Conference Updates

Papers and discussions have been 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: religion and immigration; transnational identities and religious practices; religion and citizenship; religion, identity and the body; sacred spaces and sacred places; the rise of the Internet and placeless religion; nationalism as religion; race, religion and community; voice, place and religious experience; religion in personal, public and collective identities; and religious identity development. Topics may include: change in old and new religions; religion and everyday life; societal responses to religious diversity and pluralism; religious movements between mainstreaming and marginalization; religion, spirituality and the body; religion online and online religion; magic, esotericism and the sacred; bio-religion and politics; prayer and everyday life; young generations; lifestyles, religion and the sacred; gender and the sacred; the emergence of issues involving marriage (gay marriages and plural marriages) in religious debate, and the emergence of new movements and groups. Papers have been solicited analyzing how religious individuals and organizations act in the face of perceived crises can add to our understanding of the interaction between religion and its contexts, and can shed light on many of the current challenges with which religious institutions wrestle. The society encourages papers, panels, presentations and performances on literary, political, social and architectural aspects of the civil rights struggle, intentional communities and practical socialism with a Midwestern focus for the 2010 conference.