Message from the President
Dr. Mark C.J. Stoddart University
Canadian Sociological Association President 2025-2026
Greetings everyone, bonjour à toutes et à tous,
First, I want to open by acknowledging that we continue to live through times of heightened anxiety where it seems like new conflicts and crises are continuously emerging. I know that many of our membership are experiencing anxieties for themselves, as well as for family, friends, relatives, and other loved ones around the world. My thoughts are with you during this time.
Second, I’ve recently had the privilege of attending the International Sociological Association World Forum in Rabat Morocco – the first time a major ISA conference took place in the MENA region, and only the second time in Africa.
City of Rabat, Morocco
Site of the 2025 ISA World Forum.
A good portion of the conference saw critical interventions into the discourse of the Anthropocene – the notion that we inhabit a new era defined by human intervention in ecological systems. There was a great deal of discussion of how sociologists can critically contribute to the Anthropocene discourse with its origins in earth sciences. We can help centre issues of power and inequality and amplify the voices of marginalized communities whose experiences are not reflected in the abstracted, depersonalized figure of the Anthropos – “humanity” writ large as an agent of social-ecological change. We also heard repeated challenges to the mainstream of sociology to listen and learn more from colleagues and communities in the global south.
It was great to see high levels of participation and engagement of CSA members from universities right across the country. I’m glad I had a chance to run into several members on-site. I appreciate the commitment shown by CSA members to the sometimes challenging — but invaluable — task of building international sociological dialogues and epistemic communities. Engaging in such global dialogues with a spirit of openness and humility is increasingly important in our current period where political, public — and even academic — discourse too easily slips into polarization and othering those we disagree with. I hope we will continue to see similar levels of engagement in the next ISA World Congress, scheduled for July 2027 in Gwangju, Korea.
Third, I want to thank our vibrant membership for the excellent recent conference at George Brown College in Toronto. As the first CSA meetings held in a college setting, the conference theme “Committing Sociology for Social Impact” was highly relevant and timely. In the end, we held 292 in-person sessions and events as part of Congress, plus an additional 53 sessions in our virtual conference. This included 680 in-person and 132 virtual paper presentations. As we look towards piloting “life outside Congress” for our next annual conference, I look forward to co-creating a high-quality and inclusive program for next year.
Fourth, let’s congratulate our well-deserving 2025 Award Recipients, including awards for publications, early career scholars and students, applied sociology, and outstanding service. I particularly look forward to hearing Dr. Amal Madibbo’s Outstanding Contribution to Sociology Award plenary talk at next year’s conference. I hope CSA members will continue to forward excellent nominations for our suite of awards.
Fifth, I want to thank our outgoing Executive Committee and Subcommittee members, as well as our newly elected 2025 Executive Committee, Subcommittee, and Caucus members. At a time when so many of us feel the strain between competing research, teaching, and service commitments, I deeply appreciate that you’ve dedicated your valuable service time and energy to the CSA.
Lastly, let me close by calling back to Prof. Howard Ramos’ recent Outstanding Contribution to Sociology Award talk at George Brown College. One of his reading recommendations was Vine Deloria Jr.’s The World We Used to Live In. Taking this up, I came across the following passage that provides a compass for a Sociological practice that is open, curious and in awe of the worlds we research and are embedded within:
"The substance of the universe is relationships, the symmetries and their structure ...” (Deloria Jr., 2006, p. 201).
With thanks, avec gratitude,
Mark.