Give Theory A Chance

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Madeleine Pape, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Science in Human Culture program at Northwestern University. Madeleine introduces us to the work of Anne Fausto-Sterling and discusses how Fausto-Sterling demands a move beyond a strictly binary model of sex and encourages a shift away from static understandings of being. Madeleine also reflects on how discover Fausto-Sterling’s work was particularly impactful due to her own background as an elite athlete who competed for Australia at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2009 World Championships in Track and Field in Berlin.

In this episode we are joined by Jaclyn Wypler, a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jaclyn joins us to reflect on her shift from not being a fan of theory to being an organizer of the 2020 Junior Theorists Symposium. Jaclyn shares what her approach to theory and cookies have in common and uses her research on the experience of queer farmers in rural United States to demonstrate the value of a practice-oriented approach to engaging with the sociological canon.

In this episode we are joined by Ricarda Hammer, a PhD candidate in Sociology at Brown University and a Graduate Fellow at Brown’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Her work has been published in Sociological Theory, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Political Power and Social Theory, and Teaching Sociology.

Ricarda discusses the powerful insight Stuart Hall provides on a wide-range of sociological areas of inquiry including culture, identity, race, and rethinking the relationship between the metropole and the colony. Ricarda also reflects on joys and transformative experience of engaging with Hall’s work.

In this episode we are joined once again by Seth Abrutyn, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Seth joins us to discuss what sociology can potentially add to the public conversation that surrounds COVID-19. In our conversation, Seth touches on the value of a number of theorists including Emile Durkheim, Erving Goffman, Jaak Panksepp.

In this episode, Amy Guptill, Professor of Sociology at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, discusses her recent discovery of Niklas Luhmann and systems theory. In particular, Amy reflects on how Luhmann avoids some of the negatives associated with his intellectual mentor Talcott Parsons and provides a powerful tool to better conceptualize food production and consumption.

*This is the final of three GTaC episodes hosted by Alysha Rios, undergraduate sociology major at SUNY Brockport. Thanks Alysha.