Religion

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Podcast: Grace Davie on the Changing Nature of Religion

Grace Davie discusses the changing nature of religion, particularly in the UK and Europe following her keynote address to the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Milwaukee last October.

Listen to the podcast

“In this interview with Chris, Professor Davie discusses the place of religion in modern Europe, paying particular attention to the place of the United Kingdom within the European context. In an effort to combat the caricatures that typify media accounts of religion in the contemporary world, Davie discusses the changing nature of religion, in academia and in the public square, and considers the impact of the arrival of new cultures into Europe, whilst reflecting on secular reactions to these”

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CFP: Material Religion in Modern Britain and her Worlds 8-9 June 2012

Not strictly within the NSRN remit, but  there could be some scope for a secular/non-religious comparative paper within the conference.

Material Religion in Modern Britain and her Worlds

8-9 June 2012

University of Glamorgan, Cardiff

This two-day symposium will explore material cultures of religious belief and faith in modern Britain. As Birgit Meyer, David Morgan, Crispin Paine and S. Brent Plate have recently pointed out, studying material objects provides us with an alternative evidence base in the study of modern religious belief (Birgit Meyer et al; 2011). Yet few attempts have yet been made to do so. While many scholars now concede that Britain’s religious landscape is more varied and rich than the narrative of secularisation allows, a tendency remains in the historiography of religion to privilege written sources over material manifestations of religion. This means that all sorts of belief practices have been overlooked. Analysing the material past, we propose, will provide scholars with new and exciting ways of understanding the apparently fraught relationship between modernity and religion. As Jane Bennett points out, objects are culture constructions and lead active lives in our social and cultural landscape. Religious historians have too often been guilty of adopting an implicitly Protestant binary (set up in opposition to Catholicism) in which words are privileged over objects. Yet everyday cultures of Protestant belief in Britain relied on all kinds of material cultures which sustained religion in an age of uncertainty.

Despite Britain’s ‘official’ Protestant past, we are nonetheless keen to encourage papers which explore religious denominations or groups beyond the official cannon and which made up Britain’s multi-faith landscape in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Papers are welcome which consider either formal or informal aspects of religious materiality. We would especially like to encourage papers that consider ‘Britain’s worlds’, including investigations of religious objects in the Empire or commonwealth or geographical locations inhabited by British people.

We hope to encourage an interdisciplinary dialogue by bringing together scholars in history, religion, art/design history, architecture and sociology.

Keynote speakers to be annouced

Possible themes or topics include:

  • Religious objects
  • Religious ephemera
  • The materiality of religious and sacred texts
  • Sacred Dress and Clothing
  • Religious Architecture and the built environment
  • Construction of sacred space
  • Social identity/identities including class, gender and life stage
  • Ideas surrounding materiality and religion
  • Advertising and Consumption
  • Making of religious objects
  • Religious Interiors and the domestic display of material objects
  • Religious aestheticism
  • Iconography

Please send abstracts of 400 words either Lucinda Matthews-Jones [l.matthew-jones@ljmu.ac.uk] or Tim Jones [twjones@glam.ac.uk] by 31st March.

The Conference will be hosted by the University of Glamorgan, Cardiff Campus.

We plan a number of publication outputs from this conference. If you are unable to attend, but would like to express your interest for future events or outputs, please email Lucinda Matthews-Jones [l.matthew-jones@ljmu.ac.uk] with a brief description of your work and a short CV.

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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: Crossroads of Civilizations: Media, Religion and Culture July 8-12, 2012

The secularisation thesis posited that disenchantment would follow modernity, much research has now proved that not only has this reality failed to emerge, but that the vehicle of modernity – technology – has also been a tool for enchantment and religious revival. The conference below explores this relationship, of media and religion and should provide interesting discussions for those interested in media landscapes from both religious and secular perspectives. The event is organised by the The International Society for Media, Religion, and Culture (ISMRC) and follows a series of events which they have run biennially, this being their 8th conference.

The International Conference

Crossroads of Civilizations: Media, Religion and Culture

July 8-12, 2012

Anadolu University

Eskisehir, TURKEY

(in between Istanbul and Ankara)

The International Conference on Media, Religion, and Culture, organized every two years by the International Society for Media, Religion, and Culture, invites papers for its July 8-12, 2012 conference to be held in Eskisehir, Turkey (outside of Istanbul), at Anadolu University.

In contemporary societies, electronic media such as smart mobile phones, satellite television, radio, and laptop computers have become ubiquitous. Although historians point out that world religions have always been mediated by culture in some way, people have incorporated these electronic media into everyday practices, and industries and state organizations have arisen to profit from those practices, in ways that are unprecedented. Today’s media can connect people and ideas with one another, but they also foster misunderstandings and reinforce societal divisions. They may provide the means for the centralization of religious authority, or the means to undermine it. Scholars of religion, as well as scholars of media and of culture, must consider how these various societal institutions of the media interact with one another and with systems of religion, governance, and cultural practices, as our societies demand better means by which to understand emergent concerns in an increasingly interconnected, globalized context.

The contemporary location of Turkey has long been the meeting place between Eastern and Western culture, religion, trade, and communication. This conference provides a crossroads for scholars, doctoral students, media professionals, and religious leaders from a variety of religious and secular traditions to meet and exchange ideas. Interdisciplinary scholarship is welcome, as is comparative work, theoretical development, and in-depth ethnographic studies that shed light on contemporary phenomena at the intersection of media, religion, and culture.

Papers, panels, workshops, and roundtable proposals could address, but should not be limited to:

* Global and Glocal Media and Religion(s)

* Mediation and Mediatization of Religion

* Media and The Boundaries of the Religious and the Secular

* Media, Power, Religion and Democracy

* Religion and Visual Expression

* Crossroads of Old/New Media and Religion

* Religion, Gender and Media

* Dialogue/Conflict: Media and Religion

* Islam and Media/ Islamic Media

* Social Media, Religion and Cultures

Presentation Formats

This year we will be accepting proposals in four formats: papers, panels, workshops and roundtables.

Panels bring together in discussion four participants or presentations representing a range of ideas and projects. Roundtables may include more individuals who comment on a common theme in briefer formats.

Panels and roundtables are scheduled for 90 minutes and should include a mix of individuals working in areas of research, theory, and practice. We also encourage the use of discussants.

Workshops provide an opportunity for hands-on exploration and/or project development. They can be organized around a core challenge that participants come together to work on or around a tool, platform, or concept. Workshops are scheduled for 90 minutes and should be highly participatory.

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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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CFP: New York Conference on Asian Studies (Asian Religions in the West and Asian American Religions)

Perhaps some room for an NSRN panel or presentation; particularly to address challenges to the epistemological models implied in the secularity thesis and structures of modernity and enlightenment thought, assumptions about belief as a central tenet to religion and critiques of secular ideologies outside mono-theistic traditions. The ongoing visibility of religious practices and role of new technologies as tools in this challenge is also another possible avenue of exploration in the conference themes.

NEW YORK CONFERENCE ON ASIAN STUDIES

September 28-29, 2012

State University of New York at New Paltz

Asian Religions in the West and Asian American Religions: Contesting Identities and Praxis

Graduate students and scholars working in all areas and disciplines of Asian Studies and Asian American Studies are invited to submit proposals on papers that engage the theme of “Asian religions in the West and Asian American Religions”. Topics may include, but are not limited, to the following:

–Contesting established gender and social roles

–Resistance to established canons and epistemological models

–Contesting identities and the politics of identity

–Performance of identities and ritual constructions of community

–The role and impact of globalization

–The role and impact of new media, social media, cyber-space and cyber-communities

–Invented traditions and their political, social, historical, or cultural repercussions

Proposals should include the name, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address of the presenter, the title of the paper, and an abstract not exceeding 250 words in length. Please submit individual paper proposals to Cuong T. Mai at (cmai@uvm.edu), by March 15, 2012.

More information here

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CFP for special issue on ‘Gender, Religion and Migration’ in new e-journal Religion and Gender

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
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TONIGHT: Religious Identity In ‘Superdiverse’ Societies, 8th February 2012 LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER

WESTMINSTER FAITH DEBATES

The first Faith Debate Religious Identity in ‘Superdiverse’ Societies is tonight, Wednesday, 8th February 2012 at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET. A few places are still available and if you would like to register, please email relsocpr@lists.lancs.ac.uk

The academic papers for the debate are now available to download: http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/faith_debates/identity and speaker Professor Kim Knott has a piece on it in this week’s Tablet (http://www.thetablet.co.uk/).

The Faith in Schools debate on 22nd February is oversubscribed, but places are still available to register for the rest of the series, see website for more information: http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/faith_debates

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Society, Religion & Belief Research Group seminar series

For those of you living in or near the East Midlands, please find details of the SOCREL Society, Religion & Belief Research Group seminar series below.

For more information please contact: Dr. Kristin Aune Senior Lecturer in Sociology Head of the Society, Religion & Belief Research Group Faculty of Education, Health & Sciences University of Derby Kedleston Road Derby DE22 1GB Tel: 01332 591428

Society, Religion & Belief Research Group

Spring Semester Seminars

Tuesday, 31st January, 2012, 13:00-14:30, N414

Dr Simon Speck, University of Derby

“Fundamentalism or Cosmopolitanism: Religiosity in theories of second modernity”

Wednesday, 29th February, 2012, 16:30-18:00, N109

Prof. Susan Hogan, University of Derby

“Look At Me! – Women and Ageing”

Thursday, 22nd March, 2012, 13:00-14:30, S109

Dr Rebecca Watson, Cambridge Theological Federation

“Contextualising The Psalms of Zion: A Social-Psychological Approach”

Tuesday, 17th April, 2012, 16:30-18:00, B102

Dr Giselle Vincett, University of Edinburgh

“Young People, Deprivation and Religion in the UK: Coping and Resistance”

Wednesday, 2nd May, 2012, 16:30-18:00, S109

Andrew Wilson, University of Derby

“Haunted by History: Representations of the Pendle Witches in Popular Culture”