Keynote Speakers
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Dr Ioannis Tsioulakis
Queen’s University Belfast Friday, 21 June 2019 (1:50 pm - 2:50 pm) Friday’s lecture: Doing grounded research in a turbulent world
Research in the humanities and social sciences is always in dialogue with the sociohistorical context during which it occurs. Even if research doesn’t narrowly focus on today’s world, contemporary conditions and emergencies, institutions and structures, audiences and funders, shape the themes that we choose to investigate, and the lenses that enhance (or distort) our focus. There is no doubt that this is a turbulent moment: economic, political, and environmental crises, societal polarisation and inequality, and the rise of manifold versions of intolerance mark the ways in which people across the world understand each other and the world that we inhabit. At the same time, movements of solidarity and resistance (political or otherwise) claim a voice that transcends established territorial and social boundaries. This context complicates as well as necessitates grounded research in the human and social sciences. Drawing primarily on the fields of anthropology and ethnomusicology, this presentation will make a case for research that seriously engages with people and the complex, messy webs of power within which they find themselves. Using primary ethnography among musicians in the ‘Greek Crisis’, the paper will reflect on how close listening might help our scholarly work become more relevant to - and entrained with - our times. Finally, through a consideration of cosmoscepticism and precarity, the presentation will open up a discussion on how theoretical concepts can facilitate the portrayal of a turbulent moment without divorcing and insulating scholarly work from the very world that it seeks to understand. Speaker biography: Ioannis Tsioulakis joined the School as a Lecturer in Anthropology in September 2013. He has previously lectured in ethnomusicology at University College Cork and University College Dublin. Ioannis completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Following this, he specialised in ethnomusicology and social anthropology, completing his MA (2006) and PhD (2011) at Queen’s University Belfast. Ioannis’s doctoral thesis, entitled ‘Working or Playing? Power, Aesthetics and Cosmopolitanism among Professional Musicians in Athens’, concentrated on the diverse socio-cultural worlds of music-making in the Greek capital. His particular focus was on cosmopolitan aspirations among local music practitioners and the way that they affect social relations, markets of musical labour, and discourses of value and aesthetics in popular music. More specifically, Ioannis’s doctoral dissertation elaborated on the dichotomy between ‘work’ and ‘play’ and its role as a conceptual framework for the experience of professional musicking in Athens. Ioannis has also worked extensively as a professional musician (pianist, arranger and composer) and a music teacher (piano and music theory). He is a founding member of the Greek band Checkmate in Two Flats with whom he often records and performs in Greece and abroad. Ioannis is currently Webmaster of the Anthropological Association of Ireland, and Associate Editor of the Irish Journal of Anthropology. Social media account and researcher profile: Twitter: @itsioulakis Researcher profile: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/ioannis-tsioulakis(68dfbab8-8432-4d38-ab0b-cb2189ccfd55)/publications.html |
Dr. Conor Murray
Ulster University Saturday, 22 June 2019 (2:00 pm - 3:00 pm) Saturday’s lecture: Ethical, epistemological and identity based challenges facing reflexive ethnography in a young men’s prison
This paper draws from a nine-month ethnographic study in a young offenders’ institution to highlight the complexity and challenges facing PhD researchers conducting reflexive ethnographic research in prisons. The author reflects upon his key findings from the study alongside ethical, epistemological and gendered challenges facing a young man conducting research in a young men’s prison. Speaker biography: Dr. Murray is a Lecturer in Criminology, and Global Engagement Lead within the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, at Ulster University. His PhD included a nine-month ethnographic study in Hydebank Wood (YOC) Secure College, analysing his findings through the lens of critical masculinities studies. Social media account and researcher profile: Twitter: @cmurrayUUJ Researcher profile: https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/persons/conor-murray |
