Full Description
Life in Canada is marked, celebrated, enjoyed, and dreaded in ways that respond specifically to the seasons. Sociological thinking allows people to ask questions about things that may otherwise be taken for granted. Thinking about the seasons sociologically opens up a unique perspective for studying and understanding social life. Each chapter in this collection approaches the seasons and the passage of time as a way to explore issues of sociological interest. The authors use seasonality as a device that can bridge, in fascinating ways, small-scale interpersonal interactions and large formal institutional structures. These contemporary, Canadian case studies are wide-ranging and include analyses of pumpkin spice lattes, policing in schools, law and colonialism, summer cottages, seasonal affective disorder, New Year's resolutions, Vaisakhi celebrations, and more. Seasonal Sociology offers provocative new ways of thinking about the nature of our collective lives.
Contents
List of FiguresList of TablesPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionTonya K. Davidson, Tara Milbrandt, and Ondine ParkFALL1 The Rideau Canal in Fall: Understanding Ontology and Epistemology with Indigenous Ways of KnowingZoe Todd2 Back to School Season: Schools and the Social Organization of CrimeHeather Rollwagen3 Pumpkin Spice Lattes: Marking the Seasons with BrandsSonia Bookman4 "Neither Here, Nor There": Migrant Rights and Realities in Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker ProgramJenna Hennebry, David Celis Parra, and Rachelle Daley5 A Long Weekend of Rest and Labour: Thanksgiving, Holiday Body Work, and the Holiday BodyHeidi BickisWINTER6 Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): The Medicalization of Winter Sadness Alissa Overend7 Season of Dreaded Joys: Adaptation, Enchantment, and Solidarity in a "Winter" CityTara Milbrandt8 The Winter of Our Discontent: New Year's Resolutions and the Ideal BodyJen Wrye, Michael Graydon, and Patricia Thille9 Extending Law's Reach: Winter, Accusations, and the Colonial EncounterMatthew P. Unger10 Cracked Ice: Winter, Canada, Whiteness, and the Politics of SportsNicole NeversonSPRING11 Spring Sowing for Fall Harvest: An Exploration of Time in Farmers' Food Production and MarketingSusan Machum12 Spring Babies, Summer Weddings, Fall Divorces, and Winter Deaths: Seasons and PopulationsRania Tfaily13 Alternative Spring Break: The Politics of Doing Good in a Globalized WorldNathaniel Laywine and Alan Sears14 Supermoms and Bumbling Dads: How Mother's Day and Father's Day Cards Perpetuate Traditional Roles in the HomeAlison Thomas and Elizabeth Dennis15 Rites of Spring: Multiculturalism and the Celebration of Vaisakhi in Vancouver Bonar BuffamSUMMER16 Wedding Season: The White Wedding as a Cultural Ritual of HeteronormativityOndine Park17 Summer in Cottage Country: Expectations and Experiences of Canadian NatureTonya K. Davidson18 "The Long and 'Hot' Summer Is Coming": Environmental Activism, Violence, and the StatePaul Joosse19 The Summer Blockbuster: Sociology of Media and Media SociologyBenjamin Woo20 Summer's Gains and Losses: Children, Social Class, and LearningPatrizia AlbaneseGlossaryContributorsIndex
