My name is Andrew Whelan (he/him), and I am a sociologist at the University of Wollongong. I was born in Dublin, Ireland, and I live and work on unceded Yuin country. In 2022, I was an IASH-SSPS Research Fellow at Edinburgh University.
I research the culture, politics and ethics of distributed organisational systems: how are contemporary networked social organisations and ad-hoc dis/organisations held together, how did they get this way, and what attributes lead people to want (or not want) to engage with them? I’m currently working on a book for MIT Press, titled Destruction of Documents.
I have taught subjects on microsociology, social theory, qualitative methods, and youth cultures. I currently teach a second year critical penology subject, and a third year subject called Cultures of Dispossession.
I have supervised Honours and PhD theses on digital media, critical university studies, antidemocratic bureaucratic proceduralism in wildlife management, youth social capital, working class animal activism, and (un)popular music, among other things.
This occasional blog, currently under construction, is for processing whatever research, reading or writing I am working on. I do not write on behalf of my employer, and what I write does not reflect the views of my employer.
You can find other bits and pieces at