International Sociological Association
Research Committee 34 (Youth)
Board meeting, Brisbane, Friday July 12th, 2002
Present:
Board members – Helena Helve (President), Jim Cote (IBYR Editor), Vinod Chandra, Ngai Ngan Pun (Vice-Presidents for Asia), Gunilla Holm (VP for the Americas), Johanna Wyn (VP for Australia, NZ and Oceania), Carles Feixa, Henk Vinken (VPs for Europe), Howard Williamson (Organisational Secretary)
RC34 members – Lynne Chisholm, Ola Stafseng, Jurgen Hartmann (past Presidents), Songxing Su (former VP Asia), Claire Wallace (past OS), Siyka Kovacheva, Carmen Leccardi, Clarence Batan
Observer – Ethel Kosminsky (part of meeting)
1. Welcome – New President Helena Helve welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting: Matters arising –
The main issue was membership and recruitment. Some membership had elapsed. New recruits were potentially available amongst those participating at the World Congress. A number of action points were suggested:
• Session organisers should check with those who gave papers in their sessions and encourage them to join RC34
• HW to examine list of participants in the RC34 sessions and check against current membership
• HW to contact participants who were not members, attaching a personal reflection on the Congress and reasons why they should join RC34
• More personal letters should be written by the President to the 10-15 ‘new faces’ who had engaged actively in both the sessions and the social infrastructure (ie Malone’s bar!)
• Lynne Chisholm would be preparing her own evaluation of the Congress. This would be posted on the website and responses would be invited. Those who responded should be followed up if they are not already RC34 members.
• Claire Wallace to provide HW with a list of RC34 members and the mechanisms she had used to maintain contact with them
• HW to contact Isabella (ISA secretary) for up-to-date list of those ‘in good standing’
The topic digressed into a broader debate about how sessions should be organised and some of the challenges for the future in terms of both enlisting members and encouraging participation in the Congress.
It was noted that not all members (or potential members) had access to e-mail. It was a responsibility of regional Vice-Presidents to cascade information and thereby cement communication. Central resources for doing this were limited.
Regional conferences were a means of both involving RC34 members and of promoting RC34 to potential new members.
It was suggested that membership of RC34 might be linked to discounts on journal subscriptions. Vice-Presidents should explore which journals (not just youth journals) might serve as an incentive for such a strategy. Appropriate negotiations that might follow to be undertaken in consultation with the President.
National sociological associations might also be enlisted to promote RC34 (and other research committees). The President to consider an approach.
The International Bulletin of Youth Research (IBYR) was another vehicle for promotion; it was, after all, the mouthpiece of RC34.
The scale of charges for joining RC34 should also be considered. Much of the $40 was often lost in bank transfer charges anyway!
Sight should not be lost of the ‘social’ dimension of RC34, which had been noticed and strongly commended at the Congress.
3. International Bulletin of Youth Research Newsletter
Jim Cote outlined plans for establishing a Listserve network, to which RC34 would have access through registration. Trial membership would be a possibility. This would provide a network for relevant information dissemination (conferences, calls for papers) as well as serving as a locus for mutual assistance, guidance and direction amongst members. Comments could be exchanged on ‘youth issues’.
For those without electronic access, the usual cascading and contact responsibilities would be carried out by VPs (downloading, printing and circulating).
Jim would discuss these ideas with the President and Arsenii. Ngai and Su would coordinate issues around the Chinese language.
IBYR could also establish a search engine within the membership, through the provision of details of members in terms of areas of interest, availability, network involvement and so on. Issues of identity and data protection here, but not insurmountable.
4. Activity plans
• Moscow International Seminar for young researchers Sept 7-12. In conjunction with the Council of Europe. Some challenges ahead in sustaining the youth research agenda within the CoE, but demand is clearly there: 120 applications for 40 places in the Moscow seminar.
But there is a need also to broaden the base of tutors/contributors.
Networks of students at similar past events, as well as future ones, need to be sustained and consolidated.
• China, Asian youth studies conference, November 16-18 (Hangzhou, China). The President reported that negotiations were going on. RC34 involved in three sessions.
• Norway 2005. Ola Stafseng reported on the planned conference to commemorate the anniversary of independence. On children and youth. One hundred participants based on existing networks. The topic is to be north/south global challenges. Possibly an opportunity for an RC34 meeting as well.
VPs were asked to think about conferences towards 2006 which might become joint events through the involvement of RC34. The President asked VPs to prepare an activity plan for discussion at the next Board meeting, when they could be consolidated into an integrated activity plan. An ‘early warning’ system of forthcoming conferences would be useful.
VPs to prepare activity plans by September 15th, to include conference and publication plans.
5. Publication projects
• The RC34 history project. This has been struggling for the past two and a half years. There is an archive of photos, documents and some text. Had been planned for launch at this Congress. A missed opportunity. Though time is now not so pressing, the project needs a manager to take it forward. The original objectives still stand:
– to provide an understanding of RC34 (for both current and prospective members)
– to offer a sense of past, present and future – a history
– to contribute to the debate on the idea of global youth research
The idea is to produce a small book. Lyudmila Nurse to be asked by the President to provide a briefing on the current state of play. The President will then consult with Claire Wallace and Jim Cote. A decision will then be taken about how to take the project forward.
• Edited collection on international youth research (Gunilla and Helena). There is an agreed thematic plan, but not much more has happened. The purpose should not be relinquished, though it could incorporate some of the papers presented at the Congress.
• Congress RC34 papers
Lynne to consider a collection through (possibly) SAGE monographs, Current Sociology, or a conference volume. She will establish some pre-conditions, review the papers given at the Congress and compose a proposal.
Session organisers should also develop their own ideas. Lynne to co-ordinate this. She will e-mail relevant people.
6. Practicalities
• The President expressed thanks to Claire Wallace for her work over the past four years as Organisational Secretary
• IBYR – in Jim Cote’s good hands!
• The Advisory Board – to be continued, as outlined within the statutes. The Advisory Board was instituted in 1998, and allows for nominations from the President or immediate Past President. Appointments are time-limited to four years.
Nominations by Lynne Chisholm:
Re-appointments:
Carmen Leccardi
Sylvia Trnka
New appointments:
Ola Stafseng
Ladislav Macachek
Claire Wallace
Songxing Su
Jurgen Hartmann
Siyka Kovacheva
Lyudmila Nurse
These proposals were formally seconded by Vinod Chandra and unanimously supported by the meeting.
Lynne Chisholm noted the ‘desperate need’ for generational succession.
Carles Feixa observed the lack of representation on either the Executive Board or the Advisory Board from South America. It was noted that there were different categories of membership and co-options to the Executive Board were possible within the statutes.
The President to send a formal letter to those nominated to the Advisory Board inviting them to accept.
Names of members of the Advisory Board to be posted on IBYR.
Members of the Advisory Board to be invited to all Executive Board meetings.
7. Members of the ISA Executive Board
President: Piotr Sztompka, Poland
Vice-Presidents:
Research Council – Ann B Denis, Canada
National Associations – Sujata Patel, India
Programme – Ari Sitas, South Africa
Publications – Susan McDaniel, Canada
Finance/Membership – Bert Klandermans, Netherlands
Executive Committee:
Alice Abreu, Brazil
Syed Farid Alatas, Singapore
Maria-Angeles Duran, Spain
Julia Evetts, UK
Carlos Fortuna, Portugal
Marcel Fournier, Canada
John Germov, Australia
Bernd Hornung, Germany
Devorah Kalekin-Fishman, Israel
Douglas Kincaid, USA
Su-Hoon Lee, Korea
Tsunetsugu Munakata, Japan
Arturo Rodriguez Morato, Spain
Raquel Soza Elizaga, Mexico
Kenneth Thompson, UK
Michel Wieviorka, France
8. Thanks to Past President Lynne Chisholm
Helena Helve, the newly elected President, expressed her thanks to Lynne Chisholm for her work as President of RC34 over the past four years.
9. Date and place of next meeting
To be decided (provisionally in China in November)
Howard Williamson
Organisational Secretary
15th July, 2002