We were very excited to hear that Cheng-Heng Chang, one of our graduate students, has won a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, a program of the Social Science Research Council. Cheng-Heng will be studying agricultural practices of Japanese farmers at Osaka University.
Cheng-Heng is the latest in a long line of our graduate students who have attracted external support for their research. Clearly, our students are on the cutting edge of sociologlical research!
Congratulations, Cheng-Heng!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Professor Asef Bayat Describes "Non-Social Movements"
Professor Asef Bayat delivered the Sociology Department's annual Florian Znaniecki Lecture to a large audience drawn from all across campus. Professor Bayat joined us from Leiden University where he is a chaired Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as the Academic Director of the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World.
Entitled "Social Non-Movements: The Politics of Everyday Life in the Middle East," Professor Bayat's lecture described the activities of 3 different "non-movements" -- poor people, Muslim women, and young people who create social change simply by developing new, transformative social and cultural practices in their everyday lives. These groups mostly lack the self-consciousness and purposive motives normally associated with activists in social movements. But by "quietly encroaching" on public spaces, people in these groups make demands on society that reflect changing social values.
Although Professor Bayat's research has focused on the Middle East, I was struck by the relevance of his talk for understanding similar phenomenon here in the US, where many movements have made the claim that "the personal is political." We sometimes think of these movements as "identity-based," where activists encourage people to make changes in their personal lives that challenge existing power relations. So, for example, LGBT movements encourage people to "come out" to their families and friends, and years ago, activists helped same-sex couples develop the legal instruments that mimicked marriage. Indeed, "private" arrangements have developed into claims on the state -- for state-recognition of the right to marry. But these claims originated in the changes that people made in their daily lives as they tried to reach their goals.
We were lucky to have Professor Bayat offer us all such a thought-provoking talk and a spirited discussion! Thanks to all who made his visit such a rousing success!
Entitled "Social Non-Movements: The Politics of Everyday Life in the Middle East," Professor Bayat's lecture described the activities of 3 different "non-movements" -- poor people, Muslim women, and young people who create social change simply by developing new, transformative social and cultural practices in their everyday lives. These groups mostly lack the self-consciousness and purposive motives normally associated with activists in social movements. But by "quietly encroaching" on public spaces, people in these groups make demands on society that reflect changing social values.
Although Professor Bayat's research has focused on the Middle East, I was struck by the relevance of his talk for understanding similar phenomenon here in the US, where many movements have made the claim that "the personal is political." We sometimes think of these movements as "identity-based," where activists encourage people to make changes in their personal lives that challenge existing power relations. So, for example, LGBT movements encourage people to "come out" to their families and friends, and years ago, activists helped same-sex couples develop the legal instruments that mimicked marriage. Indeed, "private" arrangements have developed into claims on the state -- for state-recognition of the right to marry. But these claims originated in the changes that people made in their daily lives as they tried to reach their goals.
We were lucky to have Professor Bayat offer us all such a thought-provoking talk and a spirited discussion! Thanks to all who made his visit such a rousing success!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Welcome to the Sociology Department Blog
Welcome to the Sociology Department at the University of Illinois! Our students and faculty study some of the most pressing questions facing society today -- the challenges of globalization, the persistence of racism in social arrangements, the experiences of immigrants, and the complexity of social factors that affect health and the environment. And we'll be using this blog to keep you up to date with faculty research, developments in our curriculum, and our students' accomplishments.
This week, we're excited about welcoming prospective graduate students to campus. Graduate students are crucial to the intellectual life of our department. Their scholarly interests and energy often inspires us to press our own research in innovative directions. Undergraduates across campus benefit from our graduate students' skills as teachers. So we look forward to meeting the next wave of graduate students and welcoming them to the department.
For our part, we offer our graduate students a unique environment where they can develop a rich scholarly agenda. Our graduate students learn the breadth of research methodologies that sociologists rely on. We have many interdisciplinary connections -- our faculty have positions in every area studies center on campus; they have appointments in units including Gender and Women's Studies, the Law School, the Center on Health, Aging, and Disability, the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, and other departments, including History, Geography, African-American Studies, and Latino/a Studies. These interdisciplinary networks provide students with opportunities to develop innovative research designs on the cutting edge of scholarship.
As a result, our graduate students have been extremely successful at attracting external support for their research. They have sought and received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council, in addition to Dissertation Completion Grants from the University to support their graduate work. In fact, Cheng-Heng Chang has just received an SSRC fellowship -- congratulations Cheng-Heng!!
So we're looking forward to meeting our prospective students and introducing them to the expansive opportunities for pursuing a Ph.D. in the Sociology Department at Illinois.
This week, we're excited about welcoming prospective graduate students to campus. Graduate students are crucial to the intellectual life of our department. Their scholarly interests and energy often inspires us to press our own research in innovative directions. Undergraduates across campus benefit from our graduate students' skills as teachers. So we look forward to meeting the next wave of graduate students and welcoming them to the department.
For our part, we offer our graduate students a unique environment where they can develop a rich scholarly agenda. Our graduate students learn the breadth of research methodologies that sociologists rely on. We have many interdisciplinary connections -- our faculty have positions in every area studies center on campus; they have appointments in units including Gender and Women's Studies, the Law School, the Center on Health, Aging, and Disability, the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, and other departments, including History, Geography, African-American Studies, and Latino/a Studies. These interdisciplinary networks provide students with opportunities to develop innovative research designs on the cutting edge of scholarship.
As a result, our graduate students have been extremely successful at attracting external support for their research. They have sought and received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council, in addition to Dissertation Completion Grants from the University to support their graduate work. In fact, Cheng-Heng Chang has just received an SSRC fellowship -- congratulations Cheng-Heng!!
So we're looking forward to meeting our prospective students and introducing them to the expansive opportunities for pursuing a Ph.D. in the Sociology Department at Illinois.
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