RC22 Call for Sessions, 2014 Congress

Call for RC22 Sessions at the ISA World Congress 2014

The Sociology of Religion
The RC22 Program Coordinators (Esmeralda Sanchez and Jim Spickard) invite session proposals for the 2014 ISA World Congress. We will be allowed 22 sessions, so we need your help. Please send us session proposals by March 7th, 2013. Send your proposals to both of us at:
· Esmeralda Sanchez: emysanchez2001@yahoo.com
· Jim Spickard: jim_spickard@redlands.edu

Your proposals should include:

· A proposed session title.

· The type of session you are proposing.
E.g.:
o An open session for which you are seeking papers
o A completely organized session, for which you invite specific participants.
o An author-meets-critics session.
o A round-table session.
o Etc. (See the list below).

· A 100-200 word abstract describing your session.

· A short biography of the proposed session organisers.

Session Organisers and Chairs are expected to be RC22 members.
Please do not send us paper abstracts now. Once we have formed sessions, we will send out a general call for papers to fill those sessions. First, however, we have to have sessions to fill.

Conference Theme
The overall ISA theme is “Facing an unequal world: Challenges for global sociology.”
The RC22 theme is “Religion and Social Inequality”.
We especially welcome session proposals that speak to these themes creatively. In addition, we are open to other topics that our RC typically addresses: religion and youth, religious identity, current religious trends, religion and ethnicity, religion and international development identity, new and old theory in the sociology of religion, and so on. We also welcome proposals on topics of current interest, especially those that speak to recent world events.

Types of Sessions
We welcome proposals for various types of sessions. Here are some possibilities:
1. Sessions that specify a topic area: these are open for individual paper presenters who will be sought with a later open Call for Papers.
2. Complete sessions with a fixed collection of papers dealing with a given topic. Those suggesting these sessions will submit a list of presenters, including a discussant if possible, who have agreed to participate.
3. Creative modes of presentation, such as:
a. Panels and roundtables
b. Moderated debates
c. Interactive workshops
d. Author-Meets-Critics
e. Film events
f. Etc.

We encourage session coordinators to create diverse panels and to include papers that cross national and other categorical boundaries. Some sessions can be nation-based or regionally specific, but we encourage comparative, cross-cultural sessions representing our Research Committee’s diversity.

Session organization
We expect those who propose sessions to coordinate them and possibly serve a Session Chair, though you should consult the ISA rule regarding “limited appearance in the Program,” below). You should also:
· Promote the session to the RC membership (and others)
· Select papers from among those submitted to you.
· Communicate regularly with the Program Coordinators, especially about program changes. A
ll presenters, including the session coordinators and chairs, are expected to register and pay to attend the conference in accordance with the general registration policy.

Session structure
The language of the conference is English, but coordinators/presenters can arrange for translators or other ways of supporting linguistic diversity. The ISA has posted a list of suggestions at:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/guidelines-program-coordinators-and-session-organizers.htm.
Each session will be 110 minutes. This leaves time for 3 to 4 presenters, plus the chair and a discussant. You should also accept 3-4 “distributed papers”, whose authors can step in to present if one or more of your regular presenters has to drop out at the last moment.

ISA Rules:
1. “Limited appearance in the Program: Participants may be listed no more than twice in the Program. This includes all types of participation – except being listed as Program Coordinator or Session Organizer. Program Coordinators and Session Organizers can organize a maximum of two sessions where their names will be additionally listed in the program.”
2. “A ‘participant’ is anyone listed as an author, co-author, plenary speaker, roundtable presenter, poster presenter, panelist, critic, discussant, session (co)chair, or any similar substantive role in the program. 
A participant cannot present and chair in the same session.”