Association of Black Sociologists

Association of Black Sociologists [article image]

When: Fri, Apr 30 2021 12:00am - Fri, Aug 06 2021 12:00am 

Where: Online

50th/51st Conference to be Held August 4-6, 2021
Submit Now through April 30th

We're Excited to Convene Virtually in August

Dear Colleagues,

Happy spring. We made it through the winter. I hope this finds you blooming like the natural world around us.  Thank you for your patience as we worked to solidify our plans for convening this summer. As I promised in our February note, I'm writing with an update about our arrangements for a virtual conference. We will indeed convene August 4-6, 2021 virtually, and we will partner with Whova, the platform we have used in recent years to bring attendees the conference's mobile app, to deliver our signature experience in a virtual setting. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE CALL FOR PAPERS.

Please Submit New and Re-Submit Previous Conference Submissions

If you have already submitted for the conference, we are asking that you please re-submit to the conference portal. A great deal has changed since many of you first sent your submissions nearly a year ago, and it would be a tremendous help to our conference team if you re-submitted your paper if you plan to present it at the virtual conference in August.

And if you haven't submitted, please do! This is a distinct opportunity to convene and move about virtually, and we are so excited about the conversations and synergy this particular format will yield.

Conference Registration Details Are Forthcoming

Since we are using Whova for the conference, for this year, conference registration will occur on their platform rather than our usual membership platform. Registration details are forthcoming, but in the mean time, if you haven't renewed your membership for 2021, please do. All presenters must be members, and only members can receive the reduced 2021 virtual conference rate of $50 for students, $100 for faculty/non-students. The non-member conference rate is $150.

We <3 Chicago

We are of course disappointed that we could not convene in DC, and we are equally disappointed that we could not convene in Chicago. Chicago is also one of Black sociology's enduring homes, and ABS loves Chicago. At the annual Mid-Year meeting of the Executive Committee last month, we recalled many of your experiences meeting away from ASA in New Orleans (June 2009), Charlotte (October 2014), and Memphis (October 2016) and your feedback over the years about the financial and psychic costs of meeting with ASA increasingly expensive cities even as there are obvious benefits to simultaneous convenings. We also are continuing to actively strategize around meeting away from hotel spaces in order to save money, support Black community spaces, and be more in alignment with our mission.

These conversations are ongoing. However, for the near future, we are committed to a convening separate from the ASA meetings and to our beloved Chicago. President-Elect Littisha Bates will do the visioning for our 2022 annual conference, which will be held in October 2022 in Chicago, Spirit willing and the creek don't rise. More on that, as well as on a possible plans for a one-day symposium convening in Los Angeles just before ASA in 2022, in August.

If you want to serve on a committee or make an idea happen, just give someone on the EC a shout, or send an e-mail to info@associationofblacksociologists.org and our brilliant Public Information Officer intern Natasha will get you to the right person.

Link: Flyer