Does Culture matter? Or not? Sociology of Culture Graduate Conference

Call for papers
Trento, Italy, 3-4 March 2006

In the last decade, "culture" has risen as a powerful keyword both in
social theory and in applied sociology. Does sociology really need a cultural turn"? Do we need a sociology of culture or a cultural sociology? How does the attention to culture reformulate basic and traditional questions of the sociological enterprise? With the aim to promote interdisciplinary discussion on such matters between young scholars engaged in cultural sociological analysis, the Graduate School in Sociology and Social Research, in collaboration with the department of Sociology of the University of Trento, invites papers for the "Graduate conference in the sociology of culture".

Possible themes might include:
· Communication and the production of knowledge
· Culture in consumer society
· Sociology of the body
· Sociology of the Arts
· Identity, class cultures and subcultures
· Collective memory and public discourse
· Migrations and the challenges of multiculturalism
· Symbolism, representations and political power
· Changing religions in changing societies Inequalities and
social reproduction: culture centred approaches
· Culture and locality
· Culture and communication in Internet Era
· Use of technology in contemporary societies
· Hybridity and post-modernity
· Culture and social networks
· Visual sociology
· Culture, interpretation and explanation in social theory

Robin Wagner-Pacifici (Swarthmore College) will open the conference and chair the roundtable "Sociology of culture: trends and perspectives".

Students interested in participating should send their titles and abstracts (not exceeding 1000 words), a curriculum vitae (1 page), their email address and address to:

graduateconference[at]soc.unitn.it

no later than December 15, 2005. Abstracts should describe the argument of the paper and the data on which they draw. Decision concerning the acceptance of papers will be made by January 1st, 2006.

Organizing Board: Andrea Cossu, Martina Cvajner, Rossella Ghigi - Graduate School in Sociology and Social Research - University of Trento - Italy