Societies Without Borders

Special Issue on “Social Science without Borders: Looking Back, Looking Forward”

The editors of Societies Without Borders: Human Rights and the Social Sciences (SWB)—a double-blind, peer-reviewed, open-source electronic journal devoted to cutting-edge research on human rights and public goods—invite authors to submit manuscripts for a special issue on “Social Science without Borders: Looking Back, Looking Forward.”

The special issue seeks papers, commentaries, notes from the field, as well as poetic, visual, and other expressions devoted to critically commemorating 2012, when Sociologos Sin Fronteras/Sociologists Without Borders (SSF) enters its second decade of work with scholars, students, activists, and community members in SSF chapters around the world.

SWB, the flagship journal of SSF, and SSF itself, with all of its chapters, has been deeply involved in the human rights revolution in the social sciences, particularly sociology. SSF is at the forefront of this epistemological revolution. We feel that it is now time to report on the successes and challenges of SSF’s endeavors over the past decade and to project and predict what efforts should be made in the future.

Any and all inquiries into the work of SSF around the world, the building of a social science without borders, and the institutionalization of a human rights-oriented social science are welcome. Some questions for consideration include:

• History and evolution of SSF
• Meanings of a “social science without borders”
• How to undertake social science without borders in the different aspects of our work
• Promises and perils of a “social science without borders”
• History and evolution of SWB
• Founding and growth of the ISA Thematic Group on Human Rights and Global Justice
• Founding and growth of the ASA Section on Human Rights
• Challenges associated with interdisciplinary studies of human rights
• Implications of the Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Human Rights

Founded in 2001, SSF is a transnational association of sociologists committed to the following principles: that all people have equal rights to political freedoms and legal protections, to socioeconomic security, to self-determination, and to their personality. That is, old or young, regardless of where they live, their faith, and whether they are male or female, gay or straight, and regardless of their skin color they have the same universal rights, including their rights to their own particular cultures. SSF also promotes an understanding that collective goods, including a sustainable environment, cannot be privatized.

The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2012.

Inquiries may be sent to David L. Brunsma.

For SWB submission guidelines.

Please submit manuscripts as e-mail attachments to the co-editors.

Submissions will be subject to the regular review process of SWB.

Dear Reader,

As you explore Volume 6, Number 2, we would like to invite you to add your thoughts and feedback.  Write to the author, or write to other readers–a few hundred people visit to see our new issues.

To write a comment click on the title of the article.  Then add your ideas in the text box at the bottom of the page under “Leave a Reply.”  Be sure to click “Post Comment” when you are finished typing.

By taking this step, you are contributing to a dialog across borders about topics of great importance.  Please add your voice.  It will allow us all to begin the work of building a society without borders.