The Maynooth University Department of Sociology, supported by MU Social Sciences Institute together with the Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI) has announced the Call for Papers opening for the 51st SAI Conference, scheduled to take place in Maynooth University, May 10th and 11th 2024.
The conference, themed “ Sociological Imagination: Creating Hopeful Futures,” promises to be a dynamic and engaging moment for sociologists and scholars.
Key notes
| Henrike Rau is Professor of Social Geography and Sustainability Research at LMU Munich, Germany. She has made internationally recognised contributions to the conceptual and methodological advancement of social scientific and interdisciplinary sustainability research on topics such as domestic energy use, food consumption and mobility practices across the life course. Between 2009 and 2015 she co-led a large EPA-funded research project on consumption, environment and sustainability in Ireland (CONSENSUS) | |
| Tom Inglis is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University College Dublin. He has written about culture, mostly in relation to religion, meaning, the body and the media, particularly in relation to Ireland. He published two editions of Moral Monopoly: The Rise and Fall of the Catholic Church in Modern Ireland 1998. His other books include Global Ireland: Same Difference (2008) and Meanings of Life in Contemporary Ireland: Webs of Significance (2014). He has published two memoirs Making Love (2012) and To Love a Dog (2020). He lives in Cootehall, Co. Roscommon where is Academic Director of the John McGahern Barracks |
Ensure your participation.
Don’t miss the abstract submission deadline – extended to 15th March
Abstracts (250-400 words) must be submitted through the Maynooth University – Sociological Association of Ireland 2024 Conference email address at [email protected] by 15th March 2024
This conference provides a unique opportunity for researchers and academics to come together, exchange ideas, and contribute to the advancement of sociological knowledge. We invite contributions that reflect on different aspects of the Conference Theme Sociological Imagination: Creating Hopeful Futures, including but not limited to :
Framing the future What concepts and frameworks give us most analytical power to understand polycrisis? Can we recuperate older ideas while centring decolonial, indigenous and intersectional approaches? What role can core sociological concepts such as agency, identity, subjectivity, episteme, affect, emotion, trust, risk, governmentality etc. play in understanding phenomena such as populism, ecocide, datafication, and surveillance. Is a sustainable and equitable future possible?
Politicizing and De-politicizing the future What kinds of politicizing and depoliticizing work do discourses and imaginaries about the future do, especially when they are ascribed to particular political subjects or social groups. Who is burdened with the future? How do we understand the ‘public’, especially in the context of the binaries of who constitutes the public imposed by populist ideas?
The future and social change How is the future expected to arrive? How have we understood, might we understand, the social politics of transitions associated with climate, digital and labour market changes? How do different future orientations shape our understanding of social change and how new social divisions form, among whom, and where socio-political conflict occurs? How does uncertainty, hope, or dread affect social and political action?
Paper submissions are encouraged on the themes outlined above. We are also open to suggestions for panels of speakers on a specific theme and to panels from SAI working groups.
Registration information will be published closer to the date
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