Discipline of Sociology & Criminology Seminar Series 2023

HDR Showcase

Join via Zoom: Email Leah Williams Veazey for link and more information – Leah Williams Veazey leah.williamsveazey@sydney.edu.au

Coronership in the Colony: Aboriginal Families & the Coronial System in NSW

Lindsay McCabe PhD Candidate, Discipline of Sociology and Social Policy

My research seeks to critically examine the experiences of Aboriginal families who have had contact with the coronial system in New South Wales. While almost all bereaved families across jurisdictions experience similar failings in terms of delays, poor information and lack of communication, exploratory research suggests that Aboriginal families are having disproportionate contact with the coronial jurisdiction in NSW, and that in addition to the above failings also experience a lack of cultural safety and cultural awareness. This is further complicated by simply existing as Aboriginal Peoples in the colony, wherein State violence in its many forms is too often responsible for our deaths.

Lindsay McCabe is a proud palawa woman, and PhD candidate in the Discipline of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Sydney.

‘My Pennies Made Your Crown’: Lived Experiences in Commodified Fandom Communities

Georgia Carroll PhD candidate, Discipline of Sociology and Social Policy

Most of us are a fan of something. From football teams to pop stars, there’s likely something, or someone, we’re willing to spend significant amounts of money on to see in the flesh. For the participants in this PhD research, it’s Taylor Swift or the actors from the television show Supernatural, with individuals spending thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in their quest for attention from their favourite celebrity. Focusing on in-person fan-celebrity interaction, this presentation explores how fans participate within commodified fandom spaces, examining how they are asked to spend by the celebrities and their teams, and their willingness to do so. In positioning such fandom participation as a leisure pursuit, these celebrity-seeking behaviours are first normalised and then placed within a constraints negotiation framework, emphasising fans’ voices in explaining motivations for their ongoing participation. Building on work from the sociology of sport, celebrity studies, and fan studies, this presentation emphasises the sociological relevance of celebrity fandoms and the lessons hidden behind narratives of hysterical teenage girls.

¹ Lyric from “Karma” by Taylor Swift (Midnights 2022)

Georgia Carroll is a PhD candidate in the Discipline of Sociology and Criminology at The University of Sydney. When she’s not studying, she works full-time as a publicist at Hachette Australia, specialising in children’s and young adult literature.