In memorium of Prof. Peter-Emil Mitev
On September 12, 2023 Prof. Peter-Emile Mitev passed away. His memory will be preserved in the countless articles and books that are to be written by future generations of sociologists. His publications are a testament to his exceptional erudition, depth and commitment to scholarly research, to teaching and to the public advocacy of sociological expertise. As President of the Bulgarian Sociological Association in 1991-1999, he guided the Association in a dynamically changing social landscape. Prof. Mitev is a leading scholar with international reputation in the field of studies of young people. His activity in the International Sociological Association is a recognition of his contribution to sociology, but also raises the prestige of Bulgarian sociology. He has been a member of the International Sociological Association (since 1974), of the Advisory Board of the ISA Research Committee 34 “Sociology of Youth” (1998-2002), of the ISA Research Coordinating Committee (1986/90), of the Bureau of IC 34 “Sociology of Youth” (1986/90; 1980/82). President of IC 34 Sociology of Youth (1982/86). He participated in the ISA World Congresses of Sociology in Varna (1970), Toronto (1974), Uppsala (1978), Mexico (1982), Delhi (1986), Madrid (1990), Bielefeld (1996), Durban (2006).
With imagination and talent, with resilience Prof. Petar-Emil Mitev championed sociology as a science in Bulgaria and far beyond the borders of the country until the last moment of his life.
A last farewell, Professor,
With the greatest respect and sorrow
Prof. Rumiana Stoilova
President of the Bulgarian Sociological Association
14 September 2023
Programme of the International Symposium: New perspectives and interventions: “The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts”
European Sociological Association
Research Network 02 Sociology of Arts & Research Network 07 Sociology of Culture
In cooperation with
Bulgarian Sociological Association
Department of Sociology and Department of Cultural Studies,
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
New perspectives and interventions:
The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts
Sofia, August 31 – September 2, 2023
With the financial support of The Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF)
31 August
8:00-9:00 Registration (in front of the Mirror Hall)
9:00-9:30 Opening of the symposium (Mirror Hall)
Welcoming addresses
Prof. Rumyana Stoilova, President of the BSA,
Prof. Boyan Znepolski, Head of Department of Sociology,
Prof. Daniela Koleva, Head of the Department of Cultural Studies.
9.30-10:30 Plenary session (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Chris Mathieu
Oleksandra Nenko: “Troubled Home”: Displaced Place Identity in the Wartime Works of Ukrainian Artists
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:30 Thematic parallel sessions
Session 1. Culture and inequalities (Hall 2)
Chair: Guido Nicolosi
Predrag Cvetičanin, Lucas Page Pereira, Mirko Petrić, Inga Tomić-Koludrović, Frédéric Lebaron, Željka Zdravković: Cultural practices and socio-digital inequalities in Europe: empirical findings and theoretical considerations
Mirko Petrić, Inga Tomić-Koludrović, Augustin Derado, Iva Žunić: The relevance of exploratory approaches in cultural policy: analysing understandings of culture in Croatia
Voica Pușcașiu: Mapping Eastern-Europe Political Discourse and Inequalities through Public Monuments: A Digital Cartography Crowdsourcing Project
Simon Stewart: Swift falls and stretched time: using vignettes and life stories to understand migrants’ experiences of homelessness in the UK
Session 2. Creativity, cultural production and dialogue (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Chris Mathieu
Marie Buscatto: Can sociological research change art worlds? Learnings from 25 years of research on gender inequalities
Helena Santos: The urgency of cross-dialogues in culture and the arts: reflecting on sociology and economics
Stoyan Sgourev: External Disruptions in Culture: When the West Looked Eastward
Sara Malou Strandvad (online): From fields and worlds to a multiplicity of spheres? Theorizing cultural production in the 21st century
12:30-13:30 Lunch break
13:30-15:00 Thematic parallel sessions
Session 3. Theoretical debates and developments in Cultural Sociology (Mirror Hall) Chair: Michaela Pfadenhauer
David Inglis: When Will You (We) Ever Get Over Bourdieu?
Svetlana Hristova: Cultural sociology of the new normal: The new horizons of old perspectives?
Philipp F. Hennch: Re-Measurements of Human-World Relations in Posthuman Fictions and Contemporary Art
Dominik Zelinsky: “To the moon and beyond”: Investment Manias, Elon Musk’s Dogecoin Pump, and Economic Practices of Charismatic Communities
Session 4. Experience, meaning and aesthetics (Hall 2)
Chair: Oleksandra Nenko
Nina Tessa Zahner: Aesthetic experience as association? Researching the experiencing of aesthetic artefacts with ANT in a critical way
Caterina Filareti: Art as a communicative vehicle in the pathological experience
Andrea Lombardinilo: The art of simulacrum. The double connection of images and risk
Nikola Guinev: The Unhappy Consciousness and the Comicality of Culture Industry
15:00-15:30 Coffee break
15:30-17:00 Thematic parallel sessions
Session 5. Arts: Transnational and intercultural (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Tal Feder
Júlia Perczel (online): Cosmopolitans in the museum: Agents of inter-level brokerage in the global art field
Matteo Jacopo Zaterini (online): Idle animations as narrative device
Jekaterina Karelina (online): Pandemic distortion: new perspectives of sociology of creativity
Olga Vatkova: The International Triennial “Spirit of Watercolor” 2016 – 2022, Varna, Bulgaria, as a means of achieving intercultural dialogue on a global scale
Session 6. Arts and activisms (Hall 2)
Chair: Helena Santos
Marie Rosenkranz: Activism as a topic and dimension of art sociology
Signe Grube: Artistic Expression and Societal Impact: Latvian Artists during Wartime (The Reality after February 24, 2022)
Adam Havas: Rituals of Resistance, ‘Culture Wars,’ and Social Activism: The Cultural Politics of Barcelona’s and Budapest’s Scenes of Improvised Music
17:30-19:00 Plenary Thematic Session: Cultural policies to the arts & institutional collaborations
Place: National Art Gallery „Square 500“
19:00-20:00 – Reception
1 September
9:30-10.45 Plenary session (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Simon Stewart
David Inglis: Quo Vadis? Fads, Fashions, and Long-Term Trends in Arts and Cultural Sociologies
10:45-11:15 Coffee break
11:15-12:45 Thematic parallel sessions:
Session 7. Fashion and social change (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Dominik Zelinsky
Luuc Brans: ReSet the Trend: how the European Commission and influencers makes fashion sustainable – or not
Anna-Mari Almila: From whether to how: decolonizing fashion scholarship and teaching
Kirsti Sippel, Luuc Brans, Iida Kukkonen: “If you’re a man and at the bottom of the barrel, you get nothing, it’s fucking brutal” – How members of the incel community build a beauty regime in times of aesthetic inequality
Aurélie Van de Peer: “When they go fast, we go slow”: Temporality and boundary work in fashion media texts during the pandemic
Session 8. Value(s) and hierarchies (Hall 2)
Chair: Chris Mathieu
Tal Feder, Siobhan McAndrew, Dave O’Brien, Mark Taylor: Pandemic culture: Understanding the impact of digital modes of delivery on aesthetic hierarchies
Mariano Martín Zamorano Barrios, Arturo Rodríguez Morató, Victoria Sanchez Belando: Understating cultural policy influence in (e)valuation methodologies and practices
Alexander Donev: What sociological value do contemporary Bulgarian films actually have?
12:45-13:30 Lunch break
13:30-15:00 Thematic parallel sessions:
Session 9. Aesthetics, politics and representation (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Anna-Mari Almila
Alessandro Gerosa, Giulia Giorgi, Fabio Bertoni: The Aesthetics and Politics of Youth Street Cultures
Iida Kukkonen: The gendered labour of looking “right” – Appearance work and occupational appearance expectations
Zhaoying Gou: Cultural Practices of Online Fiction: Homosexual Online Fiction and Consequences of Individual Perceptions of Sexual Minorities in New Forms of Media
Session 10. Cultural practices, lifestyles and tastes (Hall 2)
Chair: Mirko Petric
Öznur Yılmaz Altun: Taste Cultures in Turkey
Jan Fredrik Hovden: The changing cultural lifestyles of the mass university students: The case of Norway, 1998-2020
Michaela Pfadenhauer, Theresa Vollmer: The canon of the choric
15:00-15:30 Coffee break
15:30-16:30 Plenary session (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Boyan Znepolski
Ivaylo Ditchev: The death of the author revisited: digital folklore, corporations, chat-bots
16:30-17:30 Hybrid plenary session (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Arturo Rodríguez Morató
Presentation of the newly published book: Sociology of the Arts in Action, Springer, 2022.
With the participation of the book editors and authors Arturo Rodríguez Morató, Alvaro Santana-Acuña (online), Adam Havas and Matías Zarlenga (online).
17:30-18.30 RN02 and RN07 Business meetings (Mirror Hall and Hall 2)
2 September
9:30-11:00 Thematic parallel sessions:
Session 11. Memory, culture and political engagement (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Daniela Koleva
Guido Nicolosi: Media between memory, art, and religion
Milla Mineva: Memes as political engagement from below
Josip Majsec: Decadence or politization of pop culture?
Session 12. Emotion and the creative process (Hall 2)
Chair: Helena Santos
Chris Mathieu: Occupational intimacy in feature film production
Lía Durán Mogollón: Between mediation and literary passion: the work and image of the literary translator
Julia Rothenberg: Teaching Sociology of the Arts at an Urban Community College during the Pandemic: Reflections on Structure, Agency and Community Engagement
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 Plenary session/Roundtable discussion: New perspectives and interventions: The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts. (Mirror Hall)
Chair: Svetlana Hristova
Panelists: David Inglis, Chris Mathieu, Simon Stewart
13:00-14:00 Lunch break
14:00-16:30 Reading the city through its monuments: in situ experiment of visual anthropology. Meeting point: Mirror Hall
16:30 – 18:30 Plenary Thematic Session: The visual arts and urban environment
Margarita Dorovska, Kiril Vassilev and Alexander Kiossev
Place: The Center for Contemporary Art ‘TOPLOZENTRALA’ (‘The Heating Plant’)
18:30 – 19:30 A glass of wine for farewell
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
- For the hybrid sessions 2 and 5 on August 31st and the presentation of the book Sociology of the Arts in Action, Springer on September 1st there will be provided an online connection, based on the TEAMS platform. The link, meeting ID and Passcode is the same for the three events:
Meeting ID: 357 819 237 409
Passcode: btR7hM
- The entrance to the University is from ‘Shipka’ St. (in Bulgarian „Шипка“) turning to ‘St. Clement of Ohrid’ St. (in Bulgarian: „Св. Климент Охридски“) and taking on the right the first entrance to the inner yard of the University. There will be signposts on the walls with the name of the conference pointing in the direction of the Mirror Hall and Hall 2.
- Please, pay attention that the Registration time has been changed: from 8 to 9 a.m. August 31st. You will find the Registration desk in front of the Mirror hall. If you are late, there will be the possibility to register and take your conference package during the first coffee break: 10.30-11.00 a.m.
15 July – registration deadline for “New perspectives and interventions: The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts”
The 15th of July is the deadline for the registration for the RN07 & RN02 Symposium in collaboration with Department of Sociology and Department of Cultural Studies at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky” and the Bulgarian Sociological Association:
“New perspectives and interventions: The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts”
Symposium held by the European Sociological Association Sociology of Culture (RN07) and Sociology of the Arts (RN02) networks in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Department of Cultural Studies at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky” and the Bulgarian Sociological Association
31st August – 1st September 2023, Sofia
This symposium invites academics and cultural practitioners from all career stages to explore new perspectives and interventions deriving from scholarship in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts. In considering the state of play in these disciplines, the symposium will address a range of questions including (but not limited to) the following: What are key theoretical and methodological developments in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts? What do these disciplines have to say about the crises of our times? How do cultural sociologists and sociologists of art interpret the ‘culture wars’? What interventions can these disciplines make in critiquing canons and hierarchies of value? Who are the users of the knowledge generated by these disciplines? Can artists and cultural practitioners benefit from this knowledge, and vice versa – how do arts and creativity contribute to the development of new sociological insights, and, more generally, to innovation in the (social) sciences? What is the role of cultural institutions in these exchanges? What kinds of beneficial impact to wider society might derive from this research? Are bottom-up cultural policies possible? How do the tensions between culture and administration play out in the 21st Century? What challenges do postgraduate students in these disciplinary fields face in pursuing a research career? In addressing these questions, the symposium will include panels that focus in particular on the following:
· Theoretical developments in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts
· Methodological innovations
· Impact, i.e. what are the potential benefits of research in these disciplines to wider society?
· Teaching, i.e. how do we teach cultural sociology/sociology of the arts? What do we include and omit? On what basis? How do/can we teach beyond universities?
· Interdisciplinary and institutional connections, e.g. the potential of collaboration with arts practitioners and those in arts institutions – museums, festivals, galleries, etc.; with cultural institutions, government departments, policy makers, cultural producers; and with other disciplines, e.g. psychology of arts; cultural anthropology, urban sociology, architecture; with science, e.g. medicine, climate science, computer science/engineering, sociologies of art and culture as sciences
· The role of art in formulating new sociological perspectives (e.g. ‘thick description’ in literature, insights on the medicalization of life in visual art); the relationship between arts/culture and (social) science; sociological fiction and arts-based methods
· Political engagement and interventions in times of crisis, e.g. the potential contribution of cultural sociology and sociology of the arts in stimulating social change; artivism and visual activism; critical responses to class, gender and racial inequalities; authoritarian populism and ‘culture wars’; austerity; the climate crisis; pandemics; conflict and war.
Organising Committee:
Prof. Rumiana Stoilova, President of BSA
Assoc. Prof. Svetlana Hristova, Member of the BSA Board and Research Network 07 “Sociology of Culture”
Prof. Boyan Znepolski, Head of the Department of Sociology, Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”
Assist. Prof. Mila Mineva, Member of the BSA Board and Department of Sociology, Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”
Prof. Daniela Koleva, Head of the Department of Cultural Studies, Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”
Assoc. Prof. Kiril Vassilev, Department of Cultural Studies, Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”
Assoc. Prof. Kaloyan Haralampiev, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Philosophy, Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”
Assist. Prof. Georgi Medarov, Member of the BSA Board
Prof. Simon Stewart, Co-Chair of ESA Research Network 07 “Sociology of Culture”
Dr. Rita Ribeiro, Co-Chair of ECA Research Network 07 “Sociology of Culture”
Dr. Chris Matthew, Chair of ECA Research Network 02 “Sociology of Art”
New perspectives and interventions: The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts
RN07 & RN02 Symposium in collaboration with Department of Sociology and Department of Cultural Studies at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky” and the Bulgarian Sociological Association
New perspectives and interventions: The state of play in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts
Deadline: Monday 27 March 2023
CALL FOR PAPERS
Symposium held by the European Sociological Association Sociology of Culture (RN07) and Sociology of the Arts (RN02) networks in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Department of Cultural Studies at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky” and the Bulgarian Sociological Association
31st August – 1st September 2023, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky”
This symposium invites academics and cultural practitioners from all career stages to explore new perspectives and interventions deriving from scholarship in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts. In considering the state of play in these disciplines, the symposium will address a range of questions including (but not limited to) the following: What are key theoretical and methodological developments in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts? What do these disciplines have to say about the crises of our times? How do cultural sociologists and sociologists of art interpret the ‘culture wars’? What interventions can these disciplines make in critiquing canons and hierarchies of value? Who are the users of the knowledge generated by these disciplines? Can artists and cultural practitioners benefit from this knowledge, and vice versa – how do arts and creativity contribute to the development of new sociological insights, and, more generally, to innovation in the (social) sciences? What is the role of cultural institutions in these exchanges? What kinds of beneficial impact to wider society might derive from this research? Are bottom-up cultural policies possible? How do the tensions between culture and administration play out in the 21st Century? What challenges do postgraduate students in these disciplinary fields face in pursuing a research career? In addressing these questions, the symposium will include panels that focus in particular on the following:
· Theoretical developments in cultural sociology and sociology of the arts
· Methodological innovations
· Impact, i.e. what are the potential benefits of research in these disciplines to wider society?
· Teaching, i.e. how do we teach cultural sociology/sociology of the arts? What do we include and omit? On what basis? How do/can we teach beyond universities?
· Interdisciplinary and institutional connections, e.g. the potential of collaboration with arts practitioners and those in arts institutions – museums, festivals, galleries, etc.; with cultural institutions, government departments, policy makers, cultural producers; and with other disciplines, e.g. psychology of arts; cultural anthropology, urban sociology, architecture; with science, e.g. medicine, climate science, computer science/engineering, sociologies of art and culture as sciences
· The role of art in formulating new sociological perspectives (e.g. ‘thick description’ in literature, insights on the medicalization of life in visual art); the relationship between arts/culture and (social) science; sociological fiction and arts-based methods
· Political engagement and interventions in times of crisis, e.g. the potential contribution of cultural sociology and sociology of the arts in stimulating social change; artivism and visual activism; critical responses to class, gender and racial inequalities; authoritarian populism and ‘culture wars’; austerity; the climate crisis; pandemics; conflict and war.
Important dates:
– 20th March 2023. Deadline for abstract submissions
– 21st March to 14th April 2023 – Review of submissions and communication of outcomes
– 15th April 2023 –Registration opens
– 23rd June 2023 – Early bird registration deadline
– 14th July 2023 – Registration deadline
The symposium fees have been calculated to enable the broadest possible participation:
– Students: 20 Euros
– ESA members: 40 Euros (early bird registration)
– Non-ESA members: 50 Euros (early bird registration)
– ESA members: 50 Euros
– Non-ESA members: 60 Euros
While the organizers encourage participation in situ, there will be also opportunities to present remotely for those not able to attend the event.
Instructions:
Send the abstract (up to 300 words) and title for your paper along with a brief biographical note (up to 200 words) to esasymposiumsofia2023@gmail.com by 18:00 CET. Indicate whether you are an ESA member and if you belong to RN07 or RN02.
Programme of BSA Annual Conference 2022
BSA Annual Conference ‘2022
Mobility, migration, mobilisation
25 November 2022 г.
Conference Hall 2, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
11.30-17.10 ч.
ZOOM link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87647836505?pwd=alFjeHpTWjF6YVdMYmZwTDk3T2NIQT09
General Assembly BSA
Start: 17.00-18.30 ч.
Program
11.30-13.30
Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Svetlana Hristova
Humanistic Sociology and Migrations – One Hundred Years Later. Dr. Michaela Mischeva. UNWE, Department of Economic Sociology [in Bulgarian]
How are refugees expelled from Bulgaria. Rumiana Zheleva, IFS at BAS [in Bulgarian]
Culture and identity in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetlozar Kirilov, Sofia University, Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication [in Bulgarian]
Media: an opportunity for cultural dialogue with migration. Angela Georgieva, PhD student, Department of Media and Communication, New Bulgarian University [in Bulgarian]
Challenges, experiences and identity of Bulgarian migrants (Bulgarians in London and returnees). Gergana Kurtakova, PhD student, Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski University, Faculty of Philosophy and History, Department of Applied and Institutional Sociology [in Bulgarian]
Discussion
13.30-14.00 Lunch Break
14.00-15.30
Moderator: Prof. Rumyana Stoilova
Migration and destination choices of Ukrainian refugees: A coincidence or rational decision-making? Prof. Dr. Irena Kogan, Chair of Comparative Sociology, Mannheim University Germany
Social Differences in Attitudes Towards Immigrants. Prof. Dr. Rumiana Stoilova – IFS at BAS, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elitsa Dimitrova – IINCH at BAS/ Paisii Hilendarski University, PhD student Evelina Slavkova – Sociological Agency “Trend” [in Bulgarian]
Experimental replacement of the Bogardus scale with context-sensitive questions in measuring social distances towards refugee groups and ethnic minorities. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexey Pamporov, IFS at BAS [in Bulgarian]
Discussion
15.30-16.00 Coffee break
16.00-17.00
Moderator: prof. Petya Kabakchieva
Migrations, compressed modernities and multisituated inequalities,Prof. Dr. Laurence Roulleau-Berger, Research Director at National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon, Triangle
Public attitudes and institutional measures to guarantee the rights of refugee and asylum-seeking children. Assistant Dr. Maria Brestnicka, UNWE, Department of Economic Sociology [in Bulgarian]
Discussion
17.00 -18.30
General Assembly BSA
Chair: Alexey Pamporov
Agenda:
- Registration;
- Report on the activities of the BSA Board and financial report for 2022 Prof. Rumiana Stoilova;
- Presentation of a vision of the association’s activities for 2023;
- Other.
Glass of wine
