Volume 34, Number 1 Fall 1999
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Our 2000 program theme is Religion and Global Civil Society. I want to extend an invitation to all ASR members--and any other interested scholars--to join with us in making this a successful meeting. Washington, DC is the perfect site for this millennial celebration.
For an association of students of religion, the passing of a millennium has special meaning and resonance. We are well aware of the fact that this concrete and artificially constructed milestone, Y2K, is directly associated with the foundational history of a particular religious tradition, Christianity, and that other religious traditions and cultures may have their own diverse calendars associated with their own foundational histories. Nonetheless, Y2K has become a common global temporal yardstick of humanity, if only because of the prominent historical role of "Christian" societies and the more recent role of electronic mass media in processes of globalization. Therefore, the year 2000 offers us a fitting occasion to reflect upon, among other things: the role of religion in conceptions, millenarian or otherwise, of time, history, and social change; religion in the electronic age; and the role of religion in the formation of global civil society. Given our program theme, we particularly encourage the participation of international scho-lars, as well as of scholars working on foreign, international, transnational, and global topics and issues.
Some of the highlights of our 2000 program include:
José Casanova
New School for Social Research
ASR 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 2000 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 (as it did in 1998). This year's committee members are Fenggang Yang, Tony Blasi, and Cathy Faver. Milagros Peña is the chair. 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 15 June 2000 to be eligible for the 2000 awards. 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: Milagros Peña, Department of Sociology, University of Florida, P.O.B. 117330, Gainesville, FL 32611-7330. Questions? Phone Milagros at (352) 392-3365.
Joseph H. Fichter Research Grants
A total of $10,000 is available to fund promising research on women and religion. Awards are not normally made for doctoral research. Preference is given to new Ph.D.s. The allocation of the total amount is entirely at the committee's discretion; historically, however, the money has been divided among several proposals. This year's committee consists of Mary Ellen Batiuk (chair), Lori Beaman, and Jim Spickard.
A proposal of not more than five double-spaced pages should outline the rationale and plan of 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 Mary Ellen at Department of Social and Political Studies, Pyle Box 1273 Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH 45177. All submissions must be postmarked by 1 March 2000; awards will be announced 1 May 2000, at which time the moneys will also become available. Questions? Phone Mary Ellen at 937-382-6661 or e-mail <mebatiuk@wilmington.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 $6,500 is available for the 2000 meeting. Grants have never exceeded $500 for foreign scholars or $300 for domestic scholars. Application must be made to the Program Chair (Randy Hepner), 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.
OTHER GRANTS AND AWARDS
The Religious Research Association (RRA) will make $8,000 available in the spring of 2000 through its Constant H. Jacquet Research Awards program. One-year-advance RRA membership is required for Constituent members, 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 $2,000. Contact: Marjorie H. Royle, 16 Gettysburg Way, Lincoln Park, NJ 07035 <maaemba@bellatlantic.net>. Also check the RRA website: http://rra.hartsem.edu. Applications must be received by 1 April 2000.
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. Individual awards will not
exceed $2,000. Contact: Robert Wuthnow, Department of Sociology, 2-C-10
Green Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 <wuthnow@princeton.edu>.
Applications must be submitted prior to 5 February 2000.
MEETINGS
The British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group's annual conference, this year entitled Prophets and Predictions: Religion in the 21st Century, will be held 29 March - 1 April at the University of Exeter. Deadline for submitting paper abstracts is 15 January. For paper submissions, contact Paul Heelas <p.heelas@lancaster.ac.uk>; for attendance/registration matters, Grace Davie <g.r.c.davie@exeter .ac.uk>, by 15 February. Speakers include David Martin, Bryan Wilson, Steve Bruce, and José Casanova. An effort will be made to extend accommodation privileges at the university to meet APEX fare requirements.
The 22nd annual Implicit Religion consultation at Denton Hall, Yorkshire, 5-7 May. This year's conference will focus especially on giving greater clarity and precision to the implicit religion concept itself. Contact Edward Bailey, 95 High Street, Winterbourne, Bristol BS36 1RD, UK <e.i.bailey@mdx.ac.uk>. ASR members will also shortly be receiving a subscription solicitation for the journal Implicit Religion.
A conference entitled After Secularism/Religion: Interpretation, History, and Politics will be held 11-14 May at the University of Minnesota. Speakers include Gauri Viswanathan and Enrique Dussel. For a full copy of the call, check the site www.icgc.umn.edu/ArchiveFolder/secularismconf.html or contact Chris Chiappari, Depart-ment of Sociology and Anthropology, Saint Olaf College, 1500 Saint Olaf Ave, Northfield, MN 55057; 507-646-3815.
The Rural Sociological Society invites you to extend your stay in Washington after the ASA and attend its meeting, 16-20 August, entitled Policy and Rural Communities: Challenges for the 21st Century. The venue is the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel. Check it out at www.ruralsociology.org. Historians of sociology will remember that Max Weber in got his start in some respects doing rural sociology of religion by querying East Elban pastors. Perhaps one of you might be enterprising enough to try to organize a joint session with the RSS this year.
The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the
Religious Research Association meet 19-22 October at the Doubletree Hotel
in Houston. The SSSR program theme is Religion and Transnationalism: Challenges
of the 21st Century. Contact: Peter Beyer, Classics and Religious Studies,
University of Ottawa, 70 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Canada; phone
613-562-5800, ext. 1178 <pbeyer@uottawa.ca>. The RRA program theme is
Gender, Religious Organization and Practice. Contact Paula Nesbitt, Department
of Sociology, University of Denver, 2040 S Race St., GCB 433, Denver, CO
80208 <pnesbitt@du.edu>. Deadlines are 15 January for session proposals,
15 March for paper abstracts.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Some of you will be receiving dues notices with this newsletter. Regardless of whether or not you have dues due at this time, please consider a tax-deductible, year-end contribution to assist with either the ASR's designated funds--Fichter, Furfey, and McNamara--or this year, with the international emphasis of our meetings, to contribute toward the Gallagher Award line item in our operating budget. These can be included with your dues, or if your dues are already paid, room has also conveniently been made on directory information sheet.
You can also make an important contribution to the welfare
of the ASR by using influence at any point you can to effect a new library
subscription to our journal. Library subscriptions are crucial to the ASR's
organi-zational health. They are improving, but we still have considerable
lost ground to regain, not to mention to move forward. At least do your
utmost to ensure that library subscriptions are not canceled. Assignments
for students and pulling the journal off the shelves yourself when you
go to the library help a lot and cost you nothing.
COPUBLICATION OF "THE SECULARIZATION DEBATE" ISSUE
A copublication contract for the "Secularization Debate"
issue of Sociology of Religion has been signed with Rowman & Littlefield,
and affordable paperback issues should be available for fall, maybe summer,
adoptions. If you are interested in adopting the book, a word to that effect
to the Executive Office would be helpful. It will contain all of the articles,
with only editorial corrections, as they appeared in 60/3, less the book
reviews.
NEWS OF MEMBERS
It is with deep regret that we report the death, 26 October, of Mary Lou Kelly, wife of Past President Jim Kelly. Mary fought a long battle with cancer, the last stages of which occasioned Jim's absence from the ASR meeting this past August. Memorials may be made to St. Peter's (Jersey City, NJ) or Mount St. Vincent's (Riverdale, NY) Colleges in her name. Jim's address is Three 78 Street, Brooklyn, NY 11209.
John Bartkowski and Chris Ellison's 1995 Sociology of Religion article "Divergent Models of Childrear-ing..." has been included in a new anthology for sociology of the family classes, Feuds about Families (ed. Nijole Benokraitis--Prentice Hall). It's gratifying to see our work appreciated beyond our own discipline.
Former executive officer Barbara Denison has returned from Penn State's Capital College to Lebanon Valley College (Annville, PA) as Associate Dean for Graduate and Continuing Education <denison@lvc.edu>, effective 12 October.
Pamela Klassen gave birth to her second daughter, Isabel Beatrice Kalssen-Marshall, 28 September.
Bob Montgomery has published Introduction to the Sociology of Missions, and Bill Swatos and Jim Wellman have published The Power of Religious Publics: Staking Claims in American Society, both with Praeger. In addition to pieces by Swatos and Wellman, the latter volume includes contributions from ASR members Robert Bellah, Jim Davidson, Phil Hammond, Jim Kelly, Jim Richardson, and Rhys Williams.
Luigi Tomasi has published Alternative Religions among European Youth (Ashgate). It includes chapters by ASR members Yves Lambert, Bill Swatos, Michael York, and Tomasi himself.
Wm. J. (Beau) Weston has received a Louisville Institute grant this summer for a project on "Christian Intellectuals."
Bob Wuthnow has been elected President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.