EASR 2016 CFP on Religious Change in the Lives of Young People Globally

The theme “Religious Change in the Lives of Young People Globally” at EASR 2016 in Helsinki,

Call for papers to Open Session on:
“I’d rather talk about human rights than speak in tongues” – Situating Religious Change in the Lives of Young People Globally

Chair: Peter Nynäs (Åbo Akademi University)

The development of modern communications technologies has altered not only our means of interaction but also the social organization of our lives. Similarly, emerging transnational economic structures and consumerism has had an immense effect on our everyday activities, whereas many global movements and networks have enabled and raised awareness of value-laden issues and mobilized people in new ways. Therefore, these processes also produce new religious spaces and agencies globally. They fuel contemporary religious change no matter we refer to the position of religious institutions and traditions, to the increasing religious inclusivism or individualism, or to the growing radicalization and polarization. Young people are relevant subjects in regard to this. They are called the ‘digital natives’, the first generation to grow up in a world saturated by new media, consumer culture and social movements. They are held to be fluent in the language of this change, but also at risk since these processes can also be forceful vehicles of marginalization and exclusion when distributed unevenly. How do young people today integrate, contest or reinvent religion and spirituality in the light of this global shift? In this panel we welcome presentations based on qualitative empirical studies of how religion/ spirituality is situated in novel ways in the lives of young people – in conjunction with the processes referred to here.

The call for papers form for individual papers opens on the 15 November 2015 and the deadline for individual papers is 31 December 2015