Cultural Sociology Group

2008 TASA Conference

Panel 1:‘La Trobe Seminar on the Sociology of Culture and the Conversazioni on Culture and Society '
The La Trobe Seminar on the Sociology of Culture and, its successor, The Boston, Melbourne, Oxford Conversazioni on Culture and Society, were established by Chilean born, Claudio Véliz, Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University from 1972 to 1989. In a publication marking the first meeting of the La Trobe Seminar, Professor Véliz outlined his vision and asked: ‘Why did the game of cricket blossom in the West Indies, in Victoria and in New South Wales, but not in West Africa, Georgia, Saskatchewan or Virginia?... Are artists and writers hopelessly off the mark in believing that their works are prophetic statements?... Why is it that Latin America never invented an exportable religion?... An interest in finding answers for these and for other deceptively innocuous questions of the same kind may well lead a curious person towards that corner of human studies lately signposted as sociology of culture’. The very same vision created a style of intellectual conviviality that until this day crosses disciplinary boundaries, and promotes a conversation beyond the confines of academe, to include prominent figures in the world of letters, arts, religion, politics and commerce. Presenters at the Seminar, and its successor the Conversazioni, have included Leonie Kramer, Geoffrey Blainey, Philip Rieff, Roger Scruton, Saul Bellow, David Williamson, George Pell, David Penman, Ehud Olmert, Hilton Kramer, Nathan Glaser, Peter Berger, Agnes Heller, Harry Seidler, Malcolm Fraser, Hugh Thomas, Anthony Sampson, Paul Johnson and Patrick McCaughey. Join us in discussing this extraordinary seminar in a session with some of the original participants and the man behind the idea.

Participants: Professor John Carroll, Sociology, La Trobe University; Professor David Kemp, Professorial Fellow, Politics, University of Melbourne; Professor Barry Jones, Professorial Fellow, Education, University of Melbourne; Dr John Hirst, Emeritus Scholar, History, La Trobe University.

Respondent: Professor Claudio Véliz, Emeritus University Professor and Emeritus Professor, History, Boston University, and Emeritus Professor, Sociology, La Trobe University.
Chair: Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Communications, Monash University.

Panel 2: ‘Theology and Social Theory: A Roundtable with John Carroll on 'The Existential Jesus'
John Carroll’s The Existential Jesus (2007) is a remarkable work of cultural inquiry and a brilliant retelling of the Jesus story. It surprises with its casting of Jesus as an enigmatic existential figure, who is dismissive of the tablets of law—and who teaches through parable and paradox, rather than doctrine. The books mixes together trenchant sociological insight and rich nuanced storytelling—probing and reworking the Gospel of Mark, the first Gospel, to reveal an individual-centered, anti-tribal, anti-institutional Jesus, the ‘I am’ who has no name, a stranger who is indifferent to ritual and uninterested in ethical teachings. The Existential Jesus speaks of a world in which God’s messenger blasphemes, an instant is forever, and those who see do not perceive. Jesus’ followers tremble in fear because they cannot understand the mysteries of these parables and paradoxes. What does Jesus mean when he says that ‘whoever wishes to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his own soul on account of me will save it’? Such enigmas, Carroll suggests, hold the key to culture—and culture is the animating spirit of society. It is not churches, tribes, laws, institutions or experts that create deep, rich, resonant societies, but culture. Without it, perplexing as it is, society ends in decrepitude.

Participants: Professor Gary Bouma, Emeritus Professor, Sociology, Monash University; Mr Stephen Crittenden, Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Dr Markus Locker, Theology, Ateneo de Manila University and Communications, Monash; Associate Professor Peter Murphy, Communications, Monash University; Associate Professor David Tacey, English, La Trobe University.

Respondent: Professor John Carroll, Sociology, La Trobe University.
Chair: Associate Professor Peter Murphy, Communications, Monash University.

Session 1:‘Performative Approaches to Social Life: “Sorry Day” and Torture as Forms of Dramaturgy’
This session examines the role of performance theory and dramaturgy in contemporary cultural sociology. From Erving Goffman and Victor Turner through to Judith Butler and Jeff Alexander, concepts drawn from the theatre haven been used to highlight different aspects of social life, including identity-construction and collective experience. But what advantages do performative approaches offer other competing paradigms in cultural sociology? And have social scientists sufficiently understood the concepts that they are borrowing from the fields of performance and theatre studies?

Papers:
‘Do Theories and Events Deliver on their Promises: Perspectives on Notions of Social Dramaturgy’
Dr Maryrose Casey, Dr Stuart Grant and Associate Professor Peter Snow, Drama and Theatre Studies, Monash University

‘Performing “Legitimate” Torture: A Cultural Pragmatics of Atrocity’
Dr Carlo Tognato, Sociology, National University of Colombia, Bogota.

Respondent: Associate Professor Doug Ezzy, Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania
Chair: Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Communications, Monash University.

Session 2:‘New Directions in the Socio-Cultural Study of the Arts’
The sociology and cultural study of the arts has made a significant comeback in the last decade or so. Contemporary social scientists are less allergic to studying aesthetic phenomena. But what should be the proper emphasis of socio-cultural studies of art? The production or reception of art? The meaning of works? How is the contemporary sociology of the arts posing the question of art’s materiality? Do artworks have agency? And what can art and aesthetic approaches tell us about social life itself?

Papers:
TBA
Professor Adrian Franklin, Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania;

'Visualising Complexity: The Role of Imagery and Art as Metaphor in recent Social and Critical Theory’
Dr Linda Williams, Art History and Critical Theory, RMIT

‘The Materiality of Marble: Explorations in the Artistic Life of Stone’
Dr Alison Leitch, Sociology, Macquarie University

‘“The Artwork Made Me do It”: Alfred Gell and Jeff Alexander on Aesthetic Agency’
Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Communications, Monash University

Discussant: Associate Professor John Rundell, Ashworth Centre for Social Theory, University of Melbourne.
Chair: Associate Professor Peter Murphy, Communications, Monash University

Session 3:‘New Directions in the Socio-Cultural Study of Music’: Joint session of  The Australian Musicological Association and The Australian Sociological Association
This session will highlight recent developments in the sociology of music, cultural studies of music and ethnomusicology, and pose the question of how scholars are approaching the socio-cultural study of music. The presenters come from different disciplinary backgrounds and specialize in distinct music cultures and practices. Their concern in this session will be to open a dialogue between fields such as cultural sociology and musicology, and to show how these intersections are already taking place in their own work.

Papers:
‘Towards a Cultural Sociology of Popular Music’
Professor Andy Bennett, School of Arts, Griffith University

‘Popular Music and the State’
Dr Shane Homan, Communications, Monash University

‘Ethnomusicology, Postculture and World music in Australia’
Dr Graeme Smith, Music, Monash University

‘Considering the Social in Musical Listening’
Mr Michael Walsh, Communications, Monash University.

Respondent: Professor Philip Bohlman, Mary Werkman Distinguished Service Professor of Humanities and Music, University of Chicago
Chair: Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Communications, Monash University.

Session 4:‘Cultural Sociology and Materiality’
Objects, and the world they populate and mediate, are vital for constituting social relations. Canonical writers such as Simmel, Durkheim and Goffman understood the way objects can speak for people and cultural values. Further, a range of recent literatures have demonstrated that sociologists must take into account materiality and objectualisation in developing an adequate conception of social relations. This includes work in science and technology studies, consumption studies and the sociology of aesthetics. Papers - theoretical or empirical, from a variety of perspectives - which address questions of materiality and objectualisation in cultural sociology are sought for this session.

Email your abstract or expression of interest directly to Ian Woodward: i.woodward@griffith.edu.au.

Participants: Open.
Chair: Dr Ian Woodward, School of Arts, Griffith University.