Tag: working-class studies

Cherie Rankin Reviews ‘Winter Counts’ by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Cherie Rankin reviews David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s debut novel Winter Counts in the latest issue of the Journal of Working-Class Studies. Winter Counts is a riveting look at the power of family, tradition, and connection.

Set on the Lakota Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the author draws on the poignancy of all three when they are entwined in battling the drug trade on the reservation that threatens the life of its people. You can read more this review, as well as a large number of other articles, by following the link below. Oh and good news! It’s an open-source journal: 

https://journals.uwyo.edu/…/work…/article/view/7261/5841

Heading image source: goodreads.com

This Week’s Working-Class Perspectives

We understand war through the stories and images available to us, which may not always capture the economic hardships that war brings. In the case of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, videos and photographs offer stories of collective efforts by Ukrainians but also the individual characters of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

As media critic James V. Catano writes in this week’s Working-Class Perspectives, they have been presented in terms that reflect contrasting versions of masculinity, one an elitist executive and the other the heroic leader of a group of equals. Yet as Catano reminds us, the war’s primary victims are those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Journal of Working-Class Studies

Did you know that the Journal of Working-Class Studies is open access and available online? Well, now you do. Keep your eyes peeled for more insightful quotes on working-class lives and experiences.

You can access the journal here.

Alice Whittenburg – The Journal of Working-Class Studies – December 2021

This quote from Alice Whittenburg appeared in her article ‘A Dozen Images Made in or Near Youngstown, Ohio, That Show Why People Need Both Jobs and Fish’ in the December 2021 issue of the Journal of Working-Class Studies.

The articles states that cultural geographers have shown that depictions of a landscape contribute to its meaning(s). Linkon & Russo (2002) have examined the landscape of Youngstown through the lens of images and stories. In this article Whittenburg focuses more specific on the landscape of the Mahoning River examining a dozen images created in or near Youngstown since the early twentieth century. Whittenburg explores how the images in the piece help to clarify the way the conflict between economy and ecology has played out in the Mahoning Valley.

You can read the full article here. Co-edited by Sarah Attfield and Liz Giuffre (University of Technology Sydney), the journal operates as an independent, adjudicated, open-access, scholarly publication alongside WCSA. For more information or to view the journal click here.

Bringing Working-Class Writing to Light

Emma Penney, Jessica Pauszek, and Mark Nowak share out living projects with moderation by Sherry Lee Linkon… don’t miss it! Register for this Zoom event below

The Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor and the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice invite you to a virtual event

Register Here

Working-Class Perspectives Blog

Higher education has always mirrored, perpetuated, and even exacerbated inequality in the US, and the pandemic is making things even worse. College enrollments have declined significantly, especially at community colleges and private for-profit schools, leading to program and faculty cuts at many institutions. As Sherry Linkon writes in Working-Class Perspectives this week, that undermines the quality of education, especially at the public institutions where most poor and working-class students attend college.

Where in the World?

Where in the world are our members from and where are they now? As part of the Working Class Studies Association website redesign project we are hoping to include a map that visually represents where our members are located & where they are from originally. Please share your responses on our Google form by 7th January 2022 if you would like to be represented. 

You will remain anonymous on the map. Email wcsasite@gmail.com with any questions.

Google form: https://forms.gle/C9TYH2qaExDW9EvDA

Thanks so much everyone and happy new year!

Roundtable discussion of the Routledge International Handbook of Working-Class Studies

Join us for a roundtable discussion of the new Routledge International Handbook of Working-Class Studies on April 16, 2021 at 11 am – 12:15 pm EST via Zoom.

Advance registration is required.

Register here.

The Routledge International Handbook of Working-Class Studies is a timely volume that provides an overview of this interdisciplinary field that emerged in the 1990s in the context of deindustrialization, the rise of the service economy, and economic and cultural globalization. The Handbook brings together scholars, teachers, activists, and organizers from across three continents to focus on the study of working-class peoples, cultures, and politics in all their complexity and diversity.  

Panelists include contributors:  

Sherry Linkon, Georgetown University  

Colby King, University of South Carolina Upstate  

Simon Lee, Texas State University  

Allison Hurst, Oregon State University  

And co-editors Michele Fazio, Christie Launius, and Tim Strangleman  

Moderated by Jack Metzgar, Professor Emeritus, Roosevelt University  

Call for Annual Awards

The Working-Class Studies Association calls for nominations for our annual awards. Please consider nominating an entry, and please circulate the attached call.

Our award categories are:

  • Studs Terkel Award: for single published articles or series, broadcast media, multimedia, and film in media and journalism
  • Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing: for published books of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and other genres
  • C.L.R. James Award: for Published Books for Academic or General Audiences
  • Jake Ryan and Charles Sackrey Award: for books by writer(s) of working-class origins that speak to issues of the working-class academic experience
  • Russo & Linkon Award: for published article or essay for academic or general audiences
  • Constance Coiner Award: for completed dissertations
  • Lifetime Achievement Award

In all categories, we invite nominations of excellent work that provides insightful and engaging depictions of working-class life, culture, and movements; addresses issues related to the working class; and highlights the voices, experiences, and perspectives of working-class people.

To be eligible, works must have been published (in the case of books or articles) or completed (in the case of films and dissertations) between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

Details of the awards and past winners can be found here.

To nominate a work for consideration, please send three hard copies with a cover letter, identifying the category in which the work is being nominated and a brief explanation of why it deserves recognition, to the address below. The nominating party, whether author or publisher–has the responsibility to make sure three copies with a cover letter are submitted. NOTE: Articles and dissertations should be submitted in electronic form to <scott.henkel@uwyo.edu>.

For the Lifetime Achievement Award, please submit a detailed letter of nomination (or self-nomination) to <scott.henkel@uwyo.edu>. The letter should document the range of the nominees’ contributions to the field of Working-Class Studies and the advancement of working-class causes, whether in or beyond higher education. 

WCSA call for awards 2020Download

Nominations are due no later than January 31, 2021.

Submit nominations to:

Dr. Scott Henkel

Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research

Cooper House

Department 3353

University of Wyoming

1000 E. University Ave.

Laramie, WY 82071