Deadline for abstracts is 1st August 2012 for more details please visit the Melikian Center website

Post-Atheism: Religion, Society and Culture in Post-communist Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Start Time: February 7, 2013 (All day)
End time: February 9, 2013 (All day)
ASU Tempe campus
As of May 12, 2012:

“Post-Atheism”:
Religion, Society, and Culture in Post-Communist
Eastern Europe and Eurasia

The Melikian Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at Arizona State University is pleased to announce an international symposium on “Post-Atheism” in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, to be held on the ASU campus in Tempe, Arizona, February 7-9, 2013. The symposium will feature presentations by international visiting scholars from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, and elsewhere from the region. Professor Jose Casanova (Georgetown University), author of Public Religions in the Modern World, will keynote the symposium on Thursday, February 7.

The symposium is designed to address one of the most fascinating and controversial issues of the post-communist world—namely, the new public role of religion in East European and Eurasian society. Is there separation of church and state in today’s Eastern Europe, Russia or Eurasia? Are Iranian-like theocracies a possibility in some regions? Is the forceful entry of religion into the public sphere a fleeting fashion or a deeper phenomenon of lasting importance? How does this recovery of religious identity intersect with prevailing theory on secularization? How has religion been reintroduced into the Academy and public education? How are the relationships between dominant religious faith traditions and minority confessions (often stigmatized as “destructive sects”) affected in the region?

The conference is intended to generate sustained debate and discussion on a variety of perspectives relating to all the major faith traditions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism) of the region, from Central and Southeastern Europe to Russia, Ukraine, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and Mongolia. We will also welcome panels/roundtables/individual presentations dealing with non-traditional religious movements and transnational religious currents. Conference lodging will be provided, and limited funding will be available to support international travel.

While we are open to other topics, we specifically invite individual and panel proposals on the following themes:

• Religion, National Identity and Conflict: The Role of Religious Actors in Framing Ideologies of Nationalism and Transnational Globalization; Ethno-religious Conflict and Peacemaking.
• Religion and Policymaking: Clerics and Religious Institutions in the Public Arena.
• Religion and Education: Theology vs. Religious Studies in the Academy; Religion in Public Education.
• Religion, Sexuality, and Gender: Patriarchy, Gender Equality, and LGBT Issues in Modern Religious Culture.
• Religion and Culture: Popular Culture, Literature, TV/Film, Folklore.

Please send us a brief (250-word limit) abstract of your individual paper/panel proposal and a one-page bio or CV.

Deadline for Proposal Submission: August 1, 2012

Contact: Alexei Lalo, Research Administrator, ASU Melikian Center (alalo@asu.edu)
Stephen Batalden, Director, ASU Melikian Center (stephen.batalden@asu.edu)
Web page: http://melikian.asu.edu/events