Reflections on European Sociological Associations’ 14th Conference

Between the 20–24 August 2019, Antonios Ktenidis attended the European Sociological Association’s 14th Conference in Manchester. It was a full four-day conference, starting from early morning (9am) and lasting until late evening (8pm). More than 3,000 sociologists of all sorts ‘occupied’ Manchester city, walking around with their conference badges. The theme of the conference was ‘Europe and Beyond: Boundaries, Barriers and Belonging’, with three plenary sessions focusing around this topic (to see the programme and the abstracts: https://www.conftool.pro/esa2019/sessions.php).

The conference was divided into streams (e.g. Sociology of Emotions, Sociology of Work and many more), covering a wide range of topics. My own paper was part of a panel on ‘Perceptions and constructions of vulnerability’, under the stream of Sociology of Education. The title of the paper was ‘“Excessive” Bodies in the Secondary Classroom: (Short) Stories of Students with Restricted Growth of their Secondary Education in the United Kingdom’. One of the core aims of the paper was to bring in dialogue two distinct interdisciplinary fields, Sociology of Education and Critical Disability Studies (in Education) as a means to address the ‘political’ presence of the (disabled) body in the classroom. A great Q&A followed the paper presentation, during which the audience and myself engaged in generous discussions regarding my research in particular and the current state of Sociology of Education more broadly.

Two other paper presentations (among many others) that I really enjoyed listening to were the ‘Inside and Around Schools’ Toilets: Theorisizing the Boundaries between adults and children’ by Pascale Garnier and the ‘Alternative Spaces of Failure: disabled ‘bad’ boys in alternative further educational provision’ by Craig Johnston. Both papers were insightful and thought provoking, engaging with nuanced theoretical frameworks and including some really sensitive stories shared by the participants in each research. The third plenary on ‘Sexual Citizenship in Europe and Beyond’, with Diane Richardson, Greg Thorpe and Roman Kuhar, was equally great and perfectly coincided with the beginning of Pride in Manchester.

By the end of the conference, I was knackered, but equally grateful that I was given the chance to present my work to other sociologists as well as to listen to the work of other colleagues.

Antonios Ktenidis

@AntonisKtenidis