Carolyn Ellis

CONTEMPORARY THINKERS AND TOPICS
IN SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Carolyn Ellis

Carolyn Ellis is currently a Professor of Communications at the University of South Florida. With interest in emotions, narrative inquiry and autoethnography, Ellis has contributed to both the disciplines of Sociology and Communications. Her use of experimental ethnography and discussions of the Self are some of the ways in which she relies on and contributes to symbolic interactionism.

Ellis received her Ph.D. in Sociology at State University of New York-Stony Brook in 1981. From 1981-1985 she served as assistant professor of Sociology at the University of South Florida, associate professor from 1985-1994, full professor since 1994 in Sociology and full professor in Communications since 1996 (joint appointment).

Ellis has three sole-authored published books: Fisher Folk: Two Communities on Chesapeake Bay (1986); Final Negotiations: A Story of Love, Loss, and Chronic Illness (1995); and The Ethnographic "I": A Methodological Novel About Doing Autoethnography (forthcoming). To name just a few of her additional accomplishments, Ellis has edited at least five collections, given at least twenty-five invited talks, published over twenty-five articles, over twenty-five book chapters, at least twenty reviews or review essays, and presented over fifty papers at professional meetings.

Ellis is a contemporary thinker in the paradigm of symbolic interactionism. As a long time member of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, Ellis served as president for the society from 1997-1998. Ellis has published articles in the journal Symbolic Interaction including, "Speaking of Dying: An Ethnographic Short Story" (1995), and "Sociological Introspection and Emotional Experience" (1991). Her article "Emotional Sociology" (1991) was published in the journal Studies in Symbolic Interaction. Her book Final Negotiations provides an example of her active engagement with symbolic interactionism. Final Negotiations is an autobiography of her romantic relationship with Gene Weinstein who was suffering from emphysema. This memoir relies on what Ellis calls "experimental ethnography." It is a story about their life together, living with a progressive illness, reversal of positions, coping with loss - all framed with her own reflections on analyzing and writing about one's own life. Final Negotiations not only shows that the death of a loved one creates redefinitions of the Self, but strays from most social science inquiry by bringing sociology closer to literature.

With an impressive and prolific list of contributions to Sociology, Communications, and Symbolic Interactionism, Carloyn Ellis is a key contemporary thinker.

To see Carloyn Ellis' vitae visit: www.cas.usf.edu/sociology/fac_research.htm

For a discussion of Final Negotiations visit:


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	CONTEMPORARY THINKERS AND TOPICS IN SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Carolyn Ellis Carolyn Ellis is currently a Professor of Communications at the University of South Florida. With interest in emotions, narrative inquiry and autoethnography, Ellis has contributed to both the disciplines of Sociology and Communications. Her use of experimental ethnography and discussions of the Self are some of the ways in which she relies on and contributes to symbolic interactionism. Ellis received her Ph.D. in Sociology at State University of New York-Stony Brook in 1981. From 1981-1985 she served as assistant professor of Sociology at the University of South Florida, associate professor from 1985-1994, full professor since 1994 in Sociology and full professor in Communications since 1996 (joint appointment). Ellis has three sole-authored published books: Fisher Folk: Two Communities on Chesapeake Bay (1986); Final Negotiations: A Story of Love, Loss, and Chronic Illness (1995); and The Ethnographic "I": A Methodological Novel About Doing Autoethnography (forthcoming). To name just a few of her additional accomplishments, Ellis has edited at least five collections, given at least twenty-five invited talks, published over twenty-five articles, over twenty-five book chapters, at least twenty reviews or review essays, and presented over fifty papers at professional meetings. Ellis is a contemporary thinker in the paradigm of symbolic interactionism. As a long time member of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, Ellis served as president for the society from 1997-1998. Ellis has published articles in the journal Symbolic Interaction including, "Speaking of Dying: An Ethnographic Short Story" (1995), and "Sociological Introspection and Emotional Experience" (1991). Her article "Emotional Sociology" (1991) was published in the journal Studies in Symbolic Interaction. Her book Final Negotiations provides an example of her active engagement with symbolic interactionism. Final Negotiations is an autobiography of her romantic relationship with Gene Weinstein who was suffering from emphysema. This memoir relies on what Ellis calls "experimental ethnography." It is a story about their life together, living with a progressive illness, reversal of positions, coping with loss - all framed with her own reflections on analyzing and writing about one's own life. Final Negotiations not only shows that the death of a loved one creates redefinitions of the Self, but strays from most social science inquiry by bringing sociology closer to literature. With an impressive and prolific list of contributions to Sociology, Communications, and Symbolic Interactionism, Carloyn Ellis is a key contemporary thinker. To see Carloyn Ellis' vitae visit: www.cas.usf.edu/sociology/fac_research.htm For a discussion of Final Negotiations visit: www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1164_reg_print.html