CFP – Engaging Religion in a Contested Age

We are pleased to share this call for papers with our members for the 81st Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion (ASR). This year’s theme is “Engaging Religion in a Contested Age.” Below you can find the full CFP and conference details.

Call for Papers
81st Annual Meeting of the
Association for the Sociology of Religion

Park Central Hotel New York, 870 Seventh Ave.
August 11 (welcome reception) – August 13
Program Chair: Holly Folk, Western Washington University

Engaging Religion in a Contested Age

Within the sociological study of religion, many religious beliefs and practices have been challenged by the fluidity of taken-for-granted definitions and boundaries. Categories or concepts such as gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, rights, liberty, autonomy, identity, culture, tolerance, and even religion itself have become contested terrain that religious groups and their surrounding societies now must negotiate, especially where migration and cross-cultural relations have challenged assumptions and practices. Recent political strife over how knowledge is constructed, legitimated, and appropriated for social action, including popular disputes over what is authentic or authoritative, have brought into public discourse additional contestations that may affect religious groups in varying ways.

How do religious groups respond or not to the varied contestations that arise, either internally or in relation to their surrounding society? Alternatively, how might religion serve as a resource for analyzing, understanding, and addressing contemporary issues or contestations in local or transnational societies?

The 2019 annual meeting’s thematic sessions will focus on several key topics and sites of contestation:

• Religion and contested understandings of gender and sexuality
• Religious movements and contested understandings of just societies
• Contested understandings of race, ethnicity, and religiocultural identity
• Contested understandings of religiosity and secularity, and the utility of these concepts
• Contested theoretical frameworks for understanding and studying religion

Papers and discussion sessions may be thematic or they may focus on any other topic within the sociology of religion. Those that invite comparative, cross-cultural, theoretical, methodological, or pedagogical considerations are especially encouraged. Author meets critic, teaching and professional development, and salon discussion (on a focus question) sessions are also welcome.

DEADLINES:
• Session proposals: March 31, 2019
• Paper abstract submissions: April 30, 2019
• IMPORTANT NOTE: All session and abstract submissions should be made through the ASR website.

Membership in the ASR is required for organizing or convening a session, presenting a paper, serving as a panelist, or holding another role in the program. All are expected to register for the meeting by July 1, 2019. Panelists participating in joint ASA/ASR sessions are expected to be a member of either association. Joint ASA/ASR session panelists are expected to register for the ASR meeting if they are part of the ASR program in any other role. For questions, contact Holly Folk (), Paula Nesbitt (), or Rachel Kraus ().

Download a pdf copy of CFP > ASR_CFP_2019