Socializer Fall 2011/Winter 2012
The
A Newsletter for Friends of the Western Michigan University Department of Sociology
“Almosting It” for Fun and Profit A review of a book by Lisa Randall (wonderfully titled, I worry that we—maybe me in particular in forums “Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific like this—both practice and encourage a lot of this Thinking Illuminate the Universe”) says that Randall, a kind of almosting it. The key signs this is happening are professor of physics at Harvard, does a great job of explaining unfortunately also the signs of humanistic writing— difficult issues in contemporary physics in ways that allow rhetorical flourish and a strong reliance on analogy. Analogy regular people to feel they get the gist of it. The reviewer calls is really the key—teaching and learning are generally this a sense of “almosting it” after Stephen Dedalus’ use of the based on understanding something (sort of ) new in terms term in describing a dream state in Ulysses. I often feel that I of something old and already (sort of ) understood. The am almosting it—that I have a vague but rich and satisfying necessity of this approach should not blind us to the danger sense of a deeper level of understanding—when I read that the superficial similarity gives rise to a sense of insight poetry, for example, or late 20th century French philosophy. to the new which is not, on closer scrutiny, deep, sustainable Friends tell me that meditation (particularly when coupled or what amounts to the same thing—useful. Sartre famously with a vegan diet) can also bring on such sensibilities and I said that his novels and plays were meant to be suggestive have no reason to doubt them. while his formally philosophical writing was intended to Now it may be that in dreams or love or enlightenment convey as clearly as was possible, precisely what he meant. (or in the comprehension of Hegel infamously (and perhaps ...the layperson after all can never really see the apocryphally) said that only one Derrida), all most of us ever get divine in its own terms but only through hints is a sense of being close, of what man ever understood him, and he and intimations... that mysterious essence is or misunderstood him. G.E. Moore must be like. An asymptotic or reportedly terrorized degree approximate approach to X—a candidates by interrupting and feeling of being in the gravity field of a black hole as it were, intently asking them, “Precisely, what do you mean by that?” but with no real sense, of course, of whether we are close at Aphoristic quotations, such as these, model the strengths all or what it would be like to live within a black hole—an and weaknesses of almosting it but also offer some concrete impossibility as far as anyone can tell, by the way. lessons. First, it is darn difficult to figure out what people The role that Randall performs here—giving the mean (what they intend) when they act and talk. Following uninitiated a sense of the secrets of the universe—is an Dilthey and Weber (and Husserl and Schutz) we sociologists ancient and honorable trade the successful practitioners of have particular responsibilities in this realm. So second, which are well rewarded—high priests, Harvard physics when we profess (our job title, we like to point out) on professors…the layperson after all can never really see one topic or another, we are obligated to make ourselves the divine in its own terms but only through hints and plain so that we may be judged. When we do so, we are far intimations, and that through the translations of the less likely to exceed our competence even if we are also less cognoscenti—“through a glass darkly” as Paul says. But likely to inspire. To be blunt, inspiration is not our primary almosting it implies another less honorable meaning. It responsibility. Like its close cousin cynicism, it is too close suggests comprehension at the “just enough to be dangerous” to the surface, too readily available to the young. As Weber level which is really no understanding at all. warned, there is a place for prophets—even a need—but it Continued on page 9
Faculty News
2 2
Faculty Presentations and Publications Our faculty continue to uphold their reputation for outstanding and numerous publications and presentations.
Angie Moe •
2011—Angela M. Moe, “Belly Dancing Mommas: Challenging Cultural Discourses of Maternity,” in C. Bobel & S. Kwan (Eds.), “Embodied Resistance: Challenging the Norms, Breaking the Rules” (pp. 88-98). Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press.
•
2011—Angela M. Moe, “‘If I wasn’t suicidal, that’ll drive you to it’: Women, Jail and Mental Health” in Jodie Lawston & Ashley Lucas (Eds.), “Razor Wire Women: Prisoners, Activists, Scholars & Artists” (pp. 115132). Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press.
Susan Carlson •
Susan was re-elected for a third term as treasurer of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, a national professional organization of scholar activists. http://www.sssp1.org.
•
2011—“Devastation in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a State Crime: Social Audience Reactions.” Kelly L. Faust and Susan M. Carlson. Crime, Law and Social Change 55:33-51.
•
2011—“An Analysis of the Mediating Effects of Social Relations and Controls on Neighborhood Crime Victimization.” Gayle M. RhinebergerDunn (Ph.D., WMU, 2003) and Susan M. Carlson. Western Criminology Review 12:15-34.
Yuan-Kang Wang •
“Taiwan’s Public Opinion and the U.S. Policy of Strategic Ambiguity,” paper presented at the American Association of Chinese Studies annual meeting, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (October 14-16, 2011).
Zoann Snyder •
“Mapping service learning for sociology: Is there an urban/rural divide?” presented with Jean Karlen. Society for the Study of Social Problems, Las Vegas, Nev., August 2011.
Continued on page 3
3
Chien-Ju Gu
Slava Karpov Slava Karpov has been working on the project "Secularism and its Adversaries," sponsored by The Bradley Foundation and carried out by an international team of researchers with Peter Berger as principal investigator (Boston University). Participants also include James Davison Hunter, Ilan Troen, and other well-known religion specialists. The project comparatively explores counter-secularizing forces and trends in the United States, India, Turkey, Russia, Israel and Western Europe. In this project, Slava is responsible for theoretical and conceptual framework. Expected outcomes include a book tentatively titled "Secularism and
its Adversaries." The project's first working meeting took place in Boston in September, 2011, and the next one will be in March, 2012. The collaboration with Peter Berger has developed since October 2010, when Karpov presented his theoretical work on desecularization (published in 2010 in The Journal of Church and State) at a presidential panel of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (Baltimore) with Dr. Berger serving as a discussant. Dr. Elena Lisovskaya, WMU professor of sociology, also presented her work on Russia's desecularization at this venue. Moreover, four of our graduate students, including Jake Armstrong, David Barry, Zhenia Leont’yeva, and Cindy Visscher, also presented at this conference and had an exciting informal, hour-long discussion with Peter Berger.
Ron Kramer
•
•
• Elizabeth Bradshaw and Ron Kramer recently published the article “U.S. State Crimes Related to Nuclear Weapons: Is There Hope for Change in the Obama Administration?” in the Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 35 (No. 3, August 2011): 245261. Ron has also recently published the following: “Curbing State Crime by Challenging Empire.” Pp. 442-453 in Walter DeKeseredy and Molly Dragiewicz (Eds.), “Handbook of Critical Criminology.” London: Routledge (2011). “Nuclear Weapons, International Law and the Normalization of State Crime.” (With David Kauzlarich). Pp. 68-93 in Dawn L. Rothe and Christopher
•
•
W. Mullins (eds.), “State Crime: Current Perspectives.” New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press (2011). “Empire and Exceptionalism: The Bush Administration’s Criminal War Against Iraq.” (With Raymond J. Michalowski). Pp. 94-121 in Dawn L. Rothe and Christopher W. Mullins (eds.), “State Crime: Current Perspectives.” New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press (2011). In early September Ron attended the 39th Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control at the Université de Savoie in Chambery, France. At the conference Ron presented a paper titled “Global Warming and Climate Change as State-Corporate Crime.” While in Europe, Ron was able to visit Baden Baden, Germany where his grandfather John Kramer was born. Continued on page 4
Faculty News
• Chien-Juh Gu presented a paper titled "Structurative Approach to Mental Distress," at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Las Vegas in August. • In May she was invited to serve as a discussant for the session "Negotiating Female Embodiment/Empowerment" at the annual meeting of the Association of Asian American Studies in New Orleans in May.
4
Elena Gapova
Faculty News
• Invited lecturer for “(Re)vision of Social Policy in Post-Soviet Space: ideologies, actors and cultures,” International Summer Institute, organized by Higher School for Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia, July 2011. • Invited presentations: “National Academia and International Recognition: On the Politcs of Knowledge Production.” Institute for International Relations and Political Science, Vulnius University, Lithuania. The talk was filmed and is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQwbvS0ptX0 Conferences: • Discussant, “After Chernobyl: Politics and Society” conference, Potsdam, Germany, April 2011. •
“‘The Party Solemnly Proclaims: the Present Generation of Soviet People Shall Live in Communism’: The Rhetoric of Utopia in the Krushchev Era.” Conference: SOTS-SPEAK: Regimes of Language Under Socialism. Princeton University. May 2011.
•
“Can Post-Socialist Intellectuals Establish a Hegemony of Their Own?” Conference: VIII Social Theory Forum: Italian Social Theory: from Antonio Gramsci to Giorgio Agamben. University of Massachusetts at Boston. April 2011.
•
Interview: On Post-Soviet Feminism. Snob Magazine (the photo: http://www.snob.ru/selected/entry/39607).
Publications: • “Anxious Intellectuals: Framing the Nation As Class in Belarus,” in Costica Bradatan, Serguei Oushakine (Eds.), “In Marx’s Shadow: Knowledge, Power and Intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Russia,” pp. 197-219, New York: Lexington. •
“Gender Studies as the Mirror of Post-Soviet Academia,” in Galina Komarova (ed.), Antropologiaa academicheskoi zhizni. Moscow: Institute of Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences. 2010. In Russian.
•
“What the Foucault: Body as the Site of Power.” Neprikosnovennyi Zapas, No. 76 (2011: 2). In Russian. (Intellectual journal similar to the New York Book Review). The article deals with the "semi-nude" calendar presented (by female journalists) to the Russian president Vladimir Putin for his birthday last fall.
Graduate Student News Jessica Edel, Ph.D. candidate, was hired as the executive director for SIREN/Eaton Shelter. SIREN is the only agency in Eaton County that offers emergency shelter, transitional housing, counseling, referral and education, and a 24 hour crisis line to families affected by domestic violence or homelessness (SIREN serves both populations).
The Group for the Study of Religion, Humanity and Social Change
"The Group for the Study of Religion, Humanity, and Social Change is based in the Department of Sociology of Western Michigan University, involving both faculty and graduate students, and works in close collaboration with scholars in the U.S. and abroad. The group's research focuses on the relationships of religiosity and spirituality with altruism, open-mindedness, and interfaith and interethnic tolerance and peace in the context of societal and global change. We comparatively assess these relationships across nations, cultures and traditions." Faculty members (alphabetical) David Hartmann Vyacheslav Karpov Elena Lisovskaya Yuan-Kang Wang
Lori Verspoor
Graduate student members (alphabetical) Jake Armstrong David Barry Tim Bauer John Chew Jessica Edel Zhenia Leont’yeva Melinda McCormick Rachel Schroeder Jessica Sullivan Jon VanWieren Lori Jo Verspoor Cindy Visscher
In October 2011 Lori Verspoor and Rachel Shroeder presented their work at the conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Milwaukee.
Research Interest Group
Pictured: 1st row: Zhenia Leont’yeva, Rachel Schroeder, Dr. Elena Lisovskaya, Cynthia Visscher. 2nd row: Dr. David Hartmann, Dr. Slava Karpov, Dr. Yuan-Kang Wang, Jacob Armstrong
5
Awards
6
Dr. Rudy J. Siebert accepts the Marvin Olsen Memorial Award from the Michigan Sociological Association
by R.J. Siebert Dear Friends : I would like to thank you for the Marvin Olson Memorial Award. I would like to receive this award, recognition and honor not only in my own name, but also in the name of my family, my friends, colleagues and students, who for five decades have cooperated with me in developing the critical theory of society and religion, here in Michigan, in the United States and globally—including particularly my longtime friend, professor Michael Ott, the center of our movement who presented me with this handsome plaque, and his family, and my student and friend Nicholas Budimir, who sits behind me. Nick always reminded me of the beautiful times I spent in Belgrade. He also made me forget that the Serbs shot at me in Dubrovnik during what the Serbs call the civil war, and what the Croats call simply the war. I had to use all the tricks I learned in World War II to escape. We octogenarians have many very strange and contradictory historical experiences. I would like to express my admiration for the Department of Sociology of Western Michigan University, which has allowed me to teach sociology courses for over four decades, and particularly the Michigan Sociological Association for their openness, tolerance and academic freedom in relation to contributions, which are not precisely mainstream, but which are called sometimes an alternative form of sociology and social science. I hope we shall be able to continue to cultivate this freedom into the future. Thank you so very much. R.J. Siebert
Please take a moment and look at my new Manifesto of the Critical Theory of Society and Religion: The Wholly Other, Liberation, Happiness, and the Rescue of the Hopeless http://www.brill.nl/manifesto-critical-theory-society-andreligion-3-vols
Welcome to the Fall Graduate Students
7
7
New Graduate Students
Professional Involvement
8
WMU Represented at American Criminological Society Association Meeting Elizabeth Bradshaw Panel Co-Chair, “Bridging the Gap: The Greening of State Corporate Crime.” Author, “Deepwater, Deep Ties, Deep Trouble: An Environmental StateCorporate Crime Analysis of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.” Co-Author, “Representing the United States Border Patrol.” Roundtable Discussant, “Annual Workshop on State Crime.” Co-Author, “Bridging the Gap: The Greening of State Corporate Crime.” Carrie Buist Roundtable, “You Won’t Forget Me: Personal Narratives of Women in Policing.” Author, “In Session Submission: Theorizing and Employing Qualitative Methods in Law Enforcement Research.” Co-Author, “Sex Preference, Race and Class and Sexual Assault.” Co-Author, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Susan Caringella Author, “The Top Ten Tips for Tenure Candidates.” Author, “Perceptions of Crime and Justice/Media and the Social Construction of
Crime.” Author, “Crime, Justice, and Gender: Media Constructions.” Co-Author, “An Analysis of Rape Coverage in Women’s Magazines: Dimensions, Advice, Myths.” Author, “Causes of Crime and Criminal Behavior/ Critical, Conflict and Feminist Perspectives.” Session: Tenure Workshop: “The Top Ten Tips for Tenure Candidates.” Susan M. Carlson Co-Author, “Historical Contingency in State Crime: Sorting Out Expectations of the State.” Co-Author, “State Crime, Genocide, and Disaster.” Roundtable Chair, “Bridging the Gap: The Greening of State Corporate Crime.” Panel Session: Author, “Putting the ‘Crime’ in Environmental Crime: Issues and Inconsistencies within Environmental Law.” Jackie Doyon Panel Co-Chair, “Bridging the Gap: The Greening of State Corporate Crime.” Author, “Putting the Crime in Environmental Crime: Issues and Inconsistencies within Environmental Law.”
Kelly Faust Session,“State Crime, Genocide, and Disaster.” Co-Author, “Historical Contingency in State Crime: Sorting Out Expectations of the State.” Author, “Comparative and Historical Perspectives/ Historical Comparisons.” Whitney D. Gunter Co-Author, “Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying: Two Sides to the Same Coin?” Author, “Understanding the Influence of Media on Violence: Testing the Causal Effect on Real-Life Behavior.” Co-Author, “ Understanding the Influence of Media on Violence: Testing the Causal Effect on Real-Life Behavior.” Author, “Tests of Self-Control Theory III.” Gregory J. Howard Co-Author, “Representing the United States Border Patrol.” Author, “Presentations of Law Enforcement in Various Media Outlets.” Karolina Jedzrejczak Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Author, “Hook-Up Culture Norms and Rape Myths on Campus.”
Continued on page 9
Matthew J. Klepac Co-Author, “Representing the United States Border Patrol.”
Lisa Marie Kruse Co-Author, “The Impact of the Level of Education on Recidivism of Offenders Released from Jail.” Co-Author, “Representing the United States Border Patrol.” Roundtable, “Critical and Cultural Perspectives on Crime.” Author, “What Contributions Can Criminology Make to the Study of Media in the Twenty-First Century?” Co-Author, “ In Session Submission: Education, Reentry, and Recidivism.”
Tasha Nicole Turner Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Author, “Administrative Views on Sexual Assault Policies on Campus.”
Amanda Cally Meyer Co-Author, “An Analysis of Rape Coverage in Women’s Magazines: Dimensions, Advice, Myths.” Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Author: “Publishing on Rape: Academic Coverage versus Popular Women’s Magazines.”
Andrew Verheek Author, “The Impact of the Level of Education on Recidivism of Offenders Released from Jail: Findings from the Transition from Jail to the Community (TJC) Initiative.” Panel Co-Author, “Measuring System Performance: System and Client Level Outcomes from the TJC Initiative Research on Pretrial Outcomes.” Author, “The Impact of Pretrial Supervision on the Sentencing of Felony Offenders in a Midwestern County.”
Rachel Ross Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Author, “Causal Contrast on Rape: Excuses Such as Token Resistance and Miscommunication Excuses in Opposition to Gender, Power, Culture and Masculinities Perspectives.”
Codie Wedge Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Co-Author, “Sex Preference, Race and Class and Sexual Assault.” Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.”
“Almosting it…” continued from page 1
is not at the lectern. Rather better for my students to precisely get what I am driving at, limited and mundane as it almost certainly is, than to feel they are almosting the truth that only I can reveal and only they can receive. There is a positive message behind and pushing forward this overtly negative analysis—that we, personally and as a discipline, have indeed much to say, offer, claim. We should not be afraid to think we
know something even as we work very hard to secondguess and critique—to strictly limit—what we think we know. There are no shortcuts to knowledge and the only certainty about a scientific claim is that it will someday be rejected. There is comfort in ambiguity and in the preemptive rhetorical strike but precious little nourishment for either the curiosity or the material and ethical needs that justify our inquiry.
9 Professional Involvement
Ronald Kramer Author, “‘This Was a Crime’: Analyzing Global Warming and Climate Change as State Corporate Crime.” Roundtable Discussant, “Annual Workshop on State Crime.” Author: “Bridging the Gap: The Greening of State Corporate Crime.”
Kathyrn Kucyk Roundtable, “On-Going Research on Rape and Sexual Assault.” Author, “Men’s Groups, Backlash and Fighting Against Rape.”
10 Our newest Ph.D. graduate Dr. Carrie Buist 2007—M.A.—Criminology Criminal Justice, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich. 2011—Ph.D.—Criminology, Sociology, Gender and Feminism, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Mich. 2011-Present—Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, N.C.
Alumni Spotlight: Kimberly (Frankel) Levin (1980): Criminal Justice major, Biomedical Sciences minor Married (Kenneth), two children (Emily 13 and Daniel 11) Live in West Bloomfield, Mich. levink2@yahoo.com Worked as an inhouse consultant and project manager for a medical claims processing software vendor; current profession: homemaker. Heather Krestick (2011): Criminal Justice major Graduate school at Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, Ohio, Criminal Justice. Rebecca Mancilla (2011): Social Psychology major Graduate school at University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, studying sociology and social psychology. Married to Dan Mancilla who is a graduate student in the Department of English at Western Michigan University.
For more alumni news, see the WMU College of Arts and Sciences alumni newsletter here: www.wmich.edu/cas/alumni/newsletter/
11 We want to hear from you!
ALUMNI News
Alumni Information Update
Our strong suit is our alumni. In each issue, we will focus on YOU, so PLEASE consider yourself selected for upcoming issues. We enjoy receiving your announcements: marriages, job changes, presentations, promotions, advanced degrees, etc. All you need to do is fill out any portion of the form below (with a picture, if possible) and send to ann.browning@wmich.edu, or mail to Newsletter Editor, Department of Sociology, 2406 Sangren Hall, 1903 West Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5257. Name ________________________________ _Email ________________________________________________ Home address ________________________________________________ City___________________________ State________Zip____________________ Home phone ____________________________________________
Employer ____________________________ Job title_______________________________________________ If alumni, degree and year: ____________________________________________________________________ Tell us more about yourself, and/or what you would like to see in future newsletters: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________
Western Michigan University Department of Sociology 2406 Sangren Hall 1903 West Michigan Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5257 Or complete your update on the website at: Official WMU Alumni Update here:
www.wmich.edu/friends/
Yes, I want to support the WMU Department of Sociology! I wish to contribute to the further success of Western Michigan University’s Department of Sociology. Your gift is important to our campus community. Your gift will benefit new opportunities to enhance the department’s teaching or research efforts or will assist students in achieving their educational and professional goals. Your contribution will be processed through our WMU Foundation, and forwarded to the designated department. Please accept my gift in the amount of:__________ ___Check payable to WMU Foundation (please designate Department of Sociology on memo line) ___Credit card (check one)
___Mastercard ___Visa
Account #:___________________________________ Expiration date:_______________________________ Three-digit code:______________________________ Signature (required):____________________________ ___Electronic Funds Transfer (instructions will follow) Please mail this completed form, along with your gift to: Western Michigan University WMU Foundation Office 1903 W. Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5403 ___Please contact me about my giving plans. Name:_________________________________________ Phone Number: (_____) __________________________ Email: _________________________________________ socnwl
Department of Sociology Western Michigan University 1903 W. Michigan Ave. 2420 Sangren Hall Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5257 (269) 387-5270