Conference

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CFP: Religion on the Move 12-14 September, 2012

Migration is a key concern in secularity studies, regarding the response of non-religious groups to incoming religious practice and the apparent rise of religiosity which appears as religions change and adapt through migration.

Call for Papers: Religion on the Move

How Motion and Migration influence Religion

10th Conference of the SIEF Working Group on Ethnology of Religion

Szeged, Hungary 12-14 September, 2012

In many ways movement is an important aspect of religion and spirituality. Not only has the significance of motion within the practice of religion and rituality increased (Coleman & Eade 2004), but also, through the movement and migration of people all over the world, religions and religious practices are relocating and changing (Jenkins 2007). Movement is significant for the practice of many religions. It seems that motion has been gaining in importance and that the performative expression and execution of religious practice play a stronger part than they used to do. There might be related to the more participative role of believers in religion and rituality and the enhanced relevance of individuals ‘doing’ religion. The popularity of walking the many pilgrim ways through Europe is an example of that trend, while other expressions of movement like dancing, meditations, processions and other rituals also seem to be more in focus.

A second strand of movement is connected to migration for, by moving, people bring faiths and religious practices to other places in the world where they were not previously known or practised. Nowadays, through mass migrations, refugees, displacements because of war and other translocations, religions and beliefs can expand both spatially and quantitatively. These are processes in which the faiths which are moving are being transformed, and the religion(s) of the areas in which people and their religion are newly settled are likewise affected (examples include Islam in Europe and the new Christians from Africa in Europe). Sometimes beliefs are appropriated through tourism or by ‘spiritual seekers’; aspects of Eastern religion and esoterism have been imported to Western society. In that regard the Internet has become a migratative instrument, in its capacity of ‘posting’ religion all over the globe and into people’s homes, regardless of what religion is practised there. The extension of religion through (digital) migration has an impact on social, cultural and political contexts (Woodhead et al. 2002). The movement of religion might lead to an adaptation to new circumstances, to inculturation, but also potentially to a transformation in the religious constituents of the local culture as well. Sometimes there is openness and religion finds new host communities. Evangelical, Pentecostal, neo-Pentecostal churches have spread across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe (Coleman 2007) and so have Afro-American religions, as Candomblé, Umbanda, or Santeria cubana (Capone 2004; Saraiva 2010). Sometimes the members of the host country become involved in such new practices, but movement may also lead to segregation within host communities and contested situations.

Papers connected to these two research strands on movement and religion are welcomed; one could for example think of the following topics:

• The influence of migration on religion

• Movement as constituative element in religion and rituality

• Effects of globalisation and transnationalism on religion

• Changes in religion through digital movement, via the Internet.

• Movement and spatiality related to the practice of religion

Format: the conference takes place over two days, followed by an excursion on the third day. Paper presentations are limited to 20 minutes each, followed by ten minutes of discussion. In total 20 paper presenters will be selected. Colleagues who do not present a paper are welcome to participate in the conference and its discussions. A business meeting of the SIEF Working Group on Ethnology of Religion will be held during the conference. Organizers: the conference is organized by the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Szeged together with the Bálint Sándor Institute for Research on  religion and the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF).

Venue: University of Szeged and Gál Ferenc Theological College of Szeged Fee: the conference fee is 60 €, including conference materials, reception, coffee, brunch, excursion. Participants are responsible for travel and accommodation; there is no funding for expenses available.

Application: submit an abstract of your paper of maximum 300 words, together with your name, position, and institutional affiliation to Dr. István Povedák povedak@yahoo.com by March 15, 2012. The selection of the papers will be done in collaboration with the Board of the SIEF Working Group on Ethnology of Religion. The final selection will be communicated by April 1, 2012.

Contacts: povedak@yahoo.com; peter.jan.margry@meertens.knaw.nl

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CFP: Exploring the Extraordinary 22-23 September, 2012

The “extraordinary” strikes as an interesting ground between organised non-religion and religion, a ground which cannot be easily claimed by either group. The extraordinary may even be an interesting phenomena for exploring the terrain between these two binary positions, allowing for nuance in the field.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Exploring the Extraordinary 4th Conference
22nd-23rd September, 2012
Holiday Inn, York

Since its inception in 2007, members of Exploring the Extraordinary have organised three successful academic conferences that have brought together researchers from a variety of different disciplines and backgrounds. The purpose of these events has been to encourage a wider dissemination of knowledge and research, and an interdisciplinary discussion of extraordinary phenomena and experience. By ‘extraordinary’ we refer to phenomena and experiences that are considered to be beyond the mundane, referring to those that have been called supernatural, paranormal, mystical, transcendent, exceptional, spiritual, magical and/or religious, as well as the relevance of such for human culture.

We are looking for submissions for our fourth conference, and would like to invite presentation proposals on topics related to the above. Please submit a 300-500 word paper abstract to Dr Madeleine Castro and Dr Hannah Gilbert (ete.network@gmail.com) by the 6th April 2012. Accepted papers should be on powerpoint, no longer than 20 minutes in length, and intended for an interdisciplinary audience. Please include contact information and a brief biographical note.

For more information, and to see past conference schedules, please visit http://etenetwork.weebly.com

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Event: SOCREL Postgraduate Event at Chester Tuesday 27 March – Wenesday 28 March

POSTGRADUATES EVENT

Aspiring Academics: From Research to Recognition.

There are still limited places left for this SOCREL Postgraduate Event at Chester, just before the conference. The event is being sponsored by the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies and runs from Tuesday 27th March (2 pm) – Wed 28th March (2 pm). This event will take place at the same venue as the conference and is open to SOCREL PG members. Be sure to book accommodation, as it is not included in the registration price (see attached form to book Tuesday night accommodation for this).

For further information please visit www.socrel.org.uk

The 2012 SOCREL Conference is next month. We are looking forward to an array of rich papers that will be addressing religion in relation to the media, education, secularism, gender and diaspora, sexuality and race, health and work, and class and politics. An updated draft conference programme is now available: http://www.socrel.org.uk

If you have not registered yet and would like to, please go to the registration page (registration closes on March 14th.)

 

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Event: Conference on Digital religion at the Donner institute

Following the earlier event listing regarding digital media and religion, this event should also be included. The event does not elude to secular spaces, but  technology, media and social networking spaces are contested ground for secular and religious meaning making. The conference will address the ways in which religious communities are challenged by these technologies and in what ways they negotiate new digital phenomenon.

Conference: Digital religion at the Donner institute

13-15 June 2012 in Åbo / Turku, Finland

Place:
Åbo Akademi University
Asa
Fänriksgatan 3 / Vänrikinkatu 3
Åbo / Turku/
Finland

The theme we have chosen for the Donner Institute 23rd Symposium is Digital Religion.
The conference “Digital Religion” aims to explore the complex relationship between religion and digital technologies of communication. Digital religion encompasses a myriad of connections between religion and digital technologies of communication and the goal of the conference is to approach the subject from multiple perspectives.

Developments in digital technologies are having a noticeably growing impact on the very character and nature of contemporary religious life and practice across the globe. Digital technologies of communication – epitomized in the continuing development and proliferation of the Internet and online modes of communication – are providing religious communities of virtually all strands with new means, environments and arenas within and through which to interact, express, and communicate their message in ways unknown to previous generations.

For many religious communities, this development has undoubtedly brought a whole host of challenges. Many religious communities today find themselves struggling with how to come to terms with a rapidly expanding Internet-based communications environment that challenges traditional understandings of religious mediation and religious authority. Nevertheless, there are also religious communities that have faced the challenges head on and come to thrive thanks to the new technologies or whose very existence is dependent on e.g. the Internet.

From a scholarly perspective, this development is intimately connected to ongoing debates about the impact of accelerating processes of mediatization and digitalization on contemporary religious life and practice. Though religion has colonized many different forms of digital media, it has also doubtlessly been altered by the media. This process is, however, complex and moves in several directions. Though digital technologies no doubt transform religion and the contemporary religious landscape, religion too can be argued to have an impact on the digital world.

Subjects for papers include but are not limited to the following:

– Theoretical, methodological and historical approaches to “digital religion”
– Empirical studies of “religion on line”, “online religion”, and the relation between “online” and “offline” religion
– New media and transnational religious networks
– Challenges and/or opportunities for religions by digital media
– The Internet as an arena for religious/spiritual community
– Authority and legitimacy in digital religion
– Technological development and religious change
– Religion and digital media: appropriations, configurations, impacts
– Digital religion: generational, demographic, and geographical aspects
– Religious communicational strategies and digital technologies

Keynote speakers:
Ass. Prof. Heidi Campbell, Texas A & M University, Texas
Prof. Mia Lövheim, Uppsala University, Sweden
Prof. Jolyon Mitchell, University of Edinburg, UK
Dr. Marcus Moberg, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Dr. Alexander Ornella, University of Hull, UK
Prof. Michael Pye, Phillips-Universität Marburg, Germany
Dr. Sofia Sjö, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

Finally, we would like to inform you that the lectures will be published, in English, French or German, in volume 25 of the Donner Institute series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis. The published version of your lecture may be longer than the one you present at the symposium. We will be happy to receive a digital and publishable version of your lecture already at the symposium but no later than October 31 2012.

Registration:

The registration fee is 150 €. (75 € for accompanying person)

The fee should be paid by the end of April 2012.
Account number: Nordea FI 12 20571800020055  NDEAFIHH
Name of the accountholder: Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi (Foundation of Åbo Akademi University)

The registration fee includes an excursion and a banquet organised in connection with the symposium.

Please indicate in your registration whether you wish to participate in the excursion and the banquet.

Address:

Donner institute
PB 70
FIN-20501 Åbo / Turku
Finland
E-mail: donner.institute@abo.fi
Tel.: +358 20 786 1450

WELCOME

Tore Ahlbäck, Joakim Alander, Björn Dahla,
Ruth Illman and Anna Nyman

Åbo/Turku 08.11.2011

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Event: Conference Religions, Science and Technology in Cultural Contexts: Dynamics of Change March 1 -3 2012

Sadly registration to this event is now closed, but I wanted to bring it to the attention of the community. The conference addresses one of the key themes in the secularity debate, science. The debate has run long, but hopefully this event will provide a more nuance and complex view of the these categories beyond the typical binary.

International Association for the History of Religions Special Conference 2012

Religions, Science and Technology in Cultural Contexts: Dynamics of Change

Venue: NTNU-The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
1-3 March 2012

In current public and academic debates, the complex relationships between ‘religion’ and ‘science’ tend to be reduced into one between monolithic entities. By exploring historical and contemporary interactions between religions, science and technology, a more complex understanding may be reached of the areas and ways in which they overlap, correspond, challenge and conflict with each other.

This conference seeks to explore how religions, science and technology interact and generate change (progressive, reactive, regressive), particularly in relation to such issues as the environment and climate change; the economy; welfare; life expectancy; popular representation; and sexual equality.

Of particular interest are explorations of dynamic relationships between worldviews/cosmologies, socio-cultural practices and technologies; and of ‘the politics of change’, i.e. how different actors seek to convince the public of the benefits of their own approaches or of the detriment of ‘the others’ approaches.

Keynote speakers:

-Tim Jensen, University of Southern Denmark

-Ingvild Gilhus, University of Bergen

-Donald Lopez, University of Michigan

-Taner Edis, Truman State University

The conference is organized by the Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

Registration fee until 1 December 2011 is 250 EUR, which includes conference materials, lunches and refreshments. There will also be bursaries for participants from lower income countries.

For any type of inquiries, you are welcome to contact the Conference secretary, Filip Ivanovic (filip.ivanovic@ntnu.no).

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Event: Second Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion and Philosophy, to be held from March 30-April 1 2012

Please find details below of the Second Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion and Philosophy, to be held from March 30-April 1 2012. As suggested by its introduction, Japan provides a cultural setting where religion and the secular meet so it may be of interest to those scholars of secular moral and ethical frameworks.

The International Academic Forum in conjunction with its global partners is proud to announce the Second Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion and Philosophy, to be held from March 30-April 1 2012, at the Ramada Osaka Hotel, Osaka, Japan.

Hear the latest research, publish before a global audience, present in a supportive environment, network, engage in new relationships, experience Japan, explore Osaka and Kyoto, join a global academic community.

CONFERENCE THEME: “Trust”

Where better than Japan to explore dynamic and exciting cultural collisions of East and West?  As the first and only developed non-Western country, Japan is an amazing juxtaposition of cultures, of ancient and modern, and of religious and secular. As such it is the perfect backdrop to what promises to be an exciting interdisciplinary and intercultural discussion, based around questions of Ethics, Religion and Philosophy.

The aim of this International Conference is to encourage academics, scholars and practitioners representing a exciting diversity of countries, cultures, and religion  to meet and exchange ideas and views in a forum encouraging respectful dialogue. By bringing together a number of university scholars working throughout Japan, Asia, and beyond to share ideas, ACERP 2012 will afford the opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, and networking across higher education and beyond.

As with IAFOR’s other events, and in line with its “Education Without Borders” initiative, academics working in Japan and Asia will be encouraged to forge working relationships with each other, as well as with colleagues from Europe, the US, and beyond, facilitating partnerships across borders.

 

 

 

 

 

We hope you can join us in Osaka in 2012!

  The Reverend Professor Stuart D. B Picken

Order of the Sacred Treasure, B.D., Ph.D., F.R.A.S.

Chairman, Japan Society of Scotland,

Chairman of the IAFOR International Advisory Board

ACERP 2012 Conference Chair


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EASR 2012 Ends and Beginnings: Abstract Registration Open

ENDS AND BEGINNINGS, Annual Conference of the European Association of the Study of Religion (EASR)

Södertörn University, Stockholm. 23-26 August, 2012

This years theme address moments of ending and beginning in the everyday practices of religious ritual and promises of new beginnings offered by the hereafter or a renewed existence. Scholars of secularism and nonreligion may find the the conferences larger question of whether there can be said to be a beginning or an end of religion in general of interest and hope that this perspective can be offered.

More details can about the conference be found on the EASR 2012 website and for pre-registration

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CFP: “Irreligion, Secularism and Social Change” Deadline for abstracts 13th February 2012

This CFP is the result of a discussion a few of us have been having about putting together an exploratory session at this year’s AAR, in the hope that we can create a group within the AAR yearly program to deal with irreligion/nonreligion and secularism topics going forward.

“Irreligion, Secularism and Social Change”

Exploratory session, American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Chicago, IL on Nov 17-20.

Society is always in flux, a fact that could hardly be missed in 2011, the year of the protester. As such, social change has become a hot topic in a variety of academic disciplines. Those dealing with religion are asking questions about how religious belief systems envision utopia, how religious institutions promote or stifle transformations of society, and how social change in turn transforms religion; but what about irreligious institutions, nontheistic belief systems and secularism? How do they relate to and interact with social change? This panel was born out of the belief that it is also important to investigate the relationship between social change and “the secular.” Paper topics may include but are not limited to nontheistic moral philosophies and worldviews, irreligious communities, institutions and individuals, or secularism as ideology and practice. We hope to get proposals from a wide array of disciplinary perspectives and papers will be selected based on thematic relevance and methodological diversity. If you are interested in participating please send an abstract of no more than 500 words to smithp@bu.edu by the end of the day, Feburary 13, 2012.

Please note that this panel is also part of an effort to create an “Irreligion and Secularism” unit within the American Academy of Religion annual meeting program and is therefore being pitched to the AAR as an exploratory session. This means that once your paper is selected the panel still requires approval from the AAR program committee before it gets accepted for this year’s annual meeting.

For further details please contact, Per Smith: smithp@bu.edu

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CFP: Public Benefit in the Study of Religion

Call for Papers: Joint BASR/BSA-SOCREL panel on the ‘Public benefit in the study of religion’ with keynote panel speakers Prof. Eileen Barker and Prof. Douglas Davies.

BASR annual conference, September 5-7 2012 University of Winchester. Abstracts to Dr Abby Day a.f.day@kent.ac.uk and Dr Bettina Schmidt b.schmidt@tsd.ac.uk by 1 April 2012.

Who benefits from the study of religion? How have teachers and researchers engaged with the idea of ‘public benefit’, either directly or indirectly?

The panel is jointly organised by Dr Bettina Schmidt, Hon. Secretary BASR, and Dr Abby Day, Chair, SOCREL. BASR and SOCREL are the two professional organisations that together represent the UK’s leading scholars in the study of religion.

The British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR), formerly the British Association for the History of Religions (founded in 1954), is affiliated to the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), whose object is the promotion of the academic study of religions through the international collaboration of all scholars whose research has a bearing on the subject.

The Sociology of Religion (SOCREL) study group, founded in 1975, is the second largest discipline study group within the British Sociological Association (BSA) and, like BASR, exists to promote the discipline and its development through international networking, conferences and post-graduate development.

The topic of the panel is how research has directly benefited ‘the public’. The panel will focus on two aspects of this broad theme as it relates to the study of religion: 1) What do we mean by ‘public benefit’? How do we demonstrate it, measure it, communicate it and what are the practical and theoretical issues surrounding the idea of how the study of religion – or faith, or belief – can operate in the, or perhaps as a, public good? Are there theoretical problems in considering what is meant by ‘public’ or ‘benefit’ in different cultural and historical contexts? 2) What are some case examples of how research or teaching about religion has contributed to the public good? We are not asking here for examples about how ‘religion’ has contributed to the public but specifically how the study of and research on religion has done so.

An example of public benefits is described by the Charity Commission in a recent assessment of the Royal Opera House. The Commission explains how the staging of public performances of art, such as opera and ballet, is a recognised means of advancing the arts. The charity’s established reputation amongst the public, funders and commentators as a leading presenter of these art forms, together with many awards at national and international level, are all positive indicators of artistic quality.

Organisations focusing on the advancement of the social sciences have made efforts to clearly frame their work in the context of public benefit. The Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness state that ‘the objects for which the charity is established are for the public benefit to promote and improve social scientific research, education and scholarship in the field of the sociology of health and illness.’ This increasing need for organisations focusing on the advancement of social sciences to demonstrate their work’s public benefit provides the backdrop to the upcoming panel.

Papers are welcome that discuss how terms like ‘religion’, ‘benefit’ and ‘public’ are construed and understood, whether it is by the ‘public’, by Research Councils or other funding bodies, and how the study of religion has made a positive impact on it. The topic of the panel relates to our daily practice as researchers when asking for funding or having to present the outcomes of our research. Research Councils ask every applicant to explain the possible impact of a research project and in the coming years we will have to demonstrate as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) the wider impact of our research. It is therefore crucial to come to an understanding of ‘public benefits’ of our research.

Details and more information can be got by contacting Dr Abby Day, AHRC British Council Fellow Senior Research Fellow, Department of Religious Studies, School of European Culture & Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, UK Visiting Research Fellow Department of Geography University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RH UK

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CFP Panel on Religion and Social Inequality‏

The 36th Congress of the German Society for Sociolgy (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie – DGS) will be held from 1 -5 October 2012 in Bochum and Dortmund.

The Section for Sociology of Religion is organizing a panel on “Religion and Social Inequality” during this conference. The call for paper is only in German, but papers in English are also very welcome.

In the early sociology of religion the relationship between social class and religion was a central topic. Weber for example analysed social strata as carriers of religious ideas. Following Weber this research question was picked up by Niebuhr in his exploration of the social sources of denominations and by Bourdieu in his analysis of the religious field. In the last decades, the problem of social inequality has been mostly neglected as a research question in the sociology of religion.

Papers presenting empirical findings, quantitative as well as qualitative, from a national or transnational perspective, about the  impact of social class and life conditions on religious beliefs,practices and affiliations are invited. The religions of the upper classes and the lower classes, of the privileged and the “negatively privileged” are of special interest for this panel.

Please send abstracts of 2500 signs maximum (inclunding spaces) until

March 15th to the organizers:

Prof.Dr. Gert Pickel: pickel@rz.uni-leipzig.de

Dr. Kornelia Sammet: sammet@uni-leipzig.de