EU Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction Conference 2023 Cardiff University (July 5th -7th 2023) #sssi #conference #eusssi #sociology

Symbolic interactionism has a longstanding history of engaging with issues of social justice and equality. Contemporary research and theory has increasingly dealt directly with various forms of discrimination and exclusion demonstrating the strong potential of symbolic interactionism to engage with, document, and support efforts at affecting social change and realising social justice based aims. Through gaining “intimate familiarity” (in Kathy Charmaz’s words) and developing theory that is sensitive to the local conditions of inequality and division, social processes rather than obdurate social structures are revealed. In this way, such analyses can reveal where the cracks in unevenly organised and experienced societies might be found and where possibilities of hope can emerge. What seems to be clear is an increased recognition that a contribution to furthering social justice is both a possible and, even, preferred destination for symbolic interactionist studie

The conference invites participants to discuss research relating to both symbolic interactionism of social justice and symbolic interactionism for social justice in whatever form that may take. The conference is therefore an opportunity to generate productive dialogue relating to potential directions of travel for an interactionism that fully engages with challenges and contexts for achieving social justice in contemporary society. As always, the conference also welcomes papers and panels that demonstrate the state-of-the-art in symbolic interactionist (and aligned) research and theory.  

We are delighted that the conference will feature keynote speakers Black Hawk Hancock and Emma Engdahl, as well as an address from our own Paul Atkinson and Sara Delamont. There will also be a pre-conference workshop on Grounded Theory (4^th July) delivered by Thaddeus Muller. 

Abstract and Panel submission deadline: 31^st March 

Please email EUSSSI23@cardiff.ac.uk
Registration details to follow 

SSSI 2023 – Helena Lopata Excellence in Mentoring Award – Call for nominations (deadline: April 15th, 2023)

All nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination and, (b) multiple letters of support, ideally from people with different mentoring relations with the candidate, that testify to a sustained career of outstanding mentorship. Please submit these materials by April 15, 2023 to the chair of the committee (David Schweingruber).

Chair:            David Schweingruber (dschwein@iastate.edu)

Committee:   Margarethe Kusenbach (mkusenba@usf.ed)

                      Eric Silva (eosilva@georgiasouthern.edu)    

SSSI 2023 – Kathy Charmaz Award – Call for Nominations #sssi #emca #sociology #awards

The Kathy Charmaz Early-In-Career Award Committee recognizes junior scholars’ contribution to the field of symbolic interaction and potential. The award specifically honors those scholars who have made significant contributions within the first ten years since the completion of their PhDs. Nominations are made through support letters sent (by SSSI members) to the chair of the award committee. Support letters should include the following information: the candidate’s most noteworthy research and publications thus far; contributions to symbolic interaction; and the candidate’s CV.

All nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination detailing the candidate’s contributions to symbolic interaction and most noteworthy research and publications thus far, (b) letters of support that address the award criteria, and (c) the candidate’s CV. Please send this to the chair (Alexandra Vinson) by April 15, 2023.

Chair:           Alexandra Vinson (ahvinson@med.umich.edu)

Committee:  Deana Simonetto (dsimonet@mail.ubc.ca)

Christopher Schneider (schneiderc@brandonu.ca)

Current Situation at Memorial University of New Foundland #strike

Strike at MUN!  Memorial University of Newfoundland’s faculty association, MUNFA, has been working in good faith with Memorial University over an extended period of time to reach a fair deal for faculty.  In an era of top-heavy universities, burgeoning with upper administration, rather than with faculty and the social project of knowledge, working conditions have deteriorated and precarious academic life is normalized.  Symbolic Interaction’s editor-in-chief, Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott, is a member of MUNFA and is currently on strike with her union.  SSSI supports MUNFA and urges Memorial University of Newfoundland, and indeed all public universities, to consider the inappropriateness of “management” mindsets and to remember that faculty and students are the heart of the university.  In solidarity!

Until a fair deal is reached, I urge you to contact the following individuals to voice your support for a fair deal at MUN so that we can end our strike:

·       President and Vice Chancellor Dr. Vianne Timmons Tel: 709-864-8212 Fax: 709-864-2059 Email: president@mun.ca or vtimmons@mun.ca

·       Provost and Vice-President Dr. Neil Bose 709-864-8246 Email: vpacad@mun.ca or nbose@mun.ca

·       Vice-President (advancement and external relations) Lisa Browne Tel: 709-864-8012 Email: vpaer@mun.ca or lisa.browne@mun.ca

·       Vice-President (Grenfell Campus) Ian Sutherland Tel: 709-639-2545 Email: isutherland@mun.ca

·       Premier of Newfoundland Labrador Andrew Furey  Tel: 709-635-0132 Fax: 709-635-0133 Email: premier@gov.nl.ca or andrewfurey@gov.nl.ca

·       Minister of Education John Haggie Tel: 709-256-3729 Fax: 709-256-1410 Email: johnhaggie@gov.nl.ca

SSSI Annual Meetings 2023 in Philadelphia (Call for Papers) #sssi #sociology #conference

Dear SSSI Members,

Happy New Year, on behalf of the SSSI Executive Council and the organizing committee for the 2023 Annual Meetings!

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions for the 2023 Annual Meetings to be held in Philadelphia, August 15-17.

The theme of the Annual Meetings is “Interdisciplinary encounters: Influence, identity and dialogue in Symbolic Interactionist research” and our Keynote speaker will be Professor Adele Clarke. The full call for papers is attached. Please feel free to share with your colleagues and students and please submit single/co-authored submissions here: https://forms.gle/pxCQ73Nu138mdibz7

by April 17, 2023

We look forward to seeing you all in Philadelphia!

Best wishes,

Stacey Hannem

Secretary, SSSI

SSSI Notes Vol.51 No.1 is out! #sssi #sociology #symbolicinteraction

The newsletter can be downloaded by clicking HERE or on the image below.

CfP – SSSI Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (15 – 17 August 2023) #sssi #sociology

SSSI Annual Meeting,

West Chester University

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

15^th-17^th August 2023

Call for Papers

Interdisciplinary encounters:

influence, identity and dialogue in Symbolic Interactionist research

Keynote address: Professor Adele Clarke, UCSF

Symbolic interactionism (SI) occupies an ambiguous position within academic communities of practice. At times both marginalised and mainstream, its relation to other disciplines, perspectives and intellectual traditions is open to interpretation and appraised with different meanings. One view is that SI has benefited from the influence of adjacent fields of study and is harmoniously integrated within broader knowledge realms. We have learned from philosophy, psychology and linguistics, and cooperate productively with the sociologies of gender, health, ethnicity, technology and crime. Another view is of SI as the deviant underdog of social theory, ousted from contemporary trends. Micro-sociology is often frustratingly misunderstood as being unconcerned with matters of structure and power. We are, in Fine’s terms, a ‘tiny public’ with a distinct idioculture, yet remain curious and outward-facing.

All of this raises questions of scholarly identity, group membership and territorial self-definition. Goffman was famously reluctant to align himself with the interactionist tradition, preferring to cite research from anthropology, ethology and economics. Others, including Becker, Maines and Lofland, proudly embraced the professional role-identity, claiming SI as their intellectual home. The career of Kathy Charmaz demonstrates a third stance. From an initial position of ambivalence and scepticism, she gradually shifted her perspective and later keenly adopted the role. Like all symbolic objects, therefore, SI as an emblem or label carries contingent, negotiable meanings. 

We invite reflections on academic self-identification, disciplinary allegiance, interdisciplinary alliances, boundaries and identity work. These may include personal stories grounded in auto/biography, genealogical maps of career trajectories, reviews of influential and inspirational sources, and critical analyses of intellectual traditions. What place does SI hold in relation to other perspectives: how open are its borders and how permeable are its walls? What forms of dialogue do we practice when we talk of interaction, and whose voices can be heard in conversational inquiry?  

We invite papers related to this theme, as well as papers on other aspects of interactionist theory and methods. We also encourage suggestions for roundtable panel discussions on relevant topics or influential scholars.

• Self-identity, scholarship and disciplinary allegiance
• (Auto)biographical accounts of academic career trajectories
• Reflections on interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research
• Social exclusion, diversity, belonging and recognition
• Individual and group identity processes
• Local worlds, public tales and collective stories
• Identity politics, rights and social justice
• Negotiated and contested meanings in the interaction order
• Difference, division, marginalisation and stigma
• Intimacy, emotions and relational selfhood
• Mental and physical health, illness, embodiment and disabilities 
• Narrative identity and the storied self
• Geographies of place, space and social mobility

Proposals should include:

• Title of paper/session
• Name, affiliation and job title/position of all contributors
• Contact information for presenter/organiser (name, institution, and email)
• Abstract (200 words maximum)
• Relevant conference theme or keywords

Deadline: April 17^th 2023

Please submit single/co-authored submissions here: https://forms.gle/pxCQ73Nu138mdibz7

If you have proposals for themed sessions or panels, please contact Dr. Julie West (JWiest@wcupa.edu), or Professor Susie Scott (s.scott@sussex.ac.uk).

Organising committee members:

Tony Puddephatt (President)

Susie Scott (Vice President)

Thaddeus Muller (incoming President)

Natalia Ruiz Junco (Past Vice President)

Julie Wiest (Local member)

Stacey Hannem (Secretary)

Jill Crocker (Treasurer)

Dr. Beth Montemurro, Penn State University, Abington

Dr. Liz Hughes, Penn State University, Abington

Extended Deadline: EU SSSI CONFERENCE 2023 – July 5th – 7th, Cardiff University – Symbolic Interactionism for Social Justice: Dialogue and Directions for Social Change #sssi #conference #sociology

The submission deadline is 31 March 2023

Cardiff University
July 5-7^th 2023

EUSSSI23@cardiff.ac.uk

Symbolic interactionism has a longstanding history of engaging with issues of social justice and equality. Whether that be from initial attempts to research social issues and division from ‘real world research’, and the activities engaged in by Jane Addams and other women of the Chicago School in particular, research on social movements and social change, through to contemporary research and theory that deals directly with various forms of discrimination and exclusion – symbolic interactionism has a strong potential to engage with, document, and support efforts at affecting social change and realising social justice based aims. Through gaining “intimate familiarity” (in Kathy Charmaz’s words) and developing theory that is sensitive to the local conditions of inequality and division, social processes rather than obdurate social structures are revealed. In this way, such analyses can reveal where the cracks in unevenly organised and experienced societies might be found.  

Questions of the potential of symbolic interactionism to meaningfully engage with issues of social justice seem to turn on how far we have come down the road travelled so far. It might be argued that, given a relative paucity of discernible victories, we might need to take stock and consider a change of direction. Tavory and Fine, for example, have written of the possibility of a revisited and revised interactionist imagination which draws from cultural studies to better understand the (re)production of social inequalities. Other scholars have proposed a dialogue, if not incorporation, with more structural analyses of power. Others still continue to highlight the strengths of an ‘unapologetic’ interactionism; a revitalised and confident practice which already contains the tools for a contribution to social justice aims. Whatever the disagreements might be about the route taken to get there, what seems to be clear is an increased recognition that a contribution to furthering social justice is both a possible and preferred destination for symbolic interactionist studies.

The conference theme invites participants to discuss research relating to both symbolic interactionism of social justice and symbolic interactionism for social justice in whatever form that may take. The conference is an opportunity to generate productive dialogue relating to potential directions of travel for an interactionism that fully engages with challenges and contexts for achieving social justice in contemporary society.

We welcome thematic sessions and individual papers that either tackle a particular aspect of social justice from different perspectives or cases, or those that draw from a range of different research to consider how interactionism might contribute to realising social justice in a particular case. Overall, we intend the conference to be a consideration of how symbolic interactionism might offer hope in an inequitable world.

We look forward to welcoming you to Cardiff!

The conference committee welcomes submissions of organised panel sessions and individual papers on topics including, but not limited to:

• Social movements, their organisation and potential
• New forms of discrimination and division
• Overcoming difference and distance
• Race, racism, and interaction order
• Rights and relations of sex, gender, and sexuality 
• Urban conflict and urban conviviality
• Disabled bodies and the interaction order
• New developments in symbolic interactionist theory
• Health, illness, and medicine
• Mental health in local and global worlds
• Pregnancy, family, and reproductive justice
• Intimacy, emotion, and care work
• Work, capitalism, and labour relations
• New forms of inclusion, exclusion, and discrimination in digital societies
• Climate action, environmental inequalities, and planetary justice

We welcome any submissions related to symbolic interactionism, including those that do not directly fit the conference theme but still cultivate fresh ideas and thinking. We also ask that organisers give due consideration to the diversity of experience and background and include a range of contributors in their panels.

Proposals should contain:

• Title of session/paper
• Name, affiliation, and job title/position of all contributors
• Contact information for session organiser/presenter (name, institution, and email)
• Abstract (500 words maximum for session overview. Titles and very brief outlines of individual contributions where possible)
• Keywords (5 maximum)

Please submit panel proposals by Friday 31st March2023 to: EUSSSI23@cardiff.ac.uk

EU SSSI 2023 Conference committee:

Dr Robin James Smith

Dr Gareth Thomas

Patrik Dahl

Patricia Jimenez

Kirsty Stuart Jepsen

Dr Jonathan Ablitt

Dr Joe Williams

Prof William Housley

CfP Qualitatives/Couch-Stone Symposium 2023 (June 14 – 16), University of British Columbia-Okanagan Kelowna, BC

The 39th Annual Qualitative Analysis Conference and Couch-Stone Symposium of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction – University of British Columbia-Okanagan, Kelowna, BC – June 14-16, 2023

Abstract to be submitted online by December 1, 2022

You can submit your abstract here:   https://www.qualitatives.ca/submit-abstract and get more information about the conference here:  https://www.qualitatives.ca/home

“Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn …

The extent to which this generation of circles, wheel without wheel, will go, depends on the force or truth of the individual soul.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Circles, 1841.

The metaphor of the circle is a powerful one, in life, intellectual ideas, and indeed, in our world of interpretive theory and qualitative research. As Emerson reminds us, our circles of comprehension provide a sense of completion and wholeness, yet nature, no less the obdurate empirical social world we study, often refuses to remain within their limits.[1] Our traditional paradigms may thus require revision and extension as we grapple with emergent problems and issues. Circles may also stand as useful representations of cultural symbolism and forms of social organization, such as collaborative circles, social/intellectual circles, and broader circles of influence through subcultures and networks. We often use circles as tools to map the structures and dynamics of the social worlds we study.[2] If the circle points to social, virtual and conceptual space, then the wheel points to the progress of our perspectives over time. It is often important to revisit and challenge old (and new) ideas across generations, and similar patterns can be seen within our own research projects. For example, Kathy Charmaz emphasized the need to revisit field sites, qualitative data, and conceptual codes and theories, putting them in creative dialogue to generate novel insights and breakthroughs.[3] 

Finding inspiration in the metaphor of the circle, we invite a range of theoretical, methodological, and empirical papers under the broad umbrella of interpretive and qualitative research. How do our theoretical perspectives invite us to draw conceptual boundaries, which provide resources but also create challenges in the face of emergent data? How might the metaphor of the circle help us to understand the social and cultural makeup of the groups we study? And, how do our ideas evolve, through dialogue with old and new thinkers over generations, but also in the process of our own emergent research projects? We invite papers on this theme, but also welcome submissions on all aspects of interpretive theory and qualitative research from a broad range of academic disciplines. 

Abstracts can be submitted online at www.qualitatives.ca/submit-abstract. If you have any questions, please contact us at thequalitatives@gmail.com. See you in Kelowna in 2023!

Deana Simonetto, University of British Columbia

Stephanie Awotwi-Pratt, University of British Columbia

Jeffrey van den Scott, Memorial University

Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott, Memorial University

Steven Kleinknecht, Brescia University College

Antony Puddephatt, Lakehead University

Foroogh Mohammadi, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Pouya Morshedi, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Katie Steeves, Trinity Western University

[1] Herbert Blumer (1969) often discussed the “obdurate” nature of the empirical world, which could talk back and resist our designations, in his book Symbolic Interactionism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[2] Adele Clarke (2005) Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

[3] Kathy Charmaz (2014) Constructivist Grounded Theory, 2^nd Edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; see also Stefan Timmermans and Iddo Tavory (2014) Abductive Analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Calls SSSI for Award Nominations

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I’m pleased to share with you that the nominations for the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction’s annual awards are now open. Please submit your nomination(s) directly to the relevant committee chair and committee members via email. Please note that different awards will have different deadlines and instructions for submission. Thank you to all of our committee chairs and members for their service in adjudicating these awards.

Herbert Blumer Award for Best Graduate Student Paper in Symbolic Interaction

Please submit an electronic copy of the paper to be considered to the chair of this committee (Robert Scott) by April 1, 2023. 

Chair:                Robert Scott(Robert.scott@colorado.edu)

Committee:       Ken Hanson (khanso17@uwyo.edu)

                          Daina Harvey (dharvey@holycross.edu)

Kathy Charmaz Early-in-Career Award

All nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination detailing the candidate’s contributions to symbolic interaction and most noteworthy research and publications thus far, (b) letters of support that address the award criteria, and (c) the candidate’s CV. Please send this to the chair (Alexandra Vinson) by April 15, 2023.

Chair:           Alexandra Vinson (ahvinson@med.umich.edu)

Committee:  Deana Simonetto (dsimonet@mail.ubc.ca)

                    Christopher Schneider (schneiderc@brandonu.ca)

Charles Horton Cooley Award for Best Recent Book in Symbolic Interaction

Nomination deadline: March 3, 2023. Copies of the books must be received by the committee by the deadline. If you are submitting a nomination for the Cooley Award, please ensure that you contact the publisher as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for copies of the books reach the committee. Electronic copies are permitted and are preferable where shipping will cause delays.  Nominated books must have been published within the three preceding years of the award (March 2020 to March 2023).

Chair:            Michael L Walker (walkerml@umn.edu) 

Committee:   Scott Grills (grillss@brandonu.ca)

                      Heather Shay (heather.shay@mtsu.edu)        

                      Amanda Gengler (gengleam@wfu.edu)

Helena Lopata Award for Excellence in Mentoring

All nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination and, (b) multiple letters of support, ideally from people with different mentoring relations with the candidate, that testify to a sustained career of outstanding mentorship. Please submit these materials by March 1, 2023 to the chair of the committee (David Schweingruber).

Chair:            David Schweingruber (dschwein@iastate.edu)

Committee:   Margarethe Kusenbach (mkusenba@usf.ed)

                      Eric Silva (eosilva@georgiasouthern.edu)     

George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement in Symbolic Interaction

Mead award nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination from a current member of SSSI, (b) at least two letters of support, and (c) a current CV. Nominations should be sent to Michael Johnson, the chair of the committee, by January 27, 2023.

Chair:            Michael Johnston (johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu) 

Committee:   Eviatar Zerubavel (zerubave@sociology.rutgers.edu)

                      Lori Holyfield (lholyfie@uark.edu)

More information about the awards and criteria can be found at: http://symbolicinteraction.org/awards-distinctions/

Best wishes,

Stacey Hannem, Secretary, SSSI

EU SSSI CONFERENCE 2023 – July 5th – 7th, Cardiff University – Symbolic Interactionism for Social Justice: Dialogue and Directions for Social Change #sssi #conference #sociology

Cardiff University
July 5-7^th 2023

EUSSSI23@cardiff.ac.uk

Symbolic interactionism has a longstanding history of engaging with issues of social justice and equality. Whether that be from initial attempts to research social issues and division from ‘real world research’, and the activities engaged in by Jane Addams and other women of the Chicago School in particular, research on social movements and social change, through to contemporary research and theory that deals directly with various forms of discrimination and exclusion – symbolic interactionism has a strong potential to engage with, document, and support efforts at affecting social change and realising social justice based aims. Through gaining “intimate familiarity” (in Kathy Charmaz’s words) and developing theory that is sensitive to the local conditions of inequality and division, social processes rather than obdurate social structures are revealed. In this way, such analyses can reveal where the cracks in unevenly organised and experienced societies might be found.  

Questions of the potential of symbolic interactionism to meaningfully engage with issues of social justice seem to turn on how far we have come down the road travelled so far. It might be argued that, given a relative paucity of discernible victories, we might need to take stock and consider a change of direction. Tavory and Fine, for example, have written of the possibility of a revisited and revised interactionist imagination which draws from cultural studies to better understand the (re)production of social inequalities. Other scholars have proposed a dialogue, if not incorporation, with more structural analyses of power. Others still continue to highlight the strengths of an ‘unapologetic’ interactionism; a revitalised and confident practice which already contains the tools for a contribution to social justice aims. Whatever the disagreements might be about the route taken to get there, what seems to be clear is an increased recognition that a contribution to furthering social justice is both a possible and preferred destination for symbolic interactionist studies.

The conference theme invites participants to discuss research relating to both symbolic interactionism of social justice and symbolic interactionism for social justice in whatever form that may take. The conference is an opportunity to generate productive dialogue relating to potential directions of travel for an interactionism that fully engages with challenges and contexts for achieving social justice in contemporary society.

We welcome thematic sessions and individual papers that either tackle a particular aspect of social justice from different perspectives or cases, or those that draw from a range of different research to consider how interactionism might contribute to realising social justice in a particular case. Overall, we intend the conference to be a consideration of how symbolic interactionism might offer hope in an inequitable world.

We look forward to welcoming you to Cardiff!

The conference committee welcomes submissions of organised panel sessions and individual papers on topics including, but not limited to:

• Social movements, their organisation and potential
• New forms of discrimination and division
• Overcoming difference and distance
• Race, racism, and interaction order
• Rights and relations of sex, gender, and sexuality 
• Urban conflict and urban conviviality
• Disabled bodies and the interaction order
• New developments in symbolic interactionist theory
• Health, illness, and medicine
• Mental health in local and global worlds
• Pregnancy, family, and reproductive justice
• Intimacy, emotion, and care work
• Work, capitalism, and labour relations
• New forms of inclusion, exclusion, and discrimination in digital societies
• Climate action, environmental inequalities, and planetary justice

We welcome any submissions related to symbolic interactionism, including those that do not directly fit the conference theme but still cultivate fresh ideas and thinking. We also ask that organisers give due consideration to the diversity of experience and background and include a range of contributors in their panels.

Proposals should contain:

• Title of session/paper
• Name, affiliation, and job title/position of all contributors
• Contact information for session organiser/presenter (name, institution, and email)
• Abstract (500 words maximum for session overview. Titles and very brief outlines of individual contributions where possible)
• Keywords (5 maximum)

Please submit panel proposals by Friday 16^th December 2022 to: EUSSSI23@cardiff.ac.uk

EU SSSI 2023 Conference committee:

Dr Robin James Smith

Dr Gareth Thomas

Patrik Dahl

Patricia Jimenez

Kirsty Stuart Jepsen

Dr Jonathan Ablitt

Dr Joe Williams

Prof William Housley

Save the Date: 5th to 7th July, 2023 – “Symbolic Interaction and Social Justice” – EU SSSI Conference in Cardiff #sssi #sociology #interactionism

The EU SSSI Conference 2023 has been planned for July 5th to 7th in Cardiff. Further information, including a Call for Papers will follow shortly.

Message from the SSSI President (20 July 2022)

Dear SSSI Members,


Greetings and I hope you are all enjoying the summer break. As a matter of
introductions, I am Tony Puddephatt, the new president of the Society for
this year. I look forward to doing what I can for the Society, and I really
look forward to seeing you at the many conferences awaiting us next
spring and summer.


I am emailing now to ask for volunteers interested in helping out on a new
committee that is tasked with making use of new resources to develop and
advance our society.


To be more specific, we have recently benefited from a very generous
donation from the family of Carl Couch, so it is up to this committee to
determine how this funding is to be managed and distributed, and to what
ends (perhaps an annual research scholarship, etc). There are other
potential funds that may come in from other sources that would also be part
of this conversation, beyond this recent Couch family donation. Dr. Joe
Kotarba, a long time member of SSSI, has been in touch with the family to
discuss this donation and what might be done with the funds. As such, he
has kindly agreed to chair the committee (thank you Joe!).


As suggested by Joe, the immediate tasks of the committee would likely
entail the following:

·    assemble a proposed policy statement for the acquisition and
management of resources for growth and innovation;

·    propose a more formal and lasting name for the committee (as we get a
better handle on what the committee is charged to do);

·    propose criteria for the selection of new members;

·    propose assurances that the committee will be representative of the
SSSI membership.


We were hoping to get 3-5 SSSI members on board the committee, to serve
along with Joe Kotarba as chair, and Jillian Crocker, our treasurer, as an
ex officio member. The more this committee is diverse so as to be
representative of the full membership of SSSI, the better, so please do
consider volunteering!


If you are willing to help on this new and exciting committee please let
Joe Kotarba know via email (joseph.kotarba@txstate.edu).


My very best to you all,

Tony

Professor Anthony Puddephatt

Lakehead University

President of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction

Call for Papers for Inaugural Conference: Im/migrant Well-Being: A Nexus for Research and Policy #sssi

A CfP on ‘Im/migrant Well-Being’ has been sent to us which appears to be relevant to members of our Society.

Call for Papers for Inaugural Conference: Im/migrant Well-Being: A Nexus for Research and Policy

Hosted by: The Im/Migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative (IWSC)

Conference Organizers: Elizabeth Aranda, University of South Florida – Immigrant Well- Being Research Center; and Elizabeth Vaquera, The George Washington University – Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute.

Dates and Location: February 17-18, 2023, St. Petersburg, Florida – Hilton

Theme: Immigration is not just a legal process, nor is it a finite process that ends upon an im/migrant’s arrival in a new place or country. It shapes the daily lives of im/migrants and their families, as well as the communities in which they settle. And yet, despite this profound and long-lasting impact, policy discussions on immigration too often focus solely on its large-scale economic dimensions, sometimes overlooking the central questions about the lived experiences of im/migrants, such as: How do immigrants navigate physical space? How do they understand themselves and their place in their new and old communities? How do they access services covering basic needs? Especially in a renewed wave of heightened surveillance, policing, detention, and xenophobic political attacks on im/migrants and their families, generating empirical work that promotes the humanity of im/migrants and the realities of their lived experiences is crucial for developing impactful social policies and interventions. Moreover, while academic research exists on the lives and needs of im/migrants, there can be a disconnect among scholars from different disciplines, as well as between the academy and the policy- making world.

The Conference on Im/Migrant Well-Being seeks to bridge these gaps by bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary and biographical backgrounds, and community partners to critically realize the potential of engaged scholarship through a focus on im/migrant well-being. Organizations such as the CDC, NIH, and UN conceive well-being as encompassing social, emotional, relational, economic, psychological, and physical aspects, and as a critical concept for both creating public policies and analyzing their impact. Im/migrant well-being thus serves as a nexus for research from the humanities, applied sciences and social sciences, as well as the work of community organizations. Well-being as a global mission explicitly addresses the needs of peoples excluded in contemporary empirical and policy-making approaches. This conference aims to attract a broad and interdisciplinary audience of scholars on immigration, minoritized groups and identities, intersectionality, public policy and public administration, public health and health sciences, media studies, political sociology, and social movements, among others.

Given the relevance of this topic for policy, the overall goal of this conference is to not only provide a venue for scholarship on im/migrants and their well-being, but also to provide attendees with the tools to translate that work for greater impact outside the academy.

Conference participants will contribute to constructing more interdisciplinary frameworks for studying the lived experiences of im/migrants, while also learning from experts and participating in workshops on how to communicate their work for diverse audiences. As the conference seeks to bring together diverse perspectives, potential research topics related to im/migrant well-being

at the individual, familial or community-level and how they relate to practices, programs, or policies, could include, but are not limited to the following intersecting areas:

• Social well-being, such as studies of social activities, work, or access to social resources
• Relational well-being, such as studies of families, friendships, or support networks
• Emotional well-being, such as studies of life dis/satisfaction, emotions, or resilience
• Psychological well-being, including studies of identity, safety, mental health, or uncertainty
• Physical well-being, such as studies of stress, dietary and activity habits, or access to medical interventions
• Economic well-being that centers im/migrants themselves and/or their families, such as access to legal representation, health, food, and housing
• The intersections of some or all of these forms of well-being as they relate to state violence, such as im/migrant detainment, forced expulsion, and raids.

Additionally, the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute at The George Washington University has committed resources to sponsor a panel specifically on the well-being of Latinx & Caribbean im/migrants in the United States. Submissions under this theme may follow the research areas suggested above, but should explicitly focus on or address the experiences and needs of Latinx & Caribbean im/migrants.

Conference Objectives:

1. To connect academic researchers from varying disciplines and career levels whose scholarship shares a common potential for improving im/migrant lives in a continuing network with resources and systems to support their work.
2. To bridge the gap between policy/legal discussions on immigration and academic research by building the translational skillset of scholars and increasing the visibility of scholarship that centers im/migrant experiences.
3. To identify areas of future research and partnership among scholars and with relevant community partners and organizations.

Outcomes: All Conference attendees will participate in workshops on how to translate academic work for public audiences. Additionally, the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative will identify a select group of presenters whose work is particularly well-suited for policy change.

This cohort of scholars will be sponsored by the Collaborative to continue working with policy specialists and to present their work to lawmakers and relevant stakeholders at a summit in Washington, DC later in the year.

Deadlines: Please submit an extended abstract (up to 2000 words, including references) of your paper in which you identify a research question, theoretical framework, data source and methodology, as well as present the preliminary findings of your study and policy implications by September 30, 2022. The submission form can be found at: https://secure.cas.usf.edu/other/csmiwb/abstract.aspx. Contributors should note that this call is open and competitive. Additionally, submissions must be based on original and unpublished material. Graduate students seeking to submit their work should include a letter of recommendation from their advisor. Authors will be notified of our decision no later than

October 31, 2022. Complete papers will be due December 15, 2022. The Collaborative will pay for one hotel room per selected paper at the Hilton in St. Petersburg during the dates of the conference: February 17 – 18, (arriving the 16^th), 2023. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on both days of the conference. Questions should be directed to the organizers via email at cas- iwrc@usf.edu.

SSSI 2022 Award Winners!

At the fabulous Couch-Stone 2022 Symposium in St John’s, Newfoundland, the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction has presented its annual awards. Please this year’s list of award winners below.

Herbert Blumer Award for Best Graduate Student Paper in Symbolic Interaction

Robert Scott (UC-Boulder), “A Social Phenomenon of Risk Perception: Saskatchewan Firefighters on the Yarnell Hill Fire Fatalities.”

Honorable Mention: Ken Hanson (Oregon) for “The Silicone Self: Examining Sexual Selfhood and Stigma within the Love and Sex Doll Community,” published in Symbolic Interaction

Kathy Charmaz Early-in-Career Award

Alexandra Vinson

Lisa-Jo Van Den Scott

Charles Horton Cooley Award for Best Recent Book in Symbolic Interaction

Michael J. Walker. 2002. Indefinite: Doing Time in Jail, Oxford University Press.

Helena Lopata Award for Excellence in Mentoring

David Schweingruber

George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement in Symbolic Interaction

Eviatar Zerubavel

Program of the Couch-Stone Symposium 2022 – St John’s/NL https://www.qualitatives.ca/program #sssi #sociology #conference

The program for the Couch-Stone Symposium 2022 in St John’s New Foundland can be downloaded HERE or by clicking the image below. https://www.qualitatives.ca/program

Updates on Couch-Stone Symposium in St John’s – New Foundland #sssi #Qualitatives2022

Updates on Couch-Stone Symposium in St John’s/New Foundland can be found HERE or by clicking the image below.

SSSI Notes Vol.50 No.1 is out! #sssi

The latest newsletter, SSSI Notes Vol.50 No. 1, has just been published. To access the newsletter please click HERE or on the image below.

SSSI 2022 Awards – Call for Nominations

Dear Colleagues, 

As a reminder, the due date for nominations for 2022 awards is rapidly approaching. Please forward all award nominations to the appropriate committees by April 1, 2022. The list of awards and committees follows below:

Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I’m pleased to share with you that the nominations for the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction’s annual awards are now open. With the exception of the Cooley book award, all nominations are due to committee chairs by April 1, 2022. Please submit your nomination(s) directly to the relevant committee chair and committee members via email. Thank you to all of our committee chairs and members for their service in adjudicating these awards. 

Herbert Blumer Award for Best Graduate Student Paper in Symbolic Interaction

Chair:                  Alexander Hoppe – ahoppe2@gmx.com

Committee:       Lisa-Jo van den Scott – lvandenscott@mun.ca

                            Michaela DeSoucey – mdesoucey@ncsu.edu

Kathy Charmaz Early-in-Career Award

All nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination detailing the candidate’s contributions to symbolic interaction and most noteworthy research and publications thus far, (b) letters of support that address the award criteria, and (c) the candidate’s CV. 

Chair:                  Baptiste Brossard – baptiste.brossard@york.ac.uk

Committee:        Natalia Ruiz-Junco – ncr0007@auburn.edu

J. Sumerau – jsumerau@ut.edu

Charles Horton Cooley Award for Best Recent Book in Symbolic Interaction

Nomination deadline: March 4, 2022. Copies of the books must be received by the committee by the deadline. If you are submitting a nomination for the Cooley Award, please ensure that you contact the publisher as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for copies of the books reach the committee. Electronic copies are permitted and are preferable where shipping will cause delays.  Nominated books must have been published within the three preceding years of the award (i.e. between March 2019 and March 2022). 

Chair:                  Anne Rawls – ARawls@bentley.edu and Waverly Duck – wod1@pitt.edu

Committee:        Carole Gayet – carole_gayet@yahoo.fr

Clemens Eisenmann – clemens.eisenmann@uni-konstanz.de

Peter Manning – Manningpk@hotmail.com

Helena Lopata Award for Excellence in Mentoring

All nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination and, (b) multiple letters of support, ideally from people with different mentoring relations with the candidate, that testify to a sustained career of outstanding mentorship. 

Chair:                  Timothy Hallet – hallett9@indiana.edu

Committee:        Anne Groggel – Anne.Groggel@anu.edu.au 

Jelani Ince – jince@uw.edu 

 

George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement in Symbolic Interaction

Mead award nominations should include (a) a letter of nomination from a current member of SSSI, (b) at least two letters of support, and (c) a current CV. 

Chair:                  E Doyle McCarthy – mccarthy@fordham.edu

Committee:        Gary Alan Fine – g-fine@northwestern.edu

Rebecca J. Erikson – rericks@uakron.edu

 

 

More information about the awards and criteria can be found at: http://symbolicinteraction.org/awards-distinctions/

Best wishes, 

Stacey Hannem

Secretary, SSSI

Call for Nominations: SSSI George Herbert Mead Award 2022 #sociology #sssi

SSSI Members please consider nominating someone for the Mead Award 2022 for Lifetime Achievement.

https://symbolicinteraction.org/awards-distinctions/

Nominators have to be SSSI members. The nominee does not have to be a member of the Society.

2 or more supporting letters do not have to be written by members; we also look at a cv and any other submissions to support a candidacy

Here is a link to past winners (1978-2020). Quite a distinguished crowd!

Winners of George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement