Summer reading for the social sciences

[AmityDuPeuple]

I am beginning to put together a summer reading list that is probably overly ambitious and it got me thinking that there should be a thread for summer reading for social scientists. I would really like to see what books other people have on their to-read lists, no matter the disciplinary background. [My background includes sociology, anthropology, WGS (women's, gender, and sexuality studies, and French.] I'd also be interested in hearing whether and how everyone annotates what they read.

Are you revisiting theory you read (or skimmed) during the semester?

Are you focusing on classics in your discipline or working your way through some more contemporary works?

Are you branching out from the literature in your discipline?

Do you do this in an effort to keep it all straight and help with finding the right resources when you are writing? Or is it more for retention of information? Habit? 

Let's talk about what we read, why we read it, and how we organize our thoughts about it.

[rising_star]

I'll be honest. I didn't do any summer reading between my MA and PhD, instead focusing on wrapping up my thesis and moving (or preparing to move). It was a nice break before immersing myself into the PhD program.

[guest56436]

I use summers for research and gaining skills rather than reading. 

The only reading I do during the summer are tied to specific projects when I'm doing a lit review or theoretical section of my paper. 

The rest of the time is devoting to writing up papers, collecting data, learning how to code/program better, learning foreign languages, or writing grants or abstracts for conferences.

the reason I avoid reading during the summers is because you spend plenty of time reading the canon (and a bunch of stuff you wouldn't read on your own) during your seminars or preparing for comps. 

 

[AmityDuPeuple]

Interesting.

I guess, because I am between programs and am an avid reader, I am looking forward to reading on my own schedule and reading materials that have piqued my interests.

I will be moving too, but I already have a house lined up in South Bend, my family lives an hour and a half away so they will be able to help me with getting my stuff there and unpacking, and I have little obligations or responsibilities other than teaching an online course that will fill my time. It will be really nice to read for pleasure, but also get something out of it. I really enjoy the "high", for lack of a better term, that I get when I am reading theory and thinking about all of the various ways to critique it, build off of it, etc.

This could be more of a hypothetical question. If you had the time/desire to read over the summer (or any time for that matter), what books would you consider picking up (other than fiction)?

[guest56436]

Political Order in Changing Societies by Huntington. I have read parts of it at various times but never got the chance to actually really sift through it properly. Which is a shame because it largely spawned, at least in part, my (sub-) sub-field. It's also one of those books that is a treasure trove of untested hypotheses that are good for project ideas. 

[rising_star]

Personally, I'd read a bunch of books about the ocean (so things by Carl Safina and Paul Greenberg) and the environment (Rachel Carson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dorceta Taylor, Sylvia Hood Washington, Terry Tempest Williams, Linda Hogan). And maybe about the history of race in America (so Carol Anderson's White Rage, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, etc.). But that's just because it's what I'm interested in but never have time to read. Also, I'd probably browse recent ethnographies because I like reading those but never have time to really immerse myself in them unless they're related to my research. YMMV obviously.

[AmityDuPeuple]

On 4/26/2017 at 11:24 PM, rising_star said:

Personally, I'd read a bunch of books about the ocean (so things by Carl Safina and Paul Greenberg) and the environment (Rachel Carson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dorceta Taylor, Sylvia Hood Washington, Terry Tempest Williams, Linda Hogan). And maybe about the history of race in America (so Carol Anderson's White Rage, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, etc.). But that's just because it's what I'm interested in but never have time to read. Also, I'd probably browse recent ethnographies because I like reading those but never have time to really immerse myself in them unless they're related to my research. YMMV obviously.

 

The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks is a very interesting book and a very quick read! I am teaching it in my course, Feminist Perspectives on Health and Inequality, this summer. I highly recommend reading it if you get the opportunity. 

[cowgirlsdontcry]

Being a literature person, I read huge amounts during the semesters. This was a very stressful semester as I wrote thesis, taught a class and attended a class, all while I waited for results on my apps. If I read, between packing for the move and closing up my house, it will be fun pop stuff that is stress reducing. I do have a class in the fall with Conrad and Jean Rhys that is similar to one I took as an undergrad so may pull out Heart of Darkness and Wide Sargasso Sea for another read. Whatever I read, I won't be analyzing it!

[hantoo]

I have some things I have to read this summer (but mostly just scholarly articles) because I'm working on a project with a former adviser, but I also plan to do a lot of fun reading, which I almost never get to do. I tend to try and read too many things at once, but right now I'm working on The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston, which is about the fairly recent discovery of an archaeological site in the rainforest of La Mosquitia, Honduras. It's kind of over the top but I love when anthropology findings are published in a way that is exciting and interesting for all audiences (not just people in academia). 

I'm also reading Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America's Culture by Chip Colwell--just a topic that's important and interesting to me. During my internship over the past year, my supervisor (a cultural and visual anthropologist) has let me borrow quite a few books that I skimmed through as quickly as I could in my free time--I really enjoyed reading one particular ethnography by Karen Nakamura called A Disability of the Soul: An Ethnography of Schizophrenia and Mental Illness in Japan. It's written in a manner that seemed really unique compared to other ethnographies I've read, and Nakamura's personal connection to the topic of study gives it a really interesting feel. 

I'm also taking time to watch more documentaries/ethnographic films, because visual anthro is one of my central interests. 

[greyicewater]

On 4/25/2017 at 10:05 AM, AmityDuPeuple said:

I am beginning to put together a summer reading list that is probably overly ambitious and it got me thinking that there should be a thread for summer reading for social scientists. I would really like to see what books other people have on their to-read lists, no matter the disciplinary background. [My background includes sociology, anthropology, WGS (women's, gender, and sexuality studies, and French.] I'd also be interested in hearing whether and how everyone annotates what they read.

Are you revisiting theory you read (or skimmed) during the semester?

Are you focusing on classics in your discipline or working your way through some more contemporary works?

Are you branching out from the literature in your discipline?

Do you do this in an effort to keep it all straight and help with finding the right resources when you are writing? Or is it more for retention of information? Habit? 

Let's talk about what we read, why we read it, and how we organize our thoughts about it.

I have had similar thoughts of trying to get together a summer reading list to prep. I'm doing American Studies (so interdisciplinary) but sociology was one of my majors in undergrad and is important for a lot of the research I want to do so I think we'd have some overlap in readings. (Same with gender and women's studies). Part of me just wants to get back into a bit of a (light) academic reading routine bc I have been out of school for a few years and am getting some anxiety about being prepared mentally and experience-wise. 

I've been flipping back through some texts I had from my Classics class- "Protestant Ethic", "Suicide", "Communist Manifesto", Civilization and its Discontents".. 

Do you have any texts to add that they've found really helpful/interesting/challenging/etc.? Trying to put my grad school jitters into something productive