Call For Papers

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New Book Series: Histories of the Sacred and the Secular, 1700 – 2000

Histories of the Sacred and the Secular, 1700 – 2000. Edited by David Nash, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Histories of the Sacred and the Secular (pdf flyer)

Histories of the Sacred and the Secular 1700 – 2000 reflects the awakened and expanding
profile of the history of religion within the academy in recent years. Intending to publish
exciting new and high quality work on the history of religion and belief since 1700, the series
actively encourages the production of interdisciplinary proposals and the use of innovative
methodologies. We welcome book proposals on the history of Atheism, Secularism,
Humanism and unbelief/secularity and encourage research agendas in this area alongside
those in religious belief, as well as proposals covering subjects in Britain, Europe, the United
States and Oceania. Histories of the Sacred and the Secular 1700 – 2000 aims to reflect both
the work of new scholars entering the field, alongside the work of established scholars.

Editorial Board

Professor Callum Brown, Dundee University, UK
Professor William Gibson, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Dr Carole Cusack, Sydney University, Australia
Professor Beverley Clack, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Drs Bert Gasenbeek, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, Netherlands
Professor Paul Harvey, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, USA

for more details of the series or guidelines on
submitting a proposal contact the general Editor:

Professor David Nash
dsnash@brookes.ac.uk

http://www.palgrave.com

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CFP: Media and Religion: Interdisciplinary Takes on Four Aspects of a Complex Relationship

Workshop on 14 September 2012 by Dr. Britta Ohm

Institut für Sozialanthropologie, Bern University, Länggassstrasse 49a, CH-3000 Bern 9

A workshop of interest to the network, including input speakers on Secularism – Dr. Nanna Heidenreich, innstitute for Media Research, Academy of Fine Arts,Braunschweig and Antje Glück (PhD candidate), Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, University of Bielefeld

The call for papers inlcudes four key themes, (In)Visibility, Practise, Secularism and Democracy

For more details please see the the website or read the call for papers.

 

 

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CFP: Oppositions: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference

A conference of potential interesting for the network investigating the usefulness of opposition in the religious/nonreligious binary.

CFP: Oppositions Postgraduate Conference. University of Salford, 28-29 September 2012
Oppositions: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference

28th and 29th September 2012
University of Salford

This conference seeks to explore ideas of opposition through the full range of disciplines in the arts, media, and social sciences.

In the context of the current crisis of capitalism, there are many examples of the forms ‘opposition’ can take: the Tea Party in the United States, the rise of fascist groups, campaigns run via new technologies and social media, religious fundamentalisms, and general strikes in Greece. Though it carries radical overtones, ‘opposition’ in itself is not tied to any particular dogma, left or right. We invite papers that explore the value and values of opposition as a position to be adopted by individuals or groups.

We welcome proposals for papers from postgraduates that engage with any aspect of opposition. These could include, but are by no means limited to: the ‘culture industry’ and alternative youth cultures; opposition parties within parliamentary politics; grass-roots activism; the history and future of the labour movement; hegemony; Foucauldian ‘resistance’ and its limits; radical pedagogies and the role of the University; community and class; the aesthetic value of non-mainstream or outsider art; aesthetic oppositions such as contrapuntal music or bricolage; and the formation of creole or pidgin languages.

Papers are welcome from fields such as politics, literature, philosophy, anthropology, religions and theology, geography, sociology, history, classics, translation studies, linguistics and social linguistics, visual and screen studies, new media and communication studies, and the performing arts. Interdisciplinary papers are very welcome.

Keynote speakers TBC.
Abstracts of 250 words are invited for presentations of 20 minutes. Proposals for performances, screenings etc. are also accepted. The conference intends to publish an edited volume of the best papers presented.
Send abstracts to oppositionsconference[at]gmail.com by 6 July 2012.

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CFP: Rethinking Religion in India conference: Secularism, Religion and Law

Deadline for abstracts 15 August 2012

Rethinking Religion in India conference to be held on 24-27 November 2012 held by the  the research programme Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures)

In 2003, the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (“Comparative Science of Cultures”) was established at Ghent University, Belgium, under the directorship of Prof. S.N. Balagangadhara. The Research Centre promotes research on cultural differences between Asia and the West and has a special focus on European and Indian culture.

Parallel Paper Sessions

We invite submission of max. 300 word abstracts on the following themes:

  • The colonial construction of Hinduism
  • The caste system and Indian religion
  • Secularism in Europe and India
  • Religious conversion in India
  • Religious and communal violence
  • Religion and Law

In case there is a second author, please indicate this clearly in your abstract.

“How to…?” Workshops

We invite proposals for workshop sessions that address a concrete question such as ‘How to teach about the Indian religions and traditions?’ or ‘How to develop de-colonised descriptions of the Indian traditions?’ will be addressed. Even though the aim of these sessions is to involve the audience in a more active way, the structure of these sessions is left open: the sessions could consist of presentations, a discussion among a panel of experts on a particular theme, a discussion with the audience introduced and moderated by a chair. It is left to the organiser of a ‘how to…?’ workshop to decide upon this.

Workshop proposals should explain why this workshop is important vis-à-vis the general objectives of Rethinking Religion in India. They should also contain an outline of the planned structure of the session with the number and names of speakers, moderator and/or other participants.

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CFP: Religions: Fields of research, methods and perspectives 12-14 September 2012

Call for papers

Religions: Fields of research, methods and perspectives

The First International Krakow Study of Religions Symposium, 12-14 September 2012

Keynote speakers:
Prof. Grace Davie (University of Exeter)
Prof. Ralph W. Hood Jr (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)
Prof. Barnaba Maj (University of Bologna)

Organisers: International Journal “Studia Religiologica” and Institute for the Study of Religions, Jagiellonian University

“Religion is a defining mark of humanity – as emblematic of its bearer as the web for the spider, the dam for the beaver, and the song for the bird,” writes Patrick McNamara in his most recent book. It may seem that such a role and position of religion would require sophisticated reflection, extended methods of scientific analysis and the creative activity of research communities. However, in spite of the clear evidence of the importance of these issues, religious studies is a long way both from the role of the “crown of the humanities” foreseen by Eliade and from agreement on and verification of research tools. For some scholars, religions remain a “by-product” and a “virus of the mind”, while for others they are proof of the existence of “supernatural forces” and the central activity of people on the path to transforming their condition. The conference “Religions: fields of research, methods and perspectives” will present the spectrum of approaches to religious phenomena that are multi-layered and anchored in various ways in cultures, societies and individuals as well as new methods of research and refined versions of previous ones. It will also show the research quandaries and problems to be solved which religious studies scholars come up against in their historical, comparative, sociological, philosophical and psychological studies. The aim of the conference is to demonstrate the potential of religious studies and related fields in solving and comprehending the fundamental problems of humanity.

Conference languages: English, Polish

Registration form (in English, in Polish) please send by e-mail: symposium@iphils.uj.edu.pl
Deadline for registration: 15 June 2012
Full name, academic title, home institution, contact details, address, e mail, telephone, title of paper, abstract (1000-1800 characters)

 

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CFP: Alternative Salvations conference 18 September 2012

Alternative Salvations

University of Chester, 18 September 2012, 10:30-4:30

CFP DEADLINE 18 May 2012

The Conference
To speak of salvation is, broadly, to speak about transformation from one present reality into a new, transformed and better reality. While the language of salvation itself is not necessarily found in every religious tradition, the hope of, or incentive to work towards, such transformation is a widespread characteristic of many religious traditions. In Christianity, there are a number of dominant perspectives on salvation associated with particular traditions, usually expressed in grand future eschatological narratives. But what of alternative approaches to salvation that have developed outside of established religious orthodoxies? The conference will explore how ‘unorthodox’ readings of sacred texts inform salvation experience; how life transformations outside of religious contexts might be considered spiritual; how  ideas of this-worldly salvation are politicised; how ideas of salvation are simultaneously secularised and infused with new power; what alternative salvations can be discovered within Christianity and how might they be practised. In particular, we are seeking to explore the ways that alternative religious, spiritual and secular understandings of the notion of salvation already shape, and have the potential to shape, how people live and act in Christian and post-Christian contexts.

Call for Papers
This exciting conference breaks new ground in exploring alternative approaches to salvation. Proposals for short papers are invited on any aspect of the theme of ‘alternative salvations’ as outlined here. Papers will normally be 20 minutes in length with an additional 10 minutes for discussion. Applications to submit a short paper should include:
·         Proposer’s name and affiliation
·         a title for the paper
·         a 200 word abstract
·         Details of any audio-visual equipment you will need to deliver your paper

Short paper proposals should be submitted to alternativesalvations@chester.ac.uk by no later than 4:00pm on 8th May 2012. Applicants should know the outcome of
their proposal by 18th May 2012.

Conference costs: £28 (£18 for unwaged and students) inclusive of lunch and refreshments.

More details about the conference and a booking form can be found at:http://www.chester.ac.uk/sites/files/chester/salvation%20conference.pdf

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Call for Papers – New Forms of Public Religion 5-7 September 2012


Please see below, details of CFP for a conference on New Forms of Public Religion organised as part of the  AHRC/ESRC funded Religion and Society Programme. The conference will take place at the Divinity School, St John’s College, Cambridge, CB2 1TW

Call for Papers

The fact that religion has not privatised, but remains an important aspect of public life, is now well recognised.  But talk of ‘public religion’ can be vague and unfocused. The aim of this conference is to explore – with new findings – the forms which public religion is taking today, not only in the West, but elsewhere in an increasingly connected world.

The conference streams indicate the main arenas in relation to which public religion will be discussed, and on which papers are invited. Additional suggestions are also welcome:

  • The Market and Religion
  • Politics and Religion
  • Law and Religion
  • Religion, Media and Civil Society
  • Violence (State and Non-state) and Religion
  • Religion in Public Places and Spaces
  • Religion, Health and Welfare
  • Religion and Education
  • Religion and Migration

Speakers include:

Lori Beaman

José Casanova

The Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Grace Davie

Pamela Dickey-Young

Stewart Hoover

The Rt Revd Graham James

Meredith McGuire

Nancy Nason-Clark

Jim Spickard

Linda Woodhead

The conference will showcase thirty or so projects funded by the Religion and Society Programme which have new findings in this area. These will be supplemented by the papers received through this open call.

Individual paper proposals (max. 200 words) should be submitted to:  Peta Ainsworth:  p.ainsworth@lancaster.ac.uk by 30th April 2012.

The conference is subsidised by the sponsors and costs £100 per delegate, £50 for postgraduates/unwaged (for the entire conference) or £50 per day, £25 for postgraduates/unwaged.  The conference fee excludes accommodation and evening meals.  For further details and registration go to:http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/events/programme_events/show/new_forms_of_public_religion

A limited number of bursaries are available for postgraduates in the UK who need to travel some distance to Cambridge.  Please send an email with your registration form to Peta Ainsworth stating in one paragraph why you require assistance and how much your travel costs will be.

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Deadline reminder 27 April 2012 and Updated CFP for the NSRN Annual Conference

NONRELIGION AND SECULARITY RESEARCH NETWORK 

CONFERENCE 2012

Call for Papers| 4-6 July 2012, Goldsmiths, University of London

 Nonreligion and the Secular: New Horizons for Multidisciplinary Research

Registration now open!

Conveners: Lois Lee (ll317@cam.ac.uk), Stacey Gutkowski (stacey.gutkowski@kcl.ac.uk), and Stephen Bullivant (stephen.bullivant@smuc.ac.uk)

Conference Coordinator: Katie Aston (k.aston@gold.ac.uk)

There is an urgent need to bring discussions of micro-level nonreligion, atheism and secularity into contact with treatments of political and institutional secularism – a pressing and vibrant area of academic discussion which has so far focused on the protection and constraining of religion, and not sufficiently considered nonreligious and atheist actors.

This conference welcomes which engage with this core problem, or with nonreligion, atheism and/or secularism in isolation. Topics include:

  • The relationship between nonreligion, atheism, and/or humanism and secular polities and secularist ideologies.
  • The nature of secularity, secularism and postsecularism
  • The nature of nonreligion, atheism and/or humanism in contemporary society and in global context
  • The representation of secularism, nonreligion etc in law and policy / treatment of nonreligion and atheism in theories of multiculturalism, religious pluralism and postsecularism
  • The role of New Atheism is society, culture and politics – and its relationship to ‘lay atheisms’ or other nonreligious and secularist discourses
  • The psychology of secularism or nonreligion, atheism, etc.
  • Secularism, nonreligion and atheism in material culture
  • Conceptual and empirical relationships between religionand nonreligion and/or secularism
  • Research development, methodological issues and teaching in these subject areas

Following decades of neglect, the academic study of nonreligion has grown rapidly in the past five years. The primary aim of this conference is to bring together scholars across a range of academic disciplines (sociology, anthropology, theology, political science, psychology, history, international relations, area studies) to begin to untangle the confused and individually contested concepts of nonreligion and the secular. Is nonreligion a subcategory of the secular or vice versa? How do the two terms structure one another? What are the practical and theoretical implications of the concepts, such as they are and/or in alternative formulations? The aim of this international conference is to contribute to addressing this lacuna. While discussions of nonreligion and the secular have been running largely in parallel, they are potentially mutually enriching topics with significant bearing outside of the academy. This conference will consolidate the achievements already made over the past five years by nonreligion scholars and forge new, multidisciplinary dialogue between these researchers and those primarily working with the concept of the secular. This conference will bring together a range of internationally renowned scholars, including keynote speakers Gracie Davie (Exeter), Callum Brown (Dundee), Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (Leipzig), and Humeira Iqtidar (King’s College London).

This conference will interrogate three dimensions and welcomes both empirically- and theoretically-based paper contributions which address the following:

1) Nonreligion as a concept in its own right

2) The nonreligious in relation to notions of the secular

3) The implications of nonreligion research for pressing social and political issues associated with discussions of the secular

Publication Outcome: We are planning to publish a selection of the papers presented at the conference in an edited volume.

 The deadline for abstract submission (250 words max) is 27 April 2012. Please send your abstract together with a short biographical note to Katie Aston at k.aston@gold.ac.uk

In collaboration with:

_____________________________________________________________________________

Registration is now open!

Full conference (exc. accommodation and evening meals): £145 (£110 unwaged); day rate: £65 (£45 unwaged).

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CFP: Radical Secularization? Deadline 1 May 2012

20-22 September  2012, Universiteit Antwerpen will host a conference on secularization theory. Conference organizers are currently accepting abstracts and will do so through May 1

“This three day international conference tries to frame a status quaestionis of secularization theory in the field of contemporary philosophy. It starts off with an assessment of the classic Löwith-Blumenberg debate. This debate centers around the relationship between monotheism and Christianity on one hand, and Modernity on the other. The focus of the conference then shifts to contemporary debates, with Charles Taylor and Marcel Gauchet as exemplary protagonists. The debate will revolve around ‘transcendent’ versus ‘immanent’ readings of Christianity. On its last day, the question of religion in the public sphere comes to the fore.

Though the conference is philosophical in nature, it hopes to explore interdisciplinary crossroads with theology, sociology, and the social sciences in general.”

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CFP: Journal for the Academic Study of Religion: Special Postgraduate Issue

Religion and Rethinking the Human

The ‘human,’ like that of ‘religion,’ is a category always under contestation. In current Euro-American scholarship and public culture, there is an acute anxiety about humans’ excessive reliance on technology, its environmental costs, and the ominous prospect of a post-human dystopia. These anxieties have been recognised, theorised, and allayed by a number of academic sub-disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. It is therefore noteworthy that the study of ‘religion,’ ultimately concerned with the consideration of one of the most enduring products of the ‘human,’ has yet to wholeheartedly embrace a deconstruction of this seemingly transparent category.

Although ‘humans’ are credited with creating ‘religion,’ ‘religion’ itself has played a central role in constructing the ‘human’ as we understand it today. This symbiotic relationship is multifaceted, multivalent, and under-theorised within much of the current field of the contemporary study of religion. In order to bridge this gap between the study of religion and the plethora of recent ‘turns’ in academic scholarship that trouble the ‘human,’ the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion (formerly the Australian Religion Studies Review) seeks papers that provide a valuable insight into this issue of endurance and relevance from a variety of interdisciplinary and methodological perspectives.

Articles may present viewpoints, arguments, and analyses on broad delineations of religion, religiosity, and any of the following, or other and divergent, topics:

  • The historical construction of the human
  • The human and the non-human, super-human, or post-human
  •  Anthropocentrism and the biopolitical processes that bring about the centrality of the human and of certain humans
  • Notions of sentience, identity, and individualism
  • Human rights, law, governance, politics, media, and relations with ‘nature,’ climate, and the environment
  • Interspecies relations, especially between the human, the animal, the plant, the microbial, and the technological
  • Human evolution and cognition
  • The politics and governance of death, dying, and decomposition

This issue of the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion is a special issue that will be edited by postgraduate students featuring contributions from national and international postgraduate students. We are hoping that this will provide students not only with an important platform from which to share their research interests and efforts, but also an invaluable opportunity for the academic community at large to sample the high quality work and the innovation of scholars at a postgraduate level. We are seeking unique essays on the subject of Religion and Rethinking the Human that showcase the original research of students, and we welcome a variety of submissions that provide a unique insight into this highly pertinent issue.

If you would like to contribute to this Special Issue, please send your abstract to the guest postgraduate editors: George Ioannides (george.ioannides@sydney.edu.au) and Venetia Robertson (venetia.robertson@sydney.edu.au) by 1 July 2012. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words and accompanied by a brief author biographical statement. Authors will be notified by the end of July, and the deadline for submission of complete articles (6000 words) will be 1 December 2012. Papers will be published subject to peer review. This special issue of the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion will be published in December 2013.