May 2006

In conjunction with Spring Commencement ceremonies, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology held an end of the semester outdoor reception and awards ceremony on May 13, 2006 on the lawn in front of Leavell Hall. All sociology and anthropology graduates and their families were invited to attend the festivities which included drinks and snacks. Department Chair, David Swanson served as Master of Ceremonies. Janet Ford presented the 2006 Francis James Award to anthropology student Jenna Hale Phillips, Elise Lake presented the 2006 Julien Tatum Award to sociology student Jennifer Salu.

Here are photos of the event:

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On September, 2006, the College of Liberal Arts sponsored a reception in honor of our own Dr. Jay Johnson, who along with Dr. Richard Raspet from the Department of Physics, was named a Distinguished Faculty Fellow. Glenn Hopkins, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and David Swanson, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Chair, presented the Award to Jay. Chancellor Robert Khayat also said a few words in honor of the award. Various faculty, staff and students from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology were there to help Jay celebrate his remarkable achievement. Congratulations Jay! Here are some photos of the event:

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This fall 2006, Dr. Ahmet Yukleyen and Dr. John Sonnett joined the tenure-trackfaculty in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Dr. Yukleyen completed his Ph.D. at Boston University and joins the faculty as a Croft Assistant Professor of Anthropology (a joint appointment with the Croft Institute for International Studies). His specialty areas include modern Europe, the experience of Muslims in Europe, and International Relations.

Dr. Sonnett was awarded his Ph.D. by the University of Arizona and joins the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Sociology. He specializes in Quantitative Research Methods, Culture/ Knowledge/ Science/ Media, Environment & Political Economy, Comparative Methods, and Social Networks.

Our friend and colleague, Dr. Vaughn Grisham, retired as Professor of Sociology in May of 2006 after more than 40 years of service to the University of Mississippi. A special celebration honoring Dr. Grisham was held on May 5, 2006.

Vaughn’s Retirement, 5/5/06

Our friend and colleague, Dr. Vaughn Grisham, retired as Professor of Sociology in May of 2006 after more than 40 years of service to the University of Mississippi. A special celebration honoring Dr. Grisham was held on May 5, 2006. The festivities began on the Oxford Double Decker bus, which picked Vaughn and Sandy up at their home and, subsequently, traveled to campus to pick up colleagues, former students, family and friends at various locations… all a complete surprise to Vaughn. The bus took all party-goers to a reception held in Vaughn’s honor at the Memory House where guests enjoyed a breakfast buffet complete with Bottle Tree Bakery pastries and mimosas.
Photos from the event:

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Dr. Jay Johnson, Professor Anthropology was named as one of two Distinguished Faculty Fellows in the College of Liberal Arts for 2006-2009. This prestigious award recognizes faculty who have made substantial contributions in teaching, scholarship, and service.

For a full story on the award click here.

Jay Johnson’s Distinguished Faculty Award Reception

David Swanson, Professor of Sociology, testified at a September 6th, 2006 hearing held by the House Government reform subcommittee on Federalism and the Census. His testimony was focused on the Census Bureau’s annual population estimates program which is used to distribute 100s of billions of federal dollars each year to state and local governments.

For a complete story of the testimony, click here.

A story featuring Dr. Ross Haenfler’s research on the straight edge punk music subculture was featured prominently in the recent September 29, 2006 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Congratulations Ross!

David Swanson served as the guest editor of the forthcoming (February 2007) special issue of the Journal of Economic and Social Measurement on “The Census at the Dawn of the 21st Century” The papers in this special issue formed a session organized and chaired by Jeff Tayman at the 2006 annual Meeting of the Southern Demographic Association (Durham, NC).

Robbie Ethridge is the local arrangements chair for the 2007 Southern Anthropological Society (SAS) Annual Meeting which will be held on February 15-18 on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi and in collaboration with the Living Blues Symposium and the Southern American Studies Association Meetings. The SAS theme for this year is “Southern Cuisines and Southern Foodways” (for more information go to www.southernanthro.org). This year the Living Blues Symposium is featuring “Blueswomen Today” (for more information go to www.livingblues.com). The Southern American Studies Association (SASA) conference theme is “Blues Tunes/Blues Text: Music, Cultures, and Literature in the Global South” (for more information go to www.lsu/edu/sasa.) In addition to conference sessions and keynote panels and addresses, the three conferences also will offer an array of featured speakers, readings, audience jam sessions, film screenings, a tour of the blues archives, and a night of blues at the Big Truck Theater in Taylor, Mississippi. All of these events will be open to participants from all three conferences.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is hosting a new lecture series this spring, 2007. Speakers from our own department and from other universities have been invited to present and discuss their current research. Curious about the Maya in Belize? The media coverage of “looting” during Katrina? The world of on-line gaming? These are some of the many topics that will be addressed this semester. We hope you will attend! Most of the talks will be held on Fridays from 2-3pm in 212 Leavell Hall.

See the full schedule below for all the details:

Feb. 15th-19th Southern Anthropological Society Meetings, Oxford MS. See schedule for locations and times for panel sessions.

Friday, Mar 2nd (2-3pm), Kathleen O’Neil, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Denison University presents “Rise of a Quest Culture?: Evidence from the Most Popular Nonfiction Books of the 20th Century,” 212 Leavell Hall.

Friday, Mar 9th (2-3pm) Jeffrey Jackson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Mississippi presents “Global Aid Flows and the Transnational State,” 212 Leavell Hall.

Friday, Mar 23rd (2-3pm) Gabriel Wrobel, Assistant Professor of Anthroplogy, University of Mississippi presents “Discovering the Ancient Maya of Belize,” 212 Leavell Hall.

Monday, Mar. 26th Patrick Williams, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Arkansas State University, presents “From Moral Panics to Mature Games Research.”

Bio: J. Patrick Williams is a sociologist and social psychologist who does ethnographic research on youth (sub)cultures and digital culture. His work has appeared in a variety of journals and books, including Symbolic Interaction, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, International Journal of Deviant Behavior, Media International Australia, and Youth Subcultures: Exploring Underground America. He has edited two books on gaming: Gaming as Culture: Essays in Social Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games (McFarland 2006) and The Players’ Realm: Studies on the Culture of Video Games and Gaming (McFarland 2007).

Thursday, April 19th (1:00 – 2:15 PM) Peter Morrison, PhD from Brown University and Retired Senior Consultant at the RAND Corporation presents a talk “At-Large Election Systems Under Legal Challenge: An Applied Demographer’s Perspectives,” 105 Leavell Hall.

Friday, April 27th (2-3pm) Kirk Johnson, Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies University of Mississippi, “Looting Up a Storm: Television’s View of Race and Theft During Hurricane Katrina,” 212 Leavell Hall.

Friday, May 4th (2-3pm) Ahmet Yukleyen, Croft Institute for International Studies, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Mississippi, “Anthropology of Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe,” 212 Leavell Hall.