Category Archives: Conferences

Call for Papers: “Communicating Religion’s Relevance”

82ND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION 

Program Theme: “Communicating Religion’s Relevance”

Location: San Francisco, California
Hotel: Hotel Nikko San Francisco, 222 Mason Street

Date: August 7 (welcome reception) – August 9 Program

Program Chair: Brian Starks, Kennesaw State University

Although scholars of religion are keenly aware of the relevance of religion in today’s world, too often social elites and academics diminish the importance of religion. Even scholars who are well aware of religion’s relevance sometimes do an inadequate job explaining how religion permeates practically every aspect of social life. As sociologists of religion, we understand the relevance of religion to individuals as well as its consequences in the social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of modern societies. The 2020 annual meeting’s thematic sessions will focus on several key topics:

  • What is the role of sociologists of religion in communicating the relevance of religion to their (our) fellow academics and to the broader public?
  • Are there ways that various sectors of our society have misunderstood, or failed to fully understand, religion, which sociologists of religion can remedy?
  • How do social and political elites, as well as ordinary citizens, employ religion when communicating about, or working to address, issues of local, national, or international concern?
  • How do social actors, including social movement leaders, draw upon religion and religious narratives to frame social problems? To appeal to human cognition, emotion, and morality?
  • What are religion’s unique features that distinguish it from other social phenomenon and help explain its distinct capacity to influence human and social life?
  • How, and under what circumstances, does religion contribute to new forms of identity, community, meaning, expression, moral conviction, and social control? How do we, as sociologists of religion, communicate religion’s relevance in these facets of our lives, to others?

Papers and sessions may be thematic or focus on any topic within the sociology of religion. Those that pursue and stimulate new avenues of research and innovative theoretical and methodological approaches are especially encouraged.

Specialty sessions, including book salons, teaching and professional development, and discussions that focus on a particular question, are also welcome.

DEADLINES:

  • Session proposals: March 31, 2020
  • Paper abstract submissions: April 30, 2020

All submissions should be made through the ASR website at www.sociologyofreligion.com

ASR Membership is required for organizing a session, presenting a paper, serving as a panelist, or holding another role in the program. All are expected to register for the meeting by July 1, 2020.

For questions, contact:

Call for Papers: ISA Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre, Brazil, July 14-18 2020

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RESEARCH COMMITTEE 22: SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
Call for Abstracts
“Challenges of the 21st century for sociology of religion”

Program Coordinators:

  • Eloísa Martín, United Arab Emirates University, UAE
  • Juan Cruz Esquivel, University of Buenos Aires/ CONICET, Argentina
  • Roberta Bivar Carneiro, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil

The debate on religion, its role, its development, and its future has been intense, extensive and sophisticated during the last few decades. Religion is both a central phenomenon itself and a key variable that can be used to explain economic, social, and political phenomena. Both facets require continuous in-depth research. In recent years, many sociologists have begun to identify limits to the current approach to religious phenomena, and especially to the definitions of religion developed in the West. A number of authors have extended this critique to the ways sociologists currently explain and interpret “religion” in the 21st Century. Though still emerging, such accounts have opened new paths by which sociologists of religion can face both the empirical and theoretical challenges of our era.

We invite abstracts for the following sessions:

We will also be including the following invited sessions in our RC22 program:

The ISA CONFEX website is now open for abstract submissions from April 25 – September 30, 2019 24:00 GMT. Abstracts may only be submitted through the CONFEX site. Programme coordinators cannot include abstracts sent by email or include abstracts submitted after the CONFEX system is closed.

Go to https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/forum2020/cfp.cgi to enter the CONFEX site and click on Begin a Submission. Abstracts must be submitted in English, French or Spanish.

A person may be listed in the Program:
•    up to 2 times as author or co-author (oral or poster presentation, distributed paper, roundtable presenter)
•    up to 2 times as chair or co-chair, panellist, critic, discussant

To be included in the program the participants (presenters, chairs, discussants, etc.) need to pay full registration fees by March 19, 2020. If not registered, their names will not appear in the Program Book and in the Abstracts Book.

Please address any questions to any of the Program Coordinators:

Call for Papers: Conference on Rethinking​ ​Media, Religion and Secularities, 4-7 August 2020

Conference of the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture Conference location: Sigtuna Foundation, Sigtuna, Sweden. Conference dates: 4-7 of August 2020. Deadline for Paper proposals: 6 December 2019.

Religion, as humanity’s oldest expression of values, identity and community, has always been a mediated practice. In contemporary society religious ideas are communicated, learned, represented, enacted and resisted through various forms of media. Religion circulates through social media, is discussed in the news and becomes a source of imagery for film and television.

The International Society for Media, Religion and Culture (ISMRC) was founded in 2010 out of a series of conferences on the interplay between media, religion and culture starting in 1994. Today the ISMRC is a vibrant research community of scholars with a large variety of international, disciplinary and religious backgrounds, covering topics such as journalism on religion; religion, popular culture and entertainment; and digital religion.

The ISMRC organizes biennial conferences and the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture (RMDC) is published by Brill in cooperation with the ISMRC.

Click HERE for detailed information.

Call for Papers: IAHR in New Zealand, 23-29 August, 2020

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.

Kia ora koutou

On behalf of the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions, it is our great pleasure to invite you to the University of Otago for the 22nd Quinquennial World Congress of the IAHR.

The theme of the congress is Centres and Peripheries. New Zealand is both central and peripheral to the study of religion: further East than Japan, further south than almost anywhere, New Zealand’s small size and geographical isolation have meant the people of New Zealand have always looked outwards, whether to Hawaiki or to the intellectual centres and tradition of Europe.

New Zealand is also a Pacific nation, with deep ties to the Pacific societies which have formed the setting for both classic works in the study of religion and for some of the most innovative contemporary studies on religion and society.

We invite you to join with us and leading scholars of religion from throughout the world to exchange ideas in the wonderful surroundings of New Zealand, to renew old friendships and to forge new connections. The next chapter in the academic study of religion opens in New Zealand in 2020!

Will Sweetman, Ben Schonthal and John Shaver

Click HERE for the Call for Papers

AASR 2019 Conference: “Religion and Violence”

AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION

The 2019 AASR conference will be held from December 5-6 at the city campus of the University of Newcastle, co-hosted by the AASR, the Centre for the Study of Violence and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Conference Theme

We invite scholarly reflections on the complex and diverse relations between religion and violence, incorporating counter discourses of peace and social justice.

The relationship between religion and violence continues to be contentious and marked by significant changes in global and domestic politics including humanitarian crises, displaced peoples particularly asylum seekers, the rise and fall of extremist religious movements, the status of hate speech, the role of social media and the ongoing threat of religious terrorism. 

These major upheavals, particularly the claims to religious authority and legitimacy through violent means, have led to a growth in collective anxiety threatening global and local security.  Religious violence can be direct and institutional; aimed against individuals or groups; administered by the state or by non-state actors; material and symbolic.

A counterpoint is provided by religiously-motivated peace and social justice movements, including those for welcoming religiously-diverse refugees and migrants, interfaith initiatives and movements for gender and sexuality equality and animal rights. For example, values of religious diversity, social solidarity and pluralism have been notable in responding to recent expressions of violence including the events in Christchurch in March 2019 and provide notable moments of hope in moving towards religious diversity as a global value.

The conference invites papers engaging these issues from relevant disciplines including religious studies, politics, history, philosophy, law, theology, sociology and anthropology, social work, criminology, gender and women’s studies and education. Of particular interest are contributions examining:

  • the relationship between religious identity and violent extremism
  • state management of religious violence including the regulation of social media and hate speech
  • state perpetration of religious violence
  • perceptions and constructions of religious violence
  • theoretical approaches to the meaning of religious violence including examples of scapegoating and symbolic forms of violence
  • the relationship between gender, sexuality, religion and violence with particular attention to current issues of clergy abuse and domestic violence
  • representations of religious violence in popular culture
  • race, ethnicity, otherness and religious violence
  • religion and animal rights
  • religious movements for peace and social cohesion

How to Submit

Send proposals to the conference convenor Kathleen McPhillips: Kathleen.mcphillips@newcastle.edu.au

Please include Title, Author, Abstract (maximum 150 words) and university affiliation by 1st August 2019.

We are particularly interested in panel proposals on the conference theme, which must include no more than 4 panel members with a theme, paper titles, abstracts and authors.

Confirmations of acceptance will be sent by 1st September 2019. Late papers will not be considered.

Membership

Please note: submissions will only be considered if authors are members of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion.

For membership please visit the AASR website https://www.aasr.org.au/join-us. Members of NZASR do not need to also have AASR membership.

Conference Venue

The University of Newcastle is Australia’s leading regional university and has a record of global excellence in enquiry and engagement. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences supports the interdisciplinary study of religion including via the Centre for the History of Violence, where researchers work on projects across a breadth of themes including religion. The University’s city campus– Newspace – is located in the centre of the business district close to transport, accommodation, the harbour, beaches and the entertainment area. See https://www.newcastle.edu.au/about-uon/our-environments/new-space

Newcastle is located 2 hours north of Sydney and is easily accessible by road, air and train.  Transport to and from Newcastle airport provides easy access into the city and hosts international flights, including direct flights from Auckland and most major Australian cities.

Multiculturalism, Nationalism, Religions and Secularism

Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship’s Twentieth Anniversary Conference
Evening of 8 November – 10 November 2019, University of Bristol

Plenary speakers include:
Bhikhu Parekh, Craig Calhoun, Geoff Brahms Levey, Grace Davie, Nira Yuval Davis, Pnina Werbner, Rainer Bauböck, Therese O’Toole, Yael Tamir; and Anna Triandafyllidou (TBC), Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (TBC), Yvette Cooper, MP (TBC).

For twenty years researchers at the University of Bristol’s Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship have led debates about Muslims, racisms, multiculturalism, different forms of minority identity, and the place of religion in public life. Its research has spanned the social sciences and this conference will mark the twentieth anniversary of the Centre’s work.

Conference papers can come from sociology, political theory, political science, anthropology and other social sciences as well as disciplines in the humanities such as history and philosophy. Papers can focus on a range of themes such as multiculturalism, national identity, superdiversity, interculturalism, conviviality and everyday multiculturalism, neo-nationalism and populism, ethno-religious identities, racism and Islamophobia, secular governance and accommodation of religious diversity.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words by 12 August 2019. Abstracts should be submitted to Thomas.sealy@bristol.ac.uk  Decisions will be announced by 19 August 2019.

The attendance fee is £35 in total. There are no extra costs for dinner on the evening of the 9 November 2019 and lunch, tea and coffee on both days, as the conference will provide these.

Participants will be sent options for accommodation after their paper has been accepted.

Places for speakers are limited. Please direct queries to the conference organisers who are:

  • Tariq Modood (University of Bristol): t.modood@Bristol.ac.uk
  • Varun Uberoi (Brunel University): Varun.Uberoi@Brunel.ac.uk
  • Simon Thompson (University of the West of England): Simon.Thompson@uwe.ac.uk

Further information about the Centre is available at:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/ethnicity/

Conference Call for Papers: The Ahmadiyya In Scholarly Perspective.

We are interested in organizing a conference on the Ahmadis and Ahmadiyya in which the speakers examine

  • – Its theology- Christology
  • – Its history,
  • – Its organization, governance and associated groups,
  • – Membership: numbers, growth, sociological profile. International expansion,
  • – Iconography,
  • – Their original territories and their international developments, as well as their various types of changes,
  • – Judicial issues addressing its status; prosecution in certain countries,
  • – Media relations and media coverage,
  • – Impact on humanitarianism, art and culture in general,
  • – Influences in popular culture,
  • – The peculiar way of placing itself within the Islamic world, from which it is considered “heretical”
  • – Relationship with the broader society.

This list of topics above is not exhaustive. We welcome additional studies or surveys completed or in process on the Ahmadiyya and its followers. 

As for our previous conferences, we will prepare the publication of the best papers, once the scientific committee has reviewed them. You may see our publications on www.antwerpfvg.org.

We plan our conferences on one or two days, presuming there will about 12 speakers.  Our requirement is to make sure speakers have a scholarly record and training even if they do not work in an academic background. Doctoral students are welcome. We do not offer grants or stipends to participants, and every participant has to pay registration fees.

Organized By: The European Observatory of Religion and Secularism (Laïcité) in partnership with Faculty of Comparative Study of Religion and Humanism (FVG), CLIMAS (Bordeaux), Cesnur (Turin).

Practical Information

  • Venue: Faculty of Comparative Study of Religion and Humanism (FVG)
  • Bist 164 – B-2610 Wilrijk-Antwerpen. Belgium. Tel.: +32 (0)3 830 51 58. E-mail: info@antwerpfvg.org www.antwerpfvg.org
  • Date of the conference: October 24-25, 2019.
  • Language of the conference: English.

Submitting: Send a 10 line abstract, with a 5 lines résumé of your previous work and a short biography to:

  • Régis Dericquebourg, Associate Professor at the FVG and President of the European Observatory of Religions and laïcité (secularism): Associate member of the Group of Sociology of Religion and Laicité. CNRS: Paris. France. redericq@netcourrier.com
  • and/or to Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, Professor in North American Studies, Université Michel de Montaigne, member de CLIMAS (Culture et littératures du monde anglo saxon), Bordeaux. France Vice-President of the Observatory of Religion and Laicité. bcellard@numericable.fr
  • and/or Chris Vonck, rector of the Faculty for Comparative religion and Humanism (FVG). fvg.faculteit@skynet.b
  • And/or Willy Fautre. Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, w.fautre@hrwf.org

Papers will be considered for publication, with editorial details given during the conference. It is understood that each presenter must submit his or her paper first to the organizers for possible inclusion in the conference proceedings. When submitting the abstract, please inform the committee whether the paper has been submitted for review or publication in another venue.

Registration and Transportation:

  • Registration Fee: 100 euros and 15 euros for each lunch.
  • Students: 30 euros and 10 euros each lunch.
  • There are many hotels in Antwerp and a few in the nearby town of Mortsel, which are discoverable online, and each attendee should book directly. FVG is located off of a bus line to downtown Antwerp.

Proposal Deadline: July 1 st , 2019

Scientific Committee:

  • Raffaella Di Marzio, managing director LIREC;
  • Massimo Introvigne, managing director, CESNUR;
  • Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, Professor in North American Studies, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, member de CLIMAS (Culture et littératures du monde anglo saxon), France
  • Régis Dericquebourg, Associate Professor at the FVG and President of the European Observatory of Religions and laïcité (secularism), France and Belgium
  • Chris Vonck, Professor in Religious Studies, Dean of the Faculty of Comparative Studies of Religions, (FVG), Wilrijk (Antwerpen), Belgium

Call for Proposals: The 25th Nordic Conference in the Sociology of Religion

17th-19th August 2020
Gothenburg, Sweden

Religious Organisation(s): Challenges and changes in contemporary society

In today’s globalised and fast changing society, religious organisation and religious organisations face several challenges: Globalization, migration and different secularisation processes, together with political, technological and environmental changes/issues, influence, not only society in general, but also religious organisations and the ways in which religion is practiced and expressed in contemporary society. This situation prompts questions such as:

  • · How do religious organisations handle an influx of new members from other parts of the world and at the same time, an increased loss of members who have been there for a long time?
  • · How do religious organisations react to new technology such as digital communication instead of face-to-face interaction, and web-broadcasted religious meetings?
  • · How do religious groups and organisations handle the late modern individual who has little need of belonging to religious groups, and who is sceptical of religious authority?
  • · How can we explain why late modern individuals choose to belong to conservative and fundamentalist religious groups?

These, and other, questions concerning how religion is organised in contemporary society will be addressed at the 25th NCSR conference held in Gothenburg, Sweden 17th-19th August 2020, which includes a pre-conference for doctoral students in the morning of 17th August.

Dates

  • 15th November 2019          Deadline for submission of session proposals (paper sessions, panels, posters, authors-meets- critics, workshops etc.)
  • 15th Mars 2020                   Deadline for submission of abstracts for papers (max. 200 words)

Information on abstract format and delivery, programme, registration, venue etc. will be available at the conference website:https://lir.gu.se/forskning/konferenser/the-25th-nordic-conference-in-the-sociology-of-religion

The conference is hosted by Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, at Gothenburg University.

We look forward to seeing you in Gothenburg,

  • · Magdalena Nordin, magdalena.nordin@lir.gu.se
  • · Daniel Enstedt, daniel.enstedt@lir.gu.se
  • · Mia Lövheim, mia.lovheim@teol.uu.se
  • · Martha Middlemiss Lé Mon, martha.middlemiss@teol.uu.se

Conference on Study of Science and Belief in Society–4-6 July, Birmingham

Dear List Members,

Registration is now open for non-presenting delegates who wish to attend the first annual conference of the newly established International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society being held at the University of Birmingham from 4-6 July, 2019.

This is a multidisciplinary conference with speakers from disciplines including the history of science, sociology of religion, science and technology studies, philosophy, social psychology, science communication studies, education studies, and anthropology. Keynote papers will be given by historian Professor Peter Harrison, Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland (Australia), and psychologist Professor Cristine Legare, associate professor of psychology and the director of the Evolution, Variation, and Ontogeny of Learning Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (USA).

A full programme and book of abstracts can be found online: https://www.scienceandbeliefinsociety.org/about/engage/events/annual-conference-2019/

The conference themes are:

  • · The social scientific and historical study of the relationship between science and religious and/or non-religious belief and identity;
  • · Public perceptions of the relationship between science, religion and non-religion and their respective roles in society;
  • · National and international comparative perspectives on the study of science, religion and belief in society;
  • · Past and present media or popular representations of science, religion and belief in society;
  • · The past or present roles of science, rationalism, religion and belief in national, social or cultural identity and related geopolitical narratives;
  • · Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of science, religion and non-religion in society;
  • · Methodological approaches to, and issues in, the study of science, religion and belief in society;
  • · Avenues for future research and developments within the social scientific and historical study of science, religion and belief in society;

· Public policy research relating to any aspect of public policy that intersects with issues connected to science, religion and belief in society. Including studies on the impact of publics’ views on science and religion on policy making, and provision for religious, spiritual or non-religious communities across a range of geographies and issues (e.g. healthcare provision, educational policy, science policy, environmental policy or development);

· International studies of religious or spiritual communities’ perspectives on the intersection, and possible relationships, between science and religion over time.

Costs for attendance are as follows:

  • · Full Conference Registration (incl. lunches + evening meals) = £390
  • · Full Conference Registration (incl. lunches only) = £300
  • · Day Delegate Rate (incl. lunch only) = £120
  • · Discounted Full Conference Registration (incl. lunch + evening meals) = £170
  • · Discounted Day Delegate Rate (incl. lunch only) = £60

The subsidised discounted rate is available to PhD Students, unwaged/independent scholars, and retired scholars only. Participants will be expected to arrange their own travel and accommodation, although there are some very limited places available in the conference hotel, Edgbaston Park Hotel.

To register click here: https://shop.bham.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/college-of-arts-law/school-of-philosophy-theology-religion/international-research-network-for-the-study-of-science-belief-in-society-annual-conference

Please share this announcement among your networks, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch (A.F.Hall@bham.ac.uk). An online version of this announcement can be found & shared at: https://www.scienceandbeliefinsociety.org/events-and-workshops/registration-open-science-and-belief-in-society-conference-birmingham-uk-4-6-july/

Kind Regards,

Dr Alexander Hall

The 25th Nordic Conference in the Sociology of Religion

17th-19th August 2020, Gothenburg, Sweden

Religious Organisation(s) – challenges and changes in contemporary society

In today’s globalised and fast changing society, religious organisation and religious organisations face several challenges. Globalization, migration and different secularisation processes, but also/together with political, technological and environmental changes/issues, influence, not only society in general, but also religious organisations and the ways in which religion is practiced and expressed in contemporary society. This situation prompts questions such as:

How do religious organisations handle an influx of new members from other parts of the world and at the same time, an increased loss of members who have been there for a long time? How do religious organisations react to new technology such as digital communication instead of face-to-face interaction, and web-broadcasted religious meetings?

Other questions of interest are for example: how do religious groups and organisations handle the late modern individual who has little need of belonging to religious groups, and who is sceptical of religious authority? And, on the other hand, how can we explain why late modern individuals choose to belong to conservative and fundamentalist religious groups?

These, and other, questions concerning how religion is organised in contemporary society will be addressed at the 25th NCSR conference held in Gothenburg 17th-19th August 2020, which includes a pre-conference for doctoral students in the morning of the 17th August.

https://lir.gu.se/forskning/konferenser/the-25th-nordic-conference-in-the-sociology-of-religion

Dates

  • 15th November 2019                 Deadline for submission of session proposals (paper sessions, panels, posters, authors-meets- critics, workshops etc.)
  • 15th Mars 2020   Deadline for submission of abstracts for papers

We look forward to seeing you in Gothenburg,