05-07 April 2018, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Abstract Deadline: 5 February 2018

The study of sacred sites is a prominent feature in a number of disciplines. Sacred sites and stories and pilgrimage are the theme of the conference. Topics of enquiry range from the role of sacred sites in religious traditions, through to how sacred sites form part of the development of modern tourist industries, the role of sacred sites in international relations and the ways in which sacred sites can be the focus for disputes. At a time when many sacred sites and their stories face challenges due to economic development, environmental change and the impact of mass pilgrimage and tourism the conference offers an opportunity for wide-ranging discussions of the past, present and future of sacred sites and stories and their significance in the world today.

The conference will have the following panels:
•    Pilgrimage and Tourism
•    Historical Perspectives
•    Visual Arts and Architecture
•    Indigenous Traditions
•    Competition and Contestation

We welcome proposals for paper presentations that address the theme of one of these panels. Individual papers that are relevant to the main theme but are not aligned with any of the proposed panel streams will also be considered for presentation.

•    Panel Proposals. While proposals for individual papers are welcome, applicants are also encouraged to collaborate with peers to propose panels of 3-4 papers that converge on a particular theme.

In view of the major role that Australia and the Asia Pacific region plays in national and international discussions about sacred sites and sacred stories we particularly welcome panels on Asian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Pacific perspectives on sacred sites. We also welcome papers covering a range of time frames, from pre-history to the contemporary era, and from all traditions and locations.

If you are interested, please send your abstract (150 words), including a note of which stream your proposal addresses, and bio (80 words) to the following email (davidwj_kim@yahoo.co.uk). The conference fee is AU$350, but for masters students, doctoral candidates and early career researchers who do not have full-time positions the fee will be AU$250. The conference cost includes registration fee, conference dinner and refreshments. The two best papers submitted by HDR students will be awarded (AU$500 each). To be considered for this award, the full paper must be submitted at least one month before the conference (by 07 March 2018). There will be a limited number of bursaries available for some accepted masters students, doctoral candidates and early career researchers. Please note that those selected to receive bursaries will be informed of this before the conference but the bursaries will not be dispersed until the papers have been presented at the conference. In addition, selected papers may be considered for publication in a book volume.

Contacts:
Dr David W. Kim (Australian National University)
Email: davidwj_kim@yahoo.co.uk

Dr Peter Friedlander (Australian National University)
Email: peter.friedlander@anu.edu.au

A/Prof McComas Taylor (Australian National University)
Email: mccomas.taylor@anu.edu.au

Dr Barbara Nelson (Australian National University)
Email: barbara.nelson@anu.edu.au

Dr Yuri Takahashi (Australian National University)
Email: yuri.takahashi@anu.edu.au

Please see the website for more information: https://www.anu.edu.au/events/sacred-sitessacred-stories-global-perspectives

26 - 27 September 2018

Stellenbosch (near Cape Town), South Africa

The discipline of Christian Spirituality at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Volos, Greece invite proposals for the first of three international conferences on: “Bible, churches and spirituality in a (non?-)secular world”.

The global rise of religion has seen the centre of gravity of Christianity move into the global south, as numerous sociologists and religion theorists attest. Christian theology internationally has an important mission to fulfill, despite its devaluation and assumed unimportance in the policies of many states and institutions. With the demographic trends currently and over coming decades of a rising tide of confessionality over against non-religiosity, such assumptions of unimportance are becoming ever more untenable.

One of the main tasks of Theology, particularly after the fall of Communism in Central and East Europe, is to reassert the dignity and worth of human persons, as it was ravished by Soviet communism. In South Africa, the same search for renewed human dignity characterises the post-Apartheid period. In both contexts, such dignity is now ever more under threat by the commodification accompanying consumer capitalism and neoliberal education policies that are oriented solely toward the market place, without much sense of the human and spiritual experience – which lies at the foundation of every single human being.

These conditions provide Theology with the opportunity to witness to its core contributions. In doing so, different theologies will have to reconsider their doctrinal, ethical, homiletic and pastoral narratives, and hence the often-neglected role of the Bible and spirituality; the latter, not only in the light of the particular histories, but, also, in the light of the present and emerging contexts. With this rise in the global interest in religion, the Bible in particular and spirituality in general have considerable roles to play - apart from theologically, also phenomenologically and sociologically. On the one hand, the Bible is clearly recognised as the common ground and heritage of the main Christian traditions and of Christian-heritage societies, upon which deeply irenic and fruitful encounters take place. On the other hand, spirituality, as the essential means by which religious life is concretely expressed, is the common existential experience of all people, irrespective of particular religious or national origins. Spirituality brings together. This means that Bible-and-spirituality could be considered as a widely-applicable language by which the major Christian traditions, like Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestant Churches, in their own immediate contexts and more broadly within Christian-heritage societies, could facilitate understanding for shared visions for the wider world.

To this end, paper proposals are invited on aspects of the theme: “Bible, churches and spirituality in a (non?-)secular world”. Of particular interest would be proposals from or on aspects of the Eastern Orthodox and Protestant traditions. However, papers would be welcomed from other perspectives too.

Proposals for papers should include:
• A succinct title
• A brief abstract (± 150 words)
• The name/s and (where applicable) institutional affiliation/s of the author/s
• Contact details
Papers may be proposed and delivered in any language.

Closing date for proposals: 1 February 2018
Acceptance of proposals: Before 1 March 2018
Confirmation of attendance: 5 April 2018

DOWNLOAD THE FULL CONFERENCE PDF HERE:

20 – 22 September 2018. Pretoria, South Africa

University of South Africa (Main campus = Lukasrand campus)

The discipline of Christian Spirituality at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and the Department of Systematic and Practical Theology, University of Latvia, invite proposals for a third international conference in the series: “Spirituality, Theology, Education”. The intention of the conference is to facilitate a wider inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural forum where researchers, scholars and others engaged in the study and practice of spirituality in diverse disciplines can:

• share and debate their research;
• draw comparative perspectives and insights from different cultures;
• incorporate different forms of writing and expressions of spirituality;
• explore new methodological approaches; and
• identify new agendas for research into spirituality.

These may include ways in which spirituality can be taught, or asking why it is we sometimes allow our critical faculties to be diluted when working with spirituality.

To this end, the conference welcomes contributions that will critically examine spirituality in the following disciplines:
• Christian Spirituality
• Music and Spirituality
• Law and Spirituality
• Religion and Spirituality
• Biblical Spirituality
• Anthropology and Spirituality
• Sociology and Spirituality
• Psychology and Spirituality
• Primary Spiritualities
• Contextuality and Spirituality

DOWNLOAD THE CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION:

Call for papers 7th ETHNOGRAPHY AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CONFERENCE

Bergamo (Italy) – June 6-9, 2018

University of Bergamo

Call for Papers – Panel Session:

Migrant Masculinities and Global Religions. Exploring Gendered Religious Change through International Mobility

Convenors: Ester Gallo (University of Trento) and Francesca Scrinzi (University of Glasgow/European University Institute)

Despite the historical role played by religious institutions in reproducing social hierarchies based on gender (as well as on ethnicity and class), the sociology of religion has lagged behind other fields in developing a gendered analysis. Exceptions within feminist studies have mainly focused on women and religion, while since the 1990s critical men’s studies have started to pay attention to male spiritualties. From a different but related perspective, migration studies have increasingly shown how religion is transformed in its theological and sociological aspects in the context of transnational mobility. The gendered contours of these new religious formations have yet to be analysed in detail. Scholars of religion and gender in the migratory context have indeed focused mainly on migrant women, who are singled out as the ‘keepers of the cultural flame’ and responsible to pass on religious ‘traditions’ to the younger generations. Rare studies on religion and migrant masculinities suggest that religion is used by men to accommodate the challenges arising in transnational households; and show how patriarchal norms are renegotiated in migrant congregations in response to processes of racialization. Importantly, scholars have also shown how the current ‘moral panic’ around Islam has a sharp focus on migrant masculinities. Drawing from these considerations, this panel aims to develop an original dialogue between the sociology of religion, of migration and of gender, based on ethnographic/qualitative research methodologies. It will explore how gender and religion intertwine and transform each other in the context of transnational mobility. We welcome papers that consider (also comparatively) religions as different as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism or Sikhism, and that focus on different migrant groups and geographical areas.

Some of the themes we wish to explore are:

• o The relationship between religion and hegemonic/subaltern masculinities in the context of transnationalism and international migration;
• o The role of (majority and minority) religious institutions and religious discourses in accommodating/representing the presence of migrants in immigration societies, and more particularly in forging ideas of masculinity and femininity;
• o How migrant men (and women), as believers or religious leaders, use religion to renegotiate gender relations, and more particularly masculinities, in a transnational space;
• o How migrants use religion to resist gendered processes of racialization and de-skilling;
• o How gendered religious teachings are transformed/challenged in the migratory context;
• o How migration challenges the association between masculinity and sacred power.

HOW TO SUBMIT

To submit your proposal please send an e-mail to the convenor/s of the session of your choice and to the conference committee (erq.conference@unibg.it) - indicating the title of the chosen session - and to the panel convenors:

• Ester.Gallo@unitn.it
• Francesca.Scrinzi@eui.eu

Please send:

• ▪ the title of your talk and an abstract of a maximum 1,000 words (.doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, .rtf);
• ▪ your contact details (f ull name, e-mail, post address and affiliation) and those of your co-author/s, if any;
• ▪ if you like (and we would be very happy!), a short video talk (2 min. max.), not necessarily on your proposed talk but a sort of teaser trailer for it (by sending the video, you thereby allow the organizing committee to upload the video at its discretion, in full or cut form, on the youtube channel of Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTAnycGjE5KzDCr-AnFJwow/feed

Abstracts (and video talks) must be submitted in English. The official languages of the conference, however, are Italian, English, and French. For each session, languages will be used on the basis of the composition of participants.

Proposals must be submitted by 15 January 2018 .

Francesca Scrinzi

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow
European University Institute
https://www.mwpweb.eu/FrancescaScrinzi/