Call For Paper: Ethonographic Analyses of Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality & Religion

Editors: Assata Zerai, Sandra Weissinger, and Sonali Ghosh
ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF RACE, CLASS, GENDER, SEXUALITY & RELIGION is an edited volume devoted to exploring the intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality in religious settings. Both empirical and theoretical manuscripts are being sought that address religion from an ethnographic perspective. In particular, manuscripts falling into one or several of the following three categories will be given priority:

1. Intersectional analysis of Christian congregations in the United States, including
a. Multiracial congregations and pastorate
b. Race, class, gender intersections in congregations that are predominated by one race
c. Analyses of immigrant experiences in U.S. churches that consider the intersectionality of race, class, gender and nation
d. Analyses of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and transgendered experiences in U.S. churches

2. Political participation in U.S. churches that considers the intersection of race, class, gender & sexuality

3. Analysis of relationships between U.S. denominations and their congregations or missions work abroad that incorporate an intersectional analysis

Intersectionality—a paradigm for reconceptualizing oppression and resistance (Collins 2000), allows the researcher to analyze ways that various spheres of inequality work together to simultaneously affect social life. Intersectional analysis is not exclusive of other spheres of inequality. Similar to racism, class exploitation and sexism, heterosexism, imperialism, ethnocentrism, religious chauvinism, elitism, ageism, and other hierarchical and oppressive concepts and practices configure our lives in many ways (Collins 1998) “The central contention of this emerging focus is that the three forms of oppression are not separate and additive, but interactive and multiplicative in their effects” (Chafetz 1997). Thus, one cannot understand the social world without considering the ways that these axes mutually construct one another.

In order to unveil the socially constructed nature of hierarchy and difference, intersectional work examines the taken-for-granted aspects of the social order, including those things we have been socialized to view as “natural.” For the edited volume, we seek manuscripts that explore the intersectionality of race, class, gender, sexuality, and other social categories in U.S. Christian religious settings. Questions may address, but not be limited to the following: How do spheres of social inequality, such as race, class and gender reproduce difference in U.S. churches? Which social groups are consistently privileged in U.S. churches and at whose expense? In what way do intersectional analyses help to unveil the socially constructed nature of aspects of the social order that are viewed as natural in U.S. churches as a result of religious doctrine or tradition? Why are U.S. churches or denominational structures an especially intransigent site in which to challenge persisting inequality?

All manuscripts will undergo peer review. Manuscripts should be a maximum of 30 pages, inclusive of title page, abstract, main body of text, figures, tables, and APA-style references. Only title pages should contain authors' names, affiliation, phone & FAX numbers, in addition to the email address of the corresponding author. No endnotes or footnotes will be accepted. Electronic versions of manuscripts (MS Word) should be sent directly to Sandra Weissinger at the following email address: weissing@illinois.edu by December 31, 2009. 

"You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars and change the world!"

Sandra E. Weissinger
PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
UIUC
702 South Wright Street, 326 Lincoln Hall MC 454 Urbana, IL 61801

For more information, please visit: www.themss.org/6-15-09ETHNOGRAPHIC_ANALYSES_OF_RACE12-31-09.doc