Mess Hall: November 8

Writing (Precarious) Lives: Victimhood and its Affirmations in Northern Uganda

Matthew Sebastian
MA Candidate, International Studies
Friday, November 8, 2 – 3 p.m.
990 Fullerton Ave, Suite 3100

Pabbo Memorial IDP Camp and Information Centre, photo courtesy Matthew Sebastian

Based on fieldwork conducted over the past four years with NGO, state, and community practitioners in northern Uganda, this project examines how the experiences of individuals living amidst violent conflict are narrated, documented, archived, and curated into public sites of memory with the expectation that more peaceful futures will result.

Sebastian invites a conversation about how life histories fit into peace-building schemas and reflection on the implications for ethnographic production and the limits of ethnographic representation when writing about deeply contentious, even violent, histories.

The Kitgum/National Memory Peace and Documentation Centre (K/NMPDC), photo courtesy of Matthew Sebastian

Mess Hall is a “brown bag” series (bring your lunch!) that lets DePaul researchers present their works in progress at any stage (mess & all). Mess Hall is a safe, fun, supportive and no-pressure environment for presenters to practice conference presentations, talk through data analysis problems, or untangle conceptual or framework issues. For those not presenting, Mess Hall offers an opportunity to learn what scholars in other departments and fields are working on and to become part of a supportive community of research at DePaul. Faculty, staff, graduate and advanced undergraduate students are welcome to attend.

Mug Shots: The Charge Fits the Crime?

This is the fourth in a series of articles regarding a policy of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), in conjunction with the Mayor’s office, to make publicly available (online for 30 days) mug shots of all individuals who have been arrested (not convicted) for patronizing or soliciting for prostitution.

Part One: The Public Shaming of “Johns”
Part Two: Transgender “Johns”
Part Three: Why Are So Many Transgender Women Arrested for “Buying” Sex?

Does the charge fit the crime?

When analyzing arrest data, it’s assumed that people are charged with the “correct” crime. In the case of prostitution-related crimes, it’s reasonable to assume that buyers are charged with “buying” offenses, sellers with “selling” offenses, and arrangers with “arranging” offenses.

As we mentioned in a previous post, our preliminary fieldwork with cisfemale (females whose gender identity and presentation match that considered appropriate to their sex) sex workers in Chicago reveals this might not be the case. Continue reading “Mug Shots: The Charge Fits the Crime?”

Participant Observation and Immigrant Youth

Melanie Jones Gast, an assistant professor in DePaul’s Department of Sociology, talks with the SSRC’s Julian Thompson and Frank Edwards about her research on the impact of community-based organizations on young immigrants’ access to resources in the San Francisco Bay area. She discusses why qualitative research methods are particularly useful for identifying how social institutions structure young people’s lives.

Certificate in Qualitative Research Methods: Summer Session

After a successful first run, the SSRC will again offer a certificate course in qualitative research methods. The course will run on Saturdays from June 2 – July 7 (with no class on June 30).

This course will teach students the fundamentals of scientific qualitative research design and how to conduct the most common types of qualitative field research, including in-depth interviews, ethnography, life narratives, focus groups, and participant observation. Students will get hands-on, practical experience designing and conducting qualitative research, including data collection techniques. By its conclusion, they’ll be able to:

Develop and elucidate testable hypotheses
Understand how social theory and specific research methods work together
Recognize an appropriate methodology based on research questions and develop a corresponding research design
Craft quality control mechanisms for data collection activities
Design data collection instruments
Enumerate various ethical and political dilemmas in qualitative research
Conduct qualitative field research
Identify the most common qualitative field research pitfalls and strategies to avoid them

Chicago-area professionals working within behavioral and/or social science research and those just wanting to bolster their marketable research skills will benefit from the certificate program.

Recent graduates, both graduate and undergraduate, current graduate students, and advanced upperclassmen considering a career in social or behavioral science fields or graduate programs in sociology, psychology, anthropology, public service, policy studies, social work, and public health would also benefit.

Registration is now open! Contact Jessica Speer (jspeer3 at depaul.edu) to learn more.