sociological imagination

One of my favorite books of all time is Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. I used an analysis of it as my first published article. I enjoy speaking about it with students (the book, that is; I can barely remember an article written 22 years on the past!). Usually these students are enrolled in college, but three years ago a high school teacher in Iowa asked me to interact with her students while she discussed the book with them during Black History Month. After some brainstorming, we decided that she would set up a blog for us to interact: in groups students would post questions to me, and I would answer them. At the end of each response I posed a question to each group, which generated additional discussion. It was a lot of fun, and the students learned a lot, I hope. This year Kris asked me if I would repeat the project with her current group of students in AP Literature, and I readily agreed. Check out our discussions by visiting the course blog!

 

The Pacific Standard magazine’s website has a section called The Sociological Imagination, a “column exploring the bizarre side of the everyday encounters and behaviors that society rarely questions.” In the entry “Why Do We Watch the Same Movies Over and Over Again” the author explores the social science behind re-consumption. It definitely gave me someone new insights!

I’m not a big speechifyer, which would seem to disqualify one from becoming a dean. On the contrary, as I dean I’m invited to all sorts of events and I am expected to “say a few words,” but that’s fine as “a few words” means five minutes or less. A couple of weeks ago, however, I was worried about taping a radio interview, but that also turned out to be easier than expected. Today I was asked to give a 20-minute speech at an awards banquet for graduating high school seniors. The pressure will be to come up with some thoughts that celebrate their individual accomplishments in conjunction with reminders about the operation of social structure; too often these celebratory events get boiled down to “you succeeded through hard work and hope,” ignoring the many other elements — visible and invisible — that contribute to individual success. I’ll have to figure out how to say something about the sociological imagination succinctly. Suggestions are welcome!