Call for Papers ISA World Congress 2010

Call for Papers: ISA World Congress, Gothenburg, Sweden, July 2010 (Futures Research)

The International Sociological Association is organizing its XVII World Congress of Sociology in Gothenburg, Sweden, July 11-17, 2010. The Research Committee Futures Research (RC 07) invites proposals for papers and sessions.
Deadline: October 15, 2009
Program Coordinator: Markus S. Schulz, ISA-RC07, email: isarc07@gmail.com

Planned Sessions

The Future of State and Insurgent Terrorism
Organizer: Jeff Goodwin (New York University, USA)

Political violence against "innocent" civilians has generated a great deal of discussion and debate in recent years. What explains past episodes of state and/or insurgent terrorism? Are the two linked? How has the rhetoric of "terrorism" been used by political actors? Will we see more or less--or different kinds of--terrorism in the future? Papers on any of these concerns are encouraged.

Social Movements and the Future
Joint Session of Research Committees on Future Research (RC07) and Social
Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (RC48)
Organizers: Markus S. Schulz (UIUC, USA) and Benjamin
Tejerina Montaña (Universidad del País Vasco, Spain)

The Research Committees on Future Research (RC07) and on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (RC48) are planning one or more Joint Sessions on contentious politics and on how social movements shape futures. Questions may include (but are not limited to): How do social movements create, debate, disseminate, and attempt to implement projects and visions of the future? How do social movements invent new practices? How do social movements relate to old and new media? What factors influence the outcomes of social movement struggles?

Power, Politics, Publics: Sociological Experiences
Organizers: Raquel Sosa (UNAM, Mexico) and Markus
S. Schulz (UIUC, USA)

How does sociology relate to policy, power, and publics? How do sociologists contribute to social projects and alternative views? What is the experience of sociologists who engage in "critical" or "public" modes of doing sociology, including collaboration with social movements or public service? What can we learn from comparisons between different national experiences and different disciplines? What lessons can be learned from recent experiences in Latin America or other sites of the Global South? What is to be done to make sociology and the sociological imagination more relevant?

Open Themes
Organizer: tba (contact: )

Deadlines and Procedures:
If you wish to present a paper, please email by October 15, 2009 your proposal with a title and a concise description (150 to 200 words) to the organizer(s) of your session and to the repository at . A submission form is available for download at http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2010/rc/rc07.htm. (The form is backwards compatible with the free Adobe Reader 7.0 or later.) Be sure to include in your proposal your name and contact information. Paper proposals that do not fit to the topic of any of the planned sessions may be submitted to the RC07 Program Coordinator for integration in additional sessions or alternative arrangements.

Some general hints: Please make your proposal as informative and specific as possible. Check whether your abstract provides the reviewers with answers to fundamental questions such as:
• What question or problem does your paper address?
• Why does this question or problem matter?
• How you do you approach this question or problem (theoretical perspective, method, data set, body of literature, and the like)?
• What are your findings/research/arguments results?
• What are the implications of these findings/research results/arguments?

Session proposals are welcome too and shall include a title, a brief description of the topic, chair's name and contact information, and a list of four to five speakers. Session proposals may be in any of the ISA's official languages, English, Spanish, or French.

Notifications of papers accepted for presentation instructions will be sent to participants by the end of January 2010 along with more detailed instructions and practical tips on travel and logistics. It is anticipated that online registration opens in early 2010. May 1, 2010 is the anticipated deadline for pre-registration and submission of accepted abstracts to Cambridge Sociological Abstracts (CSA) for inclusion in the congress catalogue.

Other Practical Information:
Travel: Gothenburg has two major airports, the Göteborg Landvetter Airport (GOT, 25km to the East) and Göteborg City Airport (GSE, 15km North-West from the centre). Both airports are well connected to the city by bus. There seems to be some competition, so you may wish to compare air fares for both.

Climate: Gothenburg has an Oceanic climate that is relatively mild when considering its Northern latitude. July is mostly sunny and dry with only moderate precipitation. July temperatures average with lows of 13 and highs of 20 degrees Celsius (55 to 68 Fahrenheit), though on some it could go up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

Visas: Sweden is one of the twenty-five signatory countries of the Schengen agreement. Nationals from the Schengen zone do not need a visa; nationals from the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Israel and the United States can currently remain in Sweden as tourists for 90 days without a visa. Others may need a visa. Keep in mind that current regulations can change. You can obtain further information from the Swedish embassy and consulates in your country.

Further practical information: One useful multilingual website to search for travel-related information seems to be Gothenburg official tourism site at URL: < http://www.goteborg.com>.