The Department Alumni Night is Saturday night (I'll be the one drinking underneath the Indiana University banner). Wisconsin's party is Sunday. To my knowledge, the time and place of this year's Pub Sociology Blogtogether has not been announced.
(Note: I went to ASA my first year of graduate school, and then didn't go again for the next four years because so many the presentations I saw seemed so boring and uninstructive that I didn't understand the point of anyone's attending, ever. Then I started having friends finish their degrees and (especially after I started here) getting to know people who were housed at other universities. Now, even though I've mostly stopped referring to myself as a sociologist, I still wouldn't miss it!
I still must admit that I don't attend many sessions, and I have vowed that I will henceforth ever only go to sessions in which I'm already either personally or professionally familiar with an author of the presentation I'm attending. never let myself be lured into attending a talk on the basis of a title, as I've been disappointed by those decisions too many times in the past. At least in sociology but I suspect far more widely, it is a zillion times easier to come up with an interesting title than an interesting 20 minutes to follow it--and, yes, this is a sin I've been plenty guilty of myself, especially since I'm prone to try to save especially inauspicious presentations by giving them good titles and feel less compelled to do so when I either (a) think I might actually have something interesting to say or (b) want to drive down attendance.)
10 comments:
That schedule looks exhausting -- three sessions on Saturday alone!
perhaps "one of those" drinking under the IU banner would be more apt!
Tonya: What will actually be exhausting will be the socializing. The sessions will provide a nice diversion and respite, especially since I'm mostly just a presider/discussant.
Anon: True!
And this from a guy who pushes for further professionalization of the discipline?
The talks are sometimes fascinating and a great way to get interested in other avenues you might not have already considered!
No wonder you don't call yourself a sociologist any more, you're among the growing "uninterested in anything" in academia.
I don't know if I push for "further professionalization" in the discipline as I push against the "further erosion of professionalization." I also push against "hopelessly insular sociology" disguising itself as "public sociology." In any case, I'm interested in all sorts of things, and it would be great if I could satisfy those interests by browsing the ASA program and going to talks, but I have found that doing so has been mostly unsatisfactory in the past.
I much prefer specialty conferences over large umbrella organization conferences, and I suspect most people would agree with me. I think that's probably why almost everyone in your department loves the brownbag system, but hates the proseminar.
Apparently I'm part of the "almost", as I don't love the brownbag system. It's ok, though.
I suppose I should elaborate: I'd rather there were fewer brownbags, or if more brownbags didn't try to meet all 15 weeks.
You make it pretty easy for someone to stalk you.
I'm willing to roll the dice on not acquiring another stalker anytime soon.
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