Introduction to the special issue

No sociologist … should think himself too good … to make tens of thousands of quite trivial computations in his head and perhaps for months at a time (Weber 1946, p. 135). who has special interests in social change, political sociology, computers, methodology, and statistics. For the past decade he has been an independent consultant specializing in statistical data analysis and data base management for both mainframe and microcomputers.     

Introduction to the special issue: after trust

‘Trust’ has long been seen as critical to the success and durability of trading networks, and conceptualized as a positive moral sentiment that is embedded in shared kinship, ethnicity or friendship, or in shared frameworks of morality. Other recent studies of business communities suggest that the ability to work in settings characterized by pervasive mistrust is a key factor in the development of commercial acumen and a determinant of success. Here, the authors argue that a focus on trust and mistrust, and an underlying concern with ethics and morality, can obscure equally critical factors that inform the durability of trading networks. They offer ethnographic accounts of different inter‐Asian trading networks active in the city of Yiwu, which is one of China's most dynamic and diverse ‘international trade cities’. Yiwu is home to the largest wholesale market of small commodities in the world, and attracts traders and merchants from across the planet; more than 12,000 foreign traders are also resident in the city. The authors of the articles presented here analyse the durability of these networks in relation to broader geopolitical processes and contexts. They argue that success often depends on the ability to negotiate geopolitical shifts and the fault lines of political identity. They trace traders’ efforts to create institutions that allow them to withstand geopolitical transformations. They also document the ability of trading networks to operate flexibly across different social fields, showing that resilience often depends on the ability to navigate and profit from shifting relations between economic, political and familial domains.     

Introduction to the special issue: Sociology and feminist scholarship

Feminist writers in the seventies angrily criticized the work of male academicians, arguing that what scholarship presented as the norm was in fact white male experience. That critique generated a body of interdisciplinary theory and scholarship. This introduction examines what feminist sociologists mean when they talk about feminist theory—how they use the interdisciplinary theories, and how they apply a feminist methodological stance to generate feminist theory within sociology. It provides a context for understanding the articles that follow in this special issue as examples of feminist research in sociology and as statements of some of the current issues and as problems of concern to feminists in sociology. She is interested in gender, culture, religion and feminist theory. She wroteCharisma and Community: A Study of Religious Commitment within the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and is currently studying witchcraft traditions and the communities that support them.     

Introduction: special issue on tomboys and tomboyism

This article provides a critical introduction to, as well as an overview of the articles within, this special issue. The opening portion briefly discusses the history of tomboyism as both a cultural concept and embodied phenomenon. Then, the subsequent paragraphs provide a brief summary of the five essays that comprise this themed edition. In so doing, the Introduction addresses the current state of scholarship on tomboys and tomboyism, while it also highlights possible areas for future study.     

Introduction to the special issue on lesbians of African descent: contemporary perspectives

This article serves as an introduction to the special issue entitled, "Lesbians of African Descent: Contemporary Perspectives." We briefly discuss our framing of this collection as a contemporary contribution to the canon of Black lesbian writing and art, and identify themes that appear to transcend both earlier and current works of lesbians of African descent.     

What’s off-centre of empire? Introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT

In this Introduction, we discuss the aims of this publication along with guidelines to locate and connect the essays part of the edited volume. We start by highlighting the original contribution of our intervention in terms of what off-centring empire offers in relation to scholarship that de-centres empire. To us, this means to look at the processes, dynamics, and movements that connect empire (as a centre of power) to its peripheries (as a site of difference, struggles, and resistance). To be sure, attempts to off-centre and de-centre empire are related, relational, and they both commit to the project of challenging the centrality of empire, to confronting its lasting legacies and normative powers. Yet to off-centre, as we argue, is to focus on the electrifying force-field generated by the poles of imperial power, rather than oppose centre and peripheries to subvert their relationship. Our aim is to reveal the complex ways centre and periphery connect and distance with the aim to highlight emerging modes of counter-imperial practice. Further, this introduction serves as the opportunity to discuss the structure of the SI and its three main sections – Public Memory, Orientations, and More-than-human. Here we reflect upon how each essay brings to the fore a unique way to off-centre empire, and thus provide examples that may inspire future research. Finally, we highlight how conversations emerging from individual essays can be assembled and read into threads, pointing to multiple ways in which we seek to off-centre empire through empirical research.