| Dear ~~first_name~~,
If you find yourself in need of some light-hearted distraction in your life, and you are familiar with Twitter, we recommend you check out the Twitter hashtag #AusUniPetWars (#PetsOfSwinburne #PetsOfUSYD #PetsOfANU #PetsOfQUT #PetsOfUNSW #PetsAtLaTrobe #PetsOfUQ).
| TASA is Going Virtual (Letter from the President)
| We are living through a public health emergency unprecedented in our lifetimes. This has thrown our inherent connection and the inequalities that fracture our societies into stark relief. It is changing many aspects of how we live and work and it will change the way that The Australian Sociological Association operates.
TASA will be going virtual. Resources we put towards face-to-face activities will be redeployed towards virtual initiatives. Unfortunately, our 2020 TASA Conference scheduled for November at the ANU is postponed. We will announce a new date as soon as we can. Read on... | Health Sociology Review Special Section – Sociology and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
| The current pandemic is unprecedented in modern times. In view of this, Health Sociology Review (HSR) has asked Professor Deborah Lupton to guest edit a special section of a forthcoming issue of the journal on Sociology and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.
| TASA's inaugural all-member forum |
Roger Wilkinson, TASA's Digital Publications Editor, has started a forum for all members called, 'Doing Sociology in unsettled times'. The forum is open to all forms of communication including single line comments to longer pieces, images, videos, links & resource suggestions etc. Note, posts will be moderated.
Taylor and Francis are working to provide the research community with free access to COVID-19 research and to give support for remote and distance learning, including free access to ebooks. Details here. | TASA's inaugural lunch-time online seminar | To help keep TASA members connected to each other and the association, we are trialling a lunch-time webinar series. Details on the first session are provided below. The TASA lunch-time webinar series is free to members, and there is no need to RSVP. The webinar will also be recorded and uploaded to TASA’s YouTube channel. It may also be a useful learning source.
Ageism and COVID-19
Presenter: Peta Cook (Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania)
Thursday April 23rd, 12:30pm - 1:30pm (includes discussion/question time)
Via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/979751205
If you would like assistance with Zoom, please contact Sally or Roger ahead of the seminar | The International Sociological Association's 2020 Forum has been postponed | Introducing the incoming conveners for the
Critical Disability Studies thematic group:
|  | | Dr Lise Mogensen is a senior lecturer and researcher in the Western Sydney University School of Medicine, and the Translational Health Research Institute (THRI). Her research is typically interdisciplinary, using qualitative or mixed methods approaches. Lise has a particular interest in disability issues, and she has more than 20 years’ experience in working directly with people with disability personally, clinically and through research. She specialises in developing inclusive research methodologies with vulnerable populations, with focus on facilitating and enabling participation of people typically excluded from research, commonly with people with disability, children and youth. Lise’s research explores subjective understandings and experiences of health, and well-being, but also confronts ‘wicked problems’ in education such as widening participation, inclusion, and life transitions. She is frequently requested to consult on research methodology, and has delivered several invited keynotes, seminars and workshops in Australia, US and Europe on participatory research approaches. She has published her work in leading international journals including Sociology of Health and Illness, and is currently leading a co-edited book on the implementation of participatory research methods in a multinational, qualitative study on children’s understandings of well-being.
|  | Karen Soldatic is a founding member of the Critical Disability Studies Thematic Group and has been involved in TASA initially as a post graduate member since 2007 and has taken on different roles within the TASA Executive over the years including TASA Post Grad Rep (2013-14) and TASA TG Convenor (2015-16).
Karen's research focuses on social inequalities and social injustice particularly in fields of research concerned with disability, Indigeneity, race and migration, sexuality and gender, poverty and welfare. Research emphasis is on the critical intersectionalities across, within and between such regulatory categories and their implications for practices of social embodiment.
Karen Soldatic is now Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences & Institute Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. She was awarded a Fogarty Foundation Excellence in Education Fellowship for 2006–2009, a British Academy International Fellowship in 2012, a fellowship at The Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University (2011–2012), where she remains an Adjunct Fellow, and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2016–2019). | | |
Christina Ho (2020) Aspiration and Anxiety: Asian Migrants and Australian Schooling. Melbourne University Publishing. |  | The children of Asian migrants are often perceived to be perfect students: ambitious, studious and compliant. They are remarkably successful-routinely outperforming other students in exams, dominating selective school intakes, and disproportionately winning places at prestigious universities. While their hard work and success have been praised, their achievements have ignited fierce debates about whether their migrant parents are 'pushing too hard', or whether they ought to be lauded for their commitment to education. Critics see a dark side, symbolised by the 'tiger mother' who is obsessed with producing overachieving 'dragon children'. What is often missing in these debates is an understanding of what drives Asian migrant parents' approaches to education. This book explores how aspirations for their children's future reinforce their anxieties about being newcomers in an unequal society. Read on...
Note: As a special for pre-orders, the publisher is offering 15% off rrp $34.99 for orders of 2+ copies, plus free delivery to one address within Australia. To place an order, please email dominika.greinert@unimelb.edu.au.
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Rodriguez Castro, L. (2020) ‘‘We are not poor things’: territorio cuerpo-tierra and Colombian women’s organised struggles’, Feminist Theory. doi: 10.1177/1464700120909508.
| | Deborah Lupton (2020) Digital Food Cultures book now published. This Sociological Life, March 24. | Call for a new editorial team 2021 - 2024 | The TASA Executive seeks to appoint a new editorial team for the Journal of Sociology for the four-year term 2021–2024. The term of the current editors expires at the end of 2020, although copy for the first issue of 2021 will be organised.The journal receives financial and administrative assistance from TASA and from the publisher, Sage. Manuscript submission is done on-line through ScholarOne.
All members of the editorial team (Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors) must be TASA members and ideally will be located within a department of sociology or a School/unit that offers a major sequence of sociology, including doctoral studies. The Executive are willing to consider applications from an editorial team at a single university or a consortia of staff at two or more universities. Such consortia will be required to demonstrate that they have the capability to work effectively across locations. TASA will provide the Managing Editor with a complimentary TASA membership.
Expression of interest deadline: June 1. For the full details, read on... | Special Issue 2022: Call for Guest Editors | Kate Huppatz and Steve Matthewman invite expressions of interest to guest edit the 2022 Special Edition of JoS. Special Editions may address any sociological theme that is likely to be of interest to the Journal’s readership. Papers featured in special editions are subject to the normal process of peer review. Selection of papers and coordination of the peer review process will be the responsibility of the Guest Editors. Papers may be selected via invitation or a general ‘call for papers’ (organised by the guest editors). Final copy for this special edition is due on the third of September, 2021 and publication will be in March 2022.
Expressions of interest deadline: June 22. Read on...
| Health Sociology Review Special Section – Sociology and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
The current pandemic is unprecedented in modern times. In view of this, Health Sociology Review (HSR) has asked Professor Deborah Lupton to guest edit a special section of a forthcoming issue of the journal on Sociology and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.
| | The Jobs Board enables you to view current employment opportunities. As a member, you can post opportunities to the Jobs Board directly from within your membership profile screen. | | | | The Scholarships Board enables you to view available scholarships that our members have posted. Like the Jobs Board, as a member, you can post scholarship opportunities directly from within your membership profile screen. | | | | Other Events, News & Opportunities | Art/Research International special issue: Fiction as Research – Writing Beyond the Boundary Lines
| Guest edited by Dr Ash Watson and A/Prof Jessica Smartt Gullion
(Submission due June 1 2020; Anticipated publication date February 2021)
This special edition calls for submissions that progress the use and understanding of fiction in/as research. We seek authors who consider fiction in ways that move beyond translation, beyond instruction, and beyond utility. We invite contributions on fiction as research or fiction within the research process. We are particularly interested in ambitious pieces that attempt both – that creatively explore the complex relationships between practice (or method), form, theory, and context. That is, we seek pieces on or of fiction that offer critical analyses and consider the affordances and limitations of fiction in doing this work. Full call at https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/ari/index.php/ari/announcement/view/351 | Calling for members who have conducted research on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
| | We have a TASA member currently undertaking an Honours degree in Sociology at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Fran Collyer. Her thesis will be looking into current constructions, in Australia, of the illness known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS ). If you are currently researching or have previously undertaken social research about ME/CFS in Australia or know anyone that has, please contact Sally at TASA Admin who will put you in contact with the student. | National Library of Australia Fellowships
| Fellowships are open to researchers from Australia and overseas undertaking advanced research projects. Eight funded fellowships will be awarded for research areas where the Library’s collections have the depth to support the desired outcomes.
| ECR Publication Subsidy Scheme
| This publishing subsidy is designed to assist early career researchers working in Australian Studies.
International Australian Studies Association
Up to $1,500 in Award money
Closing Date: 5pm (EST), 30 June. Read on.... | Diversity and Work Atmosphere in Research Organisations
For an edited collection, the editors are seeking contributions that present empirical findings of a qualitative or quantitative nature on the relationship between an individual's diversity characteristics and his or her perception of working environment in research organisations worldwide.
| Reinventing Australia
The International Australian Studies Association (InASA)
Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, 30 November - 2 December
Postgraduate bursaries and ECR workshops on offer.
Submission deadline: extended to May 31. Read on...
We have been monitoring the covid-19 situation in Australia and around the world, and we are aware that a lot of conferences have been cancelled. As InASA 2020 is not scheduled until 30 November, we are still proceeding at this time. However, we would recommend that interested participants not make any travel arrangements yet.
Given the disruptions to universities and life globally, we are extending the deadline for abstracts until 31 May. You can submit abstracts and find all the conference information on our website here.
For postgraduate students, remember that we are also offering up to six travel bursaries to attend the conference. Details about the bursaries and how to apply are available on the conference website.
Finally, we are very excited to announce that the conference will be featuring a very special panel with Richard White (University of Sydney). Richard's book Inventing Australia inspired the conference theme, so we are very pleased that he will feature in a special panel which will celebrate the release of a new edition of Symbols of Australia. More details about that panel will be forthcoming.
For any queries relating to the conference, please email InASA2020@acu.edu.au.
In the meantime, everyone please take care - look after yourselves and each other.
| | TASA Documents and Policies | | You can access details of TASA's current Executive Committee 2019-2020 as well as documents and policies, including the Constitution, Code of Conduct, Grievance Procedures & TASA History. | | Accessing Online Materials & Resources | | TASA members have access to over 90 peer-reviewed Sage Sociology full-text collection online journals encompassing over 63,000 articles. The image on the left shows you where to access those journals, as well as the Sage Research Methods Collection & the Taylor and Francis Full Text Collection, when logged in to TASAweb. | | | Gift memberships are available with TASA. If you would like to purchase a gift membership, please email the following details through to the TASA Office:
1. Name of gift recipient;
2. email address of gift recipient;
4. who the Tax Invoice should be made out to.
Upon receiving the above details, TASA will email the recipient with full details on how they can take up the gift membership. You will receive the Tax Invoice, via email, after the recipient completes the online membership form. | | Contact TASA Admin: admin@tasa.org.au | |