The Sociological Imagination @ UCalgary

Nov. 23, 2024 | Duration: 01:14:31

Episode Summary

For our inaugural episode of The Sociological Imagination @UCalgary, we interviewed Emeritus Professor of Sociology Dr. Tom Langford, who reflects on his years spent in the department, how it has changed over time, and favourite memories. Dr. Langford joined the department in 1989 and was Head of Department from 2003 to 2009. 

Guest Bio

Dr. Tom Langford is an Emeritus Professor and former department head in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary. He has a PhD from McMaster University. Langford is the author of books The Lights on the Tipple Are Going Out: Fighting Economic Ruin in a Canadian Coalfield Community and Alberta’s Day Care Controversy: From 1908 to 2009—and Beyond. Langford retired in 2020 after a just over three decade long academic career at the University of Calgary. His research has focused on globalization, labour, and the politics of early learning and childcare.

Episode Notes                        

“Tenured professors have to be willing to stick out their neck sometimes, especially if the discipline comes under attack, and you have to mobilise your supporters.”

• Dr. Tom Langford recalls his lengthy career in the sociology department beginning in 1989, after graduating from McMaster University.
• Tom discusses the faculty at the time he joined and their research programs, and then reflects on changes over time, including financial difficulties during the 1990s related to provincial budget cuts, challenges related to increased teaching loads and retirements, and the shift in Canadian sociology from quantitative to qualitative and interpretive approaches.
• He compares and contrasts budget funding cuts in the 1990s to the budget landscape today, reflecting on struggles over academic direction.
• Tom discusses how he managed being Head of Department, with a focus on transparency especially in the context of financial difficulties.
• Tom shares stories of logistical challenges related to conducing doctoral student examinations.
• Tom discusses what is distinct about sociology in Canada and in particular our department, given wider trends in terms of attenuating financial and social support for sociology.
• Tom expands on what he found most rewarding over the years, focusing on memories of note including the good feelings of supervising graduate students and seeing where they go, and the remarkable focus of one PhD student whose candidacy exams included the background chorus of domestic chores.

Aug. 26, 2025 | Duration: 20:56

Episode Summary

Our second episode features Dr. Cora Voyageur, a full Professor who joined the Department of Sociology at The UofC in 1989, and is currently the longest serving faculty member in our department. Cora reflects on her career with our department, changes regarding research with Indigenous communities, as well as challenges and favourite memories over the years.

Guest Bio 

Dr. Cora Voyageur is a full Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Calgary. A member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and a residential school survivor, her research focuses on Indigenous women’s leadership, health, entrepreneurship, and community development, and the ways in which Indigenous peoples have shaped Canadian society. Dr. Voyageur has published dozens of academic articles, book chapters, and community reports, and presented her research at more than 100 academic conferences and international fora such as the Oxford Round Tables in Britain and the United Nations in New York.

Episode Notes 

Dr. Voyeur, who is a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, reflects on the increasing diversity of faculty at the university over the years, and her active community engagement both at the national and international level. Dr. Voyageur discusses the changes regarding research with Indigenous communities; i.e., away from an extractive, colonial framework emphasizing pathology and maladaptation to one that is strengths-based, and centers principles of OCAP (ownership, control, access and possession). Dr. Voyageur also recalls favourite memories and considers what is next for sociology as a discipline moving forward.

Dec. 2, 2025 | Duration: 29:57

Episode Summary

In this third episode of The Sociological Imagination @ Calgary, we interview Emeritus Professor Dr. Robert Stebbins, who reflects on his time in the department and his career advancing the sociology of leisure.

Guest Bio 

Dr. Robert Stebbins is an Emeritus Professor of the Department of Sociology, University of Calgary. He joined the department in 1976, immediately serving as department head for six years. Dr. Stebbins’ research centers on the sociology of leisure, including conceptual development of the ideas of casual versus serious leisure. He has authored over 300 research articles and 65 books and monographs. Dr. Stebbins has served as President of the Social Science Federation of Canada in 1991-1992, after having served as President of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association in 1988-1989. He was also Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies (1993-96) and elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences (1997) and the Royal Society of Canada (1999). He was elected Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy in 2010.

Episode Notes 

Dr. Stebbins reflects on the many years he served in the Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, beginning with the period during which the department developed its doctoral program. He reflects upon his career researching the sociology of leisure, which he recalls was not initially reflected in mainstream sociology. There were challenges having leisure taken seriously given sociology’s frequent focus on serious social problems and societal ills. Developing the concept of serious leisure, Dr. Stebbins reflects on the development of leisure studies in sociology, and how the department of sociology at the University of Calgary became a hub where a more positive approach to leisure emerged, taking its conceptualization seriously. More recently, Dr. Stebbins discusses, leisure is taken up through interdisciplinary scholarship that is international in scope and scale. Dr. Stebbins encourages those interested in his research and in leisure studies to visit his website, where they may read more about Dr. Stebbins and his longstanding contributions to the sociology of leisure.