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27 February 2015: 50 years of Sociology at Essex
Experts from the Department of Sociology and Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship will be revisiting ground-breaking research carried out by Essex in 1981, in a seminar next month.
The Making of the Modern Homosexual, edited by Professor Ken Plummer, explored the idea that the notion of a ‘homosexual’ was a modern idea. The book brought together a number of students and staff then studying in this field who will come together again, after 34 years, for the seminar to discuss how the book evolved, how it posed new questions and theories for the study of ‘homosexuality’, and how these ideas ultimately developed.
Since the book was published, the world has moved on drastically from a time when ‘homosexuality’ was still a crime and firmly defined as sickness. The Gay, Lesbian and Women’s movement had not happened and AIDS had not arrived. But how much have things really changed?
The seminar will also include contributions from Professor Jeffrey Weeks and Dr Róisín Ryan-Flood, and will be chaired by Gregg Blachford.
Held in memory of Mary McIntosh, a prominent member of the department between 1975 and 1996 and the first woman chair (1986-9), who died in 2013, the seminar will take place on 19 March, in room 6.345 from 4.00-5.30pm.