Call for Proposals

Over the course of the last few decades, theoretical reappraisals of the secular have tried in a variety of ways to destabilize and revalue the notion of the secular so that it no longer means simply the “absence of religion.” Yet vernacular uses of the secular frequently continue to orbit around that very understanding. With this in mind, we invite proposals for papers or panels that explore “the secular” at its various sites of construction. In concert with this year’s conference theme, we are particularly interested in proposals that critically engage public understandings of secularism as well as those that investigate the constitution of the secular in religiously plural publics, in multiple identity formations (especially among the so-called religious “nones”), and in and through a range of social practices (for example, those related to death and dying). In addition, for a possible cosponsored session with the Death, Dying, and Beyond Group, we seek proposals on secular approaches to death.

Mission

This Group seeks to explore a set of questions associated with secularism, secularity, and secularization — questions that pertain to the shifting relationship between “the religious” and “the secular” — to the changing role of religion in law, politics, and public life, to the metamorphosis of personal identities, practices, and affiliations (figured as religious, spiritual, secular, or otherwise), and to a broader set of historical transformations that have conditioned and been imbricated in these and other changes. The Group seeks to promote and enable more sustained interdisciplinary engagement among scholars of secularism, secularity, and variously conceived forms of “nonreligion.”

Anonymity of Review Process

Proposer names are visible to Chairs but anonymous to Steering Committee members.

Questions?

Per Smith
Boston University
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Jonathan VanAntwerpen
Social Science Research Council
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Method of Submission