SOCREL

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Event: Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion, 2nd Annual Symposium: Religion and Citizenship: Re-Thinking the Boundaries of Religion and the Secular

BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London

13 December 2012, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Religions today are implicated in a wide variety of publics. From contests over the environment and democracy to protests against capitalism, religions remain important factors in political and public life across diverse, and interconnected, global contexts. A variety of diverse responses have been articulated to the so-called ‘return of religion’ in the public sphere, drawing into question relations between the religious, the non-religious and the secular. As scholars have developed new theoretical understandings of the terms of these debates and questioned how these are bound up with cultural conceptualizations of citizenship, education – in schools, universities and less formal educational contexts – has often been a site where contestations of the religious and the secular have been acutely felt. The aim of this symposium is to consider the interrelation between conceptions of the religious, the secular, citizenship and education, and to explore how these issues affect the study of religion in higher education.

To find out more about how participants from a variety of disciplines and contexts have engaged with these issues, join us on December 13 at the BSA Meeting Room in London, for a BSA Socrel symposium, organized by Paul-François Tremlett (Open University), Anna Strhan (University of Kent) and Abby Day (University of Kent and Chair of Socrel). It won’t be your usual ‘stand-and-deliver’ event. Our presenters are working hard to condense their work into short summaries that will be distributed to all participants in advance of the day via e-mail. All participants will be expected to read the summaries and come prepared for a full day of engaging in vibrant exchanges across disciplines, countries, methods and other conventional boundaries.

Total delegate numbers are restricted to 30. Last year’s inaugural symposium was oversubscribed, and early registration is encouraged. Registration for the symposium is now available on the BSA website.

Information on the venue location and transport links, is available at http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/london-meeting-room.aspx

For any further information, please contact Anna Strhan (A.H.B.Strhan@kent.ac.uk), Paul-François Tremlett (p.f.tremlett@open.ac.uk) and Abby Day (A.F.Day@kent.ac.uk). The full programme for the day will be published on the BSA Socrel website

Keynote lecture by Nasar Meer, Reader in Sociology, Northumbria University

Confirmed Speakers:

Discussants: Lois Lee (University of Kent), Paul-François Tremlett (Open University), Mujadad Zaman (University of Cambridge)

Presenters

Carool Kersten (King’s College, London) Indonesian Debates on Secularity and Religiosity: Islamists, Liberal Muslims, and Islamic Post-Traditionalists

Angela Quartermaine (University of Warwick) Investigating Warwickshire pupils’ perceptions of religious forms of terrorism

Trevor Stack (University of Aberdeen) Getting Beyond Religion as an Issue for Citizenship

Steven Kettell (University of Warwick) Barbarians at the Gates? Exploring the Rise of ‘Militant Secularism’

Rodrigo Cespedes Proto (Lancaster University) A Legal Perspective on Teaching and Studying Religion: Lessons from the European Court of Human Rights

Leni Franken (University of Antwerp) Religious and Citizenship Education in Belgium / Flanders

Olav Hovdelien (Oslo University College of Applied Sciences) A Secularist School in a Multicultural Society – The Norwegian Case

Slawomir Sztajer (Adam Mickiewicz University) Confessional Religious Education in State Schools: The Case of Poland

Simeon Wallis (University of Warwick) Faith beyond Belief in Religious Education

Graeme Smith (University of Chichester) Blurring the Boundaries: A critical evaluation of the concept of ‘resonance’ and its importance for understanding the relationship between the religious and the secular through the early work of Reinhold Niebuhr

Christos Tsironis (Aristotle University of Thessalonika) Perceptions of Greek students on the relation between the study of religion and volunteering

Kit Kirkland (University of St Andrews) The Christian Right’s Influence on Higher Education

 

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Posted on by katieaston Calls for Papers, Events Listings, Teaching

CFP: Religion and Citizenship: Re-Thinking the Boundaries of Religion and the Secular.

Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion, 2nd Annual Symposium

The 2012 Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion symposium will explore the theme: Religion and Citizenship: Re-Thinking the Boundaries of Religion and the Secular.

The symposium is organised by Socrel, the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, with funding from the Higher Education Academy, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Subject Centre. Last year’s inaugural symposium was over-subscribed and therefore early submissions are encouraged.

Keynote speaker: Dr Nasar Meer, Northumbria University

Venue: BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London
Date: 13 December 2012
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Religions today are implicated in a wide variety of publics. From contests over the environment and democracy to protests against capitalism, religions remain important factors in political and public life across diverse, and interconnected, global contexts. A variety of diverse responses have been articulated to the so-called ‘return of religion’ in the public sphere, drawing into question relations between the religious, the non-religious and the secular. As scholars have developed new theoretical understandings of the terms of these debates and questioned how these are bound up with cultural conceptualizations of citizenship, education – in schools, universities and less formal educational contexts – has often been a site where contestations of the religious and the secular have been acutely felt.

The aim of this symposium is to consider the interrelation between conceptions of the religious, the secular, citizenship and education, and to explore how these issues affect the study of religion in higher education. We hope to attract presentations of sufficient quality to lead to an edited publication.

The day will be highly participative and engaged. The symposium will be organised as a single stream so that the day is as much about discussion as it is about presentation, and therefore the number of formal papers will be limited.

Papers are invited from students, teachers, and researchers in the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, geography, theology, history, psychology, political science, religious studies and others where religion is taught and studied. Empirical, methodological, and theoretical papers are welcomed.

Presenters will circulate a five-page summary of their paper before the day so that all participants can come prepared for discussion. Presentations will last 10 minutes and will be structured into three sessions, each followed by a discussant drawing out key points. The day will conclude with a discussant-led, focused panel discussion.

Key questions to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:

  • What are the relationships between the religious, the secular and the public sphere, and how do these affect the study of religion, in both universities and schools?
  • How do different historical constructions of religion and secularity shape understandings of the civil sphere and citizenship, and what are the implications of this for the study of religion?
  • Does the increased public visibility of religion in national and global contexts affect how we study it?
  • What is the role of religious education (school and/or university) in forming citizens and shaping understandings of citizenship?
  • Are there distinct regional, national or international conceptions of the secular?
  • Are there distinct regional, national or international conceptions of citizenship?
  • How do different disciplines approach and study these conceptions, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches?

Abstracts of 200 words are invited by September 15 2012. Please send these to: Dr Paul-François Tremlett p.f.tremlett@open.ac.uk

Costs: £36.00 for BSA/SocRel members; £45.00 for non-members; £20.00 for SocRel/BSA Postgraduate members; £25.00 for Postgraduate non-members.

 

Posted on by katieaston Calls for Papers, Events Listings

CFP: Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion, 2nd Annual Symposium

Call for Papers

The 2012 Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion symposium will explore the theme: Religion and Citizenship: Re-Thinking the Boundaries of Religion and the Secular.

The symposium is organised by Socrel, the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, with funding from the Higher Education Academy, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Subject Centre. Last year’s inaugural symposium was over-subscribed and therefore early submissions are encouraged.

Keynote speaker: Dr Nasar Meer, Northumbria University

Venue: BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London
Date: 13 December 2012
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Religions today are implicated in a wide variety of publics. From contests over the environment and democracy to protests against capitalism, religions remain important factors in political and public life across diverse, and interconnected, global contexts. A variety of diverse responses have been articulated to the so-called ‘return of religion’ in the public sphere, drawing into question relations between the religious, the non-religious and the secular. As scholars have developed new theoretical understandings of the terms of these debates and questioned how these are bound up with cultural conceptualizations of citizenship, education – in schools, universities and less formal educational contexts – has often been a site where contestations of the religious and the secular have been acutely felt.

The aim of this symposium is to consider the interrelation between conceptions of the religious, the secular, citizenship and education, and to explore how these issues affect the study of religion in higher education. We hope to attract presentations of sufficient quality to lead to an edited publication.

The day will be highly participative and engaged. The symposium will be organised as a single stream so that the day is as much about discussion as it is about presentation, and therefore the number of formal papers will be limited.

Papers are invited from students, teachers, and researchers in the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, geography, theology, history, psychology, political science, religious studies and others where religion is taught and studied. Empirical, methodological, and theoretical papers are welcomed.

Presenters will circulate a five-page summary of their paper before the day so that all participants can come prepared for discussion. Presentations will last 10 minutes and will be structured into three sessions, each followed by a discussant drawing out key points. The day will conclude with a discussant-led, focused panel discussion.

Key questions to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:
What are the relationships between the religious, the secular and the public sphere, and how do these affect the study of religion, in both universities and schools?
How do different historical constructions of religion and secularity shape understandings of the civil sphere and citizenship, and what are the implications of this for the study of religion?
Does the increased public visibility of religion in national and global contexts affect how we study it?
What is the role of religious education (school and/or university) in forming citizens and shaping understandings of citizenship?
Are there distinct regional, national or international conceptions of the secular?
Are there distinct regional, national or international conceptions of citizenship?
How do different disciplines approach and study these conceptions, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches?

Abstracts of 200 words are invited by September 15 2012. Please send these to: Dr Paul-François Tremlett p.f.tremlett@open.ac.uk

Costs: £36.00 for BSA/SocRel members; £45.00 for non-members; £20.00 for SocRel/BSA Postgraduate member; £25.00 for Postgraduate non-members.

Posted on by katieaston News, Publications

Publication: Is There a Crisis of Secularism in Western Europe?

Please see below for details of an electronic advance publication of Tariq Modood’s talk at the the annual conference at Chester SocRel.  On a personal note I can attest to how thought provoking and insightful I found this lecture, Modood invites comments and it would be interesting to hear people’s thoughts via the NSRN-Discuss.

2011 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture

Is There a Crisis of Secularism in Western Europe?

Tariq Modood
Sociology of Religion 2012

Posted on by katieaston Events Listings

New Website for SOCREL

The address remains the same – www.socrel.org.uk –  but the team have created a new look site.

All of the information relating to the upcoming annual conference in Chester can be found on the website, although some of the details from past conferences and events are still being loaded up. If you find a
problem when using part of the site, please use them.  You can also use the  annual conference to give feedback too.

If there was a way of finding information on the old site that you liked, you can still access it at – old.socrel.org.uk – but please note that these pages will no longer be kept up to date.

Posted on by katieaston Events Listings

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.)

 

Posted on by katieaston Calls for Papers, Events Listings

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

Posted on by Chris Events Listings, News

‘Atheism and Non-religion’ Panel at SOCREL 2012

The draft programme for the 2012 Sociology of Religion Study Group of the British Sociological Association (SOCREL) – Religion and (In)Equalities – has recently been announced, and is available here.

The conference dates are 28-30 March 2012 at the University of Chester, UK. The entire programme looks thoroughly stimulating, and contains a number of papers which should be of interest to NSRN researchers.

Of particular relevance is the ‘Atheism and Non-Religion’ panel on 29 March at 09.00:

Spencer Bullivant
Atheist summer camps: Transitioning away from conceptions of disbelief to belief

Christopher R. Cotter
The inherent inequalities of the religion-nonreligion dichotomy: A narrative approach to individual (non-)religiosity

Lydia Reid
Religion and modernity

Janet Eccles & Rebecca Catto
Countercultural or mainstream? Some reflections from the Young Atheist Project