Thi conference, which consisted of many sessions, was very wellattended. Since giving a review of each session is impractical, I will discussthose points that relate to academic trategies and intellectual trendsand that are relevant to Muslim academia.Organization: Social disciplines have become very diverse.Sociology, if not at the top, is no exception. Thus it seems that organizinga conference aroW1d a theme is rather limiting. This meeting, entitled "TheChallenge of Democratic Participation," consisted of nine categories: plenary,thematic, regular/section session, special session, didactic seminar,open topic refereed roundtables/informal discussion roundtables, bookpanel/poster sessions, and professional and teaching workshops. Plenarysessions discussed subjects of national or statewide policy concerns, suchas "Reconstructing the Political," or "Reflection of the 1992 Los AngelesRebellion: Views of Community Leaders." The thematk sessions analyzeddemocratic participation on many levels: labor's role in democratization,trade unions, religion and institutions, governance in highereducation, mass media strategies, and gender. The thirty-three special sessionsfocused on timely topics: pan-ethnicity in the United States; the relevanceof the Black church; the politics of educational texts, health care,and the family values debate; xenophobia in Europe; fundamentalism inthe Middle East; NAFTA; and federal support to social sciences ...
Mazen Hashem (1995) studied this question.