Network Article

Here is the text of the article about the cafe that appeared in 'Network: newsletter of the British Sociological Association', No. 90, Spring 2005, p. 29.

Café Culture – The shared experience of the PhD
David J Mellor – Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences

A sense of community can be difficult to create and sustain amongst doctoral students. Many of us find working towards a PhD an isolated existence where the sharing of ideas and experiences about work with peers is transient and hard to sustain. In large departments, like the School of Social Sciences in Cardiff, it is possible to become so balkanised as to never meet whole groups of people who are undergoing the same academic apprenticeship. Perhaps it is no surprise that many find it daunting to take that first step and present their work to an audience, whether at a conference or at a departmental seminar. Work shared only with supervisors can be difficult to articulate to unfamiliar faces without practice.

Here in Cardiff we’ve tried to overcome these problems with the creation of a ‘Post Grad Café.’ The café is the new hub of the shared intellectual and social culture of the research students. We meet every month to discuss a range of topics related to academic research, current affairs, culture, politics and controversy. The café benefits from funding from the school, but is organised and run by doctoral students. Our central concern is the fostering of dialogue and the sharing of thoughts and experiences, both common and distinct, which makes the café a unique space for diversity and camaraderie. We share food and drink together so that each meeting becomes an act of collective identity.

Our basic format is the themed meeting, where a broad topical subject is chosen for discussion. For example, the December meeting was themed ‘Conspicuous Consumption’, whilst the first meeting of the New Year carried the theme ‘Beginnings/Endings.’ At every meeting 3 speakers ‘talk to’ the theme for approximately 10 minutes each in relation to their own current research interests. This is followed by a general open discussion that encompasses theory, methods and methodology, reflection on everyday practices of academia, and ‘tales from the field.’ All presentations are informal and the ground rules specify support and encouragement. Also, guest speakers are occasionally invited to talk, some from within the university and others from further a field (we welcome offers from interested speakers).

The ‘Conspicuous Consumption’ theme illustrated the cafés strengths. To begin, Richard Watermeyer discussed the 'Disaffiliation to the Technocratic Society' epitomised by the counter-cultural movements of the twentieth century. Following this, Alison Elderfield, asked, ‘The Mobile Phone: A Status Symbol?’ and talked about her work on the changing nature of people’s ‘enchantment’ with mobile technologies. Finally, Pamela Robinson introduced us to ‘The Discourse of Shopping,’ discussing the identities and moralities of both shoppers and retailers and the complexities of ethical consumption. The open symposium generated by these presentations focused on cultures of consumption, ethics, group identity, responsibility, citizenship, and political activism. In this meeting then, commonality and diversity became potent in the deliberation of important socio-political issues.

Undoubtedly the café will have the long term advantage of helping everyone speak in front of different audiences and to people who do not share specialist knowledge, whether theoretical, methodological or otherwise. This is surely of great benefit within the social sciences, but also important if our generation of scholars is to become engaged with various ‘publics.’ Following Michael Burawoy’s recent work on ‘public sociology’ there has been much debate concerning the public role of the social sciences and its dialogue with particular publics concerning social and cultural values. As can be seen from our ‘Conspicuous Consumption’ meeting, the café enables research students to articulate their work in various voices that address important issues of value, whilst retaining rigorous scholarly standards. I anticipate that the skills gained in the café will profit those involved in their future professional, public and policy engagements.
I hope that in sharing our experiences here at Cardiff that postgraduates in other departments will be interested in our ideas and might organise their own cafés or similar activities. Please contact me if you would like to know more details about the café, its ground rules and future activities. MellorD@Cardiff.ac.uk