This is the first of our weekly digests of Sessions Seeking Papers for the SSS 2027 meeting. With the meeting’s theme “Interdisciplinary Sociology: The Bridge to Engagement,” President Marnie Brown encourages us to “explore how sociologists participate in interdisciplinary practice. This could look like integrating sociology with interdisciplinary studies, merging programs to form interdisciplinary departments, working on multidisciplinary projects and grants, or engaging in interdisciplinary teaching practices.”
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 (as of September 8, 2026)
To submit a Session Seeking Papers (SSP), please visit this form. We encourage members to submit their SSPs by Wednesday of each week to appear in the following week’s digest. Our weekly digest will continue until October 1st.
For any individual submissions to SSS 2027, please click here.
Fat Studies/Body Politics
This session will highlight scholarship in the general theme of body politics/fat studies. Fat studies and body politics align perfectly with the conference theme of “interdisciplinary sociology: the bridge to enlightenment”, as the discipline transcends scholarly boundaries, encompassing sociology, women’s studies, public health, psychology, biology, political science, media studies, and beyond. We will highlight papers that used innovative, interdisciplinary methods and use traditional and/or cutting edge theories to study topics that broadly include: Fat Studies, Fat sexualities, Fatness & institutions, and Fatness as an Identity; Fat Activism; Health at Every Size (HAES); Bodies as they intersect with gender,
sexuality, race, class, religion, ability; Body politics; Colonizing and Decolonizing Bodies; Representation & visual culture; Dieting and Food as they relate to bodies; Fashion as it intersects with gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, ability, size; 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.
Please note that information provided here 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 by 9/25/2026 to aprohaska@ua.edu.
JEDI Mini-Conference: How Does Changing the Name Change the Game?
Session 1: How Does Changing the Name Change the Game? U.S. Perspectives on Participation, Access, and Belonging in Sociology
Description: We invite papers that examine how changing institutional, disciplinary, and political contexts are reshaping conversations about
participation, access, and belonging within the U.S. sociological context.
Session 2: How Does Changing the Name Change the Game? Global Perspectives on Participation, Access, and Belonging in Sociology.
Description: We invite papers that explore participation, access, and belonging from international and comparative perspectives, highlighting diverse institutional, cultural, and disciplinary contexts.
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 300-450 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.
Please note that information provided here 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 by 9/25/2026 to kaseide@davidson.edu.
Note: SSS policy requires that all participants listed in the program be current members of SSS and be registered for the annual meeting. You may join/renew your SSS membership and pre-register for the conference in the Membership Portal.