research

Posted on by Lorna Mumford Publications

The Archives at Conway Hall

Liz Lutgendorff, Phd student at Oxford Brookes and Chair of Conway Hall Ethical Society, has provided the NSRN with an informative overview of the archive facilities offered by Conway Hall in London which may be helpful to researchers of secularism and nonreligion.

As part of my research into the history of atheism and secularism in the UK, I’ve become involved with Conway Hall Ethical Society (CHES) and I am currently the chair of Trustees. CHES may be better known to some as the South Place Ethical Society or South Place Chapel. It started as a radical Unitarian church in the eighteenth century and gradually evolved into a secular, ethical society in the late nineteenth century. It is now the only Ethical Society remaining in the UK and only one of two freethought and secular organisations in the UK with a hall purposely built for the promotion of ethical, secular, or humanist principles in the UK (the other being Leicester Secular Hall). Continue reading →

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Posted on by Lorna Mumford Calls for Papers, Events Listings

CFP: Atheism: Psychological Perspectives – Secularism & Nonreligion Journal Symposia

The journal Secularism & Nonreligion is planning to propose a symposium of 3-4 individual papers for the upcoming 2015 International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) World Congress. We invite you to submit proposals falling under the broad theme of psychological perspectives on atheism for consideration as part of the proposed symposia. Some topics and perspectives include, but are not limited to: cognitive science, qualitative/quantitative methods, psychological-anthropology, phenomenology, ethnography, cultural psychology, and philosophy of science. We are particularly interested in papers covering atheism outside of the Western context. Continue reading →

Posted on by Chris Publications

83 Additions to the NSRN Bibliography

83 new items have been added to the NSRN Bibliography which now boasts 745 entries relevant to the broad remit of the NSRN. These latest additions can be viewed here:

http://nsrn.net/bibliography/bibliography-additions/

As always, if you spot anything that we have missed please get in touch via the comments box here:

http://nsrn.net/bibliography/

 

Posted on by katieaston News, Publications

Pew Research: One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation

Yesterday Pew research published findings that “One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation”

According to the write up, “The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling…In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).” 

Posted on by katieaston News, Publications

Podcast: Lois Lee on Nonreligion

Lois Lee talks to the members of the Religious Studies Project team about her views on researching nonreligion, more details and the podcast can be found on the RSP website: 

“It is fast becoming a tradition in ‘nonreligion’ research to acknowledge that Colin Campbell’s seminal call in Toward a Sociology of Irreligion (1971) for a widespread sociological analysis’ of ‘nonreligion’ had until very recently been ignored (Bullivant and Lee 2012). Although there has been a steady stream of output on secularisation, and more recently on atheism, these publications rarely dealt with ‘nonreligion’ as it is ‘actually lived, expressed, or experienced […]in the here and now’ (Zuckerman 2010, viii). One scholar who has been leading the way in theorising and empirically populating this emerging field is Lois Lee, the founding director of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network, who joins Chris and Ethan in this podcast, recorded in May 2012 in Edinburgh.

Posted on by katieaston News, Uncategorized

News: Three Doctoral Fellowships in non-religiosity open for applications

ENP_PhD

Three Doctoral Research Fellows (E13 TV-G-U, 75% part-time) are sought by the Emmy Noether “Diversity of Non-Religiosity” Research Group at Goethe-University Frankfurt  based at the Institut für Ethnologie (Social Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy und History). The start date is 01.11.2012 and the positions are limited to a period of three years.

The Doctoral Fellows will develop their research projects under the supervision of the Principal Investigator. Their main task will be to complete individual research projects in collaboration with the other participants. They will have an independent budget for research and travel expenses. The Research Group further offers interdisciplinary and international collaborations and comprehensive supervision by the Principle Investigator who is also teaching and conducting research on this topic.

The Research Group is organized around the assumption that a comprehensive understanding of the role of religion(s) within contemporary societies has to take the “diversity of non-religiosity” into consideration. The aim of the Doctoral Fellowships is to conduct empirical research on non-religious individuals, groups or phenomena – preferably in different countries. For example topics may include but are not limited to indifference towards religion(s), worldviews alternative to religion(s), or criticism of religion(s) made in relation to atheist, humanist or skepticist thought or identity. The specific object of inquiry, methodology and theoretical approach will depend on the Doctoral Fellows’ training, interest, and research focus. Curiosity about the research topic, intellectual creativity, and an enjoyment of academic collaboration are crucial for the success of the project.

All applicants must hold a master’s degree (M.A.) or an equivalent qualification in anthropology, religious studies, sociology, or a related discipline. The University is an equal opportunities employer and supports women’s career development. Applications from women are thus explicitly welcome. Disabled applicants will be considered preferentially in case of equivalent qualifications.

Please send the electronic version of your application (including cover letter, Curriculum Vitae, university transcript/degree, two letters of recommendation, and a synopsis of the intended research project of approx. 5000 words) to: quack@em.uni-frankfurt.de by 31.07.2012. Please do not hesitate to contact Johannes Quack for further information concerning the research project and the application process.

1 Comment Posted on by katieaston News, Publications

Publication: An ethnography of the British Humanist Association, Dr Matthew Engelke

The ESRC has produced a report and press release on Humanist Funerals,  announcing the work of Dr Matthew Engelke, which explores early outcomes from his year researching with and within the British Humanist Association.

For more details about the research please contact

Dr Mathhew Engelke
Email: m.engelke@lse.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7995 6494 or 07800 835403
ESRC Press Office:

Danielle Moore-Chick
Email: danielle.moore-chick@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793 413122
Jeanine Woolley
Email: jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793 413119

Posted on by katieaston Events Listings

Conference Announcement: Men, Masculinities and Religious Change 20th April 2012

Registration is currently open for the Men, Masculinites and Religious change, please contact Dr Sue Morgan  (s.morgan@chi.ac.uk) for more details  about attendance.

I have posted the conference outline below, of particular note for the NSRN community is Professor Callum Brown’s paper ‘How men have lost religion since 1940’. The conference is taking place on 20 April 2012 in the Rylands Room at King’s College, Cambridge.

Men, Masculinities and Religious Change

20 April 2012, Rylands Room, King’s College, Cambridge

10am

Dr Sue Morgan, University of Chichester, and Dr Lucy Delap, St Catharine’s College – Why religion and masculinities?

10.30-11.30

Dr Alana Harris, University of Oxford – ‘Modern Catholic Masculinity and the Catenian Association: 1908-2008’

Dr Sean Brady, Birkbeck, University of London – ‘Sectarianism, religion and masculinity: Northern Ireland after 1921’

11.30 coffee

11.45-1.15

Dr Amanullah de Sondy, University of Miami – ‘British Muslim Men in the late 20th Century’

Dr Stephen Hunt, University of the West of England – ‘Masculinities, Spirituality and New Religious Movements in Late Twentieth Century Britain’

Dr Tim Jones, University of Glamorgan – ‘Christianity and the Making of Modern Homosexuality’

Lunch 1.15-2pm

2pm-3.30

Dr Susan Tananbaum, Bowdoin College – “Establishing healthy minds in healthy bodies in our rising generation’: Models of Masculinity in the Jewish East End, 1890-1930s’

Dr Alison Falby, Trinity College, Toronto – ‘Buddhist Psychology and Masculinity in Early Twentieth Century Britain’

Dr Ben Griffin, Girton College, Cambridge – ‘Religious Change and Male Domestic Authority in Late Nineteenth Century Britain’

3.30-3.45 – tea

3.45-4.45

Prof. Callum Brown, University of Dundee – ‘How men have lost religion since 1940’

Dr Sumita Mukherjee, Keble College, University of Oxford – ‘The Growth of a Masculine Hindu Community in Britain, 1936-7’

4.45-5.15 Closing discussion

Posted on by katieaston Events Listings

THIS FRIDAY Matthew Engelke talks at LSE: ‘Do you realize?’ Humanism and the anthropology of non-religion.

A last minute events addition, this Friday (20 January), Matthew Engelke will be giving an extended version of the talk he previously gave at the Atheism and Anthropology workshop at UCL last year (Lorna Mumford’s useful discussion of that event provides a summary: https://nonreligionandsecularity.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/events-report-lorna-mumford-nsrn-net.pdf ). The talk will be part of the LSE’s Research Seminar on Anthropological Theory seminar series, which is open to all researchers. Details are as follows:

Friday 10:30am – 12:30pm

Seligman Library (OLD 6.05) Old Building, LS

 

Further info can be found here:

 

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/anthropology/events/seminars_lectures.aspx

Posted on by katieaston Events Listings, Publications

The Religious Studies Project Launches Today

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.