{"id":1732,"date":"2013-11-18T03:51:44","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T03:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/?p=1732"},"modified":"2024-02-08T01:08:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T01:08:51","slug":"highlights-asa-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/highlights-asa-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights from ASA 2013 in New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The URBAN Sociology node facilitated a highly successful series of events at the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.asanet.org\/am2013\/am2013.cfm\">2013 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting<\/a>\u00a0held this August in New York City. We used the conference to build our network and to promote discussion and ongoing collaboration around research connected to pressing social justice concerns.\u00a0 This post provides highlights from URBAN Sociology\u2019s organizational and planning meetings, two educational workshops, and a series of roundtables co-hosted with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sspps.wordpress.com\/\">Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology<\/a>. <!--more--><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.846153846;\">URBAN Sociology Organizational Meeting<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Thirty people attended our organizational meeting. We considered this an excellent turnout given that multiple conference receptions were held at the same time.\u00a0 Mark Warren and Jose Calderon reported on the progress of building URBAN nationally and within ASA. We had serious and spirited conversation about the value of engaged scholarship and its role in sociology and the academy.<\/p>\n<p>We talked about various ways that URBAN Sociology could advance this kind of scholarship as it builds itself. We reaffirmed our purpose as building a network and a space to advance this kind of research and advocate for its value in the academy. A number of participants signed up to volunteer for various activities and to join the planning team. Specific activities are discussed in the Planning Team meeting highlights below.<\/p>\n<h4>URBAN Sociology Planning Team Meeting<\/h4>\n<p>The URBAN Sociology planning team decided to pursue several lines of action related to use of social media, engagement of graduate students, URBAN Sociology\u2019s relationship with ASA, publication of community-based research, and potential events at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asanet.org\/am2014\/am2014.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2014 ASA conference<\/a>.\u00a0 The planning team is working on the following next steps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Establish a social media subcommittee<\/li>\n<li>Establish a graduate student subcommittee to organize and serve the needs of graduate students<\/li>\n<li>Engage ASA more formally in a discussion of URBAN\u2019s role within the association<\/li>\n<li>Establish a publications committee to pursue avenues to promote the publication of community-based research<\/li>\n<li>Plan a series of events for ASA in 2014.\u00a0 Possibilities include a tour, a session co-sponsored with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asanet.org\/sections\/CUS.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section on Community and Urban Sociology<\/a>, roundtables with the <a href=\"http:\/\/sspps.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology<\/a>, and a workshop for graduate students, among other ideas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are interested in volunteering to serve on one of these committees, please let us know!\u00a0 Contact Mark Warren (mark.warren@umb.edu) and Jose Calderon (jose_calderon@pitzer.edu).<\/p>\n<h4>Education Workshops<\/h4>\n<p>On<b> <\/b>Monday, August 12<sup>th<\/sup>, URBAN was a co-sponsor of an interactive session, \u201cMedia and Politics in the School Reform Movement\u201d that brought together teachers, school administrators, and leaders of parent and community groups.\u00a0 The workshop discussed contemporary school reform trends as a contest between what some progressives have labeled \u201cthe corporate school movement\u201d and \u201ca counter-movement\u201d that attempts to build a broad coalition of teachers, parents, and community groups concerned with improving the quality of K-12 education and overcoming social inequalities.<\/p>\n<p>In the first half of the workshop, the participants focused on the questions:\u00a0 \u201cIf you had the best school in the world, what would learning look like?\u201d and \u201cWhat would teachers and students need to make this happen?\u2019 \u00a0Some of the common responses included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Schools need to be inclusive<\/li>\n<li>The training of teachers and staff needs to include a framework that develops a connections of collaboration between schools, parents, and local government entities<\/li>\n<li>School issues, problems, and policies need to take into consideration the larger picture of concerns that affect education including the quality of environment, health, housing, and economic development<\/li>\n<li>The larger picture needs to include the need for resources that allow for smaller classrooms, collaborative teaching, and time for teachers to interact with parents and their communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the second part of the workshop, in response to the question of \u201cWhat would teachers and students need to make this happen?\u201d \u00a0Some of the responses included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Need for alternatives to the dominant models of choice and accountability that promote segregation<\/li>\n<li>Investment in pre-school programs<\/li>\n<li>Need for research on \u201cno-child left behind\u201d initiatives and publicizing its effects on students<\/li>\n<li>the need for strategies to influence the media, politicians, and larger public on positive models that that have used diverse methodologies in teaching diverse students with diverse strengths.\u00a0 In particular, the need to research and publicize models that have run contrary to the \u201cteach to the test\u201d trend and have been effective in advancing critical thinking, multiculturalism, and multi-lingual skills.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At the end of the workshop, various \u201clisteners,\u201d including Cassie Schwerner of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.schottfoundation.org\/about\/mission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Schott Foundation for Public Education<\/a> and Alan Gartner of the <a href=\"http:\/\/schools.nyc.gov\/default.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NYC Public Schools<\/a>, echoed the outcomes of the workshops by summarizing that there was an overall need to bring \u201cjoy\u201d back to the meaning of education for children.\u00a0 They proposed that, in the last thirty years, there has been a tendency in our educational system to promote the \u201cachievement gap\u201d as part of methods of testing and assessment that tend to blame teachers and students for the outcomes \u2013 rather than focusing on the \u201copportunity gap\u201d approach that places primary importance on the overall quality of life of a child.\u00a0 The \u201clisteners\u201d proposed the need for a movement of educators, parents, students, and researchers to build a new leadership of political power that takes into consideration the impact of poverty and structural racism on educational achievement and that advances a broad range of transformative proposals for equitable public school reform.<\/p>\n<h4>Roundtable Sessions<\/h4>\n<p>URBAN organized four one-hour roundtable sessions in cooperation with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.asanet.org\/sections\/SPPS.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 The roundtables were intended to \u201cexplore potential collaborations and ongoing work both among those attending and the larger URBAN network.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first round-table, led by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.maryvillecollege.edu\/faculty\/sambler\/\">Susan Ambler<\/a>\u00a0of Maryville College on \u201cCommunity Based Research (CBR) as a Teaching Tool\u201d was well attended with close to a dozen participants.\u00a0\u00a0 They discussed the kinds of relationships one has with community organizations in order to offer a CBR assignment and the kinds of issues or problems that have emerged in collaborating with organizations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/academics.holycross.edu\/sociology-anthropology\/faculty\/daina_harvey\">Daina Cheyenne Harvey<\/a>\u00a0of College of the Holy Cross held a discussion that focused on the work of public sociologists on environmental activism and environmental issues facing cities. Participants addressed different avenues to highlight the relationship between intersectionality, disaster recovery, and grassroots activism. The relationship between public sociology and urban-environmental issues was also discussed. Participants ended the discussion by agreeing to organize a session for the Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology on disasters and activism.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/news-impact\/tag\/john-diamond\/\">John Diamond<\/a>\u00a0of Harvard University held a session about educational inequality in U.S. schools.\u00a0 Discussants explored potential collaborations designed to create more just and equitable educational opportunities and outcomes. Such efforts may include (but are not limited to) partnerships between universities and urban school systems, collaborations across institutions (e.g. university, government, non-profit organizations), and connections that build community-based leadership for educational change.<\/p>\n<p>Finally,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cyc.brandeis.edu\/people\/tpinerosshields.html\">Thomas Pineros Shields<\/a>\u00a0of Brandeis University held a discussion among core researchers who have engaged in a participatory action research project called \u201cThe 14<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Amendment Project\u201d which included interviews by undocumented immigrant young adults about themes and practical logistics of conducting research with undocumented immigrant student political activists.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\"><em>Image by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.asanet.org\/index.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">American Sociological Association<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The URBAN Sociology node facilitated a highly successful series of events at the\u00a02013 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting\u00a0held this August in New York City. We used the conference to build our network and to promote discussion and ongoing collaboration around research connected to pressing social justice concerns.\u00a0 This post provides [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3500,"featured_media":1686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/ASA_Logo-e1384727455356.jpg?fit=250%2C250&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7HMh0-rW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3500"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1732"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65897,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions\/65897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanresearchnetwork.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}