All entries for Thursday 24 February 2022

February 24, 2022

In Conversation with Monica Mastrantonio

Writing about web page https://open.spotify.com/show/5amW8qMjCrUihAvtBq5ChM

In the second of our new episodes of the Exchanges Discourse this month, I have another lengthy chat. This time I'm talking with our past author Prof Monica Mastrantonio, from the University of York.

You can listen to the episode in full here: In Conversation with Monica Mastrantonio

In this episode I chat with visiting professor in English and Related Literature at the University of York, Monica Mastrantonio. Our initial conversation concerns her recent article in Exchanges, The Question of Time for Norbert Elias: Challenges of an interdisciplinary concept and approach towards time. As a result we discuss topics including the meaning of ‘figurational sociology’, the work of Norbert Elias and in particular how this allows us to better understand our own relationships with time. Contrasting the medieval experience with the present, Monica discusses how humanity increasingly utilises time as a framework for organising everything including the forging of interpersonal connections. We touch too on the concepts of ‘meaningful time’ and the value of diverse relationships. Moving on, our discussions move to explore Monica’s research and current publication plans, before we shift to examining some of her broader experiences in publishing. In particular, Monica shares her thoughts and advice for first time and early career authors.

This was an exciting conversation, not simply because it was our first professor on the series (!), but also because it was recorded on the same day as our previous episode - and there were some wonderful resonances between the two authors' insights. If you haven't listened yet to that episode, you might want to, after of course enjoying this all new one!