Category Archives: Book Announcements

ISAGRAM: issue 195, May 2021

On its meeting held on May 1, 2021 the Assembly
of Councils of the ISA has reached the decision to
postpone to June 25-July 1, 2023 the XX ISA World
Congress of Sociology. Further information will be
provided in due course.

ISA approves policy statement against mandatory
retirement from employment because of age

CONFERENCES

Global Studies Colloquium
University of California, USA
April 7-June 2, 2021

Reconsidering Forms of Enslavement
and Subjection
University of Warwick
Coventry, United Kingdom
June 24-26, 2021
Proposals: May 10, 2021

(Re)Contextualising the Discursive Construction
of Europe
University of Cyprus
Nicosia, Cyprus
November 25-26, 2021
Abstracts: May 15, 2021

Where City and Territory Meet…
Institute of Urbanism, TU Graz
Graz, Austria
September 16-17, 2021
Submissions: May 16, 2021

The ‘Future of Work’: Examining Discourses
and Social Practices
Laboratoire de Changement Social et Politique,
Univ. Paris 7
Paris, France
November 25-26, 2021
Proposals: May 30, 2021

The Causes and Consequences of Depopulation
Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2021
Vienna, Austria
November 29–December 01, 2021
Submissions: June 15, 2021

Comparative Sociology & Social Science
Methodology
ISA RC 20 and RC33
Japan’s Women University
Tokyo, Japan
September 12-16, 2022
Session proposals: July 30, 2021

FELLOWSHIPS

7 Post-Doctoral Fellowships
Center for the Study of Violence
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Applications: May 14, 2021

15 PhD Scholarships
Doctoral School of Social Sciences
University of Trento, Italy
Applications: May 26, 2021

Associate Directors of Studies Program
Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme
Paris, France
Applications: June 30, 2021

PUBLICATIONS

Children and Youths’ Migration in a Global
Landscape
Call for papers
Edited volume of Sociological Studies of Children
& Youth
Submissions: May 23, 2021

Demographic Aspects of the COVID-19
Pandemic and its Consequences
Call for papers
Special Issue of the Vienna Yearbook of Population
Research
Submissions: May 31, 2021

Youth and Varieties of Globalism in Asia
Call for papers
Special issue of Youth and Globalization
Abstracts: June 30, 2021

Precarious Employment and Well-Being during
the COVID-19 Pandemic
Call for papers
Special Issue of Work and Occupations
Submissions: November 15, 2021

JOB OPENINGS

Instructor (two-year, limited term) in
Quantitative Sociology
Department of Sociology
University of Calgary, Canada
Applications: May 13, 2021
 
Assistant Professor in Nationalism and Social
Psychology
Central European University
Vienna, Austria
Applications: May 31, 2021

AASR April Newsletter

Book Reviews Editor Wanted

The Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, the publication of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion, is seeking a book reviews editor from April 2021 to April 2022, while Rosemary Hancock is on leave. The position involves soliciting and editing academic book reviews from scholars around the world; the journal is published 3 times per year and each issue publishes 4 or 5 reviews. The position does involve posting books, so it is important to have the approval of your university for that task. Please contact Rosemary Hancock if you are interested: rosemary.hancock@nd.edu.au

Books  for Review

Please find the current list of books available for review on the Journal. 

Call for Papers:

Conferences:

46th Annual Conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion on ‘Hope’, 9-10 December 2021. Abstract deadline: 31 Oct 2021. More info.

Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference 2021, 20-22 September 2021. Abstract deadline 3 May 2021. More info. 

Australian Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (AAIMS), online: “The Future of Islam and Humanity: Local and Global Challenges and Opportunities”. 14-16 September 2021. Proposals due by 1 June 2021. More info.

New New Zealand Association for the Study of Religion Conference on ‘Aotearoa Spirit’, Victoria University of Wellington, 29-30 November 2021. Abstract deadline: 3 September 2021. More info. 

Publications:

Call for papers for the International Journal for the Study of New Religions. 

Call for papers: Special Issue “Female Mystics and the Divine Feminine in the Global Sufi Experience”. Deadline 1 July 2021. 

Events:

1. International seminar series on “Religion, Crisis and Disaster”. Upcoming: ‘Religion and Crisis in Nepal’, by Prof. David Gellner, University of Oxford on 7 April 2021. 
Talks will be online between February 24 – April 28, always on Wednesdays at 7pm in Sydney/4pm Perth (to allow for time difference with Europe and the Americas). More info. 

2. ICA 2021 Preconference Program: Intersectional Imaginaries in Media, Religion and Gender May 27, 2021. More info. 

PhD opportunity:

Religion, Society and Culture Network, Deakin University
Religion — beliefs and believers, institutions, social justice contributions, personal spirituality — plays a crucial role in areas of health, well-being, and safe and secure communities. While so-called secular Australia is in constant dialogue (and sometimes tension) with religion at the institutional level (child abuse, inter-faith disputes, the roles of women, other beliefs which seem to contradict the public policies of society), the contributions of religious leaders and believers are multiple. The Network is concerned with how such debates can be more fully acknowledged and considered, especially in relation to the growing recognition of Indigenous Australian spiritual beliefs, and in the increasing presence of Moslem, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist and other religious faiths.
What does “Australia” have to say in the dialogue between faiths and between secular and religious worldviews? Proposals for a PhD project that would investigate the role played by religion either historically and/or in contemporary cultures are sought. It might be based in sociological and policy-making approaches (potential supervisors are Anna Halafoff and Andrew Singleton), educational studies, ideological or theological approaches (Lyn McCredden, Ly Hon Tan). Supervisors in the Network for Religion, Society and Culture have a range of expertise in religious studies, with particular strengths in Buddhist studies (John Power, Anna Halafoff), Indigenous and postcolonial studies (Joanna Cruickshank, Lyn McCredden, Gillian Tan), fundamentalisms, religion and conspiracy theories (Geoff Boucher, Anna Halafoff, Andrew Singleton), evangelicalism, media and religion. (Enqi Weng), religion and education (Brendan Hyde, Dawn Joseph)
Application details, application due 1 May 2021.

Inform Online Event: Religions and Spiritual Movements: Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions

The next online Inform event will be taking place on Thursday 29th April, 5.30-7.30pm BST via Zoom. This will be the launch of the newest title in the Routledge Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements: Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions, edited by Eileen Barker and James T. Richardson. 

You can register to attend by making a donation through our website, at https://inform.ac/seminars, or by emailing us at inform@kcl.ac.uk to book your place. If donating, please be sure to use the Paypal button at the bottom of the Upcoming Seminars page, not the Donate button at the top of the page. Once you register, you will receive a flyer which will enable you to purchase the book from the publisher at a 20% discount. Please note that the Inform office will not be stocking the book for sale.

For those who have already made a donation, thank you for your generosity! 

We will be joined by a panel of three speakers: 

Milda Ališauskienė, Department of Political Sciences at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania 

Mark Hill QC, The Open University Law School 

Marat Shterin, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London 

Their presentations will be followed by a chance for contributors to the volume to respond briefly to some of the issues raised, and then a general Q&A. 

About the book: 

Much has been written about the law as it affects new and minority religions, but relatively little has been written about how such religions react to the law. This book presents a wide variety of responses by minority religions to the legal environments within which they find themselves. 

An international panel of experts offer examples from North America, Europe and Asia demonstrating how religions with relatively little status may resort to violence or passive acceptance of the law; how they may change their beliefs or practices in order to be in compliance with the law; or how they may resort to the law itself in order to change their legal standing, sometimes by forging alliances with those with more power or authority to achieve their goals. The volume concludes by applying theoretical insights from sociological studies of law, religion and social movements to the variety of responses. 

Table of contents: 

1 Fight, Flight or Freeze? Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions – Eileen Barker 

2 Stand Up For Your Rights: (Minority) Religions’ Reactions to the Law in Estonia – Ringo Ringvee 

3 Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Law: “Caesar’s Things to Caesar, but God’s Things to God” – Tony Brace 

4 Scientology Behind the Scenes: The Law Changer – Eric Roux 

5 No Stranger to Litigation: Court Cases Involving the Unification Church/Family Federation in the United States – Michael L. Mickler 

6 Legal Challenges Posed to the Unification Church in Europe: Perspectives from a Unificationist Advocate for Religious Freedom – Peter Zoehrer 

7 The “Doukhobor Problem” in Canada: How a Russian Mystical Sect Responded to Law Enforcement in British Columbia, 1903-2013 – Susan Palmer and Shane Dussault 

8 Making Sense of the Institutional Demarcation: Tenrikyo’s Response to Legal Environments in France – Masato Kato 

9 Strategies in Context: The Essenes in France and Canada – Marie-Eve Melanson and Jennifer Guyver 

10 Reactions to Legal Challenges by Aum Shinrikyo and its Successor Organisations – Rin Ushiyama 

11 Religious Persecution and Refugees: Legal and Communication Strategies of the Church of Almighty God in Asylum Cases – Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Soryte 

12 Minority Religion Reactions to the European Court of Human Rights  Effie Fokas 

13 Minority Religions Respond to the Law: A Theoretical Excursus – James T. Richardson 

Book launch: Islam and the Liberal State

Online event: Thu, 22 April 2021, 17:00 – 18:30 BST

You are warmly invited to the launch of Stephen H. Jones’s book ‘Islam and the Liberal State’, published by IB Tauris in November 2020. In the book Jones narrates a gradual but, he argues, decisive shift in British Islamic institutions since Muslims settled in the UK in large numbers in the 1950s. Drawing on this narrative, he makes the case for a variety of liberalism that is open to the expression of religious arguments in public and to associations between religious groups and the state.

The event will be chaired by Daniel Nilsson DeHanas and will feature an introduction from the author as well as panel responses from Alyaa Ebbiary, Yahya Birt and Khadijah Elshayyal.

For more details and to register, see the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-islam-and-the-liberal-state-tickets-145834949259

AASR February Newsletter

The AASR YouTube channel is now live with some recordings from the 2020 Digital Conference. To view and/or circulate: AASR 2020 Digital Conference Recordings 

Call for Papers:

Conferences

36th ISSR/SISR ‘Religion in Global/Local Perspectives: Diffusion, Migration, Transformation’ Conference, 12-15 July 2021 (digital only), Taipei, Taiwan. Closing soon Call for papers: 8 January to 28 February 2021. More info. 

UK – 2021 Implicit Religion, Race, and Representation (Online), 21-23 May 2021. Abstract deadline: 15 March 2021. More info. 

New 82nd Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion on Communicating Religion’s Relevance, 7-10 Aug 2021. Abstract deadline: 31 March 2021. More info. 

Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference 2021, 20-22 September 2021. Abstract deadline 3 May 2021. More info. 

3rd ANU Religion Conference – Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy. Canberra, 8-10 December 2021. Proposal deadline 21 May 2021. More info.  

Publications

Call for papers for the Journal of the Contemporary Study of IslamCall for papers for the Waikato Islamic Studies Review

Call for Book Proposals in Modern East Asian Religion and CultureCall for papers for the International Journal for the Study of New Religions. 

Call for paper for a thematic issue of Religion: Emic Categories and New Paths / Case Studies in the Scholarly Use of Indigenous Concepts (working title). Deadline Feb 2021. 

Call for papers: Special Issue on “Historizing Islamophobia”. Deadline February 2021. 

Call for papers: Special Issue “Female Mystics and the Divine Feminine in the Global Sufi Experience”. Deadline 1 July 2021. 

Events:

1. International seminar series on “Religion, Crisis and Disaster” 
Talks will be online between February 24 – April 28, always on Wednesdays at 7pm in Sydney/4pm Perth (to allow for time difference with Europe and the Americas), except for Simon Coleman’s talk, which will be on 3rd of March at 12pm Sydney/9am Perth.
First speaker on Feb 24th is Prof Birgit Meyer (Utrecht, Philosophy and Religious Studies) presenting on ‘Religion and the Pandemic.’ More info. 

2. ICA 2021 Preconference Program: Intersectional Imaginaries in Media, Religion and Gender
May 27, 2021. More info. 

Opportunities:

2021 ATF Theological Book Prize. Submission by 31 March 2021. More info.Junior Professorship for Religious Studies, Westphalian Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Professor in Study of Religion, University of Helsinki

Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal (RSDR) Fellowship of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC)

New Book: Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions

Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions
Eileen Barker and James T. Richardson (eds)

Routledge, http://bit.ly/3jlhGEA

Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions book cover

Much has been written about the law as it affects new and minority religions, but relatively little has been written about how such religions react to the law. This book presents a wide variety of responses by minority religions to the legal environments within which they find themselves.

An international panel of experts offer examples from North America, Europe and Asia, demonstrating how religions with relatively little status may resort to violence or passive acceptance of the law; how they may change their beliefs or practices in order to be in compliance with the law; or how they may resort to the law itself in order to change their legal standing, sometimes by forging alliances with those with more power or authority to achieve their goals. The volume concludes by applying theoretical insights from sociological studies of law, religion and social movements to the variety of responses.

The first systematic collection focussing on how minority religions respond to efforts at social control by various governmental agents, this book provides a vital reference for scholars of religion and the law, new religious movements, minority religions and the sociology of religion.

Table of Contents

  1. Fight, Flight or Freeze? Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions — Eileen Barker
  2. Stand Up For Your Rights: (Minority) Religions’ Reactions to the Law in Estonia — Ringo Ringvee
  3. Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Law: “Caesar’s Things to Caesar, but God’s Things to God” — Tony Brace
  4. Scientology Behind the Scenes: The Law Changer — Eric Roux
  5. No Stranger to Litigation: Court Cases Involving the Unification Church/Family Federation in the United States —Michael L. Mickler
  6. Legal Challenges Posed to the Unification Church in Europe: Perspectives from a Unificationist Advocate for Religious Freedom — Peter Zoehrer
  7. The “Doukhobor Problem” in Canada: How a Russian Mystical Sect Responded to Law Enforcement in British Columbia, 1903–2013 — Susan Palmer and Shane Dussault
  8. Making Sense of the Institutional Demarcation: Tenrikyō’s Response to Legal Environments in France — Masato Kato
  9. Strategies in Context: The Essenes in France and Canada — Marie-Ève Melanson and Jennifer Guyver
  10. Reactions to Legal Challenges by Aum Shinrikyō and its Successor Organisations —Rin Ushiyama
  11. Religious Persecution and Refugees: Legal and Communication Strategies of the Church of Almighty God in Asylum Cases — Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė
  12. Minority Religion Reactions to the European Court Of Human Rights — Effie Fokas
  13. Minority Religions Respond to the Law: A Theoretical Excursus — James T. Richardson

Call for Chapter: “Youths in Contemporary Global Order”

The Youths in Contemporary Global Order: Exclusions, Ramifications and Pathways

Expected Year of Publication: 2022

The remit of this book is examination of existentialities of youths within current global arrangements to practically engage issues around realities of youth’s exclusion, the complex consequences of the exclusion and sustainable pathways out of the trajectories of youth exclusion. This book intends to addresses issues around youths from a global perspective. Issues to be addressed in this book are as tangents of existential exclusion of the youths from the mainframe of the current global order around the world.

Researches, experiences and observations of over two decades have proven how youths, as a category, struggle to survive and be relevant within current global systemic and institutional arrangements. Youths in contemporary world appear trapped, strategically excluded and helplessly frustrated by the main supposedly supportive institutional frameworks of society. This current situation relative to the youths across the world is a major existential and generational problem.

Yet, there are no enough works in Sociology of Youths on this area of youths and social/institutional exclusion around the world. Intellectual works are particularly lacking on relevant and specific existential issues that confront the youths, how the issues affect the youths, their bearing with exclusion and the pathways out of these issues. This book will fill important gaps on youth’s existentialities from global perspectives. The issues engaged in this book are addressed from practical, pragmatic intellectual and policy perspectives.

This book will provide original materials, literature and data that are currently unavailable. This book will be cuing edge and innovative as a major contribution to knowledge.

About The Editor
Ọláyínká Àkànle (PhD), o.akanle@ui.edu.ng
Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria & Research Associate, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

How To Submit Your Abstract/Chapter
Interested authors/contributors should please send abstracts and full papers as email attachments to yakanle@yahoo.com (with copies to olayinkaakanle75@gmail.com, o.akanle@ui.edu.ng). Chapter preparation format is Time New Romans 12 single line spacing. Abstract should be about 150 words and full chapter should be 5,000 and 7, 000 words.

Deadline
The deadline for submission of abstract is 30th April, 2021. It is however noteworthy that review and acceptance will be on rolling and continuous basis. Once sufficient excellent chapters are received on proposed themes/topics (above), no more chapters will be received/accepted on the themes/chapters. Abstracts and chapters should normally include proposed title of chapters, name/s, functional email addresses and institutional affiliations of author/s. Submission of abstracts and full chapters are now open.

New Book: Fighting in God’s Name

FIGHTING IN GOD’S NAME:
RELIGION AND CONFLICT IN LOCAL-GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Edited by Afe Adogame, Olufunke Adeboye, and Corey L. Williams

image  http://bit.ly/3iGdqz4  November 2020

Fighting in God’s Name provides a critical, inter-disciplinary exploration of the relationship between religion, conflict, violence, and tolerance from local-global perspectives. It highlights theoretical issues and approaches with contrasting case studies drawn from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South Asia.

https://Rowman.com/Lexington

Hardback: ISBN 978-1-4985-3993-7   
E-book:  ISBN 978-1-4985-3994-4    

Three new books on Religion & Sexualities

Religion and Sexualities: Theories, Themes and Methodologies, by Sarah-Jane Page and Heather Shipley (Routledge 2020) https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Sexualities-Theories-Themes-and-Methodologies/Page-Shipley/p/book/9781138504288. This book offers an encompassing account of the sociology of sexuality and religion, considering theoretical and methodological lenses, queer experiences, and how sexuality is gendered in religious contexts.

Intersecting Religion and Sexuality: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Sarah-Jane Page and Andrew Kam-Tuk Yip (Brill 2020) https://brill.com/view/title/38647. This edited collection outlines what an intersectional analysis can offer research into religion and sexuality, over 12 chapters.

Embodying Religion, Gender and Sexuality, edited by Sarah-Jane Page and Katy Pilcher (Routledge 2020) https://www.routledge.com/Embodying-Religion-Gender-and-Sexuality/Page-Pilcher/p/book/9780367649555. Taking the notion of embodiment as its starting point, this volume maps the interconnecting relationships between religion, gender and sexuality.

Annual Review: “Chinese Religions Going Global”

Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion
Volume 11: Chinese Religions Going Global

Edited by Nanlai Cao, Giuseppe Giordan, & Fenggang Yang

Cover Chinese Religions Going GlobalAs China is being increasingly integrated into the global economy, more and more Chinese people live transnational lives and practice religion globally. So far scholarship of the relationship between religion and globalization in the Chinese religious field has primarily been set in the historical context of the encounter between Western Christian missionaries and local Chinese agents, and little is known about a global Chinese religious field that is in the making. The Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion Volume 11: Chinese Religions Going Global seeks to challenge the dichotomous ordering of the western global and the Chinese local, and to add a new perspective for understanding religious modernity globally. Contributors from four continents who represent a range of specialisms apply social scientific methods in order to systematically research the globalization of Chinese religions.