In March 2009, Annie Lin and Ana Villarreal from the University of California, Berkeley attended the International Sociological Association conference in Taipei. The theme for the conference was “Facing an Unequal World.” Lin and Villarreal filmed and edited a documentary about the conference, “Challenges for a Global Sociology.”

Lin and Villarreal have kindly allowed us to debut “Challenges for a Global Sociology” here at contexts.org to coincide with the release of Michael Burawoy’s Fall 2009 Contexts article on the 2009 ISA meetings.

You can view the video below or download here.

About the ISA

The International Sociological Association (ISA) was formed in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO to represent sociologists from all over the globe. It brings sociologists together for a World Congress every four years, sponsors scientific journals and monograph series, and runs PhD laboratories. Its members come from 167 countries.

About the Authors

Annie L. Lin is a fourth-year undergraduate sociology student at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a 1.5-generation immigrant from Taiwan who still speaks fluent Mandarin and remains connected with news from the Taiwan Strait. Academically, she is particularly interested in workplace interactions, labor relations, wealth inequality, and social policy. She has also had over six years of experience with video production and web design, and seeks to integrate these more artistic skills with sociology. You can contact Annie at a12lin@berkeley.edu.

Ana Villarreal is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and the Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail in Aix-en-Provence, France. Originally from Mexico, she is fascinated by international spaces of sociological discussion and is glad to contribute to extending the debates that emerged from the 2009 CNA Taipei meeting with this film. You can contact Ana at avillarreal@berkeley.edu.