Download INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION

INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE DE SOCIOLOGIE
ASOCIACION INTERNACIONAL DE SOCIOLOGIA
Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology
University Complutense, 28223 Madrid, SPAIN
Phone: (34)91352 76 50, Fax: (34)91352 49 45
[email protected] http://www.isa-sociology.org
Report
Council of National Associations Business Meeting
May 16, 2013, Ankara, Turkey
Held on the occasion of the CNA conference
Meeting was chaired by Tina Uys, Vice-President for National Associations
Minutes were recorded by Izabela Barlinska, Executive Secretary
1. Roll Call
Delegates from the following 35 countries were present: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan,
Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Kyrgyzstan,
Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine,
United Kingdom, and USA.
In addition, present were:
- Delegate of the Estonian Association of Sociologist but had no right to vote as the Estonian
Association of Sociologist did not pay its membership fees since 2007
- Delegate of the Italian Sociological Association but had no right to vote as its nomination
was sent by e-mail when the Business Meeting has already concluded.
- Members of the ISA Executive Committee
Absent were Delegates from the Australian Sociological Association and the Association of
Sociologists of Kazakhstan who attended the CAN conference.
2. Report from the Vice President for National Associations
Tina Uys, Vice-President for National Associations, summarized the work developed by the
National Associations Liaison Committee during 2011-2013:
(a) Grants for national associations 2011-2013
The NALC distributed grants totalling Euro 24,360 to several national associations to establish or
develop their own, as well as to organize regional conferences. Sociological Associations of
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Iran, Kyrgyzstan,
Mozambique, Philippines, Portugal and Spain received grants in 2011-2013.
(b) New regular collective members
The following regular collective members were accepted:
2011: Asociación Argentina de Sociología, Bangladesh Sociological Association, Association of
Ireland (pending fees payment), Lebanese Association of Sociology, Mozambican Sociological
Association, Slovenian Social Sciences Association
2012: Sociological Association of Pakistan, Uganda Sociological and Anthropological Association
(pending fees payment).
2013 (till May): Saudi Society of Sociology and Social Work
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Currently, 63 national associations are listed as regular collective members of the ISA but
regrettably not all of them are in good standing due to outstanding membership fees payments.
(c) Questionnaire
A questionnaire for Representatives of National Associations prepared by the NALC was circulated
to all national associations prior to the CNA conference in Ankara. The aim is to collect information
about NAs’ history, membership, activities, structures, successes and challenges with a view to
determining ways in which the NALC can assist NAs.
(d) Third ISA CNA conference in Ankara, Turkey
The conference of the Council of National Associations in Ankara, Turkey, was the third meeting of
the NA representatives, organised in-between the World Congresses of Sociology. The first one was
organised by Sujata Patel in Miami, 2005, and the second one by Michael Burawoy in Taipei,
Taiwan in 2009.
The theme of the conference was Sociology in Times of Turmoil: Comparative Approaches and 52
papers were presented in 16 sessions. Authors were encouraged to submit manuscripts to
International Sociology to be considered for possible publication.
(e) Services available to national associations from the ISA
Tina Uys discussed the structure of the ISA and services available to national associations. She
summarized also the feedback received from several collective members and provided suggestions
for future actions.
For more details, please see the attached NAC report by Tina Uys, VP National Associations.
3. Election of the CNA Nominating Committee for ISA elections 2014
11 candidates were proposed to serve on the Nominating Committee for ISA elections in 2014. A
vote was taken and following were elected members of the CNA Nominating Committee:
Tina UYS, South Africa, Chair
Shuijro YAZAWA, Japan
Emma PORIO, Philippines
Patricio LANGA, Mozambique
Sergio BALTATESCU, Romania
Reserve list:
Hala AWADA, Lebanon
Sonia SCHNITZLER, Germany
Jose-Vicente TAVARES, Brazil
Ana ROMAO, Portugal
Diego PEREYRA, Argentina
Hossein SERAJZADEH, Iran
4. XVIII World Congress of Sociology, Yokohama 2014
(a) Michael Burawoy, President, reported on Congress main theme Facing an Unequal World:
Challenges for Global Sociology, and preparations of Presidential Sessions he is developing
himself.
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(b) Raquel Sosa, Vice-President Program, reported on the work of the Program Committee over the
past three years. The jointly elaborated document Facing Inequalities has served as the basis of the
arguments on how to approach all the problems to be discussed in the plenaries. The Committee
determined also the structure and organization of the program, the number and profile of every
plenary, as well as the speakers.
The Committee selected 6 Ad Hoc sessions (from 27 proposals received) and decided to create a
new series of Professional Development sessions which will include a session on Global Dialogue,
on Academic Publications, and Junior Sociologists meeting Senior Sociologists.
In addition, there will be 5 Japanese Thematic Sessions prepared by the Japanese Local Organising
Committee, and 5 Authors Meet Critics sessions prepared by the Program Committee.
The Yokohama Congress will take place a year before UNESCO’s term to fulfill the Millennium
Development Goals and the VP program hopes that the Congress academic program will contribute
as much as possible to a deeper understanding of inequality as well as to ways of overcoming it.
4. Activities of ISA Research Committees
Margaret Abraham, Vice-President, Research, reported on ISA Forum of Sociology held in Buenos
Aires in August 2012. The conference was a big success both in terms of a number of sessions
organized by the Research Committees as in a number of attendees.
The Vice-President underlined the importance of collaboration among Research Committees and
National Associations and informed that for the forthcoming World Congress of Sociology, the subcommittee composed of 4 members of the Executive Committee who sit on the Research
Coordinating Committee and on the National Association Liaison Committee, plus the Vice
President, National Associations (Uys) and the Vice President, Research (Abraham) selected:
- 12 integrative Sessions that connect around a debate on a common theme at least three
Research Committees, Working Groups, Thematic Groups, or at least three National
Associations (ISA collective members), or a combination of any three units. A list of the
approved integrative sessions is available on the Congress website http://www.isasociology.org/congress2014/integrative-sessions.htm
- 5 national associations and 1 thematic association sessions; a list of the approved sessions is
available on the Congress website
http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/associations.htm
5. ISA Publications
Jennifer Platt, Vice-President, Publications, reported on the latest developments in ISA journals,
book series and on-line publications. She referred also to the on-going discussion about ‘open
access’ options for publications. Proposals to require authors whose work has been funded by the
government or private bodies to make articles available to readers free of charge, could be a serious
threat to the income of the ISA as this can lead to libraries cancelling subscriptions. Sage proposes
that ISA journals should become ‘hybrid’ ones, which makes either ‘gold’ or ‘green’ option
available to any authors who require it without requiring special arrangements of others. The green
option requires a ‘repository’ in which articles can eventually be available for free, and it was
proposed to investigate the possibility of creating an ISA one.
6. Finances and Membership of the ISA
Tom Dwyer, member of the Finances and Membership, provided information on ISA finances and
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on the three proposals which will be voted at the Assembly of Council meeting at the World
Congress in Yokohama, July 2014:
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Increase the minimum number of members required to establish a RC, from 25 to 50 ISA
individual members, and 25 members in good standing to establish a Working Group.
Differentiate Life Membership fee across category A, B and C countries: Cat. A: USD 300
(current rate), Cat. B: USD 200 and Cat. C: USD 100.
Introduce a fee of USD150 for regular collective members from economies B. By adding this
third range of fees, the following scale of annual dues for regular members would be in
force: Category A: US$300 (or more), Cat. B: $150, and Cat. C: US$75.
Tom Dwyer commented also that requests for reducing individual membership fees received from
some members from category A countries, were declined. The F&MC reiterated that membership
fees are based on the World Bank economic categories and are revised annually.
Tom Dwyer reported that together with Ishwar Modi they submitted a detailed report analysing ISA
membership data with a purpose of understanding low and/or declining membership in particular
countries. To help stimulate ISA membership, the following suggestions were made:
- To make ISA material available at national associations’ conferences;
- ISA officers’ presence at national associations’ conferences;
- To publicize national associations’ conferences on the ISA website;
7. Affiliations
7a. Global Development Network and World Social Science Forum
Emma Porio, ISA representative at the Global Development Network, reported on various GDN
projects underlining her continuing advocacy for a more inclusive, multidisciplinary approach of
the GDN’s research programs and activities
Emma Porio represented also ISA on the Scientific Program Committee of the World Social
Science Forum and was involved in preparing sessions on “Integrated Global Research: multidimensional approaches to the study of social changes” which will take place in Montreal this
summer.
7b. United Nations
Jan M. Fritz reported on various activities undertaken by three ISA representatives at the United
Nations: herself, Rosemary Barberet and Jovanni Rodriguez, Youth Representative. All three
attended the 56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the affiliated events in
New York. Their proposal for an ISA session was accepted as a part of the parallel program called
“Moving towards a Just Peace” for which they provided reference lists to the participants. In
addition, Rosemary Barberet attended also meetings of the Commission on the Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice in Vienna.
8. A.O.B.
8a. Boycott of the German national ranking system
Sonia Schnitzler, Delegate of the German Sociological Association, reported that the GSA decided
to take a stand against academic ranking provided by the Center for the Development of Higher
Education, and called upon departments, lecturers, and students not to participate in the CHE
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ranking. The GSA is skeptical about the instrument of university ranking as such and consider the
information value of the CHE ranking to be low, if for only one reason, namely that a significant
number of institutes have been ranked on the basis of incomplete data. Ranking universities serves
as an instrument for establishing competitive cultures in academia. It systematically produces
winners and losers but does not help to improve the quality of scientific work. The boycott, which
has been widely covered in the press, has joined by a majority of sociology departments in
Germany. It is also being supported by other disciplines. Historians, English literary scholars,
chemists, pedagogues, and political scientists have decided not to partake in the CHE ranking
8b. Regional associations at the CAN meetings
Proposed by Raquel Sosa, VP Program (Mexico):
That the regional associations, affiliated members of the ISA, be invited to participate in the
meetings of the Council of National Associations. It was clarified that regional associations,
affiliated members in good standing, can participate as observers in the CNA meetings. The ISA
cannot however commit itself or a host country to cover travel and/or accommodation costs of their
representatives.
8c. Words of condolences to the METU
Proposed by Raquel Sosa, VP Program (Mexico):
To express condolences to the METU, host of the CNA conference, for victims of recent bomb
explosions in the border town with Syria; accepted unanimously.
8b. Restructuring of the ISA
Michael Burawoy, President, reported that given the growth of the ISA, and the addition of new
activities (especially the very successful ISA Forum), the ISA Executive Committee decided that
there was need for some restructuring and rethinking of the roles and responsibilities of its elected
officers. The proposed changes involve the re-composition of the program committee for World
Congresses that will give wider representation to Research Committees and National Associations
and enable future ISA Presidents to play a more direct role in shaping World Congress programs.
Raquel Sosa, current VP Program, presented her rationale against the proposed changes.
It was clarified that the proposed changes as well as the rationales for and against the change will be
made available on the website and all members will be invited to post their comments, suggestions
and questions on the blog to be moderated by the President.
The representatives of the Research Committees and National Associations (in good standing) will
be asked to vote on those organizational changes in the ISA that have been proposed by the ISA
Executive Committee. If the proposals pass then they will take effect at the 2014 World Congress in
Yokohama.
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