I attended a day-long conference on Friday, March 6 put on by the Department
of Sociology and Social Work at NAU. This conference featured a number of
students and professors who shared their research relating to social science,
justice, and change. A few of these presentations were connected to the field
in which I’m researching, others did not have a direct connection with my
research goals but nonetheless provided valuable insight into community-based
research. Additionally, being able to see a number of research presentations
helped me to guide my ideas about how I will structure my own research
presentation at the end of this trimester. I’ve added my notes under the
presentations that I thought were particularly relevant or interesting.
Seminar
1: Racial and National Identities and Conflicts
“Perceptions
of undocumented-oriented organizational policies in Flagstaff” by Breton
Mackenzie, graduate student in Anthropology.
Important takeaways: recent
immigration laws like SB1070 illicit control through fear by creating an
atmosphere that reinforces discrimination against undocumented (and documented)
Mexican-American immigrants. Fear of deportation can lead to lack of community
participation and hesitance to use resources (ex: health resources).
“Native
American experiences with discrimination in reservation border towns” by Jeremy
Ashley, graduate student in Applied Sociology.
Important
takeaways: many Native Americans living in border towns face significant
disadvantages through discrimination and prejudice. Some of this discrimination
is manifested in the form of “racially motivated exclusion, racial
stigmatization, discrimination at work and school, racially motivated threats
and aggression, everyday discrimination, and discrimination in community places
and settings.” Racism and discrimination are also widely internalized. In the
reservation border town examined, Native Americans reported experiences with
discrimination the most or second most widely (African Americans and Native
Americans often reported similar frequency and severity of discriminatory
experiences).
Seminar
2: Pedagogical Explorations
“Place-based
consciousness and social transformation: Perspectives from the Flagstaff STEM
City” by B. Joby Hunt, graduate student in Anthropology.
“Consciousness
and social change” by Dr. Janine Schipper, Professor, Department of Sociology
and Social Work.
Important
takeaways: it is crucial that researchers identify the assumptions that they
hold. Once commonly-held assumptions are realized, they can be critically
examined and, if necessary, changed.
Keynote
Address
“Service
Sociology”, Dr. Javier Treviño, Wheaton College.
Important
takeaways: service sociology is defined by Dr. Treviño as “a sociology of
social problems intended to ameliorate conditions of life for those in need of
assistance, and to ensure and promote the welfare of the community. Motivated
by care and compassion a service-oriented sociology is aimed at helping people
meet their pressing social needs. As such, service sociology involves the
application of sociological knowledge combined with the expression of
humanitarian sentiment in neighborly service.” Specifically, service sociology
must emphasize equality, justice, and neighborliness. Service sociology must be
composed of facilitating actions, which require:
1. Care
and compassion
2. Caution
(due diligence)
3. Efficiency
and efficacy
4. Adaptability
5. Adequacy
and sustainability (focus on the future)
6. Non-maleficence
7. Want
for the action to occur
8. Need
for the action to occur
9. The
action must be ethical and humane
10. The
action cannot encourage the recipient in wrong
11. The
action cannot patronize (humility)
Service sociology must
promote self-determination.
Film
Screening
Workers
on the Rise, presented by Dr. MichelleTéllez,
documentary about the Arizona Worker Rights Center. An amazing documentary about amazing work! Watch here.
Seminar
3: Art and Culture
“Underground
sound in the land down under”, by Dr. Frederick Gooding, Jr., Assistant
Professor, Ethnic Studies; Matthew Brandel, Corbin Jountti, Andrew Shadwick,
and Bryantee Williams-Bailey, SBS students.
“Everything
but the funnel cake: Cultural expressions and the University of Puerto Rico
student occupation of 2010” by Katherine Everhart, Instructor of Sociology.
“Slam
poetry and emerging indigenous identities” by Amanda Brand, graduate student in
Applied Sociology.
Seminar
4: Gender and Sexuality
“Transgender
outside the city: Trans Masculine identity and the non-metropolitan gender
experience” by Lou Baker, graduate student in Applied Sociology.
“From
locked doors to locked screens: The implications of sexting as a gendered
performance of sexuality and privacy” by Amanda Brand, graduate student in
Applied Sociology.
“Urfĭ
marriage in Egypt” by Dr. Mohamed A. Mohamed, Assistant Professor of Sociology.
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