This post is about three conferences that will take place between summer 2009 and summer 2010. Although they may seem a long time ahead, we urgently need you to indicate whether you intend to take part in any or all of them.
I am listing them in reverse order of date.
XVII World Congress of Sociology
(International Sociological Association)
Göteborg, Sweden
11-17 July, 2010
Robert van Krieken (University of Sydney –robertvk@usyd.edu.au ) and Stephen Vertigans (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen – s.vertigans@rgu.ac.uk ) have undertaken to organise figurational sessions at the next ISA World Congress in Göteborg. We have to start submitting proposal now for figurational sessions in Göteborg, even though it is 18 months ahead.
We urgently need a preliminary show of hands of who is likely to participate in the sessions. Would you please email Robert and Stephen if you plan to be there, and perhaps also suggest a provisional topic on which you would like to speak?
The specific priority topics for the Congress are listed at:
We think we might in particular have something to say on Violence and War and Worlds of Difference, but we also think it would be a good idea to organise a session on figurational contributions to the study of international relations.
Because we are now under the wing of RC20, Comparative Sociology, comparative topics will be especially welcome, but we always manage to accommodate a great variety of papers. But please let us know, because we may need to organise an extra Ad Hoc session, and the deadline for applications is near.
Social Science History Association
On board the RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, California
12-15 November 2009
This year’s President of the SSHA, Julia Adams of Yale, has chosen “Agency and Action” as the overall theme of the conference. I’ve talked to Julia, pointing out that we Eliasians are deeply suspicious of concepts redolent of the old “agency” vs “structure” debates, and she says she would be very pleased if I went along and threw a figurational spanner in the conceptual works. Indeed she invited me to organise a panel session. Is anyone else interested in coming? I planned to give a mainly theoretical paper myself, but if several of us were there, we ought to make sure that we illustrate our standpoint with some good empirical material too.
I have a sentimental reason too for wanting to go: when I was a Fulbright Scholar back in 1966-67, I crossed the Atlantic in both direction aboard the Queen Mary!
Yerevan, Armenia 11 -14 June, 2009
After last year’s immensely successful sessions in the 38th IIS Congress in Budapest, we have applied for follow-up sessions at the Yerevan Congress this year, placing our stress (but not exclusively) on:
a) “Civilising and Decivilising Processes beyond Europe”: comparative studies of civilisation around the globe, in relation to the wide diversity of forms of state formation and cultural development, in regions such as Asia, South America and Africa, as well as the social scientific analysis of globalisation and the expansion of a ‘world society’.
b) the question of processes of civilisation in stateless societies, and such an analysis might enrich contemporary social anthropology;
c) the analysis of the current dynamics of processes of civilisation, and the extent to which it should be understood as improving control over human relations, in areas such as the sociology of emotions, the sociology of sport, media and communications, education, etc.;
d) the study of the ‘barbarism of civilisation’, decivilisation or ‘dyscivilisation’, the analysis of totalitarian states, genocide, colonialism and post-colonialism;
We urgently need to know who is planning to attend, and the topics on which they would like to speak.
In addition to the “straight” figurational sessions, Lauren Langman (Loyola University, Chciago) and I are organising a session on ‘The Crises of Globalisation’, paying particular attention to sociological aspects of the collapse of casino capitalism for example the failure of the external constraint supposedly provided by the financial regulators, and the failure of self-constraints on capitalist greed (The Protestant Ethic RIP!). For the ordinary sessions, contact Georgi Derluguian, Robert van Krieken or Stephen Vertigans, or contact me about the ‘Crisis of Globalisation” session.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 28 February 2009
Notification of acceptance: 15 March 2009
Best wishes
Stephen Mennell
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