Call for Papers          

 Special Issue on ‘The Transnational Turn in Sociology’

Guest Editor: Dr. Breda Gray 

Transnational phenomena and processes have a long history, but are receiving unprecedented attention, alongside globalisation, in current sociological debate. Because sociology emerged as a discipline during a time of nation-state growth and legitimation, sociological concepts of society, citizenship, culture and social change have tended to be embedded in nationalist assumptions that obscure the significance of transnational forms and processes in the past and present. Increasingly, these concepts and processes are being analysed through transnational methodological, theoretical and epistemological lenses thus challenging ‘methodological nationalism’ which views the world from a nation-state perspective.  

Accelerated cross-border flows of ideas, cultures, media, religions, modes of governance, commodities and people in the twenty-first century have contributed to the adoption of a transnational research frame and calls for a cosmopolitan sociology. From the perspective of the transnational, the world is made up of overlapping and interacting transnational social fields that create seemingly bordered and bounded structured spaces, groups, structures and processes. This scholarship begins with the assumption that social worlds are inherently transnational, thus engaging a new epistemological lens in order to access the transnational dynamics in which bounded entities may be embedded and which constitute these entities as bounded in particular ways.  

The aim of this special issue is to critically engage with this framing of sociological concerns via a discussion of a range of social, political, economic, and cultural phenomena. Some of these phenomena and processes are transnational by definition, such as the global cross-national diffusion of human rights and the global organisations that promote and legitimate these even as these also shape local, national and other spaces. Others are more local or national, but with transnational dimensions, such as formations of religion, media or public opinion. Papers are invited that address: particular transnational forms or processes across space and time; different kinds of transnationalisms (e.g. religious, business, social movement, migration, commodities, culture etc.); relationships between transantionalisms (e.g. transnational religious activities and transnational governance); consideration of how transnationalisms compete with or complement bounded forms or processes; calls for a cosmopolitan outlook; or critique of transnational approaches. 

Submissions for this Special themed section are now invited and should be forwarded by email to ijs@sociology.ie at the latest by 20 August, 2010 . The word count for articles is 7000 words. Please forward an abstract, keywords and cover sheet (to include your name and contact details).  Detailed submission guidelines are available on the Irish Journal of Sociology page on www.sociology.ie 

Additional queries to be made to the Assistant Editor, Aifric O Gráda, by email ijs@sociology.ie or by phone +353-(0)21-490-3756.

The journal welcomes articles which reflect key debates and issues within the field and which make a contribution to theoretical debates and/or empirical research on topics of contemporary interest, such as democracy, citizenship, globalization, gender, class, religion, knowledge, identity, social movements, and various processes of social change. Proposals for special issue editions are also welcomed by the editors. Contributors are expected to comply with the submission guidelines outlined on www.sociology.ie

Submissions for forthcoming general issues are now welcome and should be forwarded by email to ijs@sociology.ie

Additional queries to be made to the Assistant Editor, Aifric O Gráda by email or by phone +353(0) -21-490-3756

The editors of the Irish Journal of Sociology (IJS), which is now being published in new format by Manchester University Press, wish to publish a Special Issue on ‘Key Issues in Contemporary Social Theory’ not only to take advantage of this opportune moment, but at the same time also to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the journal. It is expected that a sizable issue, including both Irish and international contributions, will result which authoritatively marks out some of the most important direction giving and guiding theoretical parameters for sociological research in the second decade of our century.

Submissions for this Special Issue are now invited and should be forwarded by email to ijs@sociology.ie at the latest by 31^st March 2010.

Detailed submission guidelines are available on the Irish Journal of Sociology page on www.sociology.ie