ASR NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

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            Volume 39, Number 1                                                                                                     Fall 2004       

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FROM THE PRESIDENT: WELCOME TO PHILADELPHIA 2005

 

            When asked my specialty as a sociologist, I often respond that “Amongst my many sins, I am a sociologist of religion.” I could now add that I have begun a year’s penance as President of the country’s largest body of such offenders—a merry band whose next gathering will be from August 13-15 in Philadelphia, at the Radisson Warwick Hotel, an easy stroll from where the American Sociological Association will be celebrating its 100^th Annual Meeting at the (more expensive) Marriott and Loews hotels.

 

            The theme for our meetings this year is Religion, Politics and the State: At Home and Abroad. This describes much of my research and writing. It also seems both timely, in following the 2004 national elections, and timeless, given Philadelphia’s long-time status as the cradle of constitutionalism.

 

            Local arrangements are in the capable hands of Ram Cnaan of the University of Pennsylvania. Program planning is advancing quickly under the leadership of David Yamane from his new position at Wake Forest University. Highlights include three sessions jointly sponsored by the ASR and ASA, one on Assessing “Faith-Based Initiatives” Practically, Politically, and Legally, chaired by Mark Chaves; another on Religion, Immigration and Globalization, chaired by Steve Warner; and a third on Religion’s Confrontation with Gender and Sexuality, chaired by Ruth Wallace. Each of these sessions features a star-studded list of presenters.                                                                

 

            I am especially pleased to announced that the 2005 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecturer will be Dipankar Gupta, of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. If there is such a thing as a sociological jet-set, Gupta would be in its front rank, having held prestigious academic positions in Canada, Britain, France, and the U.S. He is also one of India’s most famous public intellectuals as an author who recently had three books on the country’s nonfiction best-seller list within a single year, a widely read op-ed columnist, and one of Indian television’s best known “talking heads,” renowned for his elegance and cogency on matters involving religion, politics and the state—and this in a country where scarcely any matter fails to.

 

            Finally, I am pleased to report that the Association is in exemplary shape under the steady administrative leadership of Bill Swatos. As always, he will be waiting to greet you upon your arrival at next year’s meetings in an ASR embossed shirt. The taller, older, balder fellow at his side will be me.

 

                                                                                                                                                Jay Demerath

                                                                                                                                           UMass, Amherst

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

ASSOCIATION FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

2005 Annual Meeting

August 13-15 — Radisson Warwick  Hotel — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

RELIGION, POLITICS, AND THE STATE AT HOME AND ABROAD

 

 

Coming when and where they do, it is hard to imagine a more appropriate theme for these meetings than religion's relation to politics and the state, at home and abroad.  Philadelphia is the birthplace of the U.S. Constitution and its subsequent First Amendment; a nine-month scholarly gestation will have elapsed since the 2004 Presidential elections; and it is not likely that the War on Terrorism, the fate of Afghanistan and Iraq, or the religious conflicts raging in places like India, Israel, Northern Ireland or the former Soviet Union will have been finally resolved. Religion in its various forms will be subject to myriad interpretations in such contexts, with the one exception of irrelevance.

 

Papers are invited on a broad range of issues in the sociological study of religion relating to the meeting theme, including but not limited to the following:

 

• Viewing the 2004 Presidential election through a religious lens
• Religion in local, state, and national politics
• Democracy and religious extremism
• Assessing the First Amendment and its breaches
• American Exceptionalism as fact or fiction
• Religion as a source of international conflict and/or peace
• The changing politics of gender
• The politics of fundamentalism and its critics
• Politics within religious organizations and movements
• Religion, gay marriage, and civil unions
• The politics and efficacy of Faith-Based Initiatives
• Religious globalization of political winds, and vice versa
• Religion and the Good Society
• Praying alone: religion and social capital
• Evaluating the media in its coverage of religion and politics

 

The program seeks to include papers that address substantive, theoretical, methodological, and normative issues in the sociology of religion.

 

DEADLINES:         -Session Proposals are due by 15 January 2005

                             -Paper Abstracts are due by 15 February 2005

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: (1) Submissions by email are strongly encouraged. (2) Limit paper abstracts to 150 words. (3) Membership in the ASR is required for program consideration.  See the ASR website (www.sociologyofreligion.com) for information.

 

GRANTS AND AWARDS

 

            Each year the ASR offers three grant/award programs, all of which require ASR membership either at the time of application or previously. The following list details the 2005 procedures, which supersede any previously published submission guidelines:

 

Robert J. McNamara Award

 

            The McNamara Award in the amount of at least $500 is given annually to recognize an outstanding student paper in the sociology of religion, although the award committee is always free to withhold the award in the event that no papers of distinction are received. This year’s committee members are Lutz Kaelber, chair, Omar McRoberts, and Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist. Authors must be currently enrolled students who have not defended the Ph.D. when the paper is submitted. Submission for McNamara consideration is separate from program participation; students who wish their papers considered for the program must submit paper abstracts to the Program Chair following the guidelines of all standard paper submissions. Sociology of Religion has the right of first review of award-winning papers.

 

            Submissions must be received by 1 June 2005 to be eligible for this year’s award. Submission should be in the form of articles with a maximum length of 40 single-sided pages inclusive of all material: text, titles, notes, tables, figures, etc. The title page should include an abstract of no more than 200 words. Text should not exceed 12,000 words, i.e., approximately 36 double-spaced pages of 12 point (or 10 cpi) type.

 

            Submissions should be by one of the following methods: (a) IBM-formatted virus-free disk, with the text in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, or plain ASCII; (b) Four (4) paper copies, typed double-spaced and single-sided. Responsibility for the timely submission of useable materials to the proper address rests entirely with the applicant. Send submissions to: Prof. Lutz Kaelber, Department of Sociology, University of Vermont, 31 S Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05405-0176. Questions: lkaelber@uvm.edu.

 

Joseph H. Fichter Research Grants

 

            A total of $10,000 is available to fund promising research in either of two areas, prioritized as follows: (1) women and religion, gender issues, and feminist perspectives on religion; (2) race/ethnicity and religion. The allocation of the total amount is entirely at the committee’s discretion; historically, however, the money has been divided among several proposals. The competition is open to all categories of members at all levels of their careers, including those seeking funding for dissertation research, but funding for already completed research or the publication of research is excluded. This year’s committee is composed of Ruth Wallace (chair), Julia Howell, and Barbara Denison.

 

            A proposal of not more than five double-spaced pages should outline the rationale and plan of the research. A detailed budget and vita should be attached. Simultaneous submissions to other grant competitions are permissible only if the applicant is explicit about which budgetary aspects the Fichter grant will cover that do not overlap with other submissions. Send four copies of the application packet to Ruth at 4908 41st Street NW, Washington, DC 20016-1710. Submissions must be postmarked by 1 March 2005; awards will be announced 1 May 2005, at which time the moneys will also begin to be available. Questions? Phone Ruth at 202-244-5787 or e-mail rwallace@gwu.edu.

 

Ralph A. Gallagher Travel Grants

 

            Gallagher grants to assist with travel to attend the ASR annual meeting are offered annually by the Council to graduate students and non-US/Canadian scholars whose papers are accepted for inclusion on the program. Note that these are assistance grants, and participation cannot be made contingent upon their receipt. A total of $3,000 is available for the 2005 meeting. Grants are normally in the amount of $600 for foreign colleagues and $300 for domestic graduate students, and may never exceed $1,000. Application must be made to the Program Chair (David Yamane), and final grants are determined by an ad hoc committee composed of the Program Chair, President, and Executive Officer. Persons in need of travel assistance should indicate their circumstances at the time they submit their program proposal or abstract. This should take the form of a letter in which the applicant indicates a specific dollar request, states the reason for the request, and provides reasonable evidence that funds to cover the balance of the trip are in hand.

 

OTHER ASSOCIATIONS’ PROGRAMS

 

            The Religious Research Association will make $14,000 available in the spring of 2004 through its Constant H. Jacquet Research Awards program. One-year-advance RRA membership is normally expected of applicants, but students may join at the time they apply for a grant. An official RRA grant application form is required. Preference is given to applied (client-centered) research, but basic research proposals are also considered, and the majority of actual awards are normally in this category. Individual awards are usually limited to $3,000. The Committee especially welcomes proposals from scholars who are in the early stages of their careers, as well as from students. Contact: Penny L. Marler, Department of Religion, Samford University, Birmingham, AL 35229; plmarler@samford.edu. Also check the RRA Web site: http://rra.hartsem.edu. Applications must be received by 1 April 2005.

 

            The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion will make several thousand dollars available in research grants, a minimum of one-fourth of which is available to junior scholars. Membership in SSSR for one year prior to application is required. SSSR also makes grants available to foreign scholars and to students to participate in its annual meetings. Further information is available on the SSSR Web site, www.sssrweb.org or from SSSR Executive Officer Larry Greil, fgreil@alfred.edu. The application deadline for the research funds is 1 March 2005.

 

DUES AND CONTRIBUTIONS

 

            Some of you will be receiving dues notices with this newsletter. Regardless of whether or not you have dues now owing, please consider a tax-deductible, year-end contribution to assist with one of the ASR’s designated funds—Fichter, Furfey, Gallagher, and McNamara. Although the ASR is still financially very secure in terms of our principal, this year has not been a particularly better one for returns on investments (which is the major reason the amounts for Gallagher and Fichter grants remain at reduced levels from a few years ago). Contributions may be included with your dues, or if your dues are already paid, room has also conveniently been made on the reverse of the green directory information sheet. Please be attentive both to paying your dues on time and to keeping your directory information up to date. Each year ASR spends the better part of $1,000 collecting late dues and paying for postal service address corrections, which is hardly the best use to which those funds could be put. If you really want to do ASR a favor this season, consider recruiting (gifting) a new member or library subscription.

 

 

2005 ASR DUES NOTICE

                                                                                   

                  2005 dues are due 3 January 2005. 2005 dues are delinquent 1 March 2005.

 

 

Note the following in determining your dues category:

 

            × Constituent members paying full dues may pay for as many years in advance as they desire; students and low-income constituents should pay only for the current year.

 

            × Persons paying student dues are expected to be enrolled in recognized academic programs in pursuit of an advanced degree as their primary occupation. Persons paying student dues must send a photocopy of their current student ID.

 

            × ASR does not have a “retired” or “emeritus” dues category. Persons who are not currently employed full-time should use their gross income to determine their dues status.

 

            × Non-U.S. members from soft-currency countries (ISA Category C) may pay low-income dues; non-U.S. Members from hard-currency countries should convert their incomes into dollars to determine their dues status. Qualification for low income dues should be based on total annual income from all sources.

 

            × Student/low-income dues are more than 100% subsidized by the Association. Persons paying by institutional check should pay full dues.

 

            × Dues delinquency is determined by postmark date, not the date on your check.

 

            × The information shown above is what forms the basis for your listing in the ASR Membership Directory. Please make any changes or corrections you wish.