The European Sociological Association provides an international platform for European sociologists as well as sociologists worldwide. The ESA aims to facilitate sociological research, teaching, and communication between sociologists and between other scientists, and to give sociology a voice in European affairs.
The ESA intends to cultivate an influence on the development of European academic life and the formation of the younger generation of sociologists. To this day, the ESA is made up of 38 Research Networks and over 3000 members. The ESA has held biennial conferences in various locations all over Europe.
The Research Network on the Sociology of the Arts (RN02) was formed in August 1999 at the Amsterdam General Meeting of the ESA. Its first conference was held in Exeter in 2000. RN02 emerged thanks to the efforts of Tia DeNora, Anna Lisa Tota, Robert W. Witkin, Jan Marontate and other founding members. It grew over the years to exceed 100 regular members by 2016. RN2 has for many years an ongoing collaboration with the Arts Management Studies Research Stream (AMSRS), as well as collaborations with RN7 (Sociology of Culture) and other RNs.
The organiser of this edition’s congress is Dafne Muntanyola-Saura, dafne.muntanyola@uab.cat
Dafne Muntanyola-Saura (PhD 2008) is currently Associate Professor and Vice-Dean of Communication, Professionalization and TFG of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at the UAB. She is the President of the Comitee on Sociology of Culture and the Arts of the Spanish Sociological Association, and of the Culture and Religion Comitee of the Sociological Catalan Association.
She has been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nice, in the department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and at the Autonomous University of Madrid with Caja Madrid, Fulbright-MEC and Alianza scholarships and instructor at UCSD.
She is the President of the Comitee on Sociology of Culture and the Arts of the Spanish Sociological Association, and of the Culture and Religion Comitee of the Sociological Catalan Association.
She is currently co-director of the Board of the Sociology of the Arts Committee of the European Sociological Association (ESA).