In July 2018, we were in Toronto (Canada), at the ISA 2018 Congress. With a total of three lectures, we had prepared quite a lot for this conference which functions as meeting space for the globally organized sociology community. Fortunately, the time slots for our presentations were distributed over the entire week, so that we did not suffer from too much stress. First, Kornelia Sammet presented her elaborations on a group of Irish Travelers whom we met during our first field trip to Ireland. The title of her presentation was “Irish Travelers: The Identity Construction of Indigenous Ethnic Minority within the Irish Society”. An essay on the problems of verbal communication in research concerned with non-native-language contexts which is based on this lecture is in preparation.

In the RC “Alienation Theory and Research”, in which we were able to present some work already discussed at the ISA Forum 2016 in Vienna, Franz Erhard presented findings and theoretical advancements from his dissertation project under the title “How Deprived People Experience Their Exclusion via Today’s Welfare Regimes”. Finally, at ISA 2018, we also discussed our paper on Food Banks in the UK and Ireland under the title: “Food Banks and Panels: Faith-based and Secular Institutions of Food Commissions for People in Need”. In the session on “Rethinking the Religion and Social Policy Nexus at a Global Level”, we had an extremely stimulating discussion which will prove profitable for our further reflections on the topic – even if there are other texts pending first.

Translation: Charlotte Nate