Go and Uncover Something

Professor Paul Atkinson, Distinguished Research Professor at the School of Social Sciences, recently delivered the annual Erving Goffman Memorial Lecture in Edinburgh.

This prestigious series was established by the University of Edinburgh to mark the 50^th anniversary of Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, and previous speakers have included Professor Howard Becker and Professor John Scott.

For his lecture, Professor Atkinson chose to follow Goffman’s injunction to “Go and uncover something!” His talk reflected on the imperatives and commitments of fieldwork, illustrating the theme with examples from operatic masterclasses and a glassblowing studio.