Speckmann Awards 2023 for Queer Joy in Motion report and Imogen Cooney
The Fieldwork NL report prize goes to the “Queer Joy in Motion” report, by bachelor students Dorota Olsavska, Marthe Baalbergen, Rielly Puchalski, and Rosa Graffé. Master student Imogen Cooney receives the Speckmann Award for her thesis ‘Decolonizing Faculty’.
Queer Joy in Motion
The full name of the Fieldwork NL report is Queer Joy in Motion: How imagery surrounding queer sports communities reflects their relationship to ideas of body, belonging and community. Dorota Olsavska, Marthe Baalbergen, Rielly Puchalski, and Rosa Graffé. show us how, by contrast, images emanating from queer sports spaces index different, more inclusive ideas about sporting bodies, asking us to imagine how things might be otherwise.
The group members overcame initial theoretical challenges and fine-tuned their report into a rock-solid discussion about alternative ways to think about queering bodies, health, and physical activities.
The group members overcame initial theoretical challenges and fine-tuned their report into a rock-solid discussion about alternative ways to think about queering bodies, health, and physical activities. Their voice joins a vital debate about rethinking the normative visual aspects of sports in intersectional ways, as they shed light on the importance of affective engagements in representational practices. We hope that their contributions will help to stimulate conversations about how queerness reframes and mediates collective and individual processes of space building and community belonging.
Decolonizing Faculty
What does it mean to “decolonize a university,” as opposed to, for instance, a state? In her thesis Decolonizing Faculty: Perceptions and Practices of Decolonial Transformation in Dutch Higher Education, Imogen argues we should explore it from the perspective of those tasked with carrying out (or resisting) decolonization: faculty members themselves. The Jury said that her thesis combines methodological excellence, theoretical sophistication, and analytical quality more akin to a PhD and far exceeded expectations for an MSc thesis.
This is an impressive piece of work on a topic highly relevant to the academic world.
From the Jury report: This is an impressive piece of work on a topic highly relevant to the academic world. Methodologically, it thoughtfully combines a quantitative and qualitative approach. Analytically, Imogen elaborates the analysis at various levels and provides a good assessment of the link between policy and practice. She not only examines the differences between disciplines but also how their members understand and reflect on their positionality. Ambivalences among staff are acknowledged and considered while avoiding reductive binary approaches to the question of decolonization. As the perspectives of faculty have a huge impact on how and if decolonization agendas are implemented, understanding such ambivalence is crucial.
Annually the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology awards the Speckmann prize for the best Fieldwork NL report from bachelor's students, as well as the most accomplished master’s thesis. This tradition started in 1993 and is named after Professor dr. J.D. Speckmann (1928-1997), who taught empirical sociology with a special focus on field research.
For more information about the Speckmann Prizes, see Prof.dr.J.D. Speckmann prize.