November Conference Activities

Every November is usually full of conference activities, and 2016 is no exception. I am presenting on some particularly interesting panels this year.

North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Annual Meeting

November 4, 11:30am-1:00pm, Hilton Tampa Downtown Esplanade Suite 1

Presenting “The Becoming of Traumatic Brain Injury: Discerning Entanglements between Law, Science, and Society through Sport” on the second thematic panel on Sport, Society, and Technology

Concussions in sport have received widespread media attention, raising awareness of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although TBI is a leading cause of disability globally, it is often characterized by experts as a “silent epidemic” that has vast, albeit overlooked, effects on sufferers, their families, and their communities. This paper critically looks at the emergence of sport-related TBI as a lens through which to discern how law, science, advocacy, and social relations converge in shaping understandings of the injury. To borrow Karen Barad’s language, this paper traces TBI’s “becoming” in the world. It draws on insights from feminist science studies to illuminate how different human and nonhuman actors, forms of knowledge, representations, and politics contribute to narratives about TBI and its embodied effects. Feminist science studies, a materialist approach, enables a central focus on questions of power, knowledge, and the political without being bound exclusively to the categories of women or gender. Accordingly, this analysis scrutinizes how TBI becomes constituted through discourse, technicalities of law and science, material conditions, and inequality. It gleans insight into shifting cultural norms that increasingly render the mind as part of – as opposed to distinct from – the body.

American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting

November 18, 12:30pm-1:30pm, New Orleans Riverside Hilton, Chart A

Chairing the Grand Challenges Discussion, “Critical Criminology in Unjust Times”

This special session brings together a diverse group of experts to weigh in on the status and responsibilities of a critical criminology in the contemporary moment, a time marked by significant inequality and political tension. The aim of the session is to advance a broader dialogue on questions of criminology and social justice. Each panelist will respond briefly to the question, What are the obligations of a critical criminology in unjust times? Their commentaries will capture specific issues alongside broader concerns of scholarship, pedagogy, ethics, and praxis. After panelists speak, there will ample opportunity for them to respond to each other and for audience members to comment and ask questions. This Grand Challenges panel coincides with a discussion about changing the name of the Division of Critical Criminology to include Social Justice, which prompts further discussion of what that means for its mission.