STUDENT BLOG: Cultivating Critical Scholars


Forge Your Own Path Student Grant Blog:
Cultivating Critical Scholars: Sociology Workshop on Collective Behavior and Social Movements
By CHRISTINA ONG

As one of the few sociology programs nationwide with a focus on social movements, Pitt’s Sociology Department develops innovative research. This type of intellectual engagement thrives in an atmosphere that initiates conversations between faculty and students, and amongst students on a long-term basis. One proven way of fostering such a culture is through advisor working groups. Working groups build an active community of scholars working to mentor and professionalize, leading to crucial career opportunities.

This workshop series provided Sociology graduate students whose research revolves around collective behavior and social movements with the opportunity to critically engage with one another’s work on a regular basis. Our working group met regularly with the intention to focus on a specific member’s work-in-progress every week.  Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, our workshop series met in-person for two hours every week, highlighting new work from members and providing critical feedback and discussion that allowed each member to better develop their intellectual work.

The space created within the group allowed for members to share both their conceptual work as well as their process…[and] the time allotted for professionalization prepared members for their departmental and external work and onboarded members to the processes involved in a successful academic career. – Sarah

We aim to deepen the intellectual engagement with our own and our peers’ research projects. These works range from master’s theses, to comprehensive exams, to dissertation proposals, and theoretical work. Since each participant in the workshop is at a different stage in their graduate career, progress in their intellectual work will inevitably look different. For some, progress will mean new and revised drafts of empirical research, and for others, it will mean completing academic milestones in the graduate program or submitting manuscripts for publication. Regardless, the intensive, albeit collegial environment fostered by this workshop series will give participants rigorous training in developing their research projects and give them experience in the academic practice of evaluation and critique. 

Comments from the working group allowed me to refine my arguments and clarify my position in the final version of the paper. Additionally, meeting regularly with the working group created a sense of camaraderie and allowed each person to get to know one another’s intellectual work in a more in-depth manner than what may be cultivated in a classroom setting. – Christina

Because of the pandemic, we collectively decided to use our virtual time together as a way to discuss what difficulties we were facing in our research, how we were coping with profound uncertainty, alongside working through our scholarly ideas. This allowed us to connect more deeply with one other’s research interests in social movements during a time when many of us are engaging in activism for essential workers during COVID-19.

…the space helped me maintain focus and motivation to continue my work during the onset of the COVID-19 quarantine, as the group discussed professional development and provided healthy interaction which helped to re-center me in the midst of troubling time. – Nate

Moving forward, despite the end of the semester, all the working group members have decided to continue meeting regularly via virtual video conference in order to stay motivated and work through problems they may be facing during the pandemic. We are incredibly grateful to the Forge Your Own Path Personalized Education Grant for providing us with the support for us to cultivate a deeply supportive community of scholars whose work revolved around social movements, and how to utilize such research for social change.


About this project

Cultivating Critical Scholars: Sociology Workshop on Collective Behavior and Social Movements
This workshop series will provide Sociology graduate students whose research revolves around collective behavior and social movements with an opportunity to critically engage with one another’s work on a regular basis. Additionally, this series will provide a mechanism for broader cross-pollination of ideas than traditional methods of working with an individual advisor. In addition to developing a tradition of sociological inquiry, workshops will be a time to engage with concerns regarding professionalization and building a community of scholars. The Forge Your Own Path Grant provides a launchpad through which students can take advantage of the expertise and insights of colleagues.

Project leader: Christina Ong