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In the fall of 2002, I received an unexpected call from the US Department of Defense asking for my help in its efforts to develop contingency plans for various sectors of Iraq's economy in the event that military action did occur. The Iraqi oil industry is, by far, the most important economic sector and would have to be back in operation quickly if the country was to recover from the effects of the fighting and move on to a more hopeful future. The planning effort was carried out by contractors under existing DOD contracts. The effort was intense. A number of scenarios were evaluated ranging from massive destruction of facilities and an uncooperative workforce, to more benign ones where physical damage was light and good relations with the oil workers could be maintained. For each of these potential outcomes, estimates were made of human, material, and financial resources that would be required. The organisational structure of the recovery effort was laid out and the process of identifying the people to do the jobs was begun.

AbstractThe Truth and Reconciliation Commission has indicated that education has a central role to play in the reconciliation process. This article assesses how well sociology is doing in this regard by looking at what introductory textbooks say about three topics: (1) residential schools, (2) Indigenous "religion;" and (3) the social construction of Indigenous identities. The findings are mixed. While most textbooks mention the "loss of culture" and the abuse associated with those schools, discussions of intergenerational trauma could be much improved. Discussions of Indigenous religion are still guided by a Western model that has long been regarded as inappropriate to Indigenous cultures. All textbooks ignore the ways in which Indigenous identities are socially constructed and how this is linked to the dramatic growth of the Indigenous population over the last several decades. A concluding section draws upon the work of Indigenous scholars in suggesting ways of decolonizing textbooks.

A section on "world religions" (WRs) is now routinely included in the religion chapters of introductory sociology textbooks. Looking carefully at these WR sections, however, two things seem puzzling. The first is that the criteria for defining a WR varies considerably from textbook to textbook; the second is that these WRs sections contain little or no sociology. These puzzles are resolved, however, once we understand that under the guise of promoting "diversity," these sections are really affirming the universality of what has long been identified as a distinctively modern and very Western view of religion. The article concludes with some practical suggestions for improving the religion chapters in introductory textbooks. One such suggestion is that paying more attention to Native American "religion" would be a useful way of introducing students to the view that religion is a social construction that has no stable transhistorical and transcultural meaning.