Category Archives: Conferences

Call for Papers – Celebrating SocRel at 45: Beyond Binaries in the Sociology of Religion

14–16 July 2020 – University of York, UK

Abstracts (250 words), Special panel proposals (500 words) and Bursary applications must be submitted by 24 January 2020.

Please submit abstracts via the online portal, click here for submission guidelines.  Selected authors will be asked to contribute to an edited volume.

Keynote Speakers:

  • Dr Sarah Jane Page (Aston University)
  • Professor Sam Perry (University of Oklahoma)
  • Professor Colin Campbell (University of York)

Special 45th Anniversary Panel:

  • Professor Eileen Barker (London School of Economics)
  • Professor Jim Beckford (Warwick University)
  • Professor Grace Davie (Exeter University)
  • Professor Linda Woodhead (Lancaster University)
  • Professor Colin Campbell (University of York)

Sociological writing about religion is replete with binaries: secular/post-secular, sacred/profane, religion/non-religion, western/non-western, spiritual/religious, theistic/non-theistic, cognitive/corporeal and private/public, to name just a few. Theories that consider the relationship between these seemingly opposing concepts have shaped the evolution of the discipline, reflected changing social realities, and supported the production of new knowledge.

Although many of these binaries have become highly fashionable within the contemporary study of religion, does the use of these types of analytical frames limit our capacity for critical sociological engagement? Do our understanding of the lived realities for individuals across different communities support or reject the use of binary concepts? In this conference that celebrates 45 years of SocRel, we invite you to consider the possibilities for the sociology of religion ‘beyond binaries’. We encourage you to think about the relationships that you make in your own research with these, and other, binary frames, and the ways in which you find them both useful and limiting to think with.

See BSA website for further details

Call for Papers: Panel (EASA 2020) on “Religion, (im)mobilities and citizenship in the face of populism”

We welcome paper submissions to our panel P181 Religion, (im)mobilities and citizenship in the face of populism at the EASA 2020 conference on 21-24 July in Lisbon https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2020/p/8769 

Convenors:

  • José Mapril (Center for Research in Anthropology (CRIA), Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
  • Guillermo Martín-Sáiz (Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Cristina Rocha (Western Sydney University)

Short abstract:

How does religious mobility fare in a context in which nationalism(s) and populism(s) are growing and movement is being curtailed and segmented? In such a context, how is religion and mobility used in the making of moral hierarchies in Europe and other societies?

Long abstract:

In the past decades, we have been studying mobile religions focusing on institutions, people, materialities, practices, beliefs, media, and cyberspace. But how does religious mobility fare in a world of walls, nationalisms, populisms, and segmented mobilities? In Europe, Christianity is frequently perceived as the religion of the land, becoming part of several nationalistic imaginaries and heritages. In this context, other religious practices are deemed ‘matter out of place’. The growth of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism revealed in construction of a homogeneous Muslim subjectivity and the contestations over the construction of mosques or minarets are cases in point. Simultaneously, there have been also hostile responses to ‘noisy’ Pentecostal churches in European cities. All these reveal an isomorphism between religion and place, which implies the construction of religious others (e.g., “immigrant religions” vs “native religions”), radical alterities and moral hierarchies. In this panel, we ask: what is the impact of such dynamics on religious mobilities, practices and experiences? How do these populist agendas impact on religious fields; and how these define who is entitled (and excluded) from making claims? Which religions become heritage and what does this tells us about the making of autochthony and nativisms? In such a context, what are the ways in which religion and mobilities (migrants, refugees, tourists) are entangled? What is the role of imagination, materiality, cyberspace, and asymmetries of power on the ways in which religions move or get stuck? We would like presenters to address these broad themes, both from an ethnographic and/or theoretical perspective.

AASR January Newsletter

Please note that these special Call for Papers are due on 15 January 2020:

Call for manuscripts: special issue on ‘Religion and Violence’ on the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion

Religion and Gender Journal on the Call for manuscripts: special issue on ‘Religion, Gender and Violence’
Call for Papers:

Conferences:

Rethinking​ ​Media, Religion and Secularities. Conference of the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture Conference location: Sigtuna Foundation, Sigtuna, Sweden. Conference dates: 4-7 of August 2020. Deadline extended 14 January 2020. More info.

Navigating the non/confessional in university Islamic studies. University of Birmingham. 20-22 April 2020. Submission deadline 17 January 2020. More info. 

“Religion and the urban, natural and virtual environments”, Bi-Annual Conference of the ESA RN34- Sociology of Religion, Groningen (Netherlands), 26-28 August 2020. Abstract deadline 31 January 2020. More info.

Perception and Reception of Persia research unit (EABS, Wuppertal, August 3rd-6th 2020). Submission deadline: 20 February 2020. More info. 

3rd ANU Religion Conference – Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy. Canberra, 8-10 December 2020. Proposal deadline 30 April 2020. More info. 

PublicationsCall for Papers on Digital Visibilities of the Religious. Deadline 15 January 2020. More info. 

Call for papers on Religion & Ecology for a special issue of Religions. Deadline 31 May 2020.
Events:

7th UN interfaith Harmony lecture in conjunction with Melbourne University Chaplaincy. ‘Pope Francis: His Interfaith and Environmental Perspectives’ by Mr David Schütz on Tuesday 4 February at Melbourne University, 5.30 – 7.30pm. More info. 
Funding Opportunities:

Call for proposals: The Religion and Sexual Abuse Project. Deadline 1 February 2020. More info. 
Postgrad/ECR Opportunities:

PhD on Extreme Beliefs, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

4 PhD scholarships at the University of Queensland, Atlas of Religion Project

Postdoc positions at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University

Postdoc Fellowship, The Center for Religion and the Human (CRH) at Indiana University

Call for Papers from Sociology of Religion for Advanced Graduate Students

Call for Applications: Workshop “Public Scholarship of Religion in an Age of Hypermediation”

Summer School on Religion and Cultural Change

Also if you’re on Facebook, we have a postgrad page so do join us 🙂 
New Publications:

Alphia Possamai-Inesedy and Alan Nixon (2019)(eds). The Digital Social: Religion and Belief. de Gruyter.

Milad Milani (2019) ‘The “Sufism” of Monsieur Ibrahim‘, in Cultural Fusion of Sufi Islam: Alternative Paths to Mystical Faith, edited by Sarwar Alam. Routledge: Abingdon.

Praveena Rajkobal (2020), The Sarvodaya Movement: Holistic Development and Risk Governance in Sri Lanka. Routledge: London.

Enqi Weng (2020), Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia: Of Dominance and Diversity. Routledge: London.
Have you a new event, job opportunity or latest publication to share with us? Please get in touch with the AASR’s Communication Officer, Dr Enqi Weng, at enqi.weng@deakin.edu.au with details by mid of 2nd and 4th week of each month to be included in our now fortnightly newsletter. Thank you.  

Immortality: Beliefs and Practices – Last week of Inform Seminar early bird registration!

After 12th January, ticket prices will increase

It’s the last week of early bird reduced price registration for the next Inform Seminar, Immortality: Beliefs and Practices, in conjunction with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College, London.

Saturday 1st February 2020, 10am-5pm (registration at 9.30). Bush House Lecture Theatre 1, King’s College, London, 30 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4BG.

Please visit https://inform.ac/seminars to book tickets via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Registration costs:

Standard: £38

Unwaged/ university student: £18

A Level student: £10

After 12th January, ticket prices will increase by £10, across all three categories and refunds will not be offered.

Immortality: Beliefs and Practices

The lure of immortality has been an inspiration for many people in both religious and secular contexts. But what does immortality mean? This seminar will explore some of the range of beliefs and practices which are closely associated with immortality in comparative context. We will investigate the idea of immortality by looking more closely at how it is directly applied in people’s lives. What happens when immortality is understood as a possibility – or even a reality?  We will be considering beliefs and practices relating to immortality in the context of AI, near-death experiences, Christianity, Buddhism, Freezone Scientology, spiritualist mediums and contemporary yoga movements. 

This project is partially funded through the ERC Horizon 2020 Project AYURYOG Grant No. 639363 which is exploring the entanglements of yoga, ayurveda and rasaśastra (alchemical and longevity practices) in South Asia.

It is held in association with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College, London.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Mikel Burley, University of Leeds
  • Susannah Crockford, Ghent University
  • Peter Fenwick, King’s College London
  • Tobi Olujinmi, The W-Talk
  • Mark Singleton, SOAS, The University of London
  • Aled Thomas, The Open University

We look forward to seeing you there!

Best wishes and Happy New Year from the Inform Team!

Call for Papers – Religion and Cultural Change Conference

Åbo/Turku, Finland, 8–10 June, 2020

Abstract (150 words) to cscc@utu.fi by 15 January, 2020

Religion and Cultural Change Conference website: www.abo.fi/rccFacebook event 

Keynote speakers: 

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

Welcome to an interdisciplinary summer school and conference. 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.  

Selected papers from the conference will be published as a special issue of the peer-reviewed open access journal Approaching Religion, published by the Donner Institute: https://journal.fi/ar.For further information, please see the conference website.

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). Welcome to Turku/Åbo!

Call for Papers – Spiritual Abuse: Coercive Control in Religions

4th – 5th September 2020

Department of Psychology and Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Chester, UK

The term ‘Spiritual Abuse’ has increasingly been used to name the phenomenon of abuse, coercion and control within religious and spiritual traditions and contexts. This conference provides a space for practitioners, academics, statutory agencies, other relevant stakeholders and survivor groups to explore the growing awareness of this phenomenon from multiple religious, spiritual and non-religious perspectives.
Potential themes include (but are not limited to):

  • Terminology and concepts
  • Experience-based narratives and accounts
  • Methodological issues in the study of spiritual abuse
  • Prevention strategies
  • Responses and interventions
  • Safeguarding, health and well-being
  • Counselling and psychiatric approaches
  • Legislation and legal perspectives
  • Religion/tradition specific contexts
  • Role and styles of power
  • Role of religious sources in legitimation
  • Intersectionality, inclusion and diversity (gender, sexualities, race, class, age, disability and other forms of identity)

Hosted, jointly, by the School of Psychology, and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester, the conference invites proposals for individual and group presentations, posters, and themed panels. Alternative formats are also welcome.
Please send 300 word (approx.) abstracts and include presentation title, and author’s/authors’ names and affiliations in a Word Document to SpiritualAbuseConference@chester.ac.uk
The conference team is committed to making this event accessible and productive for everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

We adhere to the TRS UK Code of Conduct: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftrs.ac.uk%2Fnews%2Ftrs-uk-code-of-conduct-for-conferences-template%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cjim_spickard%40REDLANDS.EDU%7Ccf7a6295f1484d339b2108d784e0aea7%7C496b6d7d089e431889efd9fdf760aafd%7C0%7C1%7C637123972853440210&sdata=ffCp9PtqN3W6BLFI7h6Zgalt3K38252CQVxMLiQN26k%3D&reserved=0

Steering Group:

  • Dr Lisa Oakley, Associate Professor of Applied Psychology, University of Chester
  • Dr Dawn Llewellyn, Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies, University of Chester
  • Dr Wendy Dossett, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Chester
  • Prof. David Clough, Professor of Theological Ethics, University of Chester
  • Dr Kathryn Kinmond, Psychologist & Psychotherapist, Hon Senior Lecturer in Counselling, University of Chester
  • Mr Richard Scorer, Head of Abuse Law, Slater and Gordon
  • Dr David Hilborn, Principal Moorland College
  • Prof. Gordon Lynch, Professor of Modern Theology, University of Kent

AASR End of December Newsletter

Happy holidays to all! Please note that there was a mistake in one of the CFP deadline extension sent earlier this month – it has now been corrected.

Do also note our postconference special CFPs as below:

Call for manuscripts: special issue on ‘Religion and Violence’ on the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion

Religion and Gender Journal on the Call for manuscripts: special issue on ‘Religion, Gender and Violence’

Here’s wishing everybody a well-deserved break and we will be in touch again in 2020. 
Call for Papers:

Conferences

Things that Make for Peace Conference II. Sydney, 18-20 March 2020. Deadline extended 31 December 2019. More info. 

The XXII Quinquennial World Congress of the IAHR, hosted by the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions, will take place at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand from 23-29 August 2020. Submission deadline 31 December 2019. More info + latest newsletter

International Communication Association Preconference on Intersectional Imaginaries in Media, Religion & Gender, Gold Coast, Australia, May 2020. Deadline extended 2 January 2020. More info. 

Rethinking​ ​Media, Religion and Secularities. Conference of the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture Conference location: Sigtuna Foundation, Sigtuna, Sweden. Conference dates: 4-7 of August 2020. Deadline extended 14 January 2020. More info.

Navigating the non/confessional in university Islamic studies. University of Birmingham. 20-22 April 2020. Submission deadline 17 January 2020. More info. 

“Religion and the urban, natural and virtual environments”, Bi-Annual Conference of the ESA RN34- Sociology of Religion, Groningen (Netherlands), 26-28 August 2020. Abstract deadline 31 January 2020. More info.

3rd ANU Religion Conference – Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy. Canberra, 8-10 December 2020. Proposal deadline 30 April 2020. More info.  

Publications

Call for Papers on Digital Visibilities of the Religious. Deadline 15 January 2020. More info. 

Call for papers on Religion & Ecology for a special issue of Religions. Deadline 31 May 2020.

Funding Opportunities

Call for proposals: The Religion and Sexual Abuse Project. Deadline 1 February 2020. More info. 
Postgrad/ECR Opportunities

4 PhD scholarships at the University of Queensland, Atlas of Religion Project

Postdoc positions at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University

Postdoc Fellowship, The Center for Religion and the Human (CRH) at Indiana University

Call for Papers from Sociology of Religion for Advanced Graduate Students

Call for Applications: Workshop “Public Scholarship of Religion in an Age of Hypermediation”

Summer School on Religion and Cultural Change

Also if you’re on Facebook, we have a postgrad page so do join us 🙂 
Job Opportunities

Lecturer in Philosophy and Religion, Leeds
New Publications

Milani M (2019) The “Sufism” of Monsieur Ibrahim, in Cultural Fusion of Sufi Islam: Alternative Paths to Mystical Faith, edited by Sarwar Alam. Routledge: Abingdon.

Possamai-Inesedy A and Nixon A (2019)(eds). The Digital Social: Religion and Belief. de Gruyter.
Have you a new event, job opportunity or latest publication to share with us? Please get in touch with the AASR’s Communication Officer, Dr Enqi Weng, at enqi.weng@deakin.edu.au with details by mid of 2nd and 4th week of each month to be included in our now fortnightly newsletter. Thank you.  

CallforPapers – AMSS Paper Session at ASA – Generosity, Morality, and Altruism: Global Studies in Cross-Cultural Values

Submit your title and abstract no later than January 15, 2020

I am organizing a session at the 2020 American Sociological Association’s (ASA) annual meeting, as part of the section called Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity (AMSS). The session description is below. 

Generosity, Morality, and Altruism: Global Studies in Cross-Cultural Values

This panel aims to advance cross-cultural approaches to studying generosity, morality, and altruism. The purpose is to better understand other-oriented activities across cultural contexts. In particular, the panel will focus on these understudied world regions: Asia, the Middle East and Turkey, Africa, and Latin America.

2020 ASA Annual Meeting

The 115th Annual Meeting will be held August 8-11, 2020 in San Francisco. 

If you are interested in submitting a paper for this session, please submit your title and abstract no later than January 15 (earlier is appreciated). 

Call for Papers: 2020 RN34-Sociology of Religion biennial conference

This is a kind reminder that the Call for Papers for the 2020 RN34-Sociology of Religion biennial conference is out. Individual paper proposals as well as full-panel proposals are very much welcome! You can download the Call for Papers and find more information on the conference website. Deadline for submission of proposals is 31 January 2020.

We are looking forward to receiving your proposals and would like to wish you a restful holiday period.

ESA RN34 Board