With apologies for cross posting
8th Annual Conference of the
European Sociological Association
Glasgow, 3rd - 6th September, 2007
Biographical perspectives on European Societies Research Network
(Chair: Dr Robin Humphrey, Newcastle University, UK)
SECOND CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
The Research Network welcomes abstracts from researchers using biographical approaches for any of the sessions outlined below. Individual paper submissions, indicating the preferred session, should only be sent through the official form available at http://www.esa8thconference.com/abstractsubmission/index.php <https://owa.ncl.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.esa8thconference.com/abstractsubmission/index.php> before 15 February 2007. Abstracts can only be accepted through completion of the online submission form, and submission in any other form will be declined. Session organisers will then evaluate the proposals and notification of acceptance will be sent out by 15 April 2007.
The Arts and Biography
Session Convenor: Brian Roberts, University of Glamorgan, UK [log in to unmask]
This session will examine the range of artistic possibilities for the communication of biographies by individuals and the representation of the biographies of others by researchers. The areas to be addressed could include poetry, dance, theatre, music and art in relation to biographical research The session will reflect the rise of interest in the idea of performance and performative biography and the range of issues that are raised by exploring the communication and representation of lives in moving beyond the 'traditional' modes of the transcript and text (academic articles, books).
The Internet and Biographies
Session Convenor: John Given, University of Northumbria, UK
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The web has allowed a dramatic increase in the forms, audience, and interest - by academics and non-academics - in the exploration of biography and its construction. Biographical' work' on the internet can range from genealogical research into origins to discussion groups and weblogs. The internet raises questions concerning archiving and access, deception and revelation and has implications for how research is conducted. Wider issues are also implicated relating to the political and social effects of web use, including the social and personal relations that are developing on the internet.
Transnational Biographies
Session Convenor: Peter Meylakhs, Centre for Independent Social Research, Russia [log in to unmask]
This session reflects the growth of migration and other forms of transnational movement by individuals and groups. It will attempt to draw out the implications of transnational movements for biography and identity formation - a transnational biography. Issues here can include the interrelation of biography, space and time; biography, ethnicity and social change; the possibilities and limitations of transnational research; hybridity and identity construction; and ethnic and national affiliation. This topic has an important social and political relevance at a time when questions of identity formation and attachment are to the fore.
Biography and Ageing
Session Convenor: Robin Humphrey, Newcastle University, UK. [log in to unmask]
This session examines the shifts in how individuals understand and relate their lives according to the life course. An emphasis here could be on the later parts of life - as life span expansion is increasing giving greater numbers of the population in 'retirement' with a resulting debates concerning health and social support, work life, and political change; for example, what will be the cultural, social and political effects of the 1960s 'generation' reaching retirement? Other concerns of the session could focus on the life course of the researcher and how he or she understands 'biography' - and how 'interviewees' perceives the researcher according to the latter's age; the relation between memory, ageing and identity change; how ageing alters social and familial relations; and how ageing may be related to differing perceptions of the body, sexuality and the emotions.
Biography, Risk and Uncertainty (with RN 'Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty')
Session convenors: Jens O. Zinn (University of Kent, UK) and Robin Humphrey (Newcastle University)
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Biographical research and risk research are two rising stars of sociological and interdisciplinary research which converge in many respects. In risk research the pressing question on the factors how people perceive and respond to risk recently developed greater interest into narrative and biographical research since risk perceptions research, the psychometric paradigm and rational action approaches showed significant weaknesses. How current activities and orientations are embedded in the accumulation of experiences during the course of one's life is the central focus of biographical research. In this perspective risk perception and coping with risk is part of the overall management of one's life and its miseries and therefore only understandable against the background of one's biography embedded in a socio-historical context. Papers are welcome which examine people's everyday management of risks in a biographical perspective.
Doing Biographical Research in the Baltics and with Balts in exile
Convenors: Aili Aarelaid-Tart (Tallinn University, Estonia) and Li Bennich-Björkman (Uppsala University, Sweden)
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The Baltic states are the only territories of contemporary EU which once belonged to the USSR. Both the demolishing of independent statehood in the 1940s and its restoring in 1991 are reflected in the life stories of the people who stayed in the homeland, fled to the West or migrated as Russophones into the Baltic area looking for better life conditions. We claim that the discrepancy between lived lives and told lives is more dramatic after such deep, comprehensive and radical social changes experienced such as the beginning and the end of Soviet occupation. Our assumption is that the told lives of the Balts (the Baltic Russian) are more nation-minded and more commiserate in their style of performance than is usual in Western Europe. We encourage the presentation of papers analysing specifics of the life stories of previous Soviet persons as well as exiled Balts in Europe, America and Australia. Also, biographical self-presentations of living in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as Russians could be the topic of our session. Very welcome are papers concerning the lives as they have been lived and told in the whirling transitional years 1991-2006.
There will also be a joint session with the newly-formed Evolution and Biography research stream, organised by J.P. Roos. J.P. and I would like to stress that ALL new approaches are equally welcome in the session, and we would like to call the session 'New Approaches to Biographical Research.
Individual paper submissions, indicating the preferred session, should only be sent through the official form available
at http://www.esa8thconference.com/abstractsubmission/index.php <https://owa.ncl.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.esa8thconference.com/abstractsubmission/index.php> before 15 February 2007.
With best wishes
Robin Humphrey
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