’
3rd December 2019
Dr Tom Boland
‘Governing the labour market in the cargo-cult for full employment’
21st January 2020
Professor Louise Ryan
‘“Kilburn is not Kilburn any more”: an analysis of ageing in and out of place’
28th January 2020
Professor Arpad Szakolczai (UCC)
‘From Baudelaire through Picasso to Sartre: Scenes from the lives of the demonic avant-garde’
11th February 2020
Dr Richard Milner (UCC)
‘Narratives and Collective Learning Processes: how society makes sense of and responds to crises’
20th February 2020
Dr Aine Mangaoang (University of Oslo) and Dr Tom Western (University of Oslo and University of Oxford) ISS21 joint seminar with the School of Applied Social Studies.
"Music, Sound, and Power in contemporary places of detention"