Corey Dolgon is an American sociologist, social activist, and professor of sociology at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. For nearly 30 years, he has been giving so-called ‘singing lectures,’ in which he uses folk songs to present the history of labour and social movements in the United States. At the beginning of April, at the invitation of the Centre for Sustainable Development, he visited the University of Gdańsk. The professor gave a ‘singing’ lecture and workshops for students and staff at the University of Gdańsk.
Corey Dolgon is known for combining sociological theory with social practice, as well as for using folk music in education and social justice activism. During his academic career, he has lectured at Harvard University and Clark University, among others. His research interests include political sociology, social movements, fascism, and issues of race, class and gender.
He is the author of five books, including the award-winning The End of the Hamptons: Scenes from the Class Struggle in America’s Paradise (2005) and Kill It to Save It: An Autopsy of Capitalism’s Triumph over Democracy (2017). Dolgon served as president of the Association for Humanist Sociology and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He also received a Fulbright scholarship, which enabled him to conduct research and teach at the University of Salzburg.
‘During the workshop, we learned about different definitions of action research and discussed the possibilities for implementing such projects and the available literature,’ says Janina Repeka, a sociology student. ’One of the main assumptions of this method is its transformative potential, changing the situation of participants and raising issues of social inequality.’ We had the opportunity to embody these assumptions during a short theatre exercise. We looked for social problems that were important to us, represented them in the form of a joint sculpture and explored possibilities for changing the situation for the better. This activity provided an opportunity to discuss the creation of a vision and the potential for social change in our environment,’ summarises the student.
The workshop was also attended by researchers from the Institute of Sociology of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Gdańsk: Dr Karolina Ciechorska-Kulesza and Dr Dobrosław Mańkowski, as well as Dr Elżbieta Czapka, coordinator of the International Cooperation programme at the Centre for Sustainable Development.