It’s noodles, resitance in science and philosophy, brotherly love, the matriarchal alphabet, and the Writers Festival for this visual sociology of May 2017.
Sydney Noodle Life. 5 May
“Chinese Food Culture” courtesy of Granny’s Noodles in Sydney! 5 May
Lucky. 5 May
[Image: a row of Zhao Cai Mao, a smiling gold and red cat, at the front of a Chinese restaurant.]
Resist
From an American colleague, scientist and artist, Christine Liu. 14 May
Habitat, by Taloi Havini
Visual sociopolitical history of Bougainville, which led to civil war, and Indigenous people’s struggles against the the Panguma Coppermine. 14 May
[Video shows Indigenous worker walking through forest with a tool, birds are heard chirping. Overhead shots of clear water and rocks.]
Philosophy Strike
Artwork: “It Was About Opening Up the Very Notion That There Was a Particular Perspective 2015-2017.” By Alex Martinis Roe.
In the 1970s, Australian students visited France to learn about the theories of sociologist Michel Foucault and other postmodernists. Upon their return to Australia, they translated and self-published these works (without official endorsement) as “Working Papers” to be read by various activist groups. This would lead to the Philosophy Strike of 1973, after a feminist course was vetoed at the University of Sydney. These feminist students and faculty joined forces with the Builders Laborers Federation, Feminist Film Workers and Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative. The philosophy department split into two as a result, with the classic courses in one and newer feminist courses in the other.
14 May
Beautiful brotherly love
[A man is leaning against a glass display at the art gallery with his head bowed down. Beside him are three boys; the tallest is leaning close to better see a drawing mounted on the wall. The second tallest brother has his arm around the shoulder of his youngest brother. They are also gazing intently at the same artwork. We see all four figures from the back only.]
Writing the Matriarchy
“Encountered at first in the abstract, the work is offered by Emily Floyd as ‘a spell or invocation,’ one that conjures a different future while reminding us that language is a system through which world views are shaped and expressed.”
Australian artist Emily Floyd is influenced by social science and often draws on sociology, anthropology and feminist writing. This work is “Kesh Alphabet.” It takes inspiration from Ursula Le Guin’s 1985 novel “Always Coming Home,” a feminist science fiction story on a future matriarchy. 20 May
Gunybi Ganambarr
Gunybi Ganambarr’s work uses wood from mining and building sites to reference these industries’ impact on Aboriginal care of the land. The clan design denotes custodianship of Country predating colonialism and mining by tens of thousands of years.
[Photo: five long poles with white painting and stand in the centre of a gallery. A woman can be seen in the background admiring other works.]
Roxane Gay at the Sydney Writers Festival
City Recital Hall. This was just before I saw Roxane Gay as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival! “Difficult Women” was the name of her book and show. 26 May
Interview: Interracial Dating on the Hook Up, Triple J
I was part of a discussion on Triple J radio on race and dating. The show explored listeners’ experiences of sexual fetishisation and prejudice in relationships, as well as what it’s like being partned with people from minority backgrounds. 28 May
The Other Sociologist 