Minutes, August 2010

Informal meeting at the American Sociological Association, Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, August 14, 2010.

The working group met at Max Lager’s Grill near the conference site, where we squeezed ourselves around two long tables. Our one agenda item was discussion of a recent parley on the Sociology of Islam list-serve about whether the emergence of a field labeled “sociology of Islam” essentializes and exoticizes “Islam” and overemphasizes the Islamic aspect of Muslims’ identity. The discussion was sympathetic to these concerns, but also suggested that there is some usefulness to the label, since it may operate as a heuristic device to bring together scholars with mutual interests, to bridge area studies divisions, and to promote sociological research that undermines essentialisms and stereotypes. One suggestion was to return to Marshall Hodgson’s concept of the “Islamicate,” meaning communities that are in some way related to Islamic civilizations but are not necessarily defined by religiosity.

Our group has organized a thematic session at the 2011 meetings of the American Sociological Association, entitled “Conflicted Nations in the Middle East,” and is keeping an eye out for other opportunities to organize additional sessions.

Minutes taken by Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill