Society Reconsidered…

“Understanding Singapore solely in terms of its citizen population is an unwarranted sociological fiction.”

A couple days ago, I got back a first round of edits to proof for a book chapter coauthored by myself and Zhang Juan (who completed her MA at NUS a couple years ago and is now doing a PhD based in Australia).

The chapter is: “Navigating Transnationalism: Immigration and Reconfigured Ethnicity” In: Impressions of the Goh Chok Tong Years in Singapore, Bridget Welsh, James Chin, Arun Mahiznan, and Tan Tarn How, eds. Singapore: NUS Press (forthcoming, January 2009)

The quote above, from the chapter, reflects one reason why I think Singapore is a great place from which to do sociology (and anthropology) and thinking about society and culture generally.

Upcoming conferences

FREE INQUIRY AT RISK: UNIVERSITIES IN DANGEROUS TIMES
Sponsor: Social Research Journal, Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of
New York

Public Forum organized by NTU Sociological Society

“Universities and the Undergraduate: Designing Education for the 21st Century”

Date: 23rd August 2008 (Saturday)

Time: 2.00pm to 5.00pm (Registration will begin from 1.40pm)

Venue: Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, SMU

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Registration: Please email your Name and Affiliation to sociologyntu@yahoo.com.sg.

(Seats are limited so register early!)

Synopsis

Extremely Public Education

Some thoughts on the new term… Taking up Daniel’s call to blog about our education and research practice in sociology and anthropology.

This term I’m launching into a new style of educational practice – making Web-based Wiki’s a major platform for learning and participation both my undergraduate course in Anthropology and the Human Condition and graduate course in Gender, Culture and Society. I am also blogging here and on my own blog that I started near the end of last term.

To be honest, I’m not entirely comfortable with all this “extremely public” education. All of this material is open access to anyone with an internet connection. So the first trepidation is that anything you say (or write) can and will be held against you in the court of public opinion. This is less of a concern when educational practice takes place offline and behind closed doors.

Renewal

When we renovated this site back in January 2007, the working concept was to turn a simple showcase of sociological research into an active blog on the practice of sociology at the department. But as the rhythm of the semesters caught up with us, and after a good run of introducing working papers and books and paying tribute to a beloved fallen colleague, we lost track of our original impetus. It is time thus for renewal, and what better time than now, the first week of lectures.