April 30, 2024

UMW Research Team Presents at Public Sociology Conference

Fossil-Fuel-Protest-Photo

People’s Climate March, September 21, 2014

Undergraduates Beatrice Ohene-Okae (Environmental Science) and Zakaria Kronemer (Philosophy) presented their research project, “Studying Carbon Violence,” with Assistant Professor of Sociology Eric Bonds at George Mason’s annual public sociology conference, which this year was entitled “(Re)Visions of the Future: Public Sociology, Environmental Justice, and the Crisis of Climate Change.”  Beatrice and Zakaria presented some initial findings of their investigation into violence associated with global fossil fuel resource extraction.  Their work is part of a larger scholarly project, guided by Dr. Bonds, that is exploring linkages between violence, conceptualized in different ways, and the world’s largest oil, gas, and coal companies.

Bonds Publishes New Social Problems Text

Eric-Bonds-Social-ProblemsEric Bonds, assistant professor of sociology, recently published a new book with Routledge Press, entitled Social Problems: A Human Rights Perspective.  The book is based on Bonds’ teaching approach in his Social Issues class at UMW, in which he encourages students to both evaluate U.S. society from an international human rights framework while also considering – from a sociological vantage – what human rights are and what they can mean in the first place.

 

Bonds Publishes Teaching Article

Eric Bonds

Eric Bonds

Eric Bonds recently published an article, entitled “Grappling with Structure, Social Construction, and Morality: Towards a Human Rights Approach to Social Problems Instruction,” in the journal Societies Without Borders: Human Rights and the Social Sciences.  In the article, Bonds makes the case for a human rights approach and situates it within the theoretical traditions more traditionally used in social problems classes.  The article includes a sample syllabus and an overview of Bonds’ Social Issues class taught at UMW.  The article can be accessed here.

UMW Faculty to Discuss Anniversary of Iraq War

Nabil Al-Tikriti

Nabil Al-Tikriti

Eric Bonds

Eric Bonds

UMW faculty members will discuss the 10 year anniversary of the Iraq War during a roundtable on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The discussion will begin at 4 p.m. in Combs Hall, Room 139 and is free and open to the public.

The roundtable will feature Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history, Eric Bonds, assistant professor of sociology, Jason Davidson, associate professor of political science and Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies. All four faculty members have published scholarly research on aspects of the war. Ranjit Singh, associate professor of political science, will serve as the moderator.

For more information, contact Jason Davidson at jdavidso@umw.edu or (540) 654-1509.

Jason Davidson

Stephen Farnsworth

Stephen Farnsworth

Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh

Eric Bonds Publishes Research Article

Eric Bonds

Eric Bonds, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, recently published an article, entitled “Indirect Violence and Legitimation: Torture, Surrogacy, and the U.S. War on Terror” in the journal Societies Without Borders: Human Rights and the Social Sciences.  The article uses data from the Wikileaks “Iraq War Logs” to document the extent of torture practiced by the Iraqi state during the years of the U.S. occupation.  In the article, Bonds argues that the U.S. shares responsibility for this torture, despite official efforts to create distance from this violence and deflect blame.  The article can be downloaded at: http://societieswithoutborders.com/.