the last sofa: social network sites and belonging for young 'at risk' Australians

Friday 27 April 2012

social network sites and belonging for young 'at risk' Australians

Yfoundations (peak body for youth homelessness in Australia) have published an essay I wrote for them as a blog. Not 100% suitable as a blog post (was written as an essay for their old journal), but the argument is the same.

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about

[Brady Robards was a PhD candidate and associate lecturer in Griffith University's School of Humanities up until 2012. This blog chronicles that process. He now blogs over at bradyrobards.com.]

Brady's thesis explores how young people construct a sense of identity in online social spaces, and how that self seems to operate and become situated within systems of belonging. Brady teaches sociology, cultural theory and internet studies. Here are some musings and observations.

The name of this blog comes from both my appreciation of Fight Club and the resonance I have with this notion that goals and achievements (and possessions as kinds of achievements) anchor us... until we reach them. As a PhD student and aspiring academic, I occupy a context that is saturated with these ephemeral attempts at meaning-making and this blog is, in part, my way of keeping the ball rolling until I reach that last sofa - submission. At the same time, though, this blog is also an attempt to look beyond that last sofa and not become trapped. I'll let you know how that goes.

Please note that the writing here is often not based on any rigorous level of thinking or research, and should be understood through this lens: not as academic writing, but as writing about academically intriguing topics and subsequent tangents.

Please feed the fish before you go!

>> bradyrobards.com

>> griffith.academia.edu/BradyRobards