Event

Sticky Cultures: Memory Publics and Communal Pasts in Competitive Chess

In a departure from previous workshop meetings, participants will be expected to read “Sticky Cultures: Memory Publics and Communal Pasts in Competitive Chess,” Prof. Fine’s published Cultural Sociology article based on his ethnographic field research on competitive chess players, prior to the workshop. The additional (optional) article, “Time to Play,” is also based on his fieldwork on competitive chess. 

Expected Reading:
"Sticky Cultures: Memory Publics and Communal Pasts in Competitive Chess"
Optional Reading:
"Time to Play"

Gary Alan Fine received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Harvard University. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and currently the Institute for Advanced Study. He is the author of numerous works of ethnography, including Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds, With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Preadolescent Culture, Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work, Everyday Genius: Self-Taught Art and the Politics of Authenticity, and Authors of the Storm: Meteorology and the Culture of Prediction. His forthcoming book, Players and Pawns: How Chess Builds Community and Culture, will be published later this year by the University of Chicago Press.