Sessions Seeking Papers

Southern Sociological Society
2026 Annual Meeting
Jacksonville, FL
April 8-11, 2026

Empowered Sociologists: Agency and Action Towards Social Change

The theme for Dr. Kendra Jason’s annual meeting, “Empowered Sociologists: Agency and Action towards Social Change,” is a call to action for empowered thought leaders who have the agency to uphold the ethical mission of the Southern Sociological Society. Sociologists are well-positioned to lead through times of rapid social change with our collective action. In a time where many feel disempowered, the call serves to remind us of the strength of sociology and of sociologists. It is also a reminder of the Society’s mission to apply our sociological knowledge to societal problems, and hopefully help solve them.

You can read more about the theme and conference on our website.  As our meetings assemble sessions and papers across the breadth and depth of sociology, Sessions Seeking Papers can be, but do not need to be, related to this year’s theme.

Sessions Seeking Papers

Submit a Session Seeking Papers (SSPs) using this form. This is an opportunity to organize a thematic session (or sessions) and put the call for submissions out to the SSS community. We encourage members to submit their SSPs by Sunday of each week to appear in the following week’s digest. Our weekly digests will continue until October 22nd. For any individual submissions to SSS 2025, please click here.

1. Mental Health Mini Conference
2. Empowered Sociologists for Teaching and Learning Mini Conference
3. Toward Harassment-Free Spaces: Research and Strategies for Change
4. Blackness and Antiblackness on the Periphery 

1. SSS Mental Health Mini Conference

The Southern Sociological Society (SSS) Mental Health Mini-Conference will take place during the 2026 SSS Annual Meeting in Jacksonville, FL, from April 8-11, 2026.
We are calling for papers and presiders for six Mini-Conference sessions:

• Flash Talks on Sociology of Mental Health
• Social Psychology Meets the Sociology of Mental Health
• Race, Class, Gender and Mental Health
• Policy and Mental Health
• Social Relationships and Mental Health
• Roundtable Workshop on Sociology of Mental Health

If you have questions, please contact the Mental Health Mini-Conference Co-Chairs: Gabe Miller (ghmiller@uab.edu) and Verna Keith (vmkeith@uab.edu). We will reach out to you to confirm participation and coordinate the sessions. Submissions will close November 3, 2025, at 10:00am Central Time. Please follow this link for session details, to indicate interest in participation, and to submit your abstracts

2. Empowered Sociologists for Teaching and Learning Mini Conference

DEADLINE: October 15th

The Southern Sociological Society (SSS) and the Teaching and Learning Section of the American Sociological Association are co-sponsoring a Teaching Mini-Conference entitled “Empowered Sociologists for Teaching and Learning” at the 2026 SSS annual meeting in Jacksonville, FL from April 8-11, 2026. We are calling for session speakers for a mix of roundtables, panels, and workshops at the Teaching Mini-Conference. We welcome speakers who teach in any environment; if you teach, you belong. Session include: Sharing Best Practices and Innovations in Teaching (roundtable), Navigating the Curriculum and Classroom Space (panel), Writing Teaching Statements to Prepare for the Job Market (Workshop), How to Translate Your Teaching Practice into Research (Workshop), and Pedagogy-Focused Books (author meets critic, etc.)

Find more information about specific sessions here.

If you are interested in participating please use this form to sign up for any of the sessions by October 15, 2025. If you have any questions, please contact the Teaching Mini-Conference Co-Chairs: Stephanie Bradley (sbradl19@charlotte.edu) and Stephanie Teixeira-Poit (steixeirapoit@ncat.edu). We will reach out to you to confirm participation and coordinate the sessions.

3. Toward Harassment-Free Spaces: Research and Strategies for Change

The Southern Sociological Society (SSS) is committed to fostering a safe and welcoming conference environment for all participants, free from harassment based on age, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, language, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, health conditions, socioeconomic status, marital or domestic status, or parental status. In alignment with this commitment, the SSS Anti-Harassment Committee invites papers that address harassment in its many forms, broadly defined. We welcome submissions that explore: Harassment across diverse contexts, Bullying (cyber and face-to-face), Advocacy and resistance strategies, Allyship and solidarity practices, Profiling and its consequences, and Policy interventions and institutional change. This session provides a space for scholars, practitioners, and advocates to share research, theory, and applied work that advance understanding and promote safer, more equitable communities.

All paper submissions should include: (a) the title of the paper, (b) names, affiliations, and contact information for each author, and (c) an extended abstract. Extended abstracts should be 300-400 words and organized with the headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. These section headings may not apply to all submissions, so authors may modify as needed. Please submit materials by October 19, 2025, via email to Jeannette Wade at j_wade@uncg.edu.

4. Blackness and Antiblackness on the Periphery 

This session is focused on constructions of Blackness and Antiblackness People of African Descent (PAD) in locations understudied in American sociological circles. This session seeks to have papers on Antiblackness in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia and other similar locations but this session is open to conversations on Blackness and Antiblackness in other studied locations in Europe and the Americas. This session seeks to challenge the binary of Blackness and Antiblackness conversations only being present in typical places like the United States and Western Europe.

If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information by November 3rd to Bryan Greene (bryanlgreene@gmail.com).

5. Fat Studies/Body Politics

This session will highlight scholarship in the general theme of body politics/fat studies. In alignment with the conference theme of “Empowered Sociologists: Agency and Action Towards Social Change”, we will highlight papers that consider how sociological knowledge on bodies/embodiment and fat studies can be utilized to resist oppression and create institutional change. Areas of study may Disciplining/Policing bodies, Size discrimination; and Bodies, borders, and boundaries (transnational bodies). 

All paper submissions should include: (a) the title of the paper, (b) names, affiliations, and contact information for each author, and (c) an extended abstract. Extended abstracts should be approximately 400-450 words and organized with the following three section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. These section headings may not apply to all submissions, so authors may modify as needed. 

The information provided in your submission is what will appear in the program, so please include your name, affiliation, and contact information exactly as you want it to appear in the program. Please submit materials by October 31, 2025 to Ariane Prohaska (aprohaska@ua.edu).

6. Screen Media Teaching: Using Film and Television to Teach Sociology

Quite common in pedagogical practice is the utilization of film or television to teach key sociological themes and concepts. As sociologists have long noted, screen media both reflects AND creates culture. Thus, the use of these in courses can help students analyze the depiction of social life on screen as well as highlight sociological thinking. With the contemporary ease of streaming films and television shows, the inclusion of these media likely enters most sociology courses on some level. This session will explore examples and best practices of how a deliberate use of a film or television show can be an effective teaching tool to enhance students’ critical thinking skills and further allow a critique of their social world.

If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit your information by October 27, 2025 to Jean-Anne Sutherland (sutherlandj@uncw.edu).

7. Surviving & Maintaining Stability in Shifting Times

This mini conference will reflect the various challenges that many of our southern colleges are currently facing. As several of our home departments shift to accommodate new accreditation and board demands, disappearing DEI, downsizing/combining departments, and shifting course content/requirements while still maintaining sociological integrity, sociologists across the south are finding new ways to survive and thrive in the academy. This mini conference serves as a collective way to collaborate, strategize, and support one another in these precarious times for sociology as a discipline.

If you are interested in participating in this mini conference, please submit your information by November 2, 2025, to the JEDI Committee at lackeydn@wofford.edu.

8. Race In/And Appalachia

This session aims to compile scholarship in the sociology of race and ethnicity within the Appalachian region. 

We are interested in work that contributes to the scholarly discussion of race and racism in Appalachia regardless of theoretical, methodological, or epistemological orientation. Potential paper topics include, but are certainly not limited to: • Racial identity construction and navigation in Appalachia • Appalachian movements for racial justice • Race, space, and place in Appalachia • Race, racism, and politics in Appalachia • Appalachian racial formations • And so much more… 

All paper submissions should include: (a) the title of the paper,* (b) names, affiliations, and contact information for each author,* and (c) an abstract. Abstracts should be approximately 350-450 words and organized with the following three section headings: Objectives, Methods, and Findings. These section headings may not apply to all submissions, so authors may modify as needed.

The information provided in your submission is what will appear in the program, so please include your name, affiliation, and contact information exactly as you want it to appear in the program. Please submit your materials to session organizers Jacob Robinson (jrob1855@vt.edu) and David L. Brunsma (brunsmad@vt.edu) by October 27, 2025. 

9. Sociology of Immigration

We are organizing sessions on the Sociology of Immigration for this year’s Southern Sociological Society annual meeting in Jacksonville, Florida. We invite submissions that examine all aspects of immigrant life, particularly those that illuminate the lived experiences, structural challenges, and institutional contexts shaping the lives of migrants. We also welcome submissions from those teaching immigration courses on how they are approaching these topics inside their classrooms. 

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: • The experiences of asylum seekers and refugees • The role of immigration law and policy in creating carceral subjects • The targeting and disciplining of international students • The rise of detention centers as an immigration enforcement apparatus • The criminalization and parallel transience of immigrants, the unhoused and incarcerated populations • Research on ICE workers and immigration enforcement practices • Public perceptions on immigration enforcement • Community responses, activism, and the role of civil society in migrant justice • Methodological reflections on conducting research with immigrant populations • Pedagogical approaches to teaching about immigration in divisive times 

We welcome a wide range of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives. Graduate students, early-career researchers, and scholars from underrepresented backgrounds are especially encouraged to submit. Submission Guidelines: Please submit an abstract of 300–450 words along with your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information to Katie Acosta (kacosta@gsu.edu) by November 3, 2025.

10. Education’s Long Reach: Benefits Over Time and Across Generations

This paper session will explore the multiple ways that educational attainment and school experiences shape people’s lives and the lives of others linked across generations. We are especially interested in papers that speak to the conference theme of agency and empowerment. 

Send your submissions to John Reynolds (john.reynolds@fsu.edu) by November 3, 2025. Please include: (1) a title, (2) three keywords, (3) an abstract containing objectives, methods, and findings, and (4) your contact information. 

11. Obstacles and Opportunities for High Achieving Disadvantaged Students

This paper session is focused on the educational experiences of high achieving students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are seeking studies that explore the social and organizational factors that empower students to prevail in their educational journeys despite obstacles or hostile climates, as revealed through diverse methodological and conceptual approaches. 

Send your submissions to John Reynolds (john.reynolds@fsu.edu) by November 3, 2025. Please include: (1) a title, (2) three keywords, (3) an abstract containing objectives, methods, and findings, and (4) your contact information.