Lecturer in Public Policy
Lancaster University, Department of Politics Philosophy and Religion
Lecturer in International Relations and Diplomacy
Lancaster University, Department of Politics Philosophy and Religion
Assistant Professor in Indigenous Spiritualities
University of Toronto, Department for the Study of Religion
Assistant Professor / Associate Professor / Professor in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts
By Philip Lewis, Sadek Hamid
Foreword by Baroness Warsi
Edinburgh University Press: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-british-muslims.html
Explores how a new generation are redefining what it means to be a Muslim in Britain today.
A new generation of Muslims – activists, academics, religious scholars and professionals – are drawing on contemporary reformist thinking emerging from outside their parents’ or grandparents’ tradition and are using this to inform their activism. This positive new thinking is traced as it impacts and shapes the burgeoning field of Muslim women’s activism, the formation of religious leaders, what is to count as ‘Muslim politics’, the dynamics of de-radicalisation and what has been dubbed the ‘New Muslim Cool’ in music, fashion and culture.
A collaboration between two academics, one Muslim and one not, the book gives a distinctive take on understanding Islam and Muslims in Britain today.
Contents:
Maynooth University, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
Wednesday 10 July – Thursday 11 July 2019
Call for Papers
More than 400 million people embark annually on pilgrimages with numbers steadily increasing. Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient practices of humankind and is associated with a great variety of religious and spiritual traditions, beliefs and sacred geographies. As a global phenomenon, pilgrimage facilitates interaction between and among diverse peoples from countless cultures, occupations, and walks of life. In the 6th Global Conference, we will continue to explore pilgrimage’s personal, interpersonal, intercultural, and international dimensions. This includes similarities and differences in the practice in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, and other traditions, as well as secular pilgrimage. The impact of the internet and globalization, pilgrimage as protest, and pilgrimage and peace building, among others, are all topics of interest, as are the concepts of the internal pilgrimage and the journey of self-discovery. Other potential topics include: (1) pilgrimage and the marketplace (2) the metaphor of the journey as explored by writers, artists, performers, and singers, including humanists, agnostics, atheists, and musicians (3) pilgrimage and ‘miracles’ and the related topic of thanksgiving, and (4) ‘dark’ pilgrimages to sites of remembrance and commemoration.
Submitting Your Abstract
Proposals should be submitted no later than Thursday, 28 February 2019 to:
E-Mail Subject Line: Sacred Journeys 6 Proposal Submission
The following information must be included:
Evaluating Your Proposal
All abstracts will be double-blind peer reviewed and you will be notified of the Organizing Committee’s decision no later than Thursday, 14 March 2019. When a positive decision is made, you will be asked to promptly register online. Accommodation is available onsite. The conference registration fee is $250 US and $200 for students. You will be asked to submit a draft paper of no more than 3000 words by Saturday, 01 June 2019.
Publishing Your Work
We have established linkages with the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, the journal Religions, and the University of the Philippines Manila’s The Reflective Practitioner. You will have the opportunity to expand your draft paper for submission to one of these three journals. If there are sufficient papers on a single theme or group of themes, we can consider a book proposal to a major publishing house.
Dear colleagues,
Remember to register for our International Conference on ‘Jihadi Audiovisualities: Meanings, Aesthetics, Appropriations’ on 4-5 October in Mainz.
We focus on audio-visual Jihadist offers, their figurations and aesthetics, and various forms of appropriation. Our event brings together scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines to assess Jihadi audio-visuals and their surroundings in all their complexity. We will explore the acoustic dimension of Jihadi videos, focus on cinematic means and the creative power involved in Jihadi audio-visuals, and examine artivist modes of engaging with these communicative offers.
Please find a detailed programme and further information at https://jihadism-online.de/conference/en/programme/
Due to a great interest in the conference and limited seating capacity we kindly remind you to register now. Registration is open until 26 September.
Best regards,
Christoph
-- Dr. Christoph Günther Principal Investigator - Junior Research Group Jihadism on the Internet Department of Anthropology and African Studies, University of Mainz Forum Universitatis 6 D-55099 Mainz eMail: c.guenther@uni-mainz.de
Centro Internazionale di studi sul Religioso Contemporaneo/CISRECO in collaborazione con AIS-Associazione Italiana di Sociologia Sezione di Sociologia della Religione e Unione Comunale del Chianti Fiorentino
San Gimignano/Tavarnelle V.P. — 22-25 agosto 2018
Online Program at: https://www.asfer.it/convegni-ed-eventi/item/38251-summer-school-on-religions-2018-il-programma
Segreteria Centro Internazionale di Studi sul Religioso Contemporaneo/CISRECO
C.P. 11 – Via San Giovanni, 38 – 53037 San Gimignano (SI)
Tel. 0577 906102
Sito Internet: www.asfer.it
E-mail: gpicone@comune.sangimignano.si.it
A proposed volume edited by Abby Day, Lois Lee, and Jim Spickard
working with Policy Press
Concerns are growing about the dominance of a narrow set of perspectives and interests across all areas of society. For universities, debates have centred on the ways in which people from specific identity-categories dominate the production and dissemination of academic knowledge in teaching, writing, and research. The dominance of such elites – crudely equated to ‘white men of the Global North’ – poses challenges to how all supposedly democratic institutions function. It hits at the heart of the academy. There, it distorts the knowledge universities produce, it disserves students from non-dominant groups, and it threatens the humanistic values on which the modern university is founded.
Elite domination affects the academy on many levels – ethical, epistemic, and economic among others. It includes the dominance of perspectives from particular gender, ethnicity, sexuality and class positions, as well as issues such as of Eurocentrism, androcentrism, Westernization, indigenization, and colonialism . These affect everyone working in the academy, elites included.
Building on the remarkable achievements of the recent wave of critique and the emergence of new initiatives responding to it, this new volume aims to gather, consolidate, and share practical actions that institutions and individuals within the academy – staff and students alike – can take to address issues of elitism. It seeks to encourage positive and decisive steps beyond critique and towards the growth of ‘pluriversity’ – processes of knowledge production that are, in Achille Mbembe’s words:
‘open to epistemic diversity … [pluriversity] does not necessarily abandon the notion of universal knowledge for humanity, but … embraces it via a horizontal strategy of openness to dialogue among different epistemic traditions.[*]
Our proposed volume focuses on what we can all actually do, both practically and theoretically, to bring about the change that is needed. What visions do we need? How can we each contribute to attaining them?
Doing Diversity provides case studies detailing the initiatives that both individuals and institutions have been including in their everyday teaching, writing, and research practices. It also includes chapters locating these initiatives in wider theoretical contexts and chapters reflecting on these initiatives’ achievements, their problems, and the work that they leave undone.
We are seeking proposals for chapters that share practices and/or address these themes. Chapters might, for example, engage with the following questions:
Final chapters are expected to be between 5,000-8,000 words (including all notes and references), though shorter submissions will be considered for the case study section.
Authors are invited to submit a 500-word chapter proposal to the editors at abby.day@gold.ac.uk, l.a.lee@kent.ac.uk, & jim_spickard@redlands.edu.
Deadlines:
[*] “Decolonizing the University: New Directions,” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 15/1: 37, 2016.
Register at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/british-muslims-and-health-addressing-inequalities-and-promoting-access-tickets-48643598312
Numerous studies have shown that British Muslims suffer from chronic diseases such cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, childhood obesity and genetic and mental health conditions at a significantly higher rate than the wider UK population. Typically, the reasons for these inequalities are described in terms of the higher levels of poverty and deprivation among the British Muslim population. However, the phenomenon of health inequalities is more complex than that. Lower levels of physical activity, dietary practices, gendered notions of fitness and taboos around certain activities all raise questions and require open and informed discussion between academic researchers, clinicians and those active within British Muslim communities. Such questions are often drowned out, however, by more post-9/11 narratives about British Muslims in society.
This conference seeks to create a space to present new research and debate issues relating to health and health inequalities among British Muslims. It will cover:
The structural dimensions of the health inequalities among British Muslims, covering the effects of migration, ethnicity, everyday life and government on health issues;
The possible role of Islamic religious settings and leaders in responding to the challenges of health inequalities among British Muslims.
The conference is being organised by the Muslims in Britain Research Network in partnership with the Born in Bradford (BiB) project (https://borninbradford.nhs.uk/). BiB is a cohort study examining the reasons for high rates of illness among children, adults, families and communities, by exploring ethnic dimensions of health and illness. It involves a multi-disciplinary team of researchers. As part of BiB study, Dr Sufyan Abid Dogra is exploring how Islamic religious settings can be used for health promotion in the UK, funded by National Institute for Health Research.
Confirmed speakers and organisations include (more TBC):
En nombre de la Asociación Castellano-Manchega de Sociología, parte nuclear de la Federación Española de Sociología (FES), y desde el año 2014 miembro institucional de la Asociación Internacional de Sociología (ISA), se recuerda que el XXIII CONGRESO DE SOCIOLOGÍA EN CASTILLA-LA MANCHA. CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL, tiene como fecha límite para la presentación de propuestas de ponencia, dos (2) máximo, hasta el día 15 de septiembre de 2018, por lo que se anima a todos a su participación y presentación de trabajos de investigación y estudios en los que la sociología y la ciencia política, tengan una parte central e interdisciplinar dentro del amplio espectro de las disciplinas de las ciencias sociales, así como la transversalidad con otras ciencias, que aunque poco relacionadas entre sí, favorecen y enriquecen el desarrollo de los diferentes temas de estudio a tratar durante el congreso.
Durante veintidós (22) años, se ha celebrado este congreso, creciendo año tras año en participantes y en mesas de trabajo, en este entorno atractivo y natural de la Mancha, donde Don Quijote, nos ha situado internacionalmente dando a conocer esta maravillosa tierra. Ahora este congreso cumple veintitrés (23) años, su título es “INSEGURIDADES Y DESIGUALDADES EN SOCIEDADES COMPLEJAS” y se celebra en una de las ciudades más emblemáticas de esta tierra, Valdepeñas, rodeada del Campo de Montiel, Campo de Calatrava y Sierra Morena, aprovechando ahora para agradecer a su Alcalde D. Jesús Martín y Tte. Alcalde D. Manuel López, su colaboración y compromiso con la cultura, la educación y para con esta asociación, favoreciendo con su apoyo este encuentro de profesionales, de intercambio de experiencias y vivencias, que potencian los estudios y la investigación.
Se anima a todos a la participación activa, dando las gracias al Comité de Organización por su apoyo y dedicación, cuyo trabajo voluntario, solidario y desinteresado, permite que las cuotas del congreso sean lo más económicas posibles.
Para cualquier consulta o cuestión estamos a vuestra disposición en congreso@acms.es, y en la web del congreso: www.congresoacms.com
Miguel Clemente Díaz y José Miguel Moreno Carrillo, Dirección Congreso
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1khH0NJ2Qi9vgHmRnnoSb11mRtswcd03Q
Panth, matam, dharm, rah, and ṣirāṭ, meaning ‘The Way’, are some of the terms used by faith communities in South Asia to define their tradition’s path. This conference will explore how these ways were expressed in ritual, belief, and praxis to create distinction. For example, among the 19th century Khōjā of Sindh and Gujarat, the term satpanth ‘The True Way’, referred to numerous vernacular religious practices that incorporated Vaiṣṇav, Svāminārāyaṇ, Jain, Shia, and Sunni practices within a caste faith. Their liturgical materials originally were written in a caste script in a mélange of dialects from Sindhi, Gujarati, Kacchi, Rajasthani, and Urdu. This liminality was not exclusive to the north, in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka araputamiḻ, the Muslim dialect of Tamil in the Arabic script, records the cosmologies and worldview of Muslim merchant communities that intersperses Vaishnava imagery with Arabic vocabulary.
This conference is intended to bring together scholars of the Adivasi, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism to explore how aesthetics, authority, narratives, rituals, and script have been historically shared and divided by faith communities in South Asia. How do we make sense of such heterogeneity that was distant from ‘orthodox’ literature being produced in urbane Sanskrit and Persian? How did rural religion differ and connect to larger faith communities across linguistic and script divides? Where were ethno-religious boundaries drawn between pragmatic mobile merchant communities and how fluid were they until early colonization? South Asian vernacular religion in local languages is a large untapped historical archive from which scholars can produce incisive microhistories. This is an open call for scholars across disciplines who wish to engage with the themes of endangered/extinct languages and scripts, merchant religion, modern religious identity formation, and the transmission of sacred narratives across the Persianate, Turkic, and Indic worlds.
The conference will be held at the University of Mumbai, Mumbai, January 30-31, 2019. The deadline for the submission of paper proposal is July 31, 2018. Successful applicants will be notified by August 30, 2018. The travel allowances ($500) as well as accommodation and board will be covered through the ‘Khoja Studies Conference’. Send your abstracts to: khojastudies@world-federation.org.
Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies Conference 2018
We are pleased to announce the 2018 AABS conference, which will be hosted by the Alfred Deakin Institute and Buddhist Studies@Deakin. This interdisciplinary conference will provide a forum for scholars and students of Buddhism to explore the rich tapestry of Buddhist cultures, philosophies, and practices in traditional settings and in modern social life.
For full details, please visit the conference website.
8–9 November 2018
Deakin Downtown, Level 12, Tower 2
727 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3008
Keynote speakers
Ann Gleig, University of Central Florida
John Powers, Deakin University
Amber D. Carpenter, Yale-National University of Singapore College
The conference committee is now inviting submissions of proposals for papers in all areas of Buddhist studies, including the following themes:
Panel proposals on these or additional themes with three abstracts are also welcome. Postgraduate students are especially encouraged to present their research, for which bursaries may be available. The closing date for proposals is 31 August 2018.
To submit your abstract, please visit the conference website.
Conference conveners: Leesa Davis, Anna Halafoff and John Powers, Deakin University