MA Award Winners 20013-14

The Department of Sociology are pleased to announce the following MA Awards for 2013-14.

The awards are:

• The Goldsmiths Award for the Best Written/Portfolio Taught Post-Graduate Dissertation in Sociology 2013/14 Hjalmar Carlsen (MA Digital Sociology)
• Goldsmiths Sociology Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in a Taught Post-Graduate Degree 2013/14

Winners

Gerrit Stollbrock MA Critical and Creative Analysis  ‌‌ Hjalmar Carlsen MA Digital Sociology

“Having explored digital sociology in my sociology BA, I chose a master in Digital Sociology to combine computer programming/data analytics with ambitious social and cultural theorising. As far as I know, there is no other program like it. We read Foucault on the panopticon while scraping the social web – getting thrown right into the possibilities and ambiguities in the wide open field of digital social research. I found myself constantly drifting between believing that we could revolutionise sociology and that we could do nothing at all. I was looking for a place, where I would be challenged and confused on both a very computer practical level (writing computer code) and on a very theoretical and methodological level – this is what Digital Sociology has to offer. For further plans I am looking for a potential PhD, hopefully within the area of Digital Sociology, and I hope to keep in touch with the highly stimulating intellectual environment at Goldsmiths College.”

Ana Grahovac MA Gender, Media and Culture  ‌ Jade King MA Photography and Urban Cultures

“After a five-year break from academia (BA Creative Arts) I chose to undertake the MA Photography and Urban Cultures as a way to inform and engage a photography practice relating to ‘the real world’, and challenge myself in an enjoyable way. I appreciated the flexibility afforded by the programme, and studied part-time alongside my job. The return to essay writing and deep reading of theory was initially very challenging, but I soon found the range of subject matter covered, and the freedom allowed to students, inspired me to enthuse about ideas, make confident progress, and hone my interests. My studies cumulated in a project focusing on the architecture of London Zoo and attitudes toward nature in the urban environment. It was great to meet people from a wide range of backgrounds on the MA, as the variety of work shown was fascinating, and feedback and insight valuable. I intend to return to academia in the future, and am considering applying for a PhD relating to nature and the urban environment.”

Sally Hart MA Photography and Urban Cultures Nina Hoey-Petersen MA Social Research

“I chose Goldsmiths MA of Social Research due to this Sociology department’s worldwide reputation for innovation, and also because I wanted to improve my qualitative as well as my quantitative research skills. Being a qualitative researcher, I was surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed the statistics component of this programme. Moreover, our class was fairly small, which made a more personalized form of teaching possible, and created a nice team environment among the students. Since I completed my MA I’ve moved to Australia to work for the Griffith University Centre for Cultural Research. In the future I will apply for a PhD scholarship at the University of Oslo, which is my hometown. Even so, and while I am choosing this option to stay closer to my family, I hope to maintain many of the contacts I made at Goldsmiths.”

Roz Mortimer MA Visual Sociology

“I came to the MA Visual Sociology with a background as a visual artist and filmmaker. My most recent research had been centred on unmarked mass graves of the Roma Holocaust, and I wanted to use my time on the MA to develop theories and methods that would allow me to bring this historical material into direct collision with the present-day persecution of Roma in Europe. The Visual Sociology programme (and the Gender, Affect and the Body option course which I took in the Spring Term) gave me a grounding in sensory methods, affect theory, feminist writing, post-colonial theory, and most importantly introduced me to the idea of haunting as a sociological issue through the work of Cho, Harrison and Gordon. My aim was to use visual, sensory and inventive methods to critique positivist assumptions within established modes of knowledge production. The MA challenged and enabled me to develop ways of re-framing my research, starting with an essay on how cycles of fear have shaped and perpetuated negative attitudes towards Roma. I took these ideas about the political power of affect and haunting into my dissertation, Writing the Story of the Deathless Woman, an experimental text that will form the starting point for a practice-based PhD.” Roz Mortimer's website.

Hendrik Lehmann MA World Cities and Urban Life  ‌

*An award was given for MA Digital Sociology but the student wishes to remain anonymous