Submissions for in-person conferences are currently closed. Submissions for the 2020 Virtual Conference can be made on the Virtual Conference portal under the "Conferences" tab at the top of this page.
Please check back after September 15, 2020, for submission to the 2021 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Program Chair for the WSSA 2020 Conference
Mary Jo Tippeconnic Fox, Ph.D.(Comanche/Cherokee) Research Professor, American Indian Studies Affiliate Faculty, Gender and Women’s Studies The University of Arizona PO Box 210076 Richard P. Harvill Bldg. (#76), Rm. # 224 Tucson AZ 85721 E-mail: foxm@email.arizona.edu
Find, below, a section/associate/affiliate Coordinator for your field of interest
The submission process for the 2020 conference opened August 15, 2019. The deadline to submit proposals for the 2020 conference is December 7, 2019. Abstracts and contact information for proposed papers/panels/roundtables must be submitted to the Coordinator of the appropriate section or affiliate, who will review the submission and accept or reject the submission, or refer it to a different section. Submissions must be made through our online submissions site. Click the following link for step-by-step instructions on how to submit. Instructions
When submitting a proposal for a WSSA Conference, you will need:
Name of the author(s) --- if there is more than one author, information on all authors must be submitted
Name of the educational institution, government agency, or other organization that you and any other authors work for
Title of paper, panel, or roundtable
Short abstract
Section name and/or Section Coordinator's name
When you have them, click your section of interest, and follow the instructions given above.
Both Affiliates and Associates hold their meetings under the umbrella of the WSSA, and their members are treated as members by WSSA. Affiliate groups have their own journal, business operations, and organizational structure. Associate groups have their own business operations and organizational structure. Current Affiliate groups are the Association for Borderlands Studies, Slavic & Eurasian Studies, and theUnion for Radical Political Economics. Current Associate group is the Association for Institutional Thought. If your group is interested in affiliating with the WSSA, please let us know. You may contact:
If your section now meets the definition of an affiliate or associate group, please contact the Communications Director, Kate Herke. to have your description changed in the list below.
Who Must Register ?
All presenters must register, preferably during the pre-registration period. See our "Registration" page for instructions on how to register, information about refunds, and links both to the registration website and to a downloadable paper form for those who prefer not to use the web.
This section adds to a commitment of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary academic excellence by highlighting Contemporary theories and research of African and African Americans. Scholarly discussions are presented on academic, social, economic, and historical issues that impact the African and African American experience in the United States. We accept contributions from any discipline that facilitates intellectual discussion on the history, culture, religion, politics, economics, arts, sociology, health, and the Diaspora of peoples of African descent as developed from experiences in both the old and new worlds.
This section presents perspectives from sociocultural anthropology on the diversity and the dynamics of collective human life. Topics examine the subfields of archaeology, biocultural anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology through the examination of selected problems in human physical, cultural, and social evolution.
Arid Lands Studies & Geography is designed to emphasize the importance of, and coordinate the efforts for, studying human adaptation to the world’s arid and semiarid lands. As a multidisciplinary section, we welcome submissions from a diverse set of disciplines such as economics, anthropology, geography, history, agriculture, and hydrology. Our goal is to encourage and increase the general awareness of the problems and potentials of the arid and semiarid lands of the world, and of human adjustment to and impact upon them.
This section presents studies on issues, concerns and perspectives of Asia and Asians. Topics can be in the areas of communication, economics, education, health, politics and sociology.
This Affiliate is a multidisciplinary and international network of scholars who are involved in various aspects of border region studies. Principal focal points of the ABS' work have been in the area of economics, political sciences, history, sociology and cultural studies. Although much of ABS's activities has centered on the US-Mexican Borderlands, members are increasingly involved in the study of European, Asian and other border regions.
This section accepts proposals for papers, panels and roundtables relating to any disciplines or areas of Canadian Studies, not just the social sciences. Usually the Canadian Studies Section has an emphasis on the Canadian West and comparisons between the Canadian and American West, and also Mexico, however, the section covers all aspects of Canadian Studies and is happy to have panels on Canadian Literature, Arts, and Humanities as well as panels on Canadian Geography, History, Anthropology, Economics, Politics, Business, Environment, Public Policy, etc. etc. The Canadian Studies Section is eager to have panels appropriately cross-listed with other WSSA Sections, such as Borderland Studies, Political Science, Native Studies, etc.
In theme-based panels ranging through the social sciences, arts, humanities or pedagogy, Chicano/Latino/Hispanic Studies sessions feature presentations from any discipline which include dynamics addressing those three targeted identities, no matter how they are defined, whether politically, ethnically, linguistically or otherwise.
En paneles con temas que rangan por las ciencias sociales, las artes, las humanidades o la pedagogía, las sesiones de los Estudios Chicanos/Latinos/Hispanos puedan incluir ponencias de cualquiera disciplina que incluyen las dinámicas que se dirigen a dichas tres identidades, o que sean las definiciones de ellas políticas, étnicas, lingüísticas o lo que sea.
This section accepts papers on all aspects of criminological theory, research and practice. This includes both the practice of criminal justice administration and the critical study of this practice. Areas range from the micro study of criminal behavior and victimology through the meso study of both criminal and criminal justice organizations to the macro study of the social implications of crime and the administration of criminal justice through the police, courts and correctional systems.
A.F.I.T. is an Associate disciplinary group of WSSA. With recognition of the role of culture in organizing economic activity, institutional work draws its inspiration from messy reality-- the overlap of disciplinary boundaries, the interaction between diverse intellectual traditions, and the conflict and cooperation between social groups within and between societies. Possible themes for papers and/or panels could include the influence of other social science traditions on institutional economics, the application of interdisciplinary work in pragmatic policy analysis, the connection or overlap between diverse elements within heterodox economic theory, and the relevance of cultural norms and cross cultural conflict in the study of economic systems.
This section presents perspectives for general economics on the allocation of scarce resources among competing ends. Topics include, but are not limited to, the subfields of labor economics, public finance, health economics, demographic economics, international trade and economic development.
The Environmental Policy and Natural Resources Management section accepts covers the full array of environmental social science disciplines, subfields, and topics. Topics include but are not at all limited to: land management; public resource management; technology and policy related to food, energy, and water; animal studies; environmental values; consumption studies.
History takes in the whole scope of the human condition so long as the action or event has occurred in the past. Thus, while historians may focus on such questions as political, social, or women's history, and periodization remains important, any aspect of human action or thought is in the historian's purview.
The section of Latin-American studies considers Latin America as a region of countries that have a common history since the colonial period under the domination of Spain and Portugal. The study of this region's history, politics and culture (at the global and national level in each country) is the object of this section. The coordinators of this section work on predominantly analyses on present problems and on their projects toward the future. These analyses pay special attention to contemporary issues addressing relevant debates about projects that outline and propose a better development of the region.
The LGBTQ section examines research, theory development, policy, and practice issues that contribute to the social and cultural construction of the LGBTQ community, social status, and legal issues involving empowerment, oppression, and social injustice.
Rural & Agricultural Studies is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary section. Studies of rural areas or agriculture, in their broadest definitions and in any part of the world, are welcome. Varying in scope, approach, and method, and ranging from sociology to literature, participants' works have addressed small towns, extraction-based economies, population change, game management, food policy, rural women's literature and social and environmental history.
The Western Association for Slavic Studies (WASS) meets annually as the Slavic and Eurasian Studies Section of the Western Social Science Association. Those wishing to present papers in the Slavic and Eurasian Studies Section need not be members of the WASS, but are welcome to join. The Slavic and Eurasian Studies Section is interested in all aspects of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe along with the territories of the former Soviet Union, including, but not limited to: Anthropology, History, Literature, Political Science, Music, Religious Studies, and Sociology.
This section presents a range of perspectives on social life. Subfields include gender, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, family, organizations, education, politics, sexuality, globalization, social movements, stratification, consumption, law, medicine, and technology.
Founded in 1968, The Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) is an interdisciplinary membership organization of academics and of activists. Its mission is to promote the study, development and application of radical political economic analysis to social problems. Concretely this involves a continuing critique of both the capitalist system, and of all forms of exploitation and oppression. URPE’s mission also includes, coming out of this critique, helping to construct a progressive social policy, and a human-centered radical alternative to capitalism. Please go towww.urpe.org for more information about URPE, including how you can join.
URPE is a national and international organization, but it has to date provided very few conference opportunities for our western members. We seek to rectify that by becoming a regular part of the WSSA. In particular, we hope to bring together academics and activists working to try to build a better, fairer, more sustainable society. As an interdisciplinary organization, we see the WSSA as a natural partner and we look forward to many years of fruitful collaboration.
We would welcome proposals for joint sessions from other WSSA associations. URPE is interested in proposals from any perspective that incorporates or is sympathetic to Radical Political Economy. Submissions could involve individual papers, entire sessions, round tables on important topics or books, and sessions and workshops on teaching. Submissions by graduate students, activists and academics are encouraged.
This section examines the human condition in relationship to the physical, cultural, social, and environmental aspects of community. It promotes the study of urban environments in the disciplines of Urban Design, Planning, Architecture, Housing, Urban Art, Transportation, History of the City, Parks, Landscapes, and other research pertaining to the advancement of the urban condition.
This section accepts papers, panels, and round tables from this interdisciplinary field that examine gender as a social and cultural construction, the social status and contributions of women, and the relationships between power and gender. Areas range from gender and sexuality, to queer studies, to feminist theory.
