Dr Natalia Gerodetti

Video Presentation

This article examines contemporary practices of urban food cultivation in Seoul as acts of ‘doing’ emotionally loaded cultural heritage making through familial practices. Widespread urban practices of food growing are examined in relation to the affective and connective charges that are illuminated in relation to family and heritage. Invocations of emotions are not mere individual/personal phenomena but can be interpreted by the social field, social interactions and family traditions of food growing. The article explores the meanings of food growing in the urban landscape and argues that contemporary urban food cultivation practices are part of a Korean sensibility towards not only food itself but also food cultivation through urban farming. The article argues that edible plant growing as a food practice is a form of ‘doing family’: a familial activity that links generations, evokes nostalgia and involves attempts to transmit values in the context of ‘compressed modernity’.

Many young people with marginalized sexual identities still experience discrimination and discomfort when searching for relationships on digital networks. Young bisexual women who are searching for/confirming their identities consistently face ‘binegativity’, typified by marginalization, hypersexualization, and erasure, despite some positive affordances of online connecting. Based on a small-scale qualitative study with young women aged 18–24, this article considers the ways in which young bisexual women construct and navigate their online dating profiles. Drawing on Goffman’s ideas of self-presentation and an examination of how visual clues are supported by verbal statements, this article argues that bisexual young women’s engagement with dating apps requires identity modulation and produces ambivalent affective formations. Their experiences of digital networked spaces are simultaneously shaped by a search for identity, agency, pleasures as well as frustrations and hateful messaging.

This book examines constructions of sexualities and their intersection with nation-building between the 1890s and the 1930s.

Eugenics was a body of thought and social practice around the world with Switzerland having some of its most famous proponents living and working there.

The recognition and compensation of historic injustices is part and parcel of a politics of recognition and of socio-legal attempts of reconciliation and redemption. The notion of ‘restorative justice’ has recently gained political salience by invoking national governments to face and deal with historical injustice and often judicial recourse is used as a means to redress, through legislation, the legacy of historical wrongs in which democratic nation states have been implicated. At least, it would appear so when considering the proliferation of apologies and reparations issued in recent years on behalf of public bodies. Yet despite a proliferation of apologies, memorials, commemorations and other means of dealing with past practices, some claims for reparation regarding historic wrongs remain unaddressed, unsuccessful or unheard. The article analyses discourses of eugenic legacies and restorative justice claims using a gender sensitive perspective and examines reparation claims in relation to coerced sterilisations comparing Switzerland with Sweden and several states in the United States.

This article critically examines what might be titled the feminisation of success that is ascribed to optimistic characterisations of new constructions of femininity for young women in the UK, particularly in relation to classed positions. In order to do this it is necessary to understand the complex relationship between feminism, post-feminism, neoliberalism and femininities, especially since the millennium. Young women have been positioned as the beneficiaries of successful social and political change which, together with ideas of individualism and reflexive constructions of identity, almost mandate young women to embody success. The article seeks to examine and assess the discursive constructions of ‘successful femininities’ in relation to their normative limitations and asks in particular whether the putative existence of ‘new femininities’ is attainable for all young women. With the impact of over a decade of neoliberal policies and austerity measures being felt by many, it is argued that the discourses of ‘successful femininities’ work to obscure the recalibrated inequalities that have been forged by neoliberal conditions.

This is the first publication of its kind to consider and compare the recognition and compensation of historic injustices of coercive sterilisations in Switzerland and how it is part and parcel of a politics of recognition and of socio-legal attempts at reconciliation and redemption. Whilst the notion of ‘restorative justice’ has gained considerable political salience by invoking national governments to face and deal with historical injustice, often judicial recourse is used as a means to redress, through legislation, the legacy of historical wrongs in which democratic nation states have been implicated. This article argues that despite a proliferation of apologies, memorials, commemorations and other means of dealing with past practices, some claims for reparation regarding historic wrongs remain unaddressed, unsuccessful or unheard. In particular, this article analyses discourses of eugenic legacies and restorative justice claims using a gender-sensitive perspective and examines reparation claims in relation to coerced sterilisations comparing Switzerland with Sweden and several states in the United States. The recognition and compensation of individual injustices is part and parcel of a politics of recognition and reconciliation and redemption, at least in gesture. In terms of being a question of national belonging and citizenship, collective acknowledgement and reconciliation struggles depend not merely on the size and prevalence of discriminatory practices but also on their symbolic value. In this sense, reconciliation debates raise questions about democracies and their understanding of inherited burdens and rights and about whose reparation claims get heard — and succeed — while providing opportunity for collective reflexivity in late modernity about the relationship of the present to our past.

During the first half of the twentieth century, eugenics became a mainstream approach to the solution of social problems across Europe and North America. Perceived to be part of these social problems, sexuality and gender non-conformity constituted a threat to the social order. In this context, eugenics became an approach and a tool to rationalize the management of sexuality. The article examines how practices and discourses of sexuality, gender, and ideas about normalcy intersected with particular fears and anxieties about nation and degeneracy, thereby giving rise to the use of eugenics as a social technology. The connections between eugenics and politics are explored through the Swiss experience with eugenically based social policies and policy debates.

Abstract  During the first half of the twentieth century eugenics became a mainstream body of thinking and an approach to the solution of social problems across Europe and North America. Fears of degeneration and certain notions of heredity and fertility had produced widespread discourses regarding threats to the nation's health and its reproductive capacities. Governing nations' procreative activities shaped social policies and practices thus placing gender and sexuality at the centre of analysis. The article examines how eugenics became an axis of intervention in family and reproductive politics through discourses and practices of “positive” eugenics. The substantive focus here is on the eugenic content of premarital advice and family politics in Switzerland assessing the impact of the eugenics movement as well as the women's movement. The article contributes to a growing body of scholarship on comparative historical analyses of eugenics by contextualising Switzerland in a eugenic international.

The banality of movement and the fascination with mobility meet at the very locations of arrival and departure. This contribution highlights social practices within and discourses about train stations which are interpreted as constitutive moments in the production of gender, sexuality and space. Train stations host the crossing between different spatial and social contexts, the negotiation of scales and between life cycles. Focusing on the historical moment of the early twentieth century we look at Swiss train stations as sites of heightened public concern which served to implement regulatory instruments to govern the social order of modernity. Narratives of the city as danger delineated train stations as critical turning points in the life-journey of young people, particularly for 'impressionable' young women. What is of interest here is how sexualities are discursively and metaphorically constructed and governed by social purity groups within the train station at the turn of the century. The way in which Station Assistance agents 'received', counselled and controlled the arrival of young people in the cities contributed to reiterating and (re)constructing gender and sexuality beyond national boundaries. The resulting protective and prescriptive constructions of sexuality reveal much about the complex perceptions and regulations of rural and urban sexualities and gender systems in their spatial nexus.

This article explores how sexualities and space are constitutive of each other in that sexualities are enacted and encoded in and across different scales and sites. In particular, this article aims to investigate how space and heteronormativity interact to complicate once more distinctions between spatial categories such as public/private and, more importantly, urban/rural through the gateways of the train station around the turn of the 20th century. Against the background of urbanization, changes in transport and the particular dangers that were associated with cities and towns from the late 19th century onwards, this article is interested in looking at how train stations as locations of displacement function as sexualized spaces while at the same time providing opportunities to police and govern non-conformist female sexuality. The transformation from rural ‘good’ sexuality to ‘dangerous’ urban sexuality took place precisely at the arrival points in the cities so that train stations became hugely symbolic in collective and individual constructions of sexuality. We argue that a distinctive spatial perspective generates innovative interpretations of social interactions within a given historical context.

Women's social purity groups were significant participants in the debates of the regulation of sexualities during the unification process of Swiss Criminal Law between the 1890s and the 1930s. Although not yet enfranchised, women claimed political participation through their status as 'lay experts' with regard to sexual matters and as an interest group with backing from their male counterparts. The article examines their demands in the reformulation of the regulation of sexualities and investigates their aims and strategies. Their expertise, gained through the experience of and investment in 'moral guardianship', is examined here in relation to their interventions on the age of protection, or the age of consent in contemporary terms. As 'lay experts' on sexual morality, the women's social purity groups participated in the increased interests and discourses of sexuality between 1890 and 1915 in the midst of legal, medical and political experts.

Against the background of degeneration and the perceived threat to the nation's health and stock, family politics came to constitute an important site for eugenic discourses and interventions. Eugenic regulation of reproductive sexuality and marriage was not only pursued through 'negative' eugenics but also through educational policies targeted at young adults and youth. Switzerland serves as a useful case to explore a general idea, namely the limitations for eugenicists of exploiting the concept of a rational subject in order to achieve their ends. Practices of 'positive eugenics' crucially hinged on the utilitarian principle of rationality underpinning positive eugenics which this paper seeks to elaborate. Eugenicists devised tools to deal efficiently with social problems on a collective as well as an individual basis by deploying technologies of government which conceived individuals to be members of a population who were each held responsible for the generation of healthy future generations. As a form of 'sustaining, multiplying and ordering life' eugenics thus relied on the premise that its ideas would be adopted through an appeal to rationality and, where this was insufficient, through a series of coercive measures. Relying on conviction and education about the merits of eugenics, however, posed particular problems to positive eugenic thinking and practice. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

At the bottom of Ingwansan mountain in downtown Seoul the Muak-dong neighbourhood is home not only to people but also to edible plants in various growing spaces. This presence of edible and companion plants in a dense urban environment bears on understandings about human-plant relationships. There has been some acknowledgement that growing food locally can be part of socio-environmental justice pathways in providing walkable urban environments, urban agriculture and food waste recycling. These spatial practices also constitute social infrastructure in providing places and means of interaction, exchange and sharing practices with others. Whilst many cities have interstitial places where growing activities and the presence of edible plants can be seen, the Muak-dong network and diverse modalities of food cultivation are extraordinary. They constitute a literal pathway - exemplified by a map for an urban vegetable walk – binding together urban green space, edible plants, a fertiliser station and humans in a human-plant urban community. The visual manifestation of this plant presence in the cityscape – specifically lettuce - is the focus of this contribution which attempts to demonstrate the possibilities that food cultivation affords in the most dense and contested environments.

In August 2016 Leeds Beckett University launched its first open access undergraduate student journal, Critical reflections: a student journal on contemporary sociological issues. The journal is the first of its kind at the university and includes student reflections upon everyday scenarios viewed through a theoretical–sociological lens. As well as delivering many opportunities for the students, the purpose of the journal corresponds with the strategic objectives of the university as a whole. Firstly, to grow and develop a research culture by recognising the contribution of undergraduate research, and the impact this has upon the digitally literate graduate. Secondly, to allow students to capitalise upon their time at university by facilitating the experience of writing for publication, and the consequent effect upon both employability and their academic career development. The following summarises the beginnings of the journal and its relevance to the student experience, as well as outlining practical considerations for librarians, information specialists and academic staff.

There has been a proliferating interest in the restorative effects of outdoor environments, such as gardens and plots, on people’s wellbeing. As well as critically engaging with the claimed salutogenic benefits of food cultivation, our sociological inquiry suggests the need to go beyond the established dimensions of physical, mental, and social wellbeing when examining narratives of wellbeing in relation to gardening and health. Drawing on interviews with gardeners from a variety of migrating backgrounds in the north of the UK, we explore how being in a garden or plot, growing crops, and consuming and sharing these connects those who have migrated with memories and sensory experiences from different times and places. ‘Growing foods from home’ has deep meaning for participants’ sense of self and identity and contributes to what we call cultural wellbeing. This places wellbeing at the interstices of past and present, where current ways of gardening link family practices, sensory experiences, cultural memories, and traditions. This suggests the need not only to broaden the concept of wellbeing to include a cultural dimension but also to broaden the temporality of the concept, as for migrant gardeners the past and present are woven together through memories and contemporary practices.

There has been increasing interest in how green spaces and gardening contribute to people's physical, mental and social wellbeing, and this interest has increased due to COVID-19. This article explores the particular experiences of migrant gardeners and the implications for their health and wellbeing. It draws on a qualitative research project that involved conducting semi-structured interviews with participants with migration heritage in and around a city in the north of England. The participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling; of the 25 participants, some were allotment holders, whilst the rest cultivated crops in their gardens or even on their balcony. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts generated themes that reflect current definitions of health, encompassing physical, mental and social wellbeing. However, whilst the findings confirm many positive effects of gardening, they also point to some ambivalence in relation to cultivation, outdoor practices and health, with evidence of neutral or even negative effects at times. The article explores the implications of these findings for initiatives to encourage gardening, such as social prescribing, and to address 'green poverty'. An additional finding is that for gardeners with migration heritage, gardening can be understood in terms of cultural wellbeing. Consequently, there is a need to broaden the concept of wellbeing to include this cultural dimension.

This paper explores a third-year Sociology module assessment where students critically analyze contemporary social phenomena using theoretical frameworks from the course. By incorporating their generational perspectives and zeitgeist, students produce insightful commentaries that contribute to a shared learning experience among peers and tutors. This exercise fosters a community of practice, emphasizing mutual learning and engagement. Furthermore, the assessment follows a circular pedagogy, as the most outstanding student work is published annually in an open-access online journal by a student-staff editorial board. This initiative not only enhances academic discourse but also provides students with their first publication, strengthening their CVs and employability. The paper reflects on the impact of this pedagogical approach, highlighting its role in promoting research skills, critical thinking, and collaborative knowledge production.

The paper arises out of research that explored how migrant identities are constructed in relation to food practices in a Northern city. Using narrative accounts and participant observation collected through a small scale qualitative study we examine how, in using gardens and allotments to “grow foods from home” alongside locally established fruit and vegetables, a landscape approach allows us to see how migrant gardeners are re-shaping existing cultural landscapes and constructing places of belonging. Whilst these landscapes can be viewed visually as representations of both traditional and hybrid practices, the paper draws on non-representational theories in landscape to explore emotions, embodiment, performance and practice. Such an approach uncovers some of the differences in the meaning of food production for diasporic and non-diasporic migrant gardeners.

In the changing UK Higher Education landscape, addressing student retention and attrition rates is of increasing importance. In this paper, after first reviewing literature on the factors influencing student retention and attrition, we explore how the transition to university life for first-year students might be addressed through a games-based learning approach. We explore the benefits of facilitating ‘students as (games) producers’ and incorporating ‘student intelligence’ into university teaching and learning practices before presenting ‘University Challenges’, a new-traditional board game produced through a collaborative staff-student project between sociology students and lecturers at Leeds Beckett University. Drawing on data from student evaluations from three different academic courses, we reflect on how playing ‘University Challenges’ can help first-year students develop the kinds of skills and knowledge basis that contributes to a better experience of the transition and acculturation into university life in all of its facets.

In this paper we explore our experiences of a staff-student collaborative project that sought to design games and learning resources that could be used to “liven-up” research methods and ethics teaching in the social sciences. The paper highlights the benefits of staff-student collaboration in the design and production of game resources, and in particular, the potential for harnessing students’ experiences of teaching and learning through feeding it into curriculum development. The paper also considers the value of the “game-show format” and non-traditional teaching and learning formats for increasing student engagement and performance. Finally, the paper demonstrates the benefits of gamification, through the positive student feedback and evaluation received by the developed games, and explores the wider applicability of games in research methods and ethics teaching across social sciences disciplines.

In this paper we explore our experiences of a staff-student collaborative project that sought to design games and learning resources that could be used to 'liven-up' research methods and ethics teaching in the social sciences. Final and second year undergraduate social science students were encouraged to reflect on their own experiences of both research methods teaching and the process of doing primary research, in order to design games resources that would be useful for future cohorts of students. The concept of games was applied twofold in the project: the development of the teaching resources was itself set up in a games format: we based our initial workshops on the style of the BBC's "Apprentice" programme in order to come up with ideas for the games resources and to introduce a competitive element into the design process. Two groups of students were given a brief to design a games resource that would 'liven up' social science research methods and ethics teaching. Groups then spent an intensive day working on the brief alongside an academic facilitator before pitching their final game concept in a presentation at the end of the day when a winner was announced. In subsequent workshops students worked collaboratively to further develop both games before piloting them on further groups of students prior to production. The second application of the games concept lay in the development of an actual learning resource to be used in future research methods and ethics teaching. The premise of developing an undergraduate dissertation, its (realistic) design and the potential ethical and methodological problems encountered when doing research underpinned the learning objectives for the games developed. The developed games resources have been introduced into the curriculum to supplement the existing (more traditional) learning and teaching strategies and to add a 'fun' element into research methods teaching. Developing a game-based learning approach themselves has thereby increased students' influence on the design of teaching and learning strategies and helped produce a useful learning resource for future cohorts. The paper highlights the benefits of staff-student collaboration in the design and production of game resources, and in particular, the potential for harnessing students' experiences of teaching and learning through feeding it into curriculum development. The paper also demonstrates the benefits of gamification - through a discussion of the positive student feedback and evaluation received by the developed games.

The following pieces of writing by current students have emerged from a third year module within the sociology degree provision – Contemporary Society and Social Futures. As a collection they have been so innovative, critical and engaging that we thought that they should have a wider readership than just the module tutors. So we’ve put them together into this publication which celebrates the critical observations that our students have been making! Still, whilst many papers were interesting and stimulating, we could only select some of work produced. So in what follows, we present 14 ‘Critical Reflections’ from the module. Students were asked to apply key theories and concepts covered on the module in order to develop a critical commentary on the nature of contemporary society, or particular aspects of it. The work was produced in the first semester of the 2012-13 academic year.

Within the serious games literature, attention is mostly focused on the benefits of playing games for students. In this chapter, we attempt to demonstrate the benefits of working with students to design and produce games for use in sociology teaching. We show how a playful approach/environment, which engages students and assigns them an active role in the gamification process, can be mobilized to facilitate student game design and the production of game resources that have pedagogic value and impact. We suggest that this approach generates a range of benefits for the students involved and the games produced.

Student retention and attrition rates have been established as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for course teams in the Higher Education landscape in the UK. Against this quantified (and neoliberal) auditable undertaking, in this paper we offer an examination of a set of alternative qualitative efforts which are intended to improve the first year student experience by helping students transition into their course, and university life more generally. Working with students to enhance the first year experience is at the centre of our ontological position and we draw heavily on the idea of a “long thin” induction which continues throughout the first year at university. We explore the benefits of facilitating „students as producers‟ and incorporating „student intelligence‟ into university teaching and learning practices before presenting a series of activities that are designed to help students transition successfully and build a strong course identity. Having offered students different ways of structured integration into the course we reflect on how these activities can help first-year students develop the kinds of skills and knowledge base that contributes to a better experience of the transition and acculturation into university life in all of its facets.