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Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott

LisaJoVan2014@u.northwestern.edu
Advisor: Fine

Areas of Interest

Mundane Technology, Space/Place, Symbolic Interactionism, Qualitative Methods

 

Current Research

My current work explores the Inuit experience of technology. Using a case-study of the introduction of permanent walls to the Inuit of Nunavut, Canada, I take up the relationship between “the social” and “the technical.” There are ways, for example, that the introduction of permanent housing has affected Inuit culture. Walls mediate their experience of “outside,” “nature,” and the weather, as well as introduce different notions of public and private with the permanent division of interior spaces. The Inuit, however, also have agency and exercise that agency in how they give meaning to the walls, how they develop a relationship with those walls, and how they use the walls. For example, the display of old photographs taken by early explorers, ripped from the books or even photocopied, is a way that the Inuit reclaim their past. In addition, by prioritizing the display of family photographs over the display of art, they are expressing their cultural values and personally claiming a stake in the community.

 

Awards/Honors

2012, Sociological Research Fellowship, Northwestern Sociology Department

2011, Herbert Blumer Award for Best Graduate Student Paper: “The Emergence of Taboos: Inuit Shamanism from the Light into the Shadows”

2010-2012, Graduate Assistantship, Northwestern University

2010, MacArthur Summer Research Grant, Northwestern University

2009-2010, Sociology Graduate Fellowship, Northwestern University

2000-2002, Classics Graduate Fellowship, Memorial University of Newfoundland

2000, Allison Hertz Johnson Memorial Scholarship, Mount Allison University

2000, Student of the year in Classics, Mount Allison University

2000, Student Leadership Award, Mount Allison University

1998, Viator Award in Classics for overseas study, University of New Brunswick

1996, Edna White Prize in Classics, University of New Brunswick

 

Publications

2012, “Science, Politics, and Identity in Northern Research Ethics Licensing.” Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. 7(1):26-34. In press.

2011, “Wispy Communities: Transient Gathering and Imagined Micro-Communities.” American Behavioral Scientist. 55(10):1319-1335. (Co-authored with Gary Alan Fine).

2011, "Book Review: The Sea Woman: Sedna in Inuit Shamanism and Art in the Eastern Arctic by Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten." Northern Review. 33:168-170.

2009, “Cancelled, Aborted, Late, Mechanical: The Vagaries of Air Travel in Arviat, Nunavut, Canada.” The Cultures of Alternative Mobilities: Routes Less Travelled. Phillip Vannini, ed. Surrey: Ashgate. P. 211-226.

2009, “Inuit Wedding Ceremony” (insert). David Cheal, ed. Canadian Families Today. Toronto: Oxford University Press. P. 120-121.