16th Annual Muslim Studies Program Conference

Call for Papers

Date: February 23-24, 2023

Venue: Michigan State University, International Center, East Lansing, MI, USA

Abstract Submission Deadline: August 31, 2022

Michigan State University is hosting an international conference entitled “Measuring Muslim Publics: Curves, Columns, Spheres and Squares.” This conference investigates who is ‘the public’ in public opinion? What effect does it have on politics? These questions have received a great deal of attention by scholars of American and European contexts where their contributions have taken on a universalistic overtone.

Are these generalized assumptions valid in other societies – notably in Muslim-majority contexts? In addressing these questions, this conference aims to contribute to the interdisciplinary study of public opinion and ‘the public’ in Muslim contexts inside and outside of the Muslim world.

Previous research on public opinion and the public often falls into one of the following metaphorical categories. Survey research aggregates individual attitudes into curves measuring supplies of cultural values and of political demands. Media studies interprets the public through the writing of columns by journalists and their contemporary electronic equivalents. Social movement theories investigate the contentious social and political behavior of protest and demonstrations in city squares. Theories of public spheres investigate both the discourses that shape collective norms and the institutional settings they reside in.

Studies of public opinion from these various approaches in the Muslim world have increased in quantity and quality in recent years. However, researchers often fail to have conversations across both disciplinary boundaries and geographic scope.

Papers that interrogate normative assumptions and methodologies in public opinion research are also encouraged. Junior scholars and post-doctoral researchers are encouraged to submit abstracts for consideration.

The deadline to apply is August 31, 2022, and accepted papers will be announced by September 30, 2022.

More information on: Muslim Studies Program