The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and the Religion Research Association (RRA) are now accepting proposals for the 2021 Annual Meeting.

Call Details:
Following on the 2019 SSSR strategic plan and recent world events including the Covid-19 pandemic and the mobilization around racism and state-sanctioned violence in many countries around the world, this year’s call for papers invites scholars to think about the global nature of religion and its implications for their research. Religion has always been global— religious communities, traditions, beliefs, and ideas move, shift, and interact with one another around the globe. How does the global nature of religion shape and impact its local manifestations, including religious institutions, leaders and members, lived religion, social movements, religion, culture, politics etc.? How does the power and the resources of religious institutions and religious communities in “core” countries influence religions, social institutions and inequalities in other parts of the world? How does large scale international migration and the transnational involvements of immigrants affect religion in receiving and sending countries? And in this current moment, what role do religion and religious institutions play during a global pandemic and civil unrest that cuts across borders?

We also encourage studies that examine religion in a comparative framework across religious traditions. Does the social scientific study of religion rest on paradigms and frameworks that better fit some types of religion (e.g., White Christianity) than others? How does examining religion from a comparative perspective spur us to rethink the categories and assumptions of religion that we may have been working with?

We particularly solicit papers and panels that address the global nature of religion or approach religion from a comparative perspective, but proposals on any topic in the scientific study of religion are also welcome.

Submissions Close: March 31, 2021

Decision Notification: April 30, 2021

Conference Dates: October 22-24, 2021; see website for note on location

Please direct all inquiries to the SSSR 2021 Program Chairs: Andrea K. Henderson (Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina) and Aida I. Ramos (Department of Social Work, Sociology, and Criminal Justice, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor) at program@sssreligion.org