Author Archives: Jim

Call for Papers Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne/Academic Journal of Sociology

Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne/Academic Journal of Sociology
According to the legend, in May1973 David Bowie was travelling through Poland back from a tourist journey from Moscow. At the Warszawa Gdańska station the train had a very long technical stop. It was used by the British artist to walk into the city and by chance buy a vinyl with the songs performed by the folklore band “Śląsk” at a local music store. We can find echoes of this accidental meeting today on his album “LOW” in the song “Warszawa”. We would like to follow this path and that is why we decided to focus on the topic of the influence of Polish culture on the broadly understood world culture and technology.

You are welcome to contribute to the newest issue of the ‘Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology’. The topic of the issues will be one hundred and fifty years of the influence of Polish culture on world science, literature, music and technology.

You are expected to focus on the topics in sociology, cultural studies, musicology, literary studies, and history. They will touch upon the strong Polish accent of the global reception of its cultural systems, which would be treated on two different levels:

  1. As the influence of the Polish culture in the form of famous names of Polish artists;
  2. And as the reception and presence of elements of the Polish culture in the works of foreign artists, scientists and other creative personalities.

The texts that touch upon the following issues, are especially welcome:

  • – the influence of Polish scientists on the world science, among them Aleksander Czekanowski, Stefan Banach (we would happily accept articles also about the works of Florian Znaniecki or Ludwig Gumplowicz);
  • – the influence of Polish male and female writers and poets on world literature (W. Gombrowicz, R. Gary, W. Szymborska), referring to the last name of the famous poet, a Noble Prize winner, we would be happy to accept, among others, articles about the work of the other Polish Nobel Prize winners);
  • – the influence of the Polish composers, musicians as well as painters and directors that remained outside Poland (Mieczysław Weinberg, Zbigniew Preisner, Roman Polański, Zdzisław Beksiński);
  • – the reception of Polish science in tje global technology (e.g. the discoveries of the ancestor of the “Silicon valley” Jan Czochralski or K-202 by Jacek Karpiński)
  • – the reception of Polish culture in music, science, literature, photography, cinematography etc.

Deadline for the abstract/outline submission:
31 December 2020 to email: m.choczynski@uksw.edu.pl

Deadline for the paper submission:
31 January 2021 to email: m.choczynski@uksw.edu.pl

The text should be no more than 24,000 characters (with footnotes and a list of cited works) and must be adapted to the standards of citation / footnotes that is found on the journal website(Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne/Academic Journal of Sociology).

Please attach to your paper your short academic profile (up to 500 characters), affiliation, a list of works cited in the paper and a summary in Polish and English with keywords.

Leading Editors: Tomasz Michał Korczyński, Marcin Choczyński

Book discussion: “Nouveaux vocabulaires de la laïcité”

Le Centre de recherche Société, Droit et Religions de l’Université de Sherbrooke (SoDRUS) et la Chaire de recherche Droit, religion et laïcité (en collaboration avec l’Université Montréal, LACES Bordeaux, le GSRL et l’IUF) vous invitent au lancement international du livre Nouveaux vocabulaires de la laïcité, qui aura lieu le mercredi 9 décembre 2020.

Nouveaux vocabulaires de la laïcité
sous la direction de D. Koussens, C. Mercier et V. Amiraux

Date : 9 décembre 2020
Heure : 12h (heure du Québec) / 18h (heure de France)

L’événement sera tenu en ligne, sur Zoom.
Pour vous connecter, suivre le lien suivant :
https://u-bordeaux-fr.zoom.us/j/81022398087?pwd=Z1V0Y25KVVlYTHNRVzNMTDc1a0FVQT09

L’événement sera tenu en présence des contributeurs :

  • Cécile Alduy (Stanford)
  • Valérie Amiraux (U. de Montréal)
  • Sylvain Crépon (U. de Tours)
  • David Koussens (U. de Sherbrooke)
  • Rémi Lefebvre (U. de Lille)
  • Charles Mercier (U. de Bordeaux)
  • Yann Raison du Cleuziou (U. de Bordeaux)

Avec des discussions de :

  • Nicolas Cadène (Observatoire de la laïcité)
  • Françoise Lorcerie (IREMAM, Marseille)
  • Philippe Portier (EPHE-GSRL)

Pour plus d’informations sur le livre : https://classiques-garnier.com/new/DkuMS01

AAR Sociology of Religion Unit Sessions–- 2020 Virtual Conference

Greetings from the AAR Sociology of Religion Unit,

We hope this finds you well and excited about this year’s AAR Virtual Annual Meeting. You are receiving this email because you’ve expressed interest in our unit. We are pleased to announce our lineup for AAR 2020.

This year, the Sociology of Religion Unit is sponsoring 4 sessions. You can learn more about them in the Online Program Book or mobile app, or use AAR’s 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting Online Planner. We hope you can make time to attend these sessions.

In addition, everyone is welcome to join our annual business meeting, which takes place on December 3 from 12:30-1:00pm EST (during the last 30 minutes of our third panel). We will discuss suggestions for our 2021 call for papers and openings on our steering committee.

Here are our sessions:

[1]

Bringing Back the Social into the Sociology of Religion (and Religious Studies)

Monday, November 30, 1:45 PM-3:15 PM (EST UTC-5)

Co-sponsored with Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Unit and Critical Research on Religion

In her award-winning book, From Yoga to Kabbalah (2014), and her recent co-edited volume, Bringing Back the Social into the Sociology of Religion (2018), sociologist Véronique Altglas has argued that recent sociologists of religion focused on topics and methods such as rational choice theory, spirituality versus religion, lived religion, and religion as consumption have shifted away from what should be sociology’s foremost focus: the power of the social world and its institutions to push, propel, enable, and constrain us; to dynamically mold our comforts, discomforts, desires, repulsions, and the religious activities and ideas we embrace or reject. In this roundtable, we ask four scholars (two from religious studies and two sociologists of religion) to reflect on and assess Altglas’ argument, their own work, and the current state of sociology of religion and religious studies. These presentations will be followed by a response from Véronique Altglas and then audience discussion.

Presiding

Rebecca Catto, Kent State University

Panelists

Katja Rakow, Utrecht University

J.P. Reed, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Fareen Parvez, University of Massachusetts

Responding

Veronique Altglas, Queen’s University, Belfast

[2]

Faith, Knowledge, and Rational Freedom: A Roundtable on Jürgen Habermas’ Also a History of Philosophy

Tuesday, December 1, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM (EST UTC-5)

Co-sponsored with Religion in Europe Unit and Critical Research on Religion

This panel explores philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas’ recently published two-volume work on philosophy and religion, Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie [Also a History of Philosophy, Vol 1: The Western Constellation of Faith and Knowledge; Vol 2: Rational Freedom. Traces of the Discourse on Faith and Knowledge] (2019). In this work, Habermas “traces how philosophy successively disengaged itself from its symbiosis with religion and became secularized,” moving from the Axial Age through modernity to the present. Habermas also reflects on “the function of a philosophy that adheres to the rational liberty of communicatively socialized subjects.” The panel will examine the extent to which this new work revises and expands his theory of communicative action and connect this to his view of religion’s place in society. Panelists, all scholars of Habermas, will situate this new work within Habermas’ long career and his contributions to sociology, philosophy, and religious studies.

Presiding

Warren S. Goldstein, Center for Critical Research on Religion

Panelists

Eduardo Mendieta, Pennsylvania State University

Francis Schussler Fiorenza, Harvard University

Maeve Cooke, University College Dublin

[3]

Conceptualizing Religion and Rethinking Methods in the Sociology of Religion

Thursday, December 3, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM (EST UTC-5)

This panel uses multiple social sciences methodologies to rethink what counts as religious, showing us the importance of methodological choices for how we conceptualize and interpret the data of religious studies and the sociology of religion. Presentations include the use of geospatial imaging and ethnography to interpret Christian-Muslim social dynamics in Nigeria, interviews and analysis of photographs to reveal lived religion in personal homes in Latin America, qualitative and quantitative findings from a large survey of U.S. Jews, Christians, and Muslims regarding their perceptions of vocation in work settings, and historical and interview research into the lives of Boston-area fire chaplains. These papers highlight how social science research can help scholars of religious studies and the sociology of religion develop theories from the ground up and not take our categories for granted.

Presiding

Dusty Hoesly, University of Southern Mississippi

Panelists

Amidu Elabo, Princeton Theological Seminary

Faith and Topography: A Remote Sensing Analysis of Religious Interaction in Jos North, Nigeria

Gustavo Morello, Boston College

Modernity and Sacralization Practices: Photographs and the Sacred

Brenton Kalinowski, Rice University

Elaine Howard Ecklund, Rice University

Rachel Schneider, Rice University

Perceptions of Work as Calling

Wendy Cadge, Brandeis University

The Value Added of “Holding the Space:” A Case Study of Chaplains in Boston and Their Changing Roles Over Time

Business Meeting [last 30 minutes of this panel]

Dusty Hoesly, University of Southern Mississippi, Presiding

Rebekka King, Middle Tennessee State University, Presiding


[4]

Crossing Global and Religious Boundaries: Social Change, Identity, and Power

Tuesday, December 8, 4:00 PM-5:30 PM (EST UTC-5)

This panel centers stories of boundary crossing in a variety of geographic locations, religious traditions, identity formations, and power relations. Using social science methods, each paper will illuminate how these shifts reveal not only the socially-constructed and porous nature of religious boundaries but also the relationships of power in which such crossings are embedded and policed. Papers include a qualitative study of Judaizing evangelical Christians in Latin America, long-term ethnographic research on Afro-Cuban religious multiplicity, a qualitative exploration of Christian-Muslim interfaith couples in Europe, a mixed-methods analysis of the stigmatization of Muslims students on U.K. college campuses, and a textual analysis of South Asian Buddhist converts’ autobiographies as social revolutionary texts.

Presiding

Jonathan Calvillo, Boston University

Panelists

Mathew J. Guest, Durham University

Stigma and Suspicion in the Lives of Muslim Students: How the ‘Radicalisation’ Narrative has Changed Higher Education in Britain

Drishadwati Bargi, University of Minnesota

Social Revolution by Other Means: The Writing of Conversion in Dalit Autobiographies in Postcolonial India

Jualynne E. Dodson, Michigan State University

“Integrated Religious Multiplicity”: Challenge to Sociology of Religion

Please note: We have openings on our steering committee next year. If you are interested, we encourge you to attend our annual business meeting (see schedule above). We are seeking committee members who will attend the annual meetings, participate in the unit’s sessions and ongoing business reliably, and share enthusiasm for our unit’s mission and work. The Sociology of Religion Unit values a steering committee that is diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, age, religion, region, discipline, methodology, professional status, and type of institution.

For this year’s online/virtual conference, you may wish to bookmark these resources:

Please note that to join sessions, you must be a registered attendee, because your login credentials are your registration reference number and your last name.

Can’t locate your reference number? Request yours by emailing reg@aarweb.org.

Not registered yet? You can sign up here.

Other questions we haven’t covered? Email annualmeeting@aarweb.org.

We hope you will have a memorable AAR and we hope to see you at our sessions!

Warmest regards,

Dusty Hoesly, hoesly@ucsb.edu

Rebekka King, rebekka.king@mtsu.edu

Sociology of Religion Unit Co-Chairs

Conversations on Multiple Religious Belonging

Following a successful conference on Multiple Religious Belonging, we’d like to offer an opportunity to continue these conversations and hopefully draw in more people from other disciplines and traditions. We have noted that work on multiple religious belonging, interfaith relationships and communities, interreligious dialogue, and other areas are often treated separately but can have significant points of connection which it would be useful to explore.

To enable this, the Hyphen Project will be hosting Zoom discussions every two months for the next year, beginning on December 10th 2020 at 7:30pm GMT. These will be informal sessions when we hope everyone will be able to share their experience, research, and questions. If you’d like to attend, please email Grace Milton at G.Milton@bham.ac.uk to be sent the Zoom link. And please feel free to share this with anyone else who might be interested!

ISA Publications Committee looking for a Social Media Manager

The International Sociological Association’s Publications Committee is looking for a Social Media Manager. We have really little time to fill the position and deadline is approaching soon (Dec 18th)

I kindly request you disseminate the CFA among your contacts and potential candidates

https://www.isa-sociology.org/uploads/imgen/866-isa-social-media-manager.pdf

ECR (including PhD students) and colleagues from under-represented regions are particularly welcome. If you could identify someone who has the experience and the stamina to join the team, please encourage them to apply.

I will be glad to answer any queries the potential candidates may have. Please ask them to contact me directly at eloisamartin@hotmail.com .

Thanks a lot!
Stay safe and healthy!

Dr. Eloísa Martín
Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University
Associate Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (on leave)
Vice-President for Publications, International Sociological Association (ISA)
Chair, ISA Human Rights Committee

New Book: Islam and the Liberal State

Islam and the Liberal State: National Identity and the Future of Muslim Britain

by Stephen H. Jones

“Stephen Jones has produced the first book of its kind, a work that considers the interaction of political liberalism with actual lived Islam in Britain. Islam and the Liberal State is both an urgent read in these populist times and a far-reaching vision for a better future.”

Daniel Nilsson DeHanas, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Religion, King’s College London, UK

National identity and liberal democracy are recurrent themes in debates about Muslim minorities in the West. Britain is no exception, with politicians responding to claims about Muslims’ lack of integration by mandating the promotion of ‘fundamental British values’ including ‘democracy’ and ‘individual liberty’.

This book engages with both these themes, addressing the lack of understanding about the character of British Islam and its relationship to the liberal state. It charts a gradual but decisive shift in British institutions concerned with Islamic education, Islamic law and Muslim representation since Muslims settled in the UK in large numbers in the 1950s. Based on empirical research including interviews undertaken over a ten-year period with Muslims, and analysis of public events organized by Islamic institutions, Stephen Jones challenges claims about the isolation of British Islamic organizations and shows that they have decisively shaped themselves around British public and institutional norms. He argues that this amounts to the building of a distinctive ‘British Islam’. Using this narrative, the book makes the case for a variety of liberalism that is open to the expression of religious arguments in public and to associations between religious groups and the state.

It also offers a powerful challenge to claims about the insularity of British Islamic institutions by showing how the national orientation of Islam called for by British policymakers is, in fact, already happening. The book uses this evidence to argue that the incorporation of Muslim minorities enables democratic renewal, with national identification having a positive impact on cultural minorities and political dissent.

Available from Bloomsbury Academic here.

The book’s contents page and the introduction can be read here.

Distinguished Book Award seeks Nominations

Looking for Good Books

The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion’s Distinguished Book award recognizes the most outstanding book published by a SSSR member or members within the past two years. To be eligible for the 2021 award, books must be nominated by a SSSR member (yes, self-nominations are welcome) and have an imprint copyright publication date of 2019 or 2020. The committee will judge each book’s quality of scholarship, importance to the field, and relevance to the larger society. Any book involving some aspect of the scientific study of religion is eligible.

The deadline for nominations is January 11, 2021. The form will be available beginning December 4, 2020.

For more information, please visit our website’s Book Award page.

New Podcast: “Religion Unmuted”

NEW PODCAST “RELIGION UNMUTED” FROM THE RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM @ RICE UNIVERSITY

The Religion and Public Life Program (RPLP) at Rice University, directed by Prof. Elaine Howard Ecklund, has launched a new podcast! RELIGION UNMUTED is the podcast that brings women’s voices to the table. We explore how religion impacts public discourse around important social issues, like racism, politics, immigration, health, and the body. Join us for research-driven dialogue that amplifies women’s voices in conversation about religion and public life. Subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen; all episodes are available here: https://religionunmuted.libsyn.com/ .

ASA RELIGION SECTION PARTNERS TO CREATE A NEW GRADUATE STUDENT MENTORING COMMUNITY

The ASA Religion Section is teaming up with The Aggie Research Program (ARP) at Texas A&M University to create a research mentoring community. Through a series of three online workshops hosted by the ARP, participants will:

  • form a research-intensive community of their peers,
  • facilitate the creation of team-based research projects using their own research agenda,
  • recruit 3-5 undergraduate researchers,
  • learn mentoring and leadership strategies to help guide students engaging in authentic research experiences, and
  • collaborate with each other to overcome challenges and develop best practices for research mentoring.

These interactive workshops will guide participants through the process of creating, managing, and developing a research team while simultaneously fostering the development of the research-intensive community.

Any graduate student, any methodology, and any stage of research will benefit from the skills and community developed in this pilot program.

Please join us for Workshop #1—Building a Research-Intensive Community on Friday, December 11 @ 3-4:30pm CST.

To register, please RSVP using this link: https://tamu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0IEjHcPzg1FdNnn

Upon submission, you will receive an email with the Zoom link for the workshop. If you do not receive a Zoom link, please contact Andrew McNeely (amcneely@tamu.edu).

The New Worldview Paradigm in RE: Implications for the Nonreligious?

Panel discussion with Professor Trevor Cooling (Canterbury Christ Church University and Religious Education Council of England and Wales), Dr Ruth Wareham (Humanists UK) and Dr Lois Lee (University of Kent); chaired by Dr Chris Deacy (University of Kent)

1pm Wednesday 2 December 2020 (Zoom joining information below)

Across the United Kingdom, Religious Education is subject to its most thorough-going review in a generation, with proposed reforms described as a paradigm change for the sector (Cooling et al 2020). Amongst other issues, proposals offered by the Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales and by the Welsh Government respond explicitly to the growing number of people who identify as nonreligious: What could this new approach to Religious Education mean for them? Their recommendations take better account of nonreligious perspectives than ever before. But is it right to assume that these proposed changes to RE are a straightforward “victory” for those that have called for better representation of nonreligion in the RE classroom? Does implementation of these proposals – already underway in some schools – mean that religious and nonreligious worldviews exist on a level playing field?

Join us for a panel discussion focusing attention on what a worldview approach to RE means in relation to the nonreligious.

Full details and the link to register can be found at: https://www.kent.ac.uk/events/event/46876/the-new-worldview-paradigm-in-re-implications-for-the-nonreligious