|
Note
from Alan Spector
Please forward this to other relevant
lists
The Section on Marxist Sociology would
like to encourage any interested social scientists, including especially
graduate students, to submit proposals and/or papers for roundtable sessions at
the ASA convention in Washington, D.C. in August of 2000. The SMxS
believes that Marxism should be approached in a creative, rather than dogmatic
way, and sees aspects of Marxist perspectives as intersecting with a wide range
of topics in social science.
A roundtable proposal means that the
person (s) making the proposal would like to make a presentation (data analysis,
preliminary findings, ideas, theoretical discussion, proposals for research,
debate) on a particular topic while also encouraging others of similar interest
to make presentations and participate in the discussion. Roundtable organizers
can also solicit other papers to be a part of their roundtable
session.
A paper proposal for a roundtable is
more suitable for someone who has a presentation (data analysis, preliminary
findings, ideas, theoretical discussion, proposals for research, etc.) but who
would rather have that paper incorporated into an existing roundtable,
preferably of similar topics, rather than having the roundtable organized around
their topic.
Typically, a roundtable session lasts
about an hour. I've seen roundtable sessions range in size from three to twenty
five participants. They are generally very useful because they provide an
opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with others who have similar
interests. Graduate students often find that making a presentation at a
roundtable session is less intimidating than at a regular session. But the
roundtable session is a legitimate ASA session, and grad students can find the
experience of making a presentation at the ASA a valuable activity. Furthermore,
the SMxS will probably be able to help subsidize housing for some graduate
students during the conference by reserving a suite as has been done in years
past. Washington is within a day's drive from many universities, and this is an
especially good year to attend because there will doubtless be debate and
controversy as well as the opportunity to meet and interact with others of
similar interests.
This year, the co-organizers for the
roundtable sessions are
Ric Brown brbgc@ix.netcom.com and Alan Spector spectors@netnitco.net
The division of labor we have worked out is that Ric
will solicit, assemble, and organize those topics that deal with culture and
ideology including but not limited to such topics as:
Marxist Perspectives on:
Race and the Production of Sociological Knowledge Feminism Today *Marx and Cultural Studies Authority and Fascism Postmodernity Popular Culture The Critique of Culture *Music, Performance, Cinema The Production of Space and the Everyday New Forms of Control The Domination of Nature *Globalization after the Seattle WTO Meeting *Welfare Reform and the new Work Ethic *Communism Ten Years After its Death *Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School History of Marxism Radical Critiques of Marxism Marx and Marxism in North American Sociology *Remarks on "Recent" Works by Antonio Negri, Stuart Hall, Dorthy E. Smith, Henri Lefebvre, J. Habermas EO Wright, Stanley Aronowitz, Arato and Cohen, Rosemary Hennessy, etc. --------------------------
Alan (that's me) will solicit, organize, assemble roundtables on just about
everything else, including, but not limited to such general topics as:
Globalism or Imperialism--New World Alignments;
Ethnic War and Nationalism;
Right Wing Extremism and Political-Economic Crisis; The Prospects for Systemic Fascism
The Future of Health Care under Capitalism;
"War against Drugs or War against Working Class Youth?"
The Rapid Growth of Incarceration in the U.S.
The Resurgence of Coerced Labor (Prison, Welfare, etc.)
Issues in Political Economy
Marxist Approaches to Racism;
Biology, Ideology and Social Theory;
Assessing a Century of Marxism;
Who Should Be the Working Class' "Person of the Century?"
Grassroots Organizing and the Marxist Project and any other topic, whether
more data oriented or theory oriented.
The point of listing all those topics is not to limit it, but to indicate
how open the range of topics is. As anyone can see, some of them overlap.
Coherent roundtables will be put together from the submissions we get.
What we need are proposals, rather than completedly polished papers. Please get
them together, as either Roundtable topics or single papers, and submit them to
one or both of us at the e-mails listed above. The roundtable session and
the meeting with come right before are one of the few times at the conference,
or for that matter, during the year, when we can all get together in one room
and exchange ideas (as well as meet the faces behind the e-mails!) These are
some of the best events of the whole ASA convention. It is important for the
cohesion and development of the SMxS as well as for the maintenance of a
radical-critical voice within sociology.
So again, everyone, including grad students, is invited to participate. But
we have a close deadline and need to put this all together soon. So please try
to respond by January 25th if possible.
===================================================================================
|