Intimacy, with Katherine Twamley

06/24/22 • 41 min

Think of intimacy and, pretty soon, you’ll probably think about sex. But, as sociologist Katherine Twamley explains, intimacy means much more than that: it’s woven through so many of our relationships – including with people whose names we might not even know. She tells Rosie and Alexis how an accidental trip to India got her thinking about the varied meanings of “love” across cultures and contexts, and reflects on whether, to quote the famous song, love and marriage really do “go together like a horse and carriage”.
Plus: what could it mean to decolonise love? Why should we be wary of acts performed in the name of love? Will we ever live in a truly “contactless” world, and who wants that? And we get intimate with the artist Sophie Calle.
Guest: Katherine TwamleyHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin Aniker
Find more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.
Episode Resources
Katherine, Rosie, Alexis and our producer Alice recommended

Ian McEwan’s novel “Machines Like Me”
Haruhiko Kawaguchi’s photography
Sophie Calle’s conceptual art
Alex Thompson’s film “Saint Frances”

From The Sociological Review

“The Sociology of Love” – Julia Carter
On asexual people and intimacy – Matt Dawson, Liz McDonnell and Susie Scott
On the phenomenon of self-marriage – Kinneret Lahad and Michal Karvel-Tovi

Previous Episode

School, with Remi Joseph-Salisbury

School should be about play, fulfilment and learning. But it is also a place of surveillance, discipline and discrimination. Activist scholar Remi Joseph-Salisbury has researched policing, racism and education in the UK. He tells Rosie and Alexis what happens when policing enters the classroom, its impact on students and teachers of colour, and the need for wholesale reform – including a truly anti-racist curriculum.

Plus: how can we break the “school-to-prison” pipeline? What is Critical Race Theory and why has it prompted a backlash? What does it mean to really receive “an education”? And what’s the harm in the trope of the “inspirational super teacher”, as found in films from Sister Act to Dead Poets Society?
This episode was recorded prior to news being made public of the experience of the pupil known as “Child Q”, reported in mid-March 2022. Remi has since written about this.
Guest: Remi Joseph-Salisbury
Hosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu Truong

Executive Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Joe Gardner
Artwork: Erin Aniker
Find more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.
Episode Resources

Remi, Rosie and Alexis recommended

John Agard's poem “Checking Out Me History”
Steve McQueen's TV drama “Small Axe: Education”
Laurie Nunn's TV series “Sex Education”
Jesse Thistle's memoir “From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way”

From The Sociological Review

On “Prevent”, a counter-extremism policy at UK universities Niyousha Bastani
“Social Mixing in Urban Schools” Sumi Hollingworth
“School-to-Prison Pipeline” Karen Graham

By Remi Joseph-Salisbury

Next Episode

Security, with Daria Krivonos

Too often, talk about security seems to belong to politicians and psychologists; to discussions about terrorism and defence, individual anxiety and insecurity. But how do sociologists think about it? And why care?

Daria Krivonos – who works on migration, race and class in Central and Eastern Europe – tells Alexis and Rosie why security matters. What’s the impact of calling migration a “security threat”? How does the security of the privileged rely on the insecurity of the precarious? And, as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, what would it mean to truly #StandwithUkraine – from ensuring better job security for its workers abroad, to cancelling its debt?

Plus: pop culture pointers; from Kae Tempest’s “People’s Faces” to the movie “The Mauritanian” – and Alexis’ teenage passion for Rage Against the Machine.

Guest: Daria Krivonos
Hosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu Truong
Executive Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Joe Gardner
Artwork: Erin Aniker

Find more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.

Episode Resources

Daria, Rosie and Alexis recommended

Kae Tempest’s song “People’s Faces”
Rage Against the Machine’s song “Without a Face”
Kevin Macdonald’s movie “The Mauritanian”

From The Sociological Review

“Brexit On ‘Plague Island’: Fortifying The UK’s Borders In Times Of Crisis” – Michaela Benson and Nando Sigona
“Organised State Abandonment: The meaning of Grenfell” – Brenna Bhandar
“Food Insecurity: Upsetting ‘Apple Carts’ in Abstract and Tangible Markets” – Susan Marie Martin

By Daria Krivonos

“The making of gendered ‘migrant workers’ in youth activation: The case of young Russian-speakers in Finland”
“Ukrainian farm workers and Finland’s regular army of labour”
“Who stands with Ukraine in the long term?”
“Racial capitalism and the production of difference in Helsinki and Warsaw” (forthcoming)

Uncommon Sense - Intimacy, with Katherine Twamley

Transcript

Alexis Hieu Truong00:00:04.200

Hi there, and welcome to your monthly dose of Uncommon Sense. I'm Alexis Hieu Truong in Ottawa, Canada.

Rosie Hancock00:00:10.289

And I'm Rosie Hancock in Sydney, Australia. And along with everyone making this podcast at The Sociological Review, we want to spread the sociological word.

Alexis Hieu Truong00:00:21.600

And that's not because we're on some kind of ego trip, but