Updated 2/23/2022.

The Immanent Frame invites proposals for Exchanges on any questions related to the academic study and public understanding of secularism and religion. The deadline for submitting an Exchange for consideration is March 15, 2022.

Exchanges are thematic forums comprised of original essays of between 1000 and 2000 words that address such questions from multiple scholarly viewpoints—within a single field, across fields within the humanities or the social sciences, or across the humanities and the social sciences. The questions may derive from either long-standing or emerging areas of academic inquiry and often, though not always, address issues of broad contemporary concern. Individual essays are written for an interdisciplinary, non-specialist readership of various scholarly publics, including undergraduate and graduate students. Exchanges have taken various forms throughout TIF’s publishing history. Most recently they have consisted of an introductory framing essay, five to eight essays responding to the forum question, and a concluding essay that considers thematic resonances between and across the forum contributions as well as suggests possible directions for future research.

Scholars of any academic discipline and methodological orientation are invited to submit proposals for Exchanges that, if accepted, will be developed for publication in Spring/Summer 2022.

Applicants are encouraged to review past Exchanges to determine which topics have already received attention. Proposals that foreground questions that have not received significant coverage on TIF or that suggest innovative approaches to enduring questions in the social sciences and/or the humanities will be considered favorably. We especially encourage proposals whose list of potential contributors is broadly diverse, including with regard to institutional affiliation, rank, and research expertise. Submissions whose proposed contributors are mostly located at one institution will not be accepted.

This call will remain open through March 15, 2022. Applicants will be notified not later than one month after the submission deadline if their proposals were selected. The TIF Editor will liaise with these applicants at such time to determine the scope and content of the planned forum. Only proposals submitted through the online application form will be considered. Please direct any questions to ifblog@ssrc.org.