Dr. S.L. Crawley, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, and Dr. Ashley Green, now a PhD alumna, have earned national recognition for their article, 鈥淕ender and Embodiment as Negotiated Relations,鈥� as featured in 鈥淭he Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Interaction.鈥�
Crawley and Green have been named Honorable Mention recipients of the American Sociology Association Section on the Sociology of Body and Embodiment 2023 Best Article Award.
鈥淪ymbolic interactionism is a school of thought that focuses on how people engage meaning-making in our everyday lives,鈥� Crawley explained. 鈥淥ur article focuses on how what we believe is true about gender becomes translated into embodied actions of people in their everyday lives.鈥�
Crawley said their chapter begins by tracing the 21st century gender-identity revolution and historical underpinnings to the waves of intellectual movements.
鈥淚n the everyday world, gender is often referenced as an identity鈥攁 personal characteristic. Yet for symbolic interactionists, it is identity work鈥攖he practice of announcing 鈥業 am non-binary鈥� or being held accountable to 鈥榶ou are a woman鈥欌�攚hich constitutes gendered embodiments,鈥� Crawley said. 鈥淓very day interactively, people make meaning of the bodies and embodiments we encounter. The recent proliferation of identity terms demonstrates how gender is constantly in flux, processual, and subject to resistance, though deeply connected to local stocks of knowledge and intertwined with academic lexicons.鈥�
Crawley, whose research areas of interest include focusing on productions of identity, has recently begun working on a book manuscript with a Ukrainian co-author that translates epistemology across disciplines.
Green is also working to publish her recently completed dissertation work how place affects identity work among queer women. She focused especially on how digital environments and interaction now segues throughout everyday lives, demonstrating how identity work is now thoroughly and inseparably both virtual and in-person.
鈥淚 am very proud that this chapter originated as an area paper for Dr. Green鈥檚 qualifying exams!鈥� Crawley said. 鈥淪ubsequent to writing her exams, we combined her work with an invitation that I received to submit a chapter regarding where gender theory may flourish in the future. It was truly a combined effort and all the better for it. The moral of this story, then, is: Never dispose of anything that you write! A qualifying exam paper may become an award-winning article someday.鈥�