Author Archives: Jim

CFP for the Bloomsbury Handbook in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

Please find below the CFP for the Bloomsbury Handbook in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. Due to the UK strikes and the current global health crisis, we have extended the deadline. I’d be grateful if you could pass around your networks and do get in touch if you have any questions!
Warmest wishes,
Dawn

CFP: Bloomsbury Handbook in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

We are seeking papers for a new peer-reviewed edited volume, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. The aim is to generate a globally diverse, interdisciplinary and intersectional collection that captures emerging and contemporary themes and questions for the study of religions, genders, and sexualities.
We are looking for in-depth, scholarly essays, from a range of theoretical, methodological and disciplinary perspectives (conceptual and empirical). The Handbook aims to be a reference point for scholars and students searching for innovative engagements with critical issues relating to religion, gender, and sexuality.
We are seeking…

*   to raise future-forming questions and provocations for religions, genders, and sexualities;
*   to represent themes and issues emerging from broad geographical contexts;
*   to explore religion and spirituality within and beyond institutional and historical settings;
*   to promote the intersectional analyses of religion, gender, and sexuality with different identities and social locations such as race, nationalism, embodiment, class, economic status, and disability/ableness;
*   to advocate that religion is significant for gender, feminist and women’s studies, and is a crucial social and political force in everyday life.

Suggested topics: This is, genuinely, an open call for papers, and indicative topics can include but are not limited to:
*   politics and activism
*   migration, diaspora, and transnational networks
*   material cultures and products
*   texts (literatures, scriptures, digital media, archives, documents, popular culture, arts, visual cultures, for example)
*   well-being and healthcare
*   the body and embodiment
*   intimacies and relationships
*   individual, communal, and social identities
*   practices, beliefs, and experiences
*   violence, oppressions and emancipations
*   technologies
*   spaces

Proposals
Proposals for chapters between 8,000 – 10,000 words (depending on the topic)

Please send proposals to all three editors:

d.llewellyn@chester.ac.ukmailto:d.llewellyn@chester.ac.uk
sh79@soas.ac.uk<mailto:sh79@soas.ac.uk>
sonya.sharma@kingston.ac.uk<mailto:sonya.sharma@kingston.ac.uk>

Please including the following:
*   name, affiliation (if relevant), and any other helpful information
*   an abstract (max 200 words)
*   a proposal (max 1000 words)
*   anticipated word count for completed chapter

We welcome contributions from independent scholars, authors at all career stages and collaborative pieces. Please do feel free to contact the editors with any questions, at any stage.

Deadlines
Proposals Due: June 30th 2020
Acceptance Response: September 30th 2020
Contributors’ Chapters Due: April 30th 2021

SOCREL Posts and Essay Prize

We’re pleased to publish a new blog post this week from Ali Kassem, a doctoral researcher at the University of Sussex and winner of the 2019 Peter B Clarke Memorial Essay Prize. Ali writes about his research among women who wear hijab in Lebanon, and he reflects on the benefits of putting his thoughts into the essay and the positive effect of feedback and review he’s received since winning. You can read his post here:https://socrelstudygroup.blogspot.com/2020/04/islamophobia-and-decolonising-sociology.html

This year’s essay prize is open for current postgraduates who become members with Socrel. Details are on our website, and I want to flag that we have extended the deadline to 30 April for submissions. You’ve got a month to go – please send us your writing. If you are a supervisor of PhD researchers in the sociology of religion, please pass this opportunity on to them. https://www.britsoc.co.uk/groups/study-groups/sociology-of-religion-study-group/funding/
With best regards,
Michael Munnik
Publications and Communications, Socrel

CFP: Religion and the Coronavirus Pandemic

Call for Paper Proposals, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture. Proposals due June 15, 2020

A PDF of the full CFP is available via bit.ly/CV19pdf and via the website of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture at bit.ly/CV19cfp

Short précis

The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (JSRNC) is calling for paper proposals exploring the entanglements of religion, the Coronavirus, and socioecological (aka biocultural) systems. We seek scholarly work that explores how the virus, and religious dimensions of the response to it are influencing, and may decisively reshape socioecological systems, including religious perceptions and practices.

Pandemics are nothing new in human and religious history, of course. Indeed, religion and disease have long been entwined as people struggled to understand the mysterious origins of diseases and why they sometimes cause mass deaths and concomitant social and ecological disasters. Unsurprisingly, invisible spiritual beings or forces, which influence if not control environmental conditions, have often been postulated to explain the invisible-to-the-naked eye organisms that precipitate diseases and disasters. Some theorists even contend that the roots of religion may lie in the existential crises precipitated by disease and death.

Although the history of religion is replete with examples in which disease has played an important role, there may be novelty in the current pandemic and fresh insights about the diversity of religion-related responses to it. Indeed, if apocalypse means the end of the world as we know it, the current pandemic may well precipitate profound, destructive changes. Yet as with much apocalyptic expectation, perhaps after its tribulations new and positive ways of being in the world will emerge that were previously hidden from human imaginations – or only envisioned by previously marginalized individuals and groups.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the JSRNC please share this CFP in all relevant scholarly networks

Call for Abstracts “Religious Fundamentalism: New challenges in Theory and Empirics across Religions and Cultures“

International and interdisciplinary workshop at Cluster of Excellence “Religion & Politics”, University of Munster, Germany

Date: October 16th – 17th, 2020

The project team “Religious Fundamentalism” at Cluster of Excellence “Religion & Politics”, chair of sociology of religion at University of Munster (Germany) organizes a workshop on “Religious Fundamentalism: New Challenges in Theory and Empirics across Religions and Cultures“.

The central aim of this workshop is to create a platform of interaction and dialogue between the project team of the Cluster of Excellence (see below) and external experts in the field of religious fundamentalism. By taking part in presentations and discussions, the participants will not only get a deep insight into research on fundamentalism in various world religions and cultural contexts but will also receive constructive feedback from this team of experts for his/her own studies.

Recent contributions to the field have been challenging common definitions, measurements, as well as explanatory approaches of religious fundamentalism especially against the backdrop of various world religions and of an increasing globalized world. On one hand, this calls into question the relationship between religious traditionalism, fundamentalism, and (acceptance of) violence. On the other hand, research on religious fundamentalism beyond Christianity and Islam as well as beyond the North-American and Western-European context is usually neglected. In this workshop, we want to bring experts together, who contribute to these contemporary issues of fundamentalism research from a theoretical or an empirical perspective.

With this announcement, we want to call for abstracts from scholars, who are highly motivated to present and discuss their scholarly work by participating in a two-day interdisciplinary and international workshop of experts in this field. We are interested in both papers that deal with the phenomenon of fundamentalism on a theoretical level and papers that empirically approach the phenomenon on the basis of (a) selected case(s). Contributions from sociology, psychology, religious studies, political science, theology, or related fields are highly welcome. With this workshop, our objective is to constitute a starting point for future collaborations and dialogue from which the participants can sustainably benefit (e.g., future research projects, publications).

Together with a CV, a convincing abstract of a maximum of 500 words is requested by April 15, 2020 and should be submitted by email to:

Dr. Sarah Demmrich, project leader of “Religious Fundamentalism“ at Cluster of Excellence “Religion & Politics“: kabogan@uni-muenster.de

Successful applicants are going to be informed shortly after. All expenses for attendance, travel, and accommodation of accepted participants are going to be covered by the project. For any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the project leader. We are looking forward to your applications.

With our very best regards,
Dr. Sarah Demmrich
Prof. Dr. Detlef Pollack
Dr. Olaf Müller

CFP: Journal: Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion

Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Professor Ralph Hood and I, welcome your proposals for the Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR). The ‘Call for Papers’ is appended below. We both look forward to your responses
Many thanks
Sariya
*****     *****     ******    *****     *****     ******
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion
Edited by Ralph Hood & Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
For more information, please visit brill.com/rssr
ISSN 1046-8064
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR) is an interdisciplinary, international peer-viewed annual series, which publishes new and innovative research within the social scientific study of religion or belief. Contributions span a range of theoretical orientations, geographic contexts and research methods, though most articles are reports of original quantitative or qualitative research related mainly to the sociology and/or psychology of religion.
RSSR usually includes a guest-edited special section that allows networks of researchers to report studies in areas that are or current interest or which are innovative and expanding the discipline into new areas. For 2020, RSSR will include a special section on Feminist Approaches to the Sociology of Religion. This section will include chapter about research that utilises feminist epistemological frameworks to study lived experiences of religion or belief. For this issue we define feminist approaches broadly as those that
         use a gendered lens
         privilege lesser-heard voices including women
         reflect on researcher positionality
         seek societal transformation as an integral aspect of research.
Submitting Proposals: We invite proposals for the next edition of the RSSR. We welcome proposals from academics at all levels of their career, including early career researchers and final year PhD students. Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words together with names and short biographies (150 words), institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.
         Deadline for abstracts: 5pm on Monday 13th January 2020
         Notification of acceptance of paper: 30th January 2020
*         If accepted full papers will be due by 5pm Friday 31st April 2020
Manuscripts for both the main and special sections should be send to the editors, Ralph Hood (ralph-hood@utc.edu<mailto:ralph-hood@utc.edu>) & Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk<mailto:ac0967@coventry.ac.uk>). For more information and submission guidelines please visit the Instructions for Authors document on brill.com/rssr, or contact the editor.
*****     *****     ******    *****     *****     ******
Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
Assistant Professor | Research Group Lead | Faith and Peaceful Relations
Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University

Call for Papers: 3rd Annual Meeting of East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (EASSSR)

“Religion and Peace in East Asia: Reconsideration of Roles of Religion in the Post-Secular Age”

July 23-25, 2020
Jeju National University, Republic of Korea

Religion has always played an important role in promoting hope and vision for peace. Each religion present in both East and West emphasizes a religious importance of spiritual and ethical life based on justice, peace, brotherhood, and mercy. Religious beliefs and practices for the pursuit of a just and peaceful world should be considered more expansively at the political, social and national level as well as at the individual level, and further at the level of the entirety of humanity. The complex roles of religions in war and peace in modern times, especially in East Asian societies, should be examined more carefully and systematically.
With the global spread of political nationalism and economic protectionism, China, Japan, Korea, and other societies all face an internal conflict triggered by extreme oppositions and tensions within the established social order, while increasing the possibility of a clash between nations in the area. In this circumstance, both scholars of religion and peace need to pay more attention to social roles of religion through reflecting on a reconsideration of the revival of religion and, more specifically, the public roles of religion in the ‘Post-secular Age’ which needs a multi-layered dialogue beyond what “interreligious dialogue” has ever pursued.
Finding the spirit of religious tolerance and harmony inherent in East Asian religious traditions as well as religions introduced in modern times, papers based on various perspectives are welcome. In particular, priority will be given to papers that include the following topics and interests without any limitation to the geographical and cultural context and boundaries of East Asia.

Socio-historical studies on religion as an agent of peace or conflict
Relationship between religion and peace in the (post-) secular age.
Comparison of Eastern with Western religions in the quest for peace.
Case studies of peace building in East Asia.
Thoughts and practices of peace in traditional religions and/or newly-risen religions in East Asia.
Case studies of the transformations (or appropriation) of traditional religions.

However, any topic in the social scientific study of religion is welcome. In particular, any proposals of closed sessions organized by three or four papers are welcome, focusing on different perspectives within the same religious tradition. In the case of individual papers we will arrange them into each session in accordance with their topics.
Abstract Submission
Paper abstracts should be submitted from Dec 1, 2019 to Feb 15, 2020 by clicking below:

Submit Paper Abstracts for the 2020 EASSSR Annual Meeting

For more information about any fees of membership, registration, and accommodation, please visit the website http://www.easssr.org/ or send e-mail by easssr2020@gmail.com

Vol. 30/2 of the journal Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies

We are happy to announce the publication of Vol. 30/2 of the journal Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies. The issue includes articles and reviews by prominent Nordic researchers Malin Thor Tureby, Simo Muir, Johan Fischer, Göran Rosenberg and Karin Kvist Geverts.

You find the journal at https://journal.fi/nj/issue/current

Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies aims at promoting Jewish studies in Scandinavia by publishing scholarly articles, surveys and documents, essays and conversations as well as by reviewing recent literature. The contributions are published in one of the Scandinavian languages, or in English, German or French, with an abstract in English. The journal is strictly academic and does not pursue any special religious, political or cultural policy.

NJ is published open access online.

Thanks for the continuing interest in our work,

Karin Hedner Zetterholm & Ruth Illman

Editors of Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies

Seed Corn Funding Competition: Call for Applications

As part of its ongoing effort to invest in its membership, Socrel invites applications for seed corn funding to support the development of significant and innovative work in the sociology of religion.

This competition is open to Socrel members at any stage of their careers who are also members of the British Sociological Association (BSA) and based at a UK university.

We will make one award of up to £5000 to be used in 2021.

The deadline for applications is 15th January 2020. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by end of January/early February 2020.

This award may be spent, in line with the BSA’s terms and conditions, on travel, subsistence, a one-off work package delivered by a third party e.g. event recording, transcription, research expenses e.g. equipment, software, printing, but not salary or indirect costs/overheads/full economic costing (fEC). We are open-minded as to the type of activity the seed corn funding is used for, for example, a writing workshop, pilot fieldwork, but it must be clearly designed to develop further work.[1]

We welcome applications from groups of members. In this instance, there must be a designated lead applicant who is a Socrel and BSA member and all co-applicants must have at least Socrel membership.

Any seed corn activity must be undertaken in line with the (lead) applicant’s university’s codes of ethics and conduct and data protection policies. The BSA will pay the award to the successful (lead) applicant’s institution once an invoice has been received.

The application form (see appendix A), the lead applicant CV, and short CVs for any other co-applicant named (if applicable) must be emailed to the Socrel Convenor, Céline Benoit (c.benoit@aston.ac.ukmailto:c.benoit@aston.ac.uk).

A note of support for the proposal from the (lead) applicant’s line manager/head of department/postgraduate supervisor/institutional point of contact should also be emailed separately to Céline by the competition closing date.

Criteria:

Applications will be judged by the Socrel Chair, another Socrel committee member, and two independent volunteer Socrel members, using the following criteria, which are ranked in descending order, using the criteria used by the RCUK

Eligibility of applicant(s): affiliation to a UK university; Socrel AND BSA membership for the (lead) applicant and at least Socrel membership for any co-applicants;
2. Innovation;
3. Significance;
4. Clarity of pathway to output(s) and/or outcome(s) e.g. a research project proposal, publicly
available report, film, journal article, social impact[2];
5. Applicant background and experience and proposal match;
6. Benefit to Sociology of Religion in the UK;
7. Value for money.

Please email c.benoit@aston.ac.uk<mailto:c.benoit@aston.ac.uk> if you have any queries.

[1] Any event(s) organised should not clash with any Socrel-run ones or the BSA annual conference (please check the Socrel website or with Socrel Events Officer Rachael Shillitoe (rachael.shillitoe@york.ac.uk<mailto:rachael.shillitoe@york.ac.uk>) if unsure of scheduling).

[2] Here we follow the Economic and Social Research Council’s definition of social impact, please visit https://esrc.ukri.org/research/impact-toolkit/what-is-impact/ for details.

[CfP] Religion and Cultural Change: Summer School in Åbo/Turku 8-10.6 2020

Call for Papers

Welcome to an interdisciplinary summer school and conference to be held in Åbo/Turku 8–10 June, 2020.

Religion and Cultural Change

Conference website: www.abo.fi/rcc

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Catharina Raudvere, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Prof. Anders Runesson, University of Oslo, Norway
Prof. Rebecca Catto, Kent State University, Ohio, USA

The aim of this summer school and conference is to bring together doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers from various academic fields that engage with the study of religion, such as theology, religious studies, history, philosophy, the arts, social and political sciences and other. We invite papers that engage with the theme Religion and Cultural Change from both historical and contemporary perspectives, also looking to the future where possible. We understand cultural change both as dramatic breaking points in history and as slowly evolving transformations and will address past, present and emerging trends and trajectories within culture, society and the scholarly community. The societal relevance and impact of our research is also an important theme.

The summer school will consist of working groups, tutored by the keynote presenters and other academic teachers, where doctoral candidates are given the opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing PhD work in a cross-disciplinary, international setting. Postdoc researchers will present their papers in sessions running parallel to the summer school. Thematic groups and working groups dealing with particular theories or methodologies may also be held.

To apply, please send an abstract of approximately 150 words to cscc@utu.fi no later than 15 January, 2020. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 15 February, 2020. Upon acceptance to the summer school, doctoral candidates will furthermore be asked to submit a 500-word synopsis of their research theme no later than 1 May, 2020.

The summer school is arranged as a joint venture between three different research bodies in Åbo/Turku: the Centre for the Study of Christian Cultures(CSCC) at the University of Turku, the Polin Institute for Theological Research at Åbo Akademi University and the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture (DI).

ISA Research Committee 22

An international scholarly organization for the Sociology of Religion