A slightly shameless plug of my own work, (but also in keeping with a non-religion and religion discourse) just published on the Religious Studies Project Site. The piece was published by the Religious Studies Project, on 24 February 2012 responds to the Religious Studies Project Interview with George Chryssides on The Insider/Outsider Problem (20 February 2012)
The Council for Secular Humanists has published a paper by Frank L. Pasquale, titled “The Social Science of Secularity”
Following a failure of irreligious studies to get off the ground in 1971, the purposeful study of the non-religious has again attempted flight and seems to be rocketing, as a subject in its own right, as much NSRN work can attest. This is a fact championed by Pasquale who gives the NSRN a good write up as an “innovative organisation”.
Pasquale gives a useful overview of the breadth of current research and the genesis of organisations such as the NSRN and CAR (Center for Atheist Research). He pays particular attention to key areas needing serious consideration from researchers, including the thorny issue of terminology, accurate description and characterisation. Other key areas include health, pluralisation of world-views and all “will increasingly need to direct attention to the vast and apparently growing mass of “seculous,” “religular,” or “fuzzy” types in between”.
Perhaps there might be some interest for applications which include a persective on secularism and nonreligion in this special issue of Gender, Religion and Migration.
The special issue on Gender, Religion and Migration will look at the intersectional dimension of gender, ethnicity and religion where religion in particular plays a central role in providing a sense of belonging for migrants and represents a source of identification during the migratory experience. The special issue will focus on the ways in which gender roles are constructed and reproduced through religion within migrant communities in urban contexts and brings together leading scholars in the field of migration to explore how geographical mobility shapes gendered religious identities. For too long social sciences and migration studies have paid insufficient attention to the importance of religion in the everyday lives of many migrants and Levitt’s (2008) call for more ‘empirical, grounded’ research on migration and religion aims at filling this particular gap in the literature .
Mobilizing religion may serve a range of diverse purposes during the migratory experience and, indeed, migration may in turn shape the different ways in which religion is reproduced on an every day basis if compared with the country of origin of the worshippers. Religion can also provide a trans-national source of identification; for example, it may play a significant role in enabling migrants to imagine themselves within collectivities that span beyond the nation-state. In other words, religious worship may fulfil many functions for migrants, not only spiritual, but also material and social such as civic participation and commitment towards the parish for church goers (Levitt 2008). Hence, for migrants in particular, religion can potentially provide a means for both maintaining and expressing continuity of faith and practice while negotiating integration within a new environment (Stanczak, 2006).
The special issue On Gender, Religion and Migration will build on the symposium at Middlesex University, held in 2011, to explore comparisons and contrasts across different religious communities which could include for example, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Hindi, etc.
This collection of articles aims to bring together empirical research from different academic disciplines, including sociology, geography and anthropology and using a range of methods to engage with and research different religious communities. We welcome papers that present a comparative approach to studying religion in migration.
In particular, we are looking for papers that tackle the following:
• Comparisons across religious groups
• Intersectional dimensions of gender, ethnicity and religion
• Construction of gender through religion in urban contexts
• Religion as a trans-national source of identification and the role of gender in negotiating local integration through religion
• Religion as a source of civic engagement differently negotiated in migrant women and men
• Role of religious organizations in providing integration opportunities while ensuring continuity of social practices with the country of origins for migrant women and man
• Role of religion in the intergenerational negotiation of belonging in the host country and outcomes in challenging traditional gender roles
If you are interested please send a 200 word abstract, along with a short biographical note, to Dr. Ryan and Dr Vacchelli at the addresses below by Monday 27 February
Please note that if your abstract is accepted, full papers will be needed by June 2012.
Dr. Louise Ryan and Dr. Elena Vacchelli, Middlesex University,
Contact: l.ryan@mdx.ac.uk and e.vacchelli@mdx.ac.uk
Call for Papers for special issue on ‘Gender, Religion and Migration’ in new e-journal Religion and Gender http://www.religionandgender.org The special issue on Gender, Religion and Migration will look at the intersectional dimension of gender, ethnicity and religion where religion in particular plays a central role in providing a sense of belonging for migrants and represents a source of identification during the migratory experience. The special issue will focus on the ways in which gender roles are constructed and reproduced through religion within migrant communities in urban contexts and brings together leading scholars in the field of migration to explore how geographical mobility shapes gendered religious identities. For too long social sciences and migration studies have paid insufficient attention to the importance of religion in the everyday lives of many migrants and Levitt’s (2008) call for more ‘empirical, grounded’ research on migration and religion aims at filling this particular gap in the literature . Mobilizing religion may serve a range of diverse purposes during the migratory experience and, indeed, migration may in turn shape the different ways in which religion is reproduced on an every day basis if compared with the country of origin of the worshippers. Religion can also provide a trans-national source of identification; for example, it may play a significant role in enabling migrants to imagine themselves within collectivities that span beyond the nation-state. In other words, religious worship may fulfil many functions for migrants, not only spiritual, but also material and social such as civic participation and commitment towards the parish for church goers (Levitt 2008). Hence, for migrants in particular, religion can potentially provide a means for both maintaining and expressing continuity of faith and practice while negotiating integration within a new environment (Stanczak, 2006). The special issue On Gender, Religion and Migration will build on the symposium at Middlesex University, held in 2011, to explore comparisons and contrasts across different religious communities which could include for example, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Hindi, etc. This collection of articles aims to bring together empirical research from different academic disciplines, including sociology, geography and anthropology and using a range of methods to engage with and research different religious communities. We welcome papers that present a comparative approach to studying religion in migration. In particular, we are looking for papers that tackle the following: • Comparisons across religious groups • Intersectional dimensions of gender, ethnicity and religion • Construction of gender through religion in urban contexts • Religion as a trans-national source of identification and the role of gender in negotiating local integration through religion • Religion as a source of civic engagement differently negotiated in migrant women and men • Role of religious organizations in providing integration opportunities while ensuring continuity of social practices with the country of origins for migrant women and man • Role of religion in the intergenerational negotiation of belonging in the host country and outcomes in challenging traditional gender roles If you are interested please send a 200 word abstract, along with a short biographical note, to Dr. Ryan and Dr Vacchelli at the addresses below by Monday 27 February: Please note that if your abstract is accepted, full papers will be needed by June 2012. Dr. Louise Ryan and Dr. Elena Vacchelli, Middlesex University, Contact: l.ryan@mdx.ac.uk and e.vacchelli@mdx.ac.uk
Series Editors:
Dr Stephen Parker
The Rev’d Canon Professor Leslie J. Francis
Dr Rob Freathy
Dr Mandy Robbins
Debates about religion, education and values are more central to contemporary society than ever before. The challenges posed by the interaction between these different spheres will continue to increase as the effects of globalization and cultural pluralization impact on educational settings. Our radically changed and rapidly changing environment poses critical questions about how we should educate individuals to live in increasingly diverse societies.
Books in this series offer the most recent research, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, on the interface between religion, education and values around the world. The series covers such themes as the history of religious education, the philosophies and psychologies of religious and values education, and the application of social science research methods to the study of young people’s values and world-views.
Books within the series are subject to peer review and include single and co-authored monographs and edited collections. For more information, please contact Christabel Scaife, Commissioning Editor, Peter Lang Ltd, c.scaife@peterlang.com.
What is an “Invented Religion”? Why should scholars take these religions seriously? What makes these “inventions” different from the revelations in other religions? What happens when an author does not want their story to become a religious text?
You can also download this interview, and subscribe to receive our weekly podcast, on iTunes.
In this interview with David, Carole M. Cusack (Associate Professor in Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney) answers these questions and more, exploring her notion of “Invented Religions” and introducing the listener to a wide variety of contemporary and unusual forms of religion. Discussion flows through a range of topics – from Discordianism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to Scientology, Jediism and the New Atheism – and demonstrates how the works of authors such as Thomas Pynchon and Robert A. Heinlein can be transformed by others and take on a life of their own. In her own words, “This is a fiction so good it should be true…”
Carole Cusack trained as a medievalist and her doctorate was published as Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples (Cassell, 1998). Since the late 1990s she has taught in contemporary religious trends, publishing on pilgrimage and tourism, modern Pagan religions, new religious movements, the interface between religion and politics, and religion and popular culture. She is the author of The Essence of Buddhism (Lansdowne, 2001), Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith (Ashgate, 2010), and The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), 2011.
View Carole’s page on Academia.edu. Of particular relevance to the topic of this interview is her article
Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and the Church of All Worlds in Christopher Hartney, Alex Norman, and Carole M. Cusack (eds), Creative Fantasy and the Religious Imagination, special issue of Literature & Aesthetics, Vol. 19, No. 2, SSLA, 2009, pp. 72-91. The full text is available here if you have an Academia.edu account (and if you don’t have an Academia.edu account, and are looking to increase your networking and ability to access the most up-to-date research in your area, we suggest that you get one now!).
If you have institutional access to the International Journal for the Study of New Religions, you may also find the following article of interest: Discordian Magic: Paganism, the Chaos Paradigm and the Power of Parody, International Journal for the Study of New Religions, Vol. 2, No. 1, May 2011.
The first response report has been published by the Religious Studies Project, on today, 20 January 2012. This report responds to the Religious Studies Project Interview with James Cox on ”The Phenomenology of Religion” (14 January 2012), published with the launch of the project this week.
About the Author
Jonathan is currently a PhD student at the University of Stirling. He has an MA in Philosophy and Religious Studies and an MSc in Religious Studies from the University of Edinburgh. His research is on the phenomenological method in the study of religion. Areas of interest include the phenomenology of religion, theory and method in the study of religion, and philosophy of religion
The Religious Studies Project (RSP) website and podcasting project launched today, 16th January 2012. It features a weekly audio interview (of around 30 minutes) with leading scholars of Religious Studies (RS) and related fields, which shall be available through the website, iTunes and other portals. In addition to the podcasts, the website will also feature weekly articles from postgraduate students and other scholars of religion on the themes of the interview that week, in addition to other useful resources and articles relevant to teachers and students of religion in the modern world.
Every Friday, the RSP will publish feature articles on the topic of the week’s interview. The first response, to be published 20 January 2012, is entitled “What is Phenomenology?” has been written by Jonathan Tuckett (University of Stirling)
You can find details of the podcasts and reports at the Report for Religious Studies Project site.
The RSP was founded by David G. Robertson and Christopher R. Cotter, and is presented in association with the British Association for the Study of Religions. For more information on this relationship, see here.
Today saw the launch of the Religious Studies Project, directed by Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson in association with the British Association for the Study of Religions.
The project will allow some great dialogue between scholars, researchers, in fact anyone with an interest in contemporary issues in Religious Studies. Every Monday, they’ll be putting out a new podcast featuring an interview with a leading international scholar, presenting a key idea in the contemporary socio-scientific study of religion in a concise and accessible way. You can find the podcast and accompanying notes here, or you can also subscribe on iTunes to make sure you always get the latest episode.
Each Wednesday, they will also feature a resource to help postgraduate students and aspiring academics. And on Fridays a response to each of the podcast will be put up, reflecting on, expanding upon or disagreeing with the Monday podcast. Plus much more, including conference reports, opinion, publishing opportunities, book reviews.
Please take some time today to have a look at the Religious Studies Project site, follow them on Twitter, “Like” them on Facebook or rate them on iTunes. Feel free to share this with friends, on you facebook wall or post to interested networks.
Following the recent update on our bibliography, please find details of a further special series of essays on Secularism from the November issue of Cultural Anthropology which will be included shortly. The essays focus on theories of Secularism and possibilities for its practical application within the field of Anthropology, using the work of Asad and Connolley as a theoretical frame.
SECULARISM
Introduction
Charles Hirschkind and Matthew Scherer
Cultural Anthropology November 2011, Vol. 26, No. 4: 620.
Landmarks in the Critical Study of Secularism
Matthew Scherer
Cultural Anthropology November 2011, Vol. 26, No. 4: 621-632.
Is There a Secular Body?
Charles Hirschkind
Cultural Anthropology November 2011, Vol. 26, No. 4: 633-647.
Some Theses on Secularism
William E. Connolley
Cultural Anthropology November 2011, Vol. 26, No. 4: 648-656.
Thinking About the Secular Body, Pain, and Liberal Politics
Talal Asad
Cultural Anthropology November 2011, Vol. 26, No. 4: 657-675.
You can now follow and download articles from the ISSSC (Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture) from their Scribd feed
Articles include contributions from Frank Pasquale, Barry Kosmin and Ryan Cragun and include a range of international case studies.
The Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC) was established to advance understanding of the role of secular values and the process of secularization in contemporary society and culture. Nonpartisan and multidisciplinary, the Institute conducts academic research, sponsors curriculum development, and presents public events.
ISSSC has a global research agenda and aims to develop strong international links. In the teaching sphere innovative courses are being developed on secularism and secularization at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including curricula, bibliographies and syllabi. The Institute serves as a forum for civic education and debate through lectures, seminars and conferences.
More information about the ISSSC can be found at their Trinity College site
NSRN Online 