Paul O'Connor's Blog, page 7
July 22, 2021
"Carrion crows in the city of Sendai in Japan have discovered an ingenious way of cracking walnuts...."
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As the debate on culture continues, some ground is often given to primates who it can be agreed possess culture. Other animals are often overlooked. Human-animal anthropology merges with Actor Network Theory and the Gaia hypothesis. There are questionable boundaries.
For more details check out this blog post and infographic from Rafael Koller.
July 14, 2021
Skateboarding And Religion - Paul O'Connor
The Palomino is one great successes in online skateboarding stores. Here, lots of the independent content produced by small publishers, video makers, and grass roots companies is stocked and made accessible. If you are a fan of underground skate videos released on limited edition thumb drives, or want to get your hands on one of those niche hoodies from your favourite Euro brand - Go Here.
They also stock a vast collection of skateboarding publications. This ranges from zines, to glossy photo volumes. Along the way they also have a collection of academic books on skateboarding. So I am delighted that they are stocking my book Skateboarding and Religion and at a really decent price too. Check out the site here.
July 5, 2021
Forgotten Playgrounds: Unloved SpaceThis series of photographs...
Forgotten Playgrounds: Unloved Space
This series of photographs from photographer Guillem Vidal tugs at the heartstrings. It is a series of lost playgrounds, forgotten, abandoned, overlooked. Part of me starts to hum “Puff the Magic Dragon’ as it all points to the melancholy of lost childhood. In the photographer’s own words…
This series shows play areas for children or adults. Ranging from ephemeral children’s cabins t organised spaces built with durable materials. These spaces, once alive an now forgotten, are invaded by nature in the slow process of its transformation into ruins.
It is also worth noting that this makes a neat connection to the ways in which skateboarders make unloved urban space playgrounds. Each of these photographs hint at the fun that must have been had there. Similarly the banal urban spaces of the everyday ache with a possibility of joy. Perhaps a skateboarder, or an explosive parkour route, or a pending canvas for the graffiti artist.
In the 1970s a variety of skateparks slowly began to crumble away as their poor design intersected with the more general fall from grace and popularity of skateboarding. Similarly there are numerous badly built and designed skateparks that now appear much like the photos above. Not necessarily forgotten, but certainly unloved. Might we see some of the best parks, and DIY spots one day similarly forgotten. Imagine a Southbank or Burnside destitute, or the Venice Beach Skatepark fractured and full of weeds.
Sociology Show Interview with Dr Paul O'Connor
I had the pleasure of talking to Matthew Wilkin from the Sociology Show podcast about the sociology of skateboarding and my book ‘Skateboarding and Religion’.
Covering topics of Back to the Future, Skateboarding in Asia, the rise in women’s skateboarding, aesthetics of skateboarding, lifestyle sports, ritual, cults, and religion.
July 3, 2021
My good friend, colleague, and collaborator Dr Sander Hölsgens...
My good friend, colleague, and collaborator Dr Sander Hölsgens has just published a book ‘Skateboarding in Seoul’ based on his long term ethnographic research in South Korea. This new tome is available to purchase from the University of Groningen Press.
Importantly it is also available as a free ebook in PDF and Epub format to download. This open access publication is an important contribution to skateboarding scholarship, expanding a crucial focus on Asian skateboarding. Sander is an important figure in skateboard academia and one of the masterminds behind the Pushing Boarders academic conferences.
Highly recommended.
June 24, 2021
Just a few hours left before this gem of an event goes live. So,...
Just a few hours left before this gem of an event goes live. So, skateTumblr, if you haven’t heard go check this out now. Chicago time 7pm.
Prof Kyle Beachy, Alexis Sablone, and Mark Gonzales at the Gray Center.
June 19, 2021
Sun Sacrifice - A video celebrating this year's Solstice | Skateism
In support of Emily Badescu’s video sun sacrifice I penned a short article about the summer solstice and skateboarding. In anticipation of the solstice on June 21st, and of course Go Skateboarding Day, check it out here on Skateism…
“This year particularly, relish the summer and mark the turning year. After a bitter winter, a lockdown, and all manner of hardships that have accompanied the preceding months. Grasp your board, for it is a ritual item, and mark the skateboarding solstice.”
June 17, 2021
On Friday the 25th of June, I will be taking part in a panel...
On Friday the 25th of June, I will be taking part in a panel discussing Islam in Hong Kong. The event focusses on Imam Utham Yang’s new book that introduces the social history and everyday life of Hong Kong’s diverse Muslim community.
It is a pleasure to join in this event with Imam Yang and colleagues Professor James Frankel, and Dr Wai Yip Ho.
This will be of keen interest for anyone following religion and ethnicity in Hong Kong. The event is open to all.
The Consulate General of the United Arab Emirates in the HKSAR cordially invites you to an upcoming webinar titled “Islam in Hong Kong: a dialogue on tolerance” which celebrates Imam Uthman Yang’s book “Understanding Islam” (Joint Publishing, 2020) and brings together experts from the fields of Islamic studies, sociology and interfaith relations to discuss the role of tolerance in society.
The event is open to all (registration needed to receive webinar link) with Q & A session.
Date: 25th June 2021
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 pm (HK Time) / 11:30 am – 12:30 pm (UAE Time)
Venue: Zoom
(please register via https://forms.gle/A97LHc5fVoPH79Rk9 and the Zoom link will be sent by email)
Language: English
Panelists:
• Ms Mariam Alshamsi, Acting Consul General (opening remarks)
• Professor James Frankel, Director of the Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (moderator)
• Imam Uthman Yang, imam of Masjid Ammar & Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre, Hong Kong Islamic Union (author)
• Ms Anne Lee, Deputy Editor in Chief, Joint Publishing Hong Kong (publisher)
• Dr Wai Yip Ho, Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, the Education University of Hong Kong
• Dr Paul O’Connor, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Social Policy, Lingnan University of Hong Kong / Lecturer in Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy at the University of Exeter
• Ms Nadia Castro, Educator at Islamic Kasim Tuet Memorial College & doctoral candidate at Education University of Hong Kong
This June marked my first time back in a lecture theatre in 15...
This June marked my first time back in a lecture theatre in 15 months. My last class at Charles University in Prague, switched abruptly online at the start of March 2020. So this was the end of a rather distinct hiatus.
As part of the University of Exeter’s Festival of Discovery I took part in a workshop to tease out some pandemic reflections. It was an incredibly small affair with just a handful of students turning up, but it was a neat opportunity to discuss in real life some of the issues that have been dominating the last year. Fusing my own research with the workshop, I spoke on the topic of the boom in skateboarding during the pandemic. This was buoyed by some superb skate journalism from the likes of Jenkem, NGOs, and skate blogs over the last year. Flick through the presentation here.
The event itself was a little surreal as I was meeting, in person, colleagues that I had only ever spoken to on Zoom. There was distinct misrecognition going on. People really do not look the same online looking down into the camera with a virtual background. Many people are surely experiencing similar encounters, particularly if they have started a new job in the midst of the pandemic.
For all the rhetoric out there about how work and study will never quite be the same again, it was immediate just how different and indeed valuable it was discussing ideas in person.
May 27, 2021
An eventful night at the skatepark yesterday. A dear friend caught some bad luck and a broken ankle....
An eventful night at the skatepark yesterday. A dear friend caught some bad luck and a broken ankle. As we waited for the ambulance, talk abounded of some bad vibes that despite the fine and dry weather, were felt to be lurking ominously. More than a few of us had sensed this and were skating cautiously. Skate superstitions. Later a conversation turned to opportunistic skate pilgrimages. One chap had made it to San Francisco on his honeymoon, no board in tow. While sightseeing he struggled to convince his bride of the need and urgency to take a peek at the nearby Pier 7. Many skate pilgrimages thus inhabit the same pattern, not full orchestrated ventures to the axis mundi, but furtive and unclear attempts steal a moment of magic amongst perplexed travelling companions. As we returned to the park after seeing off our friend in the ambulance, no one felt too comfortable rolling about. As I speeded toward a flat bank a stray board came flying at me from a jovial bespectacled guy who apologised that he ‘just couldn’t get his impossible to wrap’. I took no more chances with the spirits at the park and bowed out for the evening.
