IE Newsletter Institutional Ethnography Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Volume 22 | No. 2 Spring/Summer, 2025 Katherine E. Koralesky Division Chair University of British Columbia katie.koralesky@ubc.ca Send correspondence to: Gina Petonito Writing Your Way Correspondence and Copy Editor gpetonito@gmail.com Jayne Malenfant Editor McGill University Jayne.malenfant@mcgill.com On the Inside -Workshop of Interest -Call for Distinguished Contribution Award -Members News & Notes -Welcome New Members! -SSSP Meeting, Chicago,2025 Dear SSSP IE division, To write this newsletter introduction, I looked back at what I had written for my first newsletter. I can hardly believe it has been two years since I became chair of our division. I know so much is happening at the moment, and so for this newsletter, I'd like to take an opportunity to share some words of thanks. I sincerely appreciate the support from many individuals in our division over the past two years. I was not able to attend the previous conference in Montreal, and many people stepped up to help run the business meeting, organize a meaningful awards ceremony, and make sure IE was well represented during SSSP meetings. As well, so many of our division members have started new initiatives (journals, working groups, etc.) to bring IE to new disciplines and places, and support and encourage one another. Thank you. Exciting news, Hans-Peter de Ruiter will be our next chair! Thank you, Hans, for stepping up. You will do a great job. As you all know, I have been in more communication lately regarding the SSSP meeting in Chicago. Please stay tuned, and I will do my best to keep everyone updated. One update is that the workshop is now virtual and free! https://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/1024/One-Day_Workshops/ I would encourage you all to attend. I hope to keep in touch with you all, and I wish you all the best. Sincerely, Katie Workshop Of Interest The Research for Social Change Lab, in association with Trent Graduate Studies, is hosting a two-dayÊActivist ScholarÊOpen School on April 28th and 29thÊatÊTraill College in Peterborough, ON from 9:30 AM until 4:30 PM. This Open School will consist of a keynote panel each morning with Institutional Ethnography heavy weights, Viviane Namaste, Alexander McClelland, Colin Hastings, Eric Mykhalovskiy, Mitchell McLarnon and Jayne Malenfant. The afternoons will consist of small group concurrent working sessions as well as student presentations. Lunch and snacks will be provided. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.socialchangelab.ca/open-school-1 Call Distinguished Contribution Award Deadline: June 13, 2025 The Institutional Ethnography Division is pleased to solicit nominations for the 2025 Distinguished Contribution Award. This award recognizes the contributions of an individual or group who has made considerable contributions to institutional ethnography itself. These contributions may take many forms: publishing, mentoring, organizing, extending or any combination of activities that enhanced the development of institutional ethnography. IE Division members are invited to send a one-to-two-page statement to Paul Luken (pluken@bellsouth.net). Your application will be reviewed by the Distinguished Contribution Award Committee that consists of Suzanne Vaughan, Eric Mykhalovskiy, and Paul Luken. MembersÕ News and Notes Nora Gross' new book,ÊBrothers in Grief: The Hidden Toll of Gun Violence on Black Boys and Their Schools,Ê(https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo236189018.html)has recently been recognized as a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems and was named a 2025 Outstanding Book by the Society of Professors of Education. You can hear more about the book in an interview with the New Books Network:https://newbooksnetwork.com/brothers-in-grief (You can also purchase the book at a 30% discount with the code UCPNEW directly from the University of Chicago Press.) The Winter 2025 issue of Contexts features an article by Gross drawing on her fieldwork at a Philadelphia high school and highlighting many key themes from the book about Black boys' hidden grief in the aftermath of neighborhood gun violence. Find the articleÊhereÊand podcastÊhere.Ê Derron Wallace is on research leave as a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University for the 2024-2025 academic year. Gina Petonito just took a dissertation client from a draft to a defended dissertation in three weeks. If anyone wishes to know how she did it, just email! gpetonito@gmail.com Welcome New Members Eight new members have joined the IE Division since the publication of our last newsletter. Welcome all! Ami Olson Campbell Snehalatha Gantia Melissa Gorz Aisha Khan Colby Kopf Angela LaScala-Gruenewald Additti Munshi Doriane E. Paso SSSP 2025 75th Annual Meeting Insurgent Sociology in a Time of Crisis Chicago, Illinois August 8-10, 2025 Photo of Chicago Skyline byÊRicky BeronÊonÊUnsplash IE Sessions Friday, August 8 Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM Session 005: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Institutional Ethnographies of Family Welfare Room: Chicago Room Sponsor: Family, Aging and Youth, Institutional Ethnography Organizer & Presider & Discussant: Hans-Peter de Ruiter, Minnesota State University Description: This session explores the application of Institutional Ethnography (IE) in examining the intersections of family, aging, and youth within welfare systems. Through critical dialogue, scholars will share research that unpacks how institutional processes shape the lived experiences of families across the lifespan. Topics may include the medicalization of childhood through cultural texts, the interplay of parenting, precarity, and gender transformations, ethical lessons from National Socialist-era healthcare practices, textually mediated helping relationships in public social services, and the overarching question of who takes responsibility for care in family and societal structures. By centering the perspectives of those directly affected, this session highlights how IE can reveal hidden power structures and opportunities for transformative change in family welfare. Papers: ÒEthical and Professional Dilemmas Facing Social Workers in Eldercare,Ó ChrisÊR.ÊWellin, Illinois State University ÒLessons from National Socialist-era Healthcare for Ethical Practices Today: An Archival Institutional Ethnography,Ó Hans-PeterÊde Ruiter, Minnesota State University ÒMedicalizing Childhood: A Discourse Analysis of ChildrenÕs Books about Doctors and Hospitals,Ó WendyÊSimonds, Georgia State University ÒTextually Mediated Helping Relationships in Public Social Services,Ó HagitÊSinai-Glazer, Tel Aviv University ÒWho Cares?Ó BrendaÊSolomon, University of Vermont Time: 12:30 PM - 2:10 PM Institutional Ethnography Divisional Meeting Room: Marshfield Room Time: 2:30 pm -4:10pm Session 023: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Using IE to Explore Intersecting Crises: Climate, Social Justice, Housing, and Health Room: Hancock Parlor Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography Organizers, Presiders: TBD Description: This session features institutional ethnographies of intersecting social and environmental crises.Ê Papers: ÒIdeologies of Growth: Fueling/Organizing Climate and Social Justice Crises,Ó LaurenÊEastwood, SUNY Plattsburgh ÒProducing the Crisis of Opioid Use Disorder: The Transformation of Opioid Use into a Medical Affliction,Ó LeighaÊComer, Western University and GrahamÊGeorgeÊMacdonald, University of Toronto, Humber River Health ÒRefugee Experience in the Upper Midwest United States of America: An Institutional Ethnography,Ó DorianeÊE.ÊPaso, North Dakota State University Saturday, August 9 Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM Session 035: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Teaching Social Problems through Institutional Ethnography Room: Chicago Room Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography, Teaching Social Problems Organizers: Elizabeth L. Brule, Queen's University Morena Tartari, Northumbria University Presider & Discussant: Elizabeth L. Brule, Queen's University Description: This session focuses on using Institutional Ethnography (IE) to explore social problems and social change with academic and non-academic audiences.ÊInstitutional Ethnographers who are teaching/imparting what they have learned from their IE research to academic and non-academic audiences are invited to submit their contributions to this session. Presentations can focus on how to guide, through IE, academic and non-academic audience in understanding how everyday experiences are shaped by institutional and social forces, in discussing the impact of IE research, and in highlighting the potential of IE to uncover hidden power dynamics, policies, and organizational practices. This aim is to discuss how to help these audiences and communities critically examine institutions while engaging with the possibilities of impact that IE offers. Papers: ÒÔI Swear I Was Playing it Right in PracticeÕ: Student Health and the Discourse of ÔPreparationÕ in Post-secondary Music Education,Ó JeffreyÊSabo and ChristineÊGuptill, University of Ottawa ÒA Comprehensive Literature Review of an Institutional Ethnography of Graduate Student Enrollment and Retention,Ó DorianeÊE.ÊPaso, FredrickaÊR.ÊSaunders, IsaacÊMensah, LauraÊJ.ÊParson, EmilyÊC.ÊSchubert, AbbyÊGriffin and FranciscaÊNyarko, North Dakota State University ÒNavigating Academia and Motherhood: An Institutional Ethnography of International Graduate Student Mothers,Ó FredrickaÊR.ÊSaunders, North Dakota State University ÒQueering Institutional Ethnography: Designing a Conceptual Framework for Equity,Ó KelleyÊA.ÊLarson, North Dakota State University ÒSelecting a Standpoint in Institutional Ethnography: Accounting for Multiple Social Identities,Ó DaraÊGordon, University of Toronto ÒTeaching Institutional Ethnography through Autoethnography,Ó LauraÊJ.ÊParson, North Dakota State University Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM Session 042: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Intersecting Technological, Healthcare, and Social Relations Room: Chicago Room Sponsors: Environment and Technology Institutional Ethnography Organizers, Presiders & Discussants: Laura J. Parson, North Dakota State University Alex Megelas, Concordia University Description: Exploring intersecting technological, healthcare and social relations through institutional ethnography, ethnography, and qualitative methods.Ê Papers: ÒA Hundred Years of Teaching Experience Confronts Generative AI Unprovoked,Ó PatriciaÊLengermann and GillianÊNiebrugge-Brantley, The George Washington University ÒAlgorithmic Scores as Boundary Objects: Risk Assessments and the Uses of Professional Authority in US Pretrial Hearings,Ó SinoÊV.ÊEsthappan, Northwestern University ÒImpact of Communication Technology on Social Interaction in a University Environment: An Ethnography Study,Ó AdetolaÊA.ÊAjayi, University of West Georgia ÒMcDonaldization and Artificial Intelligence,Ó J. MichaelÊRyan, Pontificia Universidad Cat—lica del Perœ ÒWhat Counts as the ÔGoodÕ Paramedic: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Recruitment Material in Canada,Ó MorganÊR.ÊKing-Roskamp and MichaelÊK.ÊCorman, University of the Fraser Valley ÒÔI Still Can Feel the SicknessÕ: Withdrawal Experiences of People on Methadone Maintenance Treatment,Ó DavidÊFrank, AlexanderÊS.ÊBennett, LutherÊElliott and CharlesÊM.ÊCleland, New York University, BethÊE.ÊMeyerson, Harm Reduction Research Lab, University of Arizona, SuzanÊM.ÊWalters, New York University, DanielleÊM.ÊRussell, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, CatyÊSimon, North Carolina Survivors Union and JoyÊD.ÊScheidell, University of Central Florida Sunday, August 10 Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 PM Session 064: New Directions in Institutional Ethnography Room: Indiana Room Sponsors: Institutional Ethnography Organizers, Presider & Discussant: Katherine E. Koralesky, University of British Columbia Description: This session features papers that are using Institutional Ethnography in new ways. Papers: ÒExceptional Spaces: Diverse Learning Environments in a Public High School,Ó KarlynÊJ.ÊGorski, The University of Chicago ÒExploring the Experiences of Charge Nurses: An Institutional Ethnography,Ó EmilyÊC.ÊSchubert, North Dakota State University ÒHealth Work Undertaken by Women Living with Autoimmune Diseases: Emergent Institutional Mapping,Ó DaraÊGordon, University of Toronto ÒSpare Parts: The Anatomy of Living Organ Donation,Ó MatthewÊStrang, York University ÒThe Work of Learning Institutional Ethnography: An Autoethnographic Account of Coming to Institutional Ethnography as an Undergraduate Student,Ó MorganÊR.ÊKing-Roskamp, University of the Fraser Valley Time: 2:30 PM - 4:10 PM Session 86: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: The Everyday Work of Abolition Room: Kimball Room Sponsors: Community, Research and Practice, Institutional Ethnography Organizers: Keisha M. Muia, Portland State University Jayne Malenfant, McGill University Presider & Discussant: Jayne Malenfant, McGill University Description: This session will explore abolition and focus on institutional ethnography and other critical approaches to research and action. Papers: ÒAbolitionist Struggle in Practice: The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and the Fight to End Prison Slavery in Minnesota,Ó IsabellaÊIrtifa, University of Minnesota Twin Cities ÒCreating Spaces Where We Can Breathe: Abolitionist-decolonial Environmental Justice Praxis,Ó Ki'AmberÊThompson, University of California, Santa Cruz ÒHumanizing, Relational, and Everyday Approaches to Advocacy and Abolitionist Praxis,Ó LibbyÊVigil, The University of New Mexico ÒPrairieland Solidarity Committee: The Early Days of an Abolitionist Organization against a Texas Immigrant Prison,Ó LuisÊA.ÊRomero, Texas Christian University ÒThe Everyday Work of Abolition as a Determinant of Health,Ó ColinÊHastings, University of Waterloo, JeffreyÊAnsloos and rosalindÊhampton, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education ÒTheyÕre Not from Here: Homelessness as a Contestation of Community Identity for Mid-size Cities,Ó ErinÊDej, Wilfrid Laurier University 3 IE Newsletter Volume 22 No. 2