Call for Panels – Third ISA Forum Vienna 10 – 14 July 2016

23rd Feb 2015 | By | Category: 2016 (Vienna), Conferences, ISA Forums, News & Events

Call for Panels
Third ISA Forum Vienna 10 – 14 July 2016

Deadline: March 7th 2015

!! This is a call for panels. The call for papers will be published mid-April. Deadline for paper proposals is September 30th 2015.!!

Panel proposals should be 20-25 lines long call for papers, connected to some element of the ISA47 perspective and/or issues listed in this call. Panel topics should be open to researchers from various continents (except for panels focused on Africa or a specific region). Please send us also a bionote of the panel coordinator(s).

Selected panel proposals will be included in the ISA47 call for papers, to be published by mid-April. Deadline for paper proposals is September 30th 2015.

The Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements (ISA-RC 47) brings together social movement scholars from around the world in order to share and develop perspectives on and analyses of current, recent, and past social movements. RC 47 encourages international cooperation among researchers interested in social movements from all continents, fostering in particular a vibrant and constructive dialogue among different perspectives from the South and from the North of the planet. ISA 47 was founded with the conviction that the study of social movements provides elements for a better understanding of both specific social actors and society as a whole. Therefore, RC 47 has a particular interest in connecting the sociology of social movements with general sociology. Furthermore, ISA 47 pays particular attention to cultural approaches to social movements and social transformations, developing or referring to concepts such as subjectivation, identity, meanings, emotions, cultural change, lifestyle change, experience and personal dimensions of activism. Another focus constitutes the analysis of social movements with respect to social class and transnational networks.

Social movement scholars can make a significant contribution to the Third Forum of the ISA entitled “THE FUTURES WE WANT: Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World.” Social movements are major actors of our societies and contribute to shaping possible futures. As mentioned in this Forum’s presentation “Protests around the globe have challenged inequality, oppression, and ecological destruction, and have insisted on the possibility of another, better world. Intensifying uncertainties demand innovations in methods and theories. Tomorrow no longer appears as pre-determined by inevitable trends but as a rather contingent outcome of complex, typically multi-scalar dynamics that vary in their intensity of contentiousness. Social actors aspire, desire, envision, expect, fear, imagine, plan, project, reject, sustain, and wage war over futures“.

In line with this theme we welcome panels in the following five areas of interest:

1. Theories of social movements and social change

In line with the Forum’s focus on futures we welcome panels with theoretical contributions about the connection between social movements and social change. How do emancipatory movements and everyday practices at the grassroots contribute to change the world? What are the potential and limits of movements based on everyday practices, subjectivity and the local scale? What visions for alternative futures are imaginable, desirable, and achievable?

2. “5 years after”: the post-2011 protest wave

The Third Forum of the ISA in 2016 coincides with the fifth anniversary of the start of a very visible wave of struggles for a better world that swept across the globe including the Arab Spring and the Indignados / Occupy Movement. We especially welcome panels that analyze the developments and the repercussions these protests had both in terms of internal and policy outcomes, repression or integration by political actors as well as with respect to continuities with present movements. In addition, we are interested in analyses of the 2013 protests in Turkey, Brazil, as well as more recent protests in Thailand, Honk Kong and similar protests around the world.

3. Perspectives from the global south

In line with the Forum’s theme of a global sociology and ISA47 commitment to include scholars from Africa, Asia and the Global South, we especially welcome panels that explore mobilizations in the Global South and the consequences of such analyses for the way in which we conceptualize and research social movements more generally. We would also like to encourage panels on refugees and migrants protests.

4. Environmental movements and climate justice

Seven months after the Paris Climate Meeting, ISA 47 also welcomes panels that address the role social movements play in facing environmental challenges, opposing climate change, and building a more sustainable and fairer futures on a limited planet. We are interested in local and global green movements that propose alternative cosmovisions and ways to live together on a limited planet. How are these movements shaping life, societies, and policies in the Global Age? What are the barriers, limits, and challenges that impede them to have a stronger impact on our lives and our societies?

5. Social movements and digital media

In recent years the internet and social media have become a crucial platform of communication, organization, and mobilization. Yet, the analysis of these phenomena is still very limited and dominated by structuralist approaches that pay little attention to the content and meaning of the use of digital media in social movements. RC47 welcomes panel proposals that explore various aspects of the role of social media and social movements across different world regions.

Panels are not restricted to these five themes. ISA47 also welcomes panel proposals on other topics connected to the RC47. We are particularly interested in panels that are

!! This is a call for panels. The call for papers will be published mid-April. Deadline for paper proposals is September 30th 2015.

Please send panel proposals to Geoffrey Pleyers (Geoffrey.PleyersATuclouvain.be), Paolo Gerbaudo (paolo.gerbaudoATkcl.ac.uk) and Priska Daphi (DaphiATsoz.uni-frankfurt.de) by 7 March 2015 at the latest.
It will allow us to include all major topics addressed and provide a coherent set of panels, as well as a five to ten lines bionote of the panel coordinator(s).

To ensure high quality contributions, panels and discussions, a discussant will be assigned to every ISA47 panel. Panel proposals may include a proposed discussant.

More information on the ISA Research Committee 47 “Social classes and social movements”:

Mailing-list: isa47-socialmovements@listes.uclouvain.be
Website: http://www.isarc47.org
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/ISA47
ISA47 newsletter (January 2015): www.isarc47.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Newsletter- 2015Jan.pdf

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