TASA Thursday PG_ Sociology and beyond the thesis – creative outputs and collaborative writing

Join us on 26th June for this month's TASA Thursday Post Grad Session: Sociology Beyond the Thesis – creative outputs and collaborative writing, presented by Associate Professor Mary Zournazi, University of Newcastle. Creative practices and visual cultures are excellent opportunities for extending sociological theory because they convey participants’ stories in authentic, accessible and approachable formats. Sociologists use film, documentary, visualisation of research outputs, and writing to commence work in this field, which is often interdisciplinary and collaborative. Filmmaker, author and scholar Associate Professor Mary Zournazi (University of Newcastle) has worked extensively in this field. Zournazi’s major feature documentaries, Dogs of Democracy (2016) and My Rembetika Blues (2021), navigate themes of economic crisis and forced migration, amongst others, through the investigation of culture produced in times of social and political tensions. Her collaborative writing projects with Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, for Justice and Love: a philosophical dialogue (2020); and German filmmaker Wim Wenders for Inventing Peace: A dialogue on perception (2013), carefully extend fundamental theoretical concepts used in sociology and philosophy through dialogue. Currently she is working on a book on the Future of Hope, and a documentary on Acropolis Cats & Other Wondrous animals - as a reflection on post-covid, democracy and war. In this conversation, Zournazi will share her reflections and approaches to creative and collaborative practices which aim to elucidate, approach, and extend critical sociological theory. TASA sociology students will be inspired to engage in collaborative, interdisciplinary and creative research outputs in their own cohorts and universities. These outputs may be used to ensure research participants’ may tell their stories, make sociology broadly accessible, drive research outputs, and support data collection for further research and grant applications.