Issue: 4 - 2008 - Northeastern Illinois University

Page
Sociology Matters
Sociology Matters
From the Chair:
Inside This Issue:
Summer
Learn what is happening in some of our
spectacular classes
time
and the living
is easy…I sure
hope you are
finding some
time to relax
and have some
outdoor fun. In this newsletter issue, you will read about
some trips our Sociology
majors have taken, and what
others have been up to in the
past few months.
Read about exotic
student fieldtrips and
travels
News from our
Sociology faculty
students and alumni
This past March, a large
group of us traveled to St.
Louis to the Midwest Sociological Society (MSS) meetings. Fourteen of our faculty
and instructors, and several
of our alumnae and students
presented and performed at
the conference in a wide va-
Events:
Contents:
- From the Chair & MSS 1
- News From the
Classroom
2&3
- Research News
- Students Abroad
4
4&5
- Sociology Internship
Reports
5-7
- NEIU Symposium
7
- Grads & Alumni News
8
CENTERS OF
GLOBALIZATION:
GREEK AMERICA—AN
INTERDISCIPLINARY
APPROACH
Organized By: Andrew
Kourvetaris
13-14 November 2008
Northeastern
Illinois University
Chicago, Illinois
Visit: www.neiu.edu/
~sociolgy/index.htm for info
riety of venues. In April, six
of our students presented at
NEIU’s 16th Annual Student
Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Also,
twenty-two of our Sociology
students had some dynamite
internships in the spring semester, and a few students
were directly employed from
their internship placements.
Several of our faculty attended and presented at the
American Sociological Association (ASA) Conference in
Boston August 1-4, 2008.
Dr. Andrew Kourvetaris is
organizing an exciting conference here at NEIU on
Greek Americans this fall, on
November 13-14th. And it’s
not too early to begin thinking about attending the Midwest Sociological Society
(MSS) meetings to be held in
Des Moines, Iowa on April
1-4, 2009. Why don’t you
Spring-Summer
2008
Issue #4
plan on organizing a session,
a roundtable, or creating a
poster detailing your research? You can also present a paper, as NEIU students have done at past MSS
meetings. Most of our faculty will be in attendance,
and as the current MSS
President I will be making a
“presidential address” about
public sociology in the classroom through servicelearning. Check out the MSS
website for more information: www.TheMSS.org
There will be numerous opportunities for you to engage
with our department, the
university and with the community this fall through selected classes, and through
our Sociology Club. Hope
you plan to get involved!
- Susan Stall
[email protected]
Midwest Sociological Society
News: MSS Spring 2008
Edited / Designed by:
Evan Chears
Susan Stall, Oana Panaite (MSS Student Director) and Ingrid
Castro: standing in front of the NEIU Sociology Club's Poster
submitted for the MSS Poster Session.
Continued →
Sociology Matters
Page 2
Midwest Sociological Society News Cont...
Photos 1 & 2: Mike Armato performs in Six Sociologists in Search of Society—starring as Michel Foucault!
Photo 3: Brett Stockdill presents his research in one of many provocative MSS sessions!
News From The Classroom :
Sociology of Latinas Class Visits
LAS MUJERES LATINAS en ACCION
During this
second summer session,
Instructor
Maria LunaDuarte took
our Sociology of Latinas
class to the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago to visit the
organization Mujeres Latinas
en Accion. Mujeres is a
stronghold in the community
for helping Latinas through
an array of social services
and assistance, such as childcare, and counseling. The
organization not only offers
classes that help empower
Latinas to be community
leaders, but it is a safe haven
for women who are dealing
with crisis issues such as
domestic violence and sexual
assault. Although the organization’s target audience
is Latinas, their emergency
and counseling services are
available to all women and
even male victims of sexual
assault. Legal advice and
parenting classes are also
among the many services
offered.
One aspect of this visit
that was very valuable was
our ability to make sociologi-
cal connections among the
experiences of Latinas in the
community. Mujeres has a
deep understanding about
why domestic violence occurs, and the social factors,
such as the machismo culture, that keep Latinas from
safely seeking help from
organizations like Mujeres
Latinas en Accion. One of
the barriers that the organization is trying to overcome is
the lack of male involvement
in preventing domestic violence. We discussed and
watched a video about how
helping men to understand
the social factors that allow
them to be violent towards
women, they can better understand how to break the
cycle of domestic violence.
In fact, Mujeres Latinas en
Accion currently has five or
six male volunteers.
Another valuable discussion was in understanding
how a woman’s immigration
status plays a role in domestic violence or sexual assault.
For example, Mujeres offers
legal assistance to victims of
domestic violence whose
partners threaten them with
either deportation or separation from their children when
Left to Right:
Maria Luna-Duarte,
Aida Rodriguez,
Janaya Parra,
Angela Vela,
Jacqueline Araujo,
Alberto Colon Jr,
Edgar Saavedra
attempting to leave the abusive relationship or even in
seeking medical attention.
The language barrier for
some women is another obstacle that the organization is
able to overcome by offering
bilingual hotlines for crisis
intervention as well as bilingual counseling on an individual or group basis.
Although the counselors
that we spoke to mentioned
that all women are able to
seek assistance at their or-
ganization, it is important to
have a place specifically for
Latinas to come to where
their cultural experiences are
understood, and their specific
needs can be met in a familiar cultural environment.
Mujeres Latinas en Accion is
always looking for volunteers. They are located in the
Pilsen neighborhood at 2124
W. 21st Place, Chicago, IL.
By: Angela Vela
Urban Sociology Class Visits
Humboldt Park
On June 11, my summer
session Urban Sociology
class met for a tour and discussion of the Humboldt
Park neighborhood. Humboldt Park is a working class
Puerto Rican ethnic enclave
in Chicago. It’s also known
for fighting ongoing struggles against police brutality
and racial profiling as well as
gentrification creeping in
from its Wicker Park
neighbor, processes that are
linked as developers see the
area as ripe for profits.
Page 3
Sociology Matters
News from the Classroom Cont...
These types of pressures
often topple working class
communities, especiall y
communities of color. But
Humboldt Park has a long
community tradition of fighting to retain this Latinocentered space in the city.
Much of the local grass-roots
organizing takes place out of
the Puerto Rican Cultural
plaining all of the projects
spearheaded by the community including low-income
housing; Pedro Albizu Campos Alternative High School;
housing for the elderly; a
day-care center; Batey Urbano, a youth-centered
space; VIDA/SIDA, a community health center targeting Latinos living with HIV/
streets off Division. These
streets provided a clear example of gentrification in the
works in the community. A
number of residential buildings had been gutted, rehabbed, and converted to
condominiums, and are now
being offered on the realestate market. These processes increase the value of
housing in the area so that
long-time residents can no
longer afford to live there.
To show students the outcome of the gentrification
process, we walked a bit
farther to the east into
Wicker Park, a fully gentrified area of the city. Students immediately noticed
the stark contrast between
the two neighborhoods, a
contrast marked by clear
class and racial and ethnic
differences. In the end, the
trip was quite a success because it gave students the
opportunity to see pressing
urban issues at work in the
real world, right in their own
back yard.
By Michael Armato
Xavi Burgos, far left, explains the importance of Batey Urbano
for Latino youth in the area.
Center (PRCC). Whether or
not residents will be successful in thwarting the political
and economic onslaught on
their community remains to
be seen. I chose Humboldt
Park as a field trip destination because it allows students in the class to see firsthand these processes that
remain so central to the study
of urban communities.
We met our guide, Xavi
Burgos, at the corner of California Ave. and Division St.,
the southeast corner of the
park itself. Xavi is an NEIU
Sociology major and community activist with the
PRCC. Xavi walked us east
along Division St., which is
also known as the Paseo Boricua, pointing out and ex-
AIDS; and other symbolically significant spaces in the
neighborhood. Xavi’s tour
helped reinforce a theme in
urban research: politically
engaged and organized community members can have
successful outcomes despite
limited economic and political resources.
After Xavi’s tour, I took
the class north up Campbell
Ave. and then south down
Artesian Ave., residential
Sociology major and our guide on the field trip, Xavi Burgos,
foreground, talks about the many programs spearheaded by the
Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Urban Sociology class poses in front of the giant metal Puerto
Rican flags that designate the Paseo Boricua.
Sociology Matters
Page 4
Sociology Major/McNair Scholar Excited About
Current Research!
By: Emilio Caban,
Sociology Major
I am working with the
McNair Scholars Program
with Ingrid Castro as my
mentor. The research project
I am working on, “TwoSteppin' Into a Social Issue:
Alcohol in Country Music
Lyrics,” is coming along
nicely and I am looking forward to completing the project by the beginning of this
August, 2008.
One of my preliminary
findings is that out of the 294
songs that I have analyzed,
102 have some reference to
alcohol. Furthermore, out of
those 102 songs there are a
total of almost 360 refer-
ences to either alcohol, beer,
wine, or liquor--some songs
have as many as 10 15 alcohol references embedded within the lyrics of just
one song!
Another interesting finding is that the references to
alcohol are primarily made
by male performers and
songwriters rather than by
female performers and songwriters, very few are performed and/or written by
women (e.g. Garth Brooks,
Direks Bently, Rodney Atkins, Phil Vasser, Jo de
Macina, Gretchen Wilson,
Carrie
Un der wood,
etc). Also, references to alcohol in these lyrics are a
more recent phenomenon
(last ten to twenty years). In
Brown Bag 2008
earlier country music recordings (e.g. Jerry Lee
Lewis, Elvis, Johnny Cash,
etc.) song lyrics were more
focused on some form
of love ballad (hurting,
cheating, stealing, etc.) and
were performed by both genders
These are preliminary
findings. I will have more
information within the next
couple of weeks. This project has been one of the most
enjoyable that I have ever
worked on. Also, it has
given me a new focus within
the discipline of Sociology
on what I want to achieve
academically with my Sociology Degree and in Grad
School.
Northeastern Illinois
University, March 2008
Aneta Galary’s talk, Cultural Embeddedness of
Workplace Transformations:
The Case of Poland, was
based on her participant observation research at a Polish Brewery. She presented
at our Spring, 2008 Brown
Bag Series sponsored by the
Sociology Club.
Student News: Students Abroad
Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories
Top Left: Palestinian women clear roadblock in the South Hebron Hills 2008, Bottom Left: Baby in cave home in South Hebron Hills 2007, Top Right: South Hebron Hills 2006, Bottom
Right: Planting olive trees 2004
By: Joel Gulledge
NEIU Sociology Major
This summer, I will
travel back to the South Heb-
ron Hills of the West Bank
where I’ve been involved in
human rights work for a portion of each of the last five
years. The South Hebron
Hills, home to some one
thousand Palestinians who
reside in caves, has often
been a site of violence and
displacement for Palestinians
at the hands of Israeli military and its nationalist settlers.
Israeli settlements,
Israeli-only highways, five
hundred plus military checkpoints, home demolitions,
and Israel’s separationbarrier—collectively create
facts on the ground in the
West Bank which force Palestinians into enclaves and
restrict their access to food
and water, a process Israeli
anthropologist Jeff Halper
(2005) has described as the
matrix of control.
It is here that Israeli and
international human rights
workers have come to join in
solidarity with these Palestinians by monitoring the
situation, jointly participating in non-violent acts of
direct action, and working
with Israeli lawyers to end
physical and economic violence towards the Palestinian
population. At the request of
Palestinian leadership, international human rights workers live amongst villagers
and accompany Palestinian
children, shepherds, and
women. We’ve been trained
to put our bodies in the way
of conflict in an effort to
reduce the more immediate
acts of physical violence.
Working with oppressed
groups, it is necessary for
those of us from privileged
positions to identify our location and consider potentially
harmful impacts of our actions. Utilizing black feminist theory (Collins 2000) is
beneficial in that it emphasizes the interconnectedness
of race, class, gender, and
other inequalities, while recognizing difference as
Page 5
Sociology Matters
Student News: Students Abroad Cont...
strength. As a straight white
male from America, I am
afforded many privileges at
the expense of others. In the
Palestinian territories, I’m
able to travel with relative
ease and minimum harassment while Palestinians are
denied equal mobility and
treatment. My white skin
privilege at times acts as a
deterrent to potentially violent situations and gives me
access to institutions such as
media and government. I
must also remain mindful of
my inclusion as a male to
social spheres that are denied
to women, and to the genderbased oppressions my female
co-workers encounter from
both the field and from their
male co-workers.
Palestinian women living
under military occupation, a
voice least often heard in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Women who have had their
homes demolished, women
whose livestock and water
cisterns have been poisoned,
women denied access to clinics and markets, harassed
and attacked by Israeli soldiers and settlers, yet are
willing to stand and declare
that they will eat the dirt
before they leave their land.
We must strive to hear this
voice of struggle and hope of
a better world for all people
is truly our goal.
I continually learn from
References
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 2nd
ed. New York, NY: Routledge.
Halper, Jeff. 2005. Obstacles to Peace: A Re-Framing of the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine:
PalMap.
Greece as a Catalyst for Sociological
Research
By: Pam Buschbacher
Through the
NEIU Honor’s
Program I got
an
awesome
opportunity to take a monthlong tour of Greece (Athens,
Argos, Nafplion, Olympia,
Nafpactos, Delphi, Crete,
Santorini and Mykenos) this
summer, 2008. The trip was
entitled Greek Classics as a
Catalyst for Contemporary
Research. Because the
Honor’s Program is interdisciplinary many of the students on the trip came from
very diverse backgrounds,
with majors such as education, psychology, media/
communication, biology,
and, of course, myself in
Sociology & Women’s Studies. Each student’s goal for
the trip was to develop the
research question from
which his or her honor’s thesis would later be developed.
My focus was on the connections between sexual iden-
tity/behavior and gender conformity. By reading philosophy, such as Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, and many
Greek tragedies, such as
Medea and Oedipus, through
a feminist lens I was able to
develop insight into the lives
of the Ancient Greeks. With
supplementary academic
texts about homosexuality in
Ancient Greece, my theoretical understanding grew. By
the end of the trip I had not
only narrowed down and
specified my research question, but I also had a larger,
and growing perspective
about available resources and
texts. This trip was often
times tiring and difficult, but
more often fun and transformative! I now have a better
appreciation for studying
abroad and would recommend it to anyone, but I
would also recommend just
stepping outside of the
worlds that we’ve caught
ourselves up in and take a
chance to view the world a
little differently.
SOC 342: SOCIOLOGY’S INTERNSHIP SEMINAR
This past spring, 2008, the 22 students in our capstone
SOC 342: Internship Seminar were successfully placed in a vast
array of organizations for their 144 internship hours (see below). Also, we were visited by four NEIU Sociology graduates
who spoke both about their prior internships and their current
work: Beth Sholtis interned at the Center for Neighborhood
Technology and currently is pursuing an MA in Urban Planning
& Policy Program (MUPP) at UIC; Maria Luna-Duarte interned at the Mexican Consulate and is now the Associate Coordinator of NEIU El Centro Campus; Robin Matthies, an activist with NEIU’s LGBT Student Organization is the Coordinator
of Student Activities at the Illinois Institute of Technology; and
Carolina Campos, who interned at the Logan Square Neighborhood Association just completed her first year as a Chicago
Public School Teacher.
--Susan Stall
Top Left: Forrest Robinson presents his internship project, Top
Right: SOC 342 students and their site supervisors listen attentively to student presenters, Bottom Right: Aida Rodriguez
sharing her experience at ASPIRA, Bottom Left: Students partake of our delicious potluck dinner!
Sociology Matters
Page 6
SOC 342: SOCIOLOGY’S INTERNSHIP SEMINAR Cont...
In the Arts:
Bee Davis, RedMoon
Theatre,
In Business/Industry:
Jamie, Keller, Blitz Logistics
Edina Kahrimanovic,
Ravenswood Bank
In Community-Based
Organizations:
Yulye Suarez, United
Neighborhood Organization
(UNO)
In Criminal Justice:
Claire Engel, Chicago Police
Department
In Education:
Roberta Kruszewski,
Glencoe Central School
Joyce Brown, Proviso West
High School (Cooperative
Education)
Jessica Rosborough, The
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)
Joanna Jarosz, NEIU, Adult
and Women Student Programs
Non-Profit Organizations:
Joann Atto, Arab American
Action Network (AAAN)
Internship Follow-Ups
I have (2008 NEIU grad) secured a job with Clearbrook, a non
profit organization that serves adults and children who have
developmental disabilities. My title is Qualified Mental Retardation Professional (QMRP)/Project Manager. I Have 22 clients in a 92 bed intensive care facility. In this management
role, I develop goals for my clients—which I update every
three months, and hold annual staffings for each client with the
entire service team. I LOVE this work. “Working for a non
profit is great because the employees are there because they
want to make a difference!”
--Roberta Kruszewski
My field experience this Spring through my Internship was an
invaluable experience. Overall, it allowed me to put my sociological imagination into practice in a setting where I am truly
invested in both the mission and overarching organizational
goals. While I interned at Tree House Humane Society [we
recently changed our name] I was able to bridge a departmental
gap, between the area where I am a paid employee, and where I
interned. This was useful, and actually opened up a new position which the organization offered to me after I completed my
internship. This is an exciting opportunity, which has certainly
opened doors and now, more than ever, I feel like an important
part of the whole operation. Beyond that, I feel changed as a
person, too, finding new challenges to my abilities as both an
employee and as a sociologist. It’s all thanks to the opportunity to complete an internship.
--Olga Steele
Aida Rodriguez, ASPIRA,
Inc of Illinois
Oana Panaite, Midwest Sociological Society (MSS)
Melissa Giamou, Avon Walk
for Breast Cancer
Olga Steele, Tree House
Animal Foundation
Demelza Phillips, Center for
Neighborhood Technology
(CNT)
In Social Services:
Isaura Guerrero, Humboldt
Park Social Services
Forrest Robinson, Generations Community Development Corporation
Ethel Brison & Gloria Ajayi,
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
(IDCFS)
Michelle Mayer, Inspiration
Corporation
Rebecca Inlow, Metropolitan
Family Services
Elefteria Pashos, Mercy
Housing Lakefront,
I ended up extending my Internship with the Avon Breast
Walk and worked 46 hours from Friday to Sunday of the
walk. I was in charge of the Lakeview cheering/support station
which had 187 people at the peak hour, which is a record! So
my internship finally ended on June 2nd, it was an incredible
experience to see the event come together! The Chicago Walk
raised 9.1 million dollars (final total out in the fall).
I got a lot of recognition from the staff at our closing dinner on
June 2nd. There is a job opening up in mid July in the Chicago
office, so I am going to apply for it.
--Melissa Giamou
Page 7
Sociology Matters
I’m still working at DCFS, but I have become more active in
the local union at my office. On June 23, 2008 I went to
Springfield to a rally at the State Capital to hopefully meet with
our Governor there. AFSCME union is asking for more front
line workers and clerical staff. The Governor is asking workers
to pay more for our benefits, such as health care and our retirement pension. AFSCME members were 5000 strong on the
picket lines in Springfield. We didn’t see the Governor, but I’m
sure he saw us. We marched around the State Capital and
through the streets of Springfield. I was chosen to work at a
Community Forum for my job. The Forum was held at a
church on Ashland. I’m still pretty busy and using what I have
learned in my Sociology classes to make a difference!
--Ethel Brison
I am working at Camp Manitowish for the summer. I have
been working the leadership program here and was a facilitator
for a scholar group for five days; it was amazing. Two weeks
ago I got asked to lead a 24 day backpacking trip in Montana
for the camp. My girls arrive Friday and we leave July 1st. I am
so excited to get out there. I’ll write you and send you some
pictures when I get back. Hope things are well with you.
--Rebecca Inlow
Sociology Student Presenters at NEIU’s 16th Annual Student Research and Creative
Activities Symposium, April 18, 2008.
Photo 1: L-R: Fernando Gonzalez, Andrew Kourvetaris and Joel Gulledge.
Photo 2 & 3: Receiving Certificates of Participation from Provost Larry Frank.
Demelza Phillips: “When
the City Attacks: Examining
Public Policy and its Role in
the Process of Gentrification,” (Faculty Sponsor:
Susan Stall).
Fernando Gonzalez:
“Reggaton and Latino
Youth,” (Faculty Sponsor:
Brett Stockdill).
Joel Gulledge:
“Solidarity with Palestinian Cave Dwellers: International and Israeli Human Rights Workers in
the Southern West
Bank,” (Faculty Sponsor:
Andrew Kourvetaris).
Krystle Pereira:
“Impossible Ideals: The
Commodification of Female Sexuality and its Effects on Perceptions of
Beauty,” (Faculty Sponsor: Ingrid Castro).
Olga A. Steele: “Have a
‘Heart’ for Animals—A
Study of Emotional Labor in
the Animal Welfare Industry,” (Faculty Sponsor: Aneta
Galary).
Toni K. Scott:
“Reproductive Rights vs.
Reproductive Justice,” ((Faculty Sponsor:
Sarah Hoagland).
Sociology Matters
Page 8
Congratulations Sociology Graduates of May 2008 !
Gloria T. Ajayi
Andrew A. Dyon
Edina Kahrimanovic
Katherine E. Nelson
Tarlisha S. Berry
Denise M. Franklin
Jamie L. Keller
Oana Panaite
Ethel M. Brison
Isaura Guerrero
Roberta E. Kruszewski
Elefteria Pashos
Joyce L. Brown
Rebecca J. Inlow
Karl MacCoubrey
Forrest A. Robinson
Pamela J. Drake
Joanna K. Jarosz
Michelle N. Mayer
Jessica M. Rosborough
Alumni Achievements/Alumni News
Loren Henderson
• First Place Winner of the
Graduate Student Paper
Award, Black Sociologists Association, Summer, 2008.
• Alumni Award of Excellence, NEIU Black History Month, February 29,
2008.
• First Prize in Chicago
United’s James W.
Compton Research Competition. The article,
“Organizational Factors
that Influence Diversity
in Management,” 2008.
Eileen Hines Rollerson,
Alumni Award of Excellence, NEIU Black History
Month, February 29, 2008.
Maria Luna-Duarte,
Accepted into the Ph.D. program at UIC in Policy Studies in Urban Education with
a full Scholarship for Fall,
2008.
Christopher
NEIU Sociology graduate
(2002), Dr. Christopher
Schneider has accepted a
tenure track position in Sociology at the University of
British Columbia Okanagan.
He begins his appointment
on August 1, 2008.
Schneider,
Alumni Present Women’s Studies:
A Generational Retrospective
Faculty, staff and students from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and present
shared their experiences of Women’s Studies. Invited panelists
included Sociology alumni Robin Matthies (left) and Maria
Luna-Duarte (far right).
An Excellent Website to Use in Finding
a New Career to Go With Your Major:
Idealist.org