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NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Volume 33, Number 1 Fall 1998
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FROM THE PRESIDENT
Our 1999 program theme is Religion, Gender and the 21st Century.
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. The windy
city is the perfect spot for us to conclude the millennium.
In Chicago, our program will highlight both continuity and change. It will
offer us an opportunity to reflect on our sociological heritage (what we've
learned) and on our future endeavors (the many questions still left unanswered).
Some of the highlights of our 1999 program will include.
So plan now to attend the 1999 meetings of the ASR in Chicago. If you
would like to organize a session, present a paper, or volunteer to be a
convener or discussant, please let Lori Beaman <beamlg@hg.uleth.ca>,
our program chair, know. If you have an idea about how the ASR can better
meet the needs of sociologists of religion, please let me <nasoncla@unb.ca>
know. Above all, please write the dates of our August 1999 meetings in
your diary and plan to come. Our continued success depends on the participation
of scholars like you! Click here to view the 1999
Call for Papers
Nancy Nason-Clark
University of New Brunswick
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 1999 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 Milagros Peña.
Bill Stahl 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 1 July 1999 to be eligible
for the 1999 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.
Submit 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: William A. Stahl,
Luther College, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2 Canada. Questions?
Phone Bill at (306) 585-5045.
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 Joy
Charlton (chair), Ralph Lane, and Lori Beaman.
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 Joy at Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081. All submissions
must be postmarked by 1 March 1999; awards will be announced
1 May 1999, at which time the moneys will also become available. Questions?
Phone Joy at 610-328-8295 or e-mail <jcharlt1@swarthmore.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 foreign 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 $4,500 is available for the 1999 meeting.
Grants have never exceeded $500 for foreign scholars or $300 for domestic
scholars. Application for a travel grant must be made to the Program Chair
(Lori Beaman), 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.
SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION EDITOR SEARCH
The Publications Committee of ASR invites nominations for the position
of editor of Sociology of Religion, for the period of 2001-2003
(to begin to receive mss no later than spring 2000). We would ask that
you please send the name or names of ASR members who you think would make
good candidates (including self-nominations) to: Peter Beyer, Department
of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N
6N5 CANADA; phone 613-562-5800 (ex. 1178), fax -- 5991, e-mail <pbeyer@uottawa.ca>.
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY
We really are going to have a membership directory this year!
The enclosed yellow sheet gives the information about you
that will appear in the directory. Please make sure that what appears is
correct, then fill in the areas that are blank to the extent that they
apply to you. Read the instructions on the yellow sheet.
Return the sheet no later than 1 March to ensure that the
information that appears about you in the directory is accurate.
DUES
1999 ASR dues are due and payable 2 January 1999--delinquent
if postmarked after 1 March. If you do not receive a dues notice along
with this newsletter, then your 1999 dues are paid. Thanks
for both your promptness and support. If you do receive a dues notice (pink
sheet), then please take the time now to complete it and
mail it in. Every year we needlessly spend hundreds of dollars securing
late dues. Using a credit card, it really takes only a minute to complete
the form and put it into the envelope. You do need to find a stamp, but
then the job's done. --Or fax it to 727-844-7332.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Please consider a tax-deductible, year-end contribution to assist with
the ASR's designated funds: Fichter, Furfey, and McNamara. These can be
included with your dues, or if your dues are already paid, room has also
conveniently been made on the back of the yellow information sheet. Note
that with your help we were able this year to raise the dollar amounts
of all three of these awards!
You can also make a significant contribution to the welfare of the ASR
by making an effort to use your influence at any point you can to effect
a new library subscription to our journal. It is happy news
to report that the downward trend in our library subscriptions has reversed
this year, but we still have considerable lost ground to regain, not to
mention to move forward.
NEWS AND NOTES
Henri Gooren has completed his Ph.D. thesis, Rich among the Poor:
Church, Firm, and Household among Small-scale Entrepreneurs in Guatemala
City. The publisher is Thela (Amsterdam), who U.S. representative is
Eiron, P.O.B. 40072, Washington, DC 20016.
Donald Nielsen has completed Three Faces of God: Society, Religion, and the Categories of Totality in the Philosophy of Émile Durkheim, a volume in the SUNY series in Religion, Culture, and Society (under the editorship of Wade Clark Roof).
Persons desiring to attend the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group
1999 Annual Conference on Religion and Identity, 7-10 April, at
the University of Durham, may contact the ASR Executive Office <swatos@microd.com>
for the paper proposal form and further information. Please supply a fax
number. The deadline for proposals is 15 January. American participants
are particularly welcomed.
The Religious Research Association (RRA) will make $8,000 available
for research awards in the spring of 1999. RRA membership is required,
as is an application form. Contact: Scott L. humma, Hartford Seminary,
77 Sherman St., Hartford, CT 06105; phone 860-509-9507, fax -- 9509, e-mail
<sthumma@hartsem.edu>.
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
The SSSR 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: Helen Rose Ebaugh, Department of
Sociology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-3474; phone 713-743-3952,
fax -- 3943, e-mail <ebaugh@uh.edu>.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a Catholic
research center at Georgetown University, is seeking a research associate.
Requirements: a Ph.D. in a social science discipline, strong writing skills,
and deep knowledge of and commitment to the Roman Catholic faith tradition.
Incumbent will handle all project phases, including proposal preparation,
questionnaire design, analysis, and report writing. Direct inquiries to
Bryan Froehle at CARA: froehleb@guvax.georgetown .edu and/or send a letter
and vita to CARA at Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057-1203.
MEETINGS
An Inaugural Conference marking the birth of the Centre for the Study of
Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality (CSIRCS) at the University
of Middlesex in conjunction with the Centre for Inter Faith Dialogue, also
located at that university, will be held 23-24 March at Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge. Plenary speakers include Ninian Smart and Wilhelm Dupré.
The annual Denton Hall (York-shire) Conference of the Network for
the Study of Implicit Religion is 8-10 May. Contact Edward
Bailey, Winterbourne Rectory, Bristol, BS17 1JQ, UK. (Your executive officer
had the pleasure of attending Edward's inaugural lecture as Visiting Professor
in Implicit Religion for CSIRCS, held at Lambeth Palace in mid-November.)
The British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study
Group will have a major "stream" at the BSA meeting this
year (Edinburgh, 6-9 April), rather than a separate conference.
The theme is "The Body." Contact Dr. Mike Northcott, New College,
Mound Place, Edinburgh EH1 2LX (UK) for details.
Research Committee 22 (sociology of religion) will have a
full complement of 12 sessions (including some double sessions) at the
ISA meeting in Montréal 26 July to 1 August. Paper proposals
for the joint ASR/RC-22 session, "What Sense Remains to the Categories
'Sacred' and 'Secular' in the Light of Implicit Religion," should
be sent to the ASR executive office <swatos@microd.com>. For all
other sessions and general information, contact Committee Secretary Wm.
J. Biernatzki, S.J., CSCC, St. Louis University, P.O.B. 56907, St. Louis,
MO 63156-0907 <cscc@slu.edu>.
The ASA Sociology of Religion Section section day is three
days following the ASR meetings, which overlap by two days the front end
of the ASA meeting (also in San Francisco). There are also a couple of
general ASA program sessions with religion themes. All of these are chaired
by ASR members. General sessions: "Religion," Pat McNamara <patmac@unm.edu>;
"Women and Religion," Ana Maria Díaz-Stevens <stevens3@bellatlantic.net>.
Section sessions: "Religion and Gender Inequality," Janet Jacobs
<jacobsjl@stripe.colorado.edu>; "Religion and Social Policy
for the Next Millennium," Paula Nesbitt <pnesbitt@du.edu>; "Refereed
Roundtables," Kevin Christiano, phone (219) 631-6463. These listings
should not obscure the fact that there are many other program sessions
to which perspectives and data from the sociology of religion could make
valuable contributions. We can needlessly "insulate and isolate"
ourselves by submitting religion-related papers only to sessions that have
"religion" in their title.
NEWS OF MEMBERS
Bill Newman has become Emeritus Professor of Sociology at
the University of Connecticut. While continuing his research partnership
with UConn geographer Peter L. Halvorson, Newman also has become the managing
partner of the firm of Connecticut Commercial Realty in New London.
Beau Weston has published Presbyterian Pluralism: Competition
in a Protestant House (University of Tennessee Press).
Paula Nesbitt and Paul Numrich received this
year's ASA Religion Section distinguished article and book awards, respectively.
Fred Kniss and Mark Shibley took similar respective
kudos from the SSSR, while ASR past presidents Helen Rose Ebaugh
and Ed Lehman have been elected to succeed to the respective
presidencies of the SSSR and RRA.
1999 ASR DUES NOTICE
1999 dues are due 2 January 1999. 1999 dues are delinquent
1 March 1999.
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.
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 may pay low-income dues;
non-U.S. members from hard-currency countries should convert their incomes
into dollars to determine their dues status.
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.
Go to the 1999 Dues Form