Damon Mayrl is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Sociology at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. His research uses comparative and historical methods to illuminate how cultural forces and social structures act upon and transform one another, with a particular focus on the relationship between religion and politics. Dr. Mayrl’s forthcoming book, Secular Conversions (Cambridge University Press), examines how political institutions have fostered distinct patterns of secularization in American and Australian education since 1800. Other current projects investigate how religion matters to politics and policymaking, how symbolic conflicts influence the form and visibility of the American state, and how historical methods are actually practiced in social scientific research.
He will be presenting a paper titiled, "The ‘Hidden’ American State Reconsidered: Rethinking State Visibility."