Events
March 27-28, 2025
Conference The Discursive Construction of Reality VI – Interdisciplinary perspectives on a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse research
The Discursive Construction of Reality VI
Conference at the University of Augsburg, Germany | March 27th – 28th, 2025
Over the last decades, the research program outlined by the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has spread to many disciplines in social science. SKAD discourse research, drawing upon Michel Foucault’s work, symbolic interactionism and sociology of knowledge, is interested in exploring processes of ‘discursive construction of reality’, social relations of knowledge and knowing, and politics of knowledge and knowing – the manifold ways of discursive meaning making. Bearing these core tenets in mind, the original approach has nonetheless been successfully amended, expanded, and occasionally modified to meet the demands of different fields of study and forms of data. Corresponding studies may be found in sociology, but also in neighbouring disciplines such as cultural studies, political science, historical science, educational science, theology, linguistics, and criminology among many others.
Following the series of Augsburg conferences in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023 on interpretive and sociology of knowledge discourse research with over 120 participants and 40 contributions from different disciplines each year, the upcoming conference will continue in the spirit of an interdisciplinary discussion about the foundations and applications of SKAD and SKAD-inspired discourse research, as well as related perspectives (such as subjectivation research, situational analysis, ethnography of discourses and dispositifs).
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Social Events at the conference
Besides an optional dinner with traditional Swabian and Bavarian cuisine on the first day of the conference we invite you to our closing party on March 28th after the end of the conference in a local club location.
Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller, Martin Blessinger, Claudia Foltyn and Amira Malik
The conference is supported by the Sociology of Knowledge Section of the German Sociological Association and the Society of Friends of the University of Augsburg.
Update 26.03.2025: Registrations are now only possible on site. Please approach our student assistants at the Infopoint.
SKAD Spring School (German speaking event)
Spring School Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse University of Augsburg | 9 to 11 April 2025
Over the past decade, discourse research in the social sciences and humanities has experienced a strong boom. Methodological training in the various disciplines has only partially taken this into account. In particular, questions of concrete textual work or the handling of different data formats and the interpretation of data in the context of discourse research are among the gaps in methodological training.
The Spring School on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) is aimed at researchers from various social science and humanities disciplines who are working or would like to work with the discourse theoretical and discourse analytical perspectives of SKAD in a qualification or research projects. It offers
- an introduction to the theoretical and conceptual foundations of SKAD,
- an introduction to methodological implementations and their exemplary testing in joint analyses of data,
- the opportunity to discuss questions and research designs of SKAD-based discourse and dispositive research, and
- the opportunity to bring issues from ongoing or planned projects into the discussion.
In addition, two optional in-depth courses can be taken:
- Specialisation A: Specific issues concerning the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse
- Specialisation B: Analysis of modes of subjectivation
Further information on the content of the specialisations, conditions of participation and registration can be found here.
SKAD-Network Meeting
28th SKAD-Network Meeting
The 28th network meeting “Sociological Discourse Analysis of Knowledge” will take place on September 4th and 5th in Vienna.
The meeting starts on September 4 at 2 pm and ends on September 5 at around 3 pm. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Marlies Zuccato-Doutlik and Gabriele Pessl-Falkensteiner for organizing everything on site.
If you are interested in presenting or discussing your own work, dissertation or project, please send us an e-mail with a few sentences about your project. In addition to the discussion of work-in-progress, empirical material can also be brought in and worked on together. So if you are interested in discussing your own WDA-based work with us, we can discuss everything else about the schedule, time frame and general character of the network meeting by e-mail - there are no formal requirements for “membership” or similar, nor any other obligations. Participation is also free for everyone, we would only ask for a small contribution towards expenses of approx. 5 euros for coffee & co. on site.
In total, a maximum of six projects will be discussed at the meeting, but each of these will be discussed within a very generous time frame of 60 minutes (approx. 30 minutes presentation + 30 minutes discussion or 10 minutes introduction + 50 minutes joint material work). There will also be the opportunity to discuss general and specific questions that are currently on your mind in an open space. You are also welcome to submit suggestions in advance.
We are looking forward to numerous registrations (with and without own slot) via wda.skad@gmail.com.
Organisation: Noemi Trucco & Tessa-Marie Menzel
SKAD Autumn School
Autumn School ›The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)‹ | September 15-17, 2025
Following the high interest and success of the last six international workshops with participants from different countries and all world regions, there will be another introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in September 2025. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this approach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that the English Autumn School SKAD gives priority to participants without a German language background. German speakers are invited to register for our German language Summer School WDA.
The workshop will discuss the following topics:
- What is at stake when using SKAD in discourse research?
- SKAD theory: discourses & dispositifs – and how to conceptualise them
- Research questions and conceptual tools in SKAD
- The methodology of interpretive analytics
- Getting into the field: methods of data collection and analysing data
- Getting out of the field: from data analysis to comprehensive diagnostics
- Discussion of participants’ research
- Special interest session
Further information on the Autumn School, registration process and general conditions of participation can be found here:
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Registration
To register for the Autumn School, please fill in all the fields of the form as far as possible and make sure that all the information is correct (in particular, we would like to remind you that if you are being sponsored by your employer, the invoice address must be an institutional address). It is not possible to make corrections or issue corrected invoices at a later date. Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation and can immediately start booking your travel and accommodation. The registration phase ends on 10 July 2025. We will then start sending out invoices (between 10 July and September 2025). Please see our General Conditions for Participation for more information on registration, participation, payment and more. If the planned number of participants is exceeded, we may set up a waiting list.