INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Desk of Our Division Chair 1 Graduate Student Paper Competition 2 Sharing Our Accomplishments 2 Invitation for Submissions 3 Conference Sessions and Information 3 ebonie.jpg WELCOME and thank you for joining one of the best divisions in SSSP! In the family division, we pride ourselves on—well, being a family! We really do enjoy making meaningful and lasting connections with one another. Some of the greatest researchers, activists, mentors, allies and supporters for family issues can be found in our ranks. Whether you’re a graduate student, junior faculty member, activist or seasoned researcher, your personal and professional life will be enhanced with your active participation in the family division. This being said, if you are a new member, I’d like to introduce you to the division in our next newsletter. Just send me an email with your picture, affiliation, position, research and activists interests/projects (and any anything else you think we should know!). Speaking of new members, I’d like to recognize Laura Simon, one of our new members who have really hit the ground running. She’s a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and our new newsletter editor! In closing, I wish you well as you prepare for a strong finish to your fall semester. In advance, I also wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Feliz Navidad and Happy Kwanza! Ebonie Cunningham Stringer SSSP Family Division Chair e.cunninghamstringer@wingate.edu Dear Family Division, I hope that this newsletter finds you rich and in good health—even if you don’t have a lot of money! Lots of events have transpired since we last met in Las Vegas, Nevada. Earthquakes, floods, tornados and huge snow storms in the Northeast--in October! I trust that you all have survived intact and in good spirits. We have now entered the month of November, which for many of us marks the final stretch in the fall semester and the beginning of the holiday season. This time of year reminds us that we have so much for which we can be thankful—I hope that we will all take some time during this season to reflect on these points. As many of you know, I am the newly elected chair of the Family Division for SSSP. This is our first newsletter of the year and thus a good opportunity to thank you for your vote of confidence and continued support to the division. We’re a great division that is working to become even greater. This year, we will continue to do the things that we already do well and to conquer unchartered territories as well! One of our new initiatives will be to participate in one service activity with local families during our annual conferences. I’m also interested in YOUR ideas for how we can make our division even stronger. Feel free to send me an email anytime. If you are new to the division, I want to formally From the Desk of Our Division Chair SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS: FAMILY DIVISION NEWSLETTER Editor: Laura Simon, M.A. University of Nebraska – Lincoln Fall 2011 Graduate Student Paper Competition Please e-mail papers and a cover letter specifying that the paper is to be considered for the Family Division Graduate Student Paper Competition to: Dr. Ebonie Cunningham Stringer e.cunninghamstringer@wingate.edu. The winner and any runners-up will be announced in Spring 2012. The winner(s) will receive a modest cash stipend, registration fees, and an opportunity to present her/his paper at the upcoming SSSP meetings in Denver, CO. Please include your name, institutional affiliation and contact information in the body of your email. Please indicate that your paper is being submitted for the Family Division Graduate Student Paper Competition in the subject line of your email. Deadline: 3/15/12 The Family Division announces its 2011 Graduate Student Paper Competition. Papers should be of professional quality and may relate to any aspect of the sociology of the family. Authors should be currently enrolled as graduate students, or individuals who received their PhDs May 2011or later. To be eligible, a paper may not be published, accepted, or under review for publication. Papers that have been presented at a professional meeting or submitted for presentation at a professional conference are eligible. Papers must be student authored; they can be authored by one or more students, but may not be co- authored with a faculty member or non-student. Papers should be no more than 25 pages in length, including all notes, references, and tables. Publications 2011. Sheff, Elisabeth. .Polyamorous Families, Same-sex Marriage, and the Slippery Slope. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 40(5): 487 – 520. 2010. Sheff, Elisabeth. .Strategies in Polyamorous Parenting. in (Eds.) Barker, Meg and Langdridge, Darren, Understanding Non- monogamies. Pages 169 – 181. London: Routledge. Awards Carla A. Pfeffer has been awarded the 2011 Jesse Bernard Outstanding Contribution to Feminist Scholarship Paper Award from the Feminism and Family Studies Section of the National Council on Family Relations for her 2010 Journal of Marriage and Family publication, "'Women's Work'? Women Partners of Transgender Men Doing Housework and Emotion Work." Books Newman, B. M. and Newman, P. R. (2011). Development through life: A psychosocial approach, 11th edition. Belmont, CA: Cengage. This book uses a chronological approach to present development across the life span, drawing on the psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson to provide a conceptual framework. The authors address physical, intellectual, social, and emotional growth in all life stages, focusing on the idea that development results from the interdependence of these areas at every stage and from the interaction of individual characteristics and diverse environmental contexts. Special attention is given to factors that lead to optimal development through life. Overall the text provides students with the sense of a multidimensional person embedded in families and other contexts, striving toward new levels of competence and mastery. This thorough, well-researched, highly readable approach to the study of human development has long been praised for its clear organization, proven conceptual framework, and usefulness in the classroom and by practitioners. Sharing Our Accomplishments Society for the Study of Social Problems 2012 Annual Meeting .The Art of Activism. August 16-18, 2012 The Grand Hyatt Denver Hotel Denver, Colorado Paper submission deadline: January 31st, 2012 Co-Sponsored Sessions Global Families: the Art of Activism Research and Activism Organizer: Nancy Mezey Family and the Economy Organizer: Brooke Kelley Family Formation: Co-Parenting and Contemporary Family Forms Organizer/Presider: Megan Reid, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Organizer: Ebonie Cunningham Stringer Care work and the Home Organizer: Alexis Bender, U.S. Army Institute of Public Health Families of Sexual Minorities Presider/Organizer: Elisabeth Shiff Georgia State University Children, Families and Health Organizer: Laura Simon, University of Nebraska- Lincoln Jobs, Families and Communities Organizer: Ted Brimeyer, Georgia Southern Family Sponsored Sessions THEMATIC: Activist Mothering Organizer: Kristin Wilson Gay Family Activism Organizer: Cheryl Boudreaux Fatherhood Organizer: TBA Conference Sessions and Information Pamela Anne Quiroz would like to invite reviews of sociological messages in photography, web-based art, websites, popular films and documentaries, radio broadcasts, and multimedia presentations. Written submissions should not exceed 1000 words. Reviews should also include your: Name: Position: Media Outlet: Mailing Address: Email Address: And the titles and dates published, along with URLs for electronic and multimedia presentations. If you think any additional contextual information would be useful, please include it with your submission/review. To review for Humanity & Society, or to offer suggestions for reviews, please contact Pamela Anne Quiroz, with a brief summary of your interest and prior reviewing experience (paquiroz@uic.edu). We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your contributions! Invitation for Submissions