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16Apr

CFP: Panels on Religion and Politics at the SISP conference (Florence, 12-14 Sept.)

10:34 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

The standing group on 'Politics and Religion' of the Italian Political Science Society (SISP) organizes several panels at the next annual conference of the association that will be held in Florence (Italy) on 12-14 September 2013.

Conference website: http://www.sisp.it/conference

Deadline: 15 May 2013

To propose a paper, send an abstract of about 200 words to the chairs (see addresses below, for each panel).

LIST OF PANELS:

1) Religious organizations in the local political sphere

Chairs: Xabier Itçaina (x.itcaina@sciencespobordeaux.fr) and Alberta Giorgi (albertagiorgi@ces.uc.pt)

Abstract: The relationships between religion and politics are a topic usually dealt with from a national or international perspective. Nevertheless, the changes in the contemporary political systems, in Europe and abroad, reshaped the hierarchies between the local and the national spheres on a number of policies. Specifically, the processes of devolution and subsidiarization of policies, as well as the cooperation between private and public organizations (especially in the field of social services) under the horizontal governance perspective, increased the importance of local politics. For instance, the local scale is particularly relevant as constituting the arena where public authorities, private actors, religious and secular “third sector” organizations manage – or not - to constitute efficient networks of governance in the welfare field. These local arrangements constitute an implicit form of regulation of public life by religious actors that, in some cases, might not coincide exactly with the sociopolitical preferences of the religious central authorities. In addition, politicized controversies on symbolic issues often take place at the local level –the debates over the localization of mosques in Italy, for example, and, more broadly, the issues dealing with religion in public life. Moreover, grassroots religious organizations and associations have an important and increasing political role – in Italy (movements for public water and against discrimination, renewed engagement of religious associations in politics,…), and abroad (Indignados, Arab Spring…). This panel aims at exploring the political involvement of religious associations and organizations at the local level. Papers’ topics include (but are not limited to): religious associations and political movements, third-sector religious organizations and local policies, interactions between religious and political identities. Papers dealing with empirical cases are more than welcome.

2) Religion in Secular International Contexts: Religious Norm Entrepreneurs and International Institutions

Chair: Gregorio Bettiza (Gregorio.Bettiza@EUI.eu)

Abstract: Over the past decades an exponential growth in religious advocacy and lobbying has occurred towards international institutions that are deeply embedded and anchored to the secular structures of the ‘international liberal order’ (Ikenberry). These institutions range from the United Nations, the European Union, and the International Financial Institutions. This panel theoretically interrogates and empirically investigates the discourses, strategies and mechanisms adopted by transnational religious norm entrepreneurs to advance their concerns within secular international institutions. The panel seeks to address, among others, the some of the following questions. When, under what circumstances, and which religious norm entrepreneurs succeed in their advocacy efforts? Which type of religious norms have, and have had, the greatest chances of being diffused and why? In which ways and how have international institutions changed, if al all, to accommodate religious norm entrepreneurs? What distinguishes international institutions that are more accommodating to the claims of religious actors from those who are less?

3) Religion and democracy in Italy’s ‘second republic’

Chairs: Luca Ozzano (luca.ozzano@unito.it) and Marco Marzano (marco.marzano@unibg.it)

Abstract: Italy is a very interesting case in terms of relation between religion and democracy, both because of the presence in Rome of the Vatican (which has always implied peculiar relations between the Catholic Church and the Italian state) and for the decades-long rule of the Christian Democracy (DC) party. In the latest decades, however, the role of religion in the Italian political system has experienced changes that have been only partially acknowledged by the literature: both as a consequence of wider socio-economic processes, such as secularization and migration flows (which have turned the country from predominantly Catholic to increasingly pluralistic); and as a consequence of the demise, at the beginning of the 1990s, of the old party system (including DC) because of a wide bribery scandal. With the collapse of the party, and the fragmentation of Catholics in left-wing and right-wing factions and parties, a new era seemed to start. To begin with, the Catholic Church started to play a direct role in politics through the so-called ‘cultural project’ of the CEI, the organization of the Italian bishops. On the other hand, new political actors, both from the left and from the right wing of the political spectrum, started to exploit religious and moral issues (albeit with different frames) in order to garner the votes of the Catholic constituency. Several moral issues, from the presence of the crucifix in public offices, to gay unions, have thus become points of contention in the Italian public debate. The panel will take into account these subjects, in order to cast a new light on the role of religion and religious issues in Italian democracy after the beginning of the so-called ‘second republic’. Qualitative as well as quantitative empirical studies are welcome, as well as comparative ones, both written in English and in Italian.

4) Islamism in the Arab world: between elections, street politics and armed struggle

Chairs: Francesco Cavatorta (Francesco.cavatorta@dcu.ie)

Abstract: The Arab Spring has once again led analysts and policy-makers to focus their attention of Islamist movements and parties, which have become the main beneficiaries of the changes of the last two years in the region. However, different groups have responded differently to the new opportunity structures that the Arab Spring opened up. The purpose of this panel is to examine the theoretical and comparative perspectives on the ways in which Islamist groups acted in the wake of the Arab Spring and what explains their specific strategy and choices. How have some movements come to the decision to participate in elections? Conversely how have other movements in a similar setting decide to continue with street protests, refusing to engage with the new institutions being built? What explains the choice of military struggle as in Syria? Was it the inevitable response to regime’s repression or did other factors come into play?

19Mar

Call for papers: Worldviews in Conflict?

14:33 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Interdisciplinary Conference: "Worldviews in Conflict? Controversies between Secular and Sacred Conviction", University of Leipzig, Germany, 27-28 September 2013

The conference is organized by by the Ph.D. Programme "Secularities: Configurations and Developmental Paths", Research Academy of the University of Leipzig. Papers are which discuss phenomena of secularity from different disciplinary perspectives, reflecting on the regional, historical, and cultural circumstances under which secularities are manifested. The conference offers opportunities to discuss the demarcation of the religious and the secular - especially to junior researchers and academics from different disciplines.

Deadline for submissions 19 April 2013. Information: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~ral/gchuman/fileadmin/media/klassen/saekularitaeten/CfP_eng.pdf

19Mar

Call for papers: Mobilising Religion: Networks and Mobility

14:31 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Second Crossroads Asia Conference: "Mobilising Religion: Networks and Mobility", Department of Islamic Studies, University of Bonn, 18-19 July 2013

This conference aims to assess forms of social, spatial and mental mobility and networks from the perspective of different disciplines as well as to work out the role religion plays in these in the region covered by Crossroads Asia's research activities:

Religion as a mobilizing factor in conflicts
Religious elements as symbolic capital in exchange processes in networks/figurations
Islamic institutions/networks as part of translocal figurations
Religious aspects in the cognitive concepts of "migration", "belonging" and "home".

Deadline for proposals 15 April 2013. Information: http://crossroads-asia.de/fileadmin/user_upload/news/CfP_Mobilizing_Religion_July_2013.pdf

19Mar

Call for papers: Global Secularisms

14:27 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Global Secularisms, New York University The Global Liberal Studies Program at New York University is currently seeking paper submissions for its inaugural conference on the topic of Global Secularisms — to be held on November 15 and 16, 2013 in New York, NY.

In recent years, secularism has become a subject of pressing importance for philosophers, social scientists, activists, and theologians. Secularism received renewed scholarly attention with the publication of Charles Taylor’s important book A Secular Age in 2007, which prompted significant responses, including Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age (Michael Warner, Jonathan Van Antwerpen, and Craig J. Calhoun eds., 2010). Other important contributions to the discourse have included Rethinking Secularism (Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, eds., 2011), and The Joys of Secularism (George Levine, ed., 2012).

From a global perspective, Western secularism, and for example the American debate regarding the separation of church and state, appear as very parochial issues. Secularism is a vexed topic with global implications and consequences, affecting virtually every part of the world, every nation state and every culture. Questions related to secularism have become increasingly urgent and involve enormous real-world implications. From the emergence of the “new atheism,” to battles over “shariah law” in Europe and the Middle East, to the reemergence of religion in the politics of India, to battles over the authority of science in the United States, to struggles both intellectual and political over the shape of the public sphere, the question of secularism proves critical.

Some scholars question the assumption that the modern social order is undergoing, or indeed has ever undergone, the process of secularization; others hold that we have entered a post-secular era. Still others associate secularism with western cultural, social, economic or political hegemony. And on the other hand, some thinkers insist that secularism is the only possible means of negotiating sectarian strife and establishing and maintaining a democratic state. Equating secularism with the rejection of the transcendent, secular humanists insist that secularism is the best way to achieve real human flourishing. Yet the very meanings of the words “secularism” and “religion” have been questioned. The history of secularism — and the word should be made plural — helps define the crises of our moment. This conference returns to these issues, in the light of these recent discussions and of recent events that are having serious effects on the way we live now,! on the shape of global politics and culture for the immediate future.

This conference hopes to appeal to scholars and creative authors from the major divisions of the academy, including the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as to independent scholars and writers from outside of the academy. We welcome engagement with questions involving secularism and the arts, culture, economics, history, international relations, religion, philosophy, politics, and science. Among the possible broad areas that papers might address, we offer the following possibilities:

Secularist movements/figures, past and present

Secularism and/as religion

Secularism and the arts, literature

Secularism and human flourishing

Secularism and the state

Anti-secularism, anti-atheism

Secularism and imperialism

Secularism and rights

Secularism in colonial/postcolonial contexts

The secularization of knowledge, science

The secularization of culture

The secularization of the university

Secularism and feminism

Post-secularism

Please email abstracts of 150-300 words by March 31, 2013 to: Dr. Michael Rectenwald (michael.rectenwald@nyu.edu) Read entire post: http://globalsecularisms.org/call-for-papers/

19Mar

Call for papers: SOI special Issue on the Gülen Movement

14:21 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

Sociology of Islam (SOI)

Special Issue on the Gülen Movement (“Hizmet”) in Turkey and the World

Sociology of Islam, a peer reviewed quarterly journal published by BRILL (http://www.brill.com/publications/journals/sociology-islam), plans a special issue on Turkey’s Gülen Movement to be published in October/November 2013 (Volume 1, Number 3).

Referring to itself as “Hizmet” (Service), the Turkish network of people and institutions also known as the “the Gülen Movement” (GM) aims to put into practice the teachings of Turkey’s most famous, and most controversial, faith-based community leader, M. Fethullah Gülen. Beginning in the late 1960s, the GM first emerged as a faith revival community whose attractants were inspired by Gülen’s applied articulation of Turkey’s most widespread twentieth century commentary on the Qur’an, the Risale-i Nur Külliyatı (The Epistles of Light) - the collected teachings of “Bediüzzaman” Said Nursi. Expanding throughout the 1970s, many young people of Anatolia were attracted to Gülen’s blend of science and Islam, and of the Islamic faith and national Turkish identity. Taking advantages of political and economic reforms in the 1980s, the GM has since emerged to become Turkey’s most influential faith-based identity community, and has become a primary organizational player in education, mass media, trade, and finance. Its organizational network now spans over 120 countries, and its affiliates now control one of Turkey’s largest media conglomerates, a number of the country’s most globally linked companies, and approximately 1000 math and science-focused schools throughout the world. Moreover, in 1998 Fethullah Gülen moved to the United States, where he now resides in self-imposed exile in Saylorsburg. Pennsylvania. Since Gülen’s move to the U.S., loyalists in the GM network have expanded their operations in that country, and are now highly active in intercultural and interfaith outreach, commerce and trade, political lobbying, and charter school education. For these reasons, in addition to assessing the GM’s impact inside the borders of “the new Turkey,” this issue also aims to account for the ways in which the GM’s transnational activities both complement and contradict the network’s collective identity and mission.

Considering its emergence as a source of social power in Turkey, the GM is not without its critics. Since the early 1980s, many news columnists, public intellectuals, and politicians have regularly declared that the GM’s real aims are to slowly and patiently initiate an “Islamic” overall of the “secular” Turkish Republic. Not surprisingly, correlated with the GM’s organizational expansion throughout the world, are the emergence of similar criticisms in Australia, the United States, Holland, Russia, and elsewhere. As they do in Turkey, in many other countries GM affiliates must wrestle with sometimes legitimate, sometimes outlandish, criticisms of their ambiguous organizational strategies and apparently contradictory social, political, and economic aims. In response, GM actors both in Turkey and elsewhere have strategically presented themselves as nothing more than “selfless,” “service oriented” democrats, peace activists, and headstrong advocates for interfaith and intercultural dialogue. To spread this message, they have actively sought to publicize Gülen’s teachings to eager foreign audiences. Their primary strategy has been to sponsor and organize a number of academic conferences that have all led to book publications, which, in turn, have saturated the academic marketplace on the topic of the GM’s growth and impact.

In an attempt to fill a glaring void in the literature on the GM’s collective mobilization, this special issue of SOI hopes to attract well-researched scholarship whose author’s intend neither to promote/praise the activities of actors inspired by Fethullah Gülen, nor to demonize them. Rather, the intent is to publish a volume that contextualizes the GM’s impact from a perspective that foregrounds academic skepticism, critical sociology, and social movements. Original, empirically informed, research-based articles from any discipline are welcome, but papers whose authors focus on the GM from the perspective of social movement studies, political sociology/anthropology, and global political economy will be given priority.

Submission Information: Please submit manuscripts for this special issue via MS Word attachment to the following address: sociologyofislam@yahoo.com. The deadline for submissions is July 15, 2013. Length should be limited to 9000-10000 words including all notes and references (not including figures and tables). Because SOI follows a double blind peer-review process, authors should remove all self-references (in text and in the bibliography). Please include the paper’s title and the abstract on the first page of the text itself. Authors should submit a separate title page that includes full contact information. For initial submissions, all standard social science in-text citation and bibliographic forms are acceptable. All submissions will be evaluated upon receipt and, if judged appropriate, sent blindly to referees for review. Please direct questions and queries regarding this special issue to Dr. Joshua Hendrick (jdhendrick@loyola.edu). ___

19Mar

Call for papers: Religion, MIgration, Mutation (EASR)

14:19 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

European Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference, Liverpool Hope University. 3-6 September 2013

RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION

CALL FOR PANELS AND PAPERS IS NOW OPEN

The 12th EASR Annual Conference will be hosted by the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) at Liverpool Hope University. This will also be a Special Conference of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR).

The conference theme will be RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION.

The conference invites papers and panels that examine what happens to religious beliefs and practices when they are displaced, and what occurs to religions when new cultural practices interact with them. The focus on transformation is not only to be taken in connection with movements of people but panels and papers are invited that deal with the issue of mutation in the broadest sense. We invite scholars from different disciplines to participate in the conference. RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION is the 12th annual conference of the EASR and the second to be organised in collaboration with the BASR.

Panels will be 2 hours long and consist of 4 speakers (papers should be no more than 25 minutes long, allowing a 20 minute discussion period). Proposals should include Panel/Papers information: title, abstract for the panel and the individual papers (150 words), any unusual IT required, list of chair, panellists, and abstracts for both the panel and the individual papers. Individual papers are welcomed.

Submission deadline: 1st June 2013

Proposed Papers and Panels should be sent to the Conference Administrator (Sara Fretheim): frethes@hope.ac.uk

19Mar

Call for papers: The Paradox of Liberation and Religion

14:12 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Call for papers: Conference for the Study of Religion

2 – 4 October, 2013

Venue: University of South Australia, City West Campus

Hawke Building, Bradley Forum, Level 5

50 – 55 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia

The Australian Association for the Study of Religion and The International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding invite you to the AASR Annual conference with the theme:

The Paradox of Liberation and Religion

The relationships between religion and society and religion and the individual are multivalent. Religion can be mobilised as a source of empowerment, whilst at the same time curtailing individual and social freedom. For example, Muslim dress is often typecast in the West as a symbol of oppression of individual freedoms, while the veil can be imbued with notions political, social and spiritual liberation. Religion can also be a source of power over individual and collective spheres. The institutionalisation of religion within state apparatus can result in the extension of religious freedoms to some, and the oppression of others. We invite speakers from a broad range of disciplines to engage with the paradoxes of liberation and religion in their various formations.

Contributors are invited to engage with, but are not confined to, the following themes:

- How religion is mobilised to justify forms of social, political and individual oppression and liberation

- The complexities and contradictions of secularism as sources of personal and social liberties

- Inter-religious dialogues between Islam and other critical traditions of thought

- Intersections between religion and power

- Relationships between gender, sexuality and religion

- Religion in the media and popular culture

- Struggles for the recognition of religious formations and expressions

Call for Individual or Panel Presentations

• Individual paper proposals (200-300 word abstracts)

• Panel proposals (200 word for the panel concept and 200-300 words on each panel paper).

• For each paper, please provide a bio (up to 50 words) of the presenter(s).

Presentations of 20 minutes with 5 minutes for questions

Please submit your abstract by July 31st 2013 to MnM-Centre@unisa.edu.au

17Mar

Call for Panels: SISP Conference (Florence)

13:56 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Call for Panels

Conference of the Italian Political Science Society (SISP) – Section ‘Politics and Religion’

Florence (Italy), 12-14 September 2013

http://www.sisp.it/convegno

Deadline: 20 March 2013

To propose a panel, send an abstract of about 200 words to Prof. Piero Ignazi (piero.ignazi@unibo.it) and Prof. Damiano Palano (damiano.palano@unicatt.it).

After the so-called ‘revenge of God’ (according to the definition proposed by Gilles Kepel) taking place in the last decades of the 20th century, the relation between politics and religion has been a crucial variable to understand the contemporary world. This is true both at the domestic level, with religious values and actors (churches, but also organizations, movements and parties) influencing public debates and public policies; as well as at the international level, where – especially after 9/11 – the religious factor has been relevant in orienting global relations. This section will take into account such issues, by including panels – both in Italian and in English – dedicated to the relation between politics and religion according to different points of view and methodological perspectives. To begin with, the section will tackle the issue related to the role of religion within representative democracies, taking into account both the opportunities and the risks this latter can engender. To do so, we will analyze on the one hand the role played by collective identities, within phenomena such as religiously oriented parties and movements; but also, in quantitative terms, the role played in voting dynamics by the religious factor. We will also not neglect this latter’s influence on non democratic regimes: both theocratic polities, and authoritarian regimes relying on the sacred as a source of legitimacy. The section will also accept panels taking into account the influence of religion on more specific features of the political process, such as policy-making and political communication. Moreover, the section will analyze the role of the confessional factor at the international level, first of all under a theoretical point of view, by taking into account the role (to date mostly neglected) that religion can play in the development of the international relations theory and, at the empirical level, its actual influence on foreign policies as well as on global processes such as globalization and new media development. We will also accept panels devoted to transnational religious actors (churches, movements, and diaspora religious organizations), which are playing an increasingly relevant role in influencing the relations among nation-states.

07Mar

Call for papers: Special Issue of Gender & Society

20:13 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Call for papers: Special Issue of Gender & Society

Call for papers for a special issue of Gender & Society on the theme of Gender and Religion. Please see below for details, and don't hesitate to contact any of the guest editors with questions.

Gender is one of the most salient features of religious movements and religious institutions. Women are the majority of participants in religious life and they are increasingly significant actors in religious movements and politics. In many religious traditions, cultural and religious continuity hinges on gendered practices and sexual regimes. Many regions of the world are experiencing important transformations with respect to religion. For instance, China has seen an enormous upsurge in participation in religious and spiritual movements, including large numbers of women. Evangelical Christianity is an increasingly significant player in society and politics across the Global South. Buddhist women in Asia are taking on positions of greater authority in their religious tradition. Hindu nationalism in India and Islamist governments coming to power in the Middle East and North Africa, have given renewed urgency to questions about women and religion. And in the United States, many political debates continue to be polarized by religious affiliation and these debates have become significant issues in public discourse. Despite the growing popular and scholarly interest in religion, scholarship on gender and religion remains under-conceptualized and marginalized in the discipline of sociology.This special issue of Gender & Society seeks to bring together a range of empirical studies at the intersection of gender and religion in diverse contexts to in order to develop new theoretical concepts and perspectives that can illuminate these issues.Gender & Society is one of the most highly cited journals in sociology, and we expect this issue to become a significant platform for emerging scholarship that will point toward new directions and continuing conversations in the study of gender and religion.

We welcome papers that interrogate the gendered nature of religious communities, movements, and experiences while recognizing the centrality of religion in the lives of many communities and individuals. Especially welcome are papers that highlight transnational work that is grounded in deep regional knowledge, papers that bridge different religions, and papers that contribute to theorizing of major conceptual debates in the study of gender and sociology more generally. Empirical and theoretical issues may include:

Religion, structure, and agency

Religious social movements

Religious sexual cultures

Religious masculinities

Gendered religious practices

Religion, gender, and politics

Religion, gender, and everyday life

Gender and secularism/post-secularism

Religious law and gender

Religion and activism for social/gender justice

Religion, gender, and economic life / and or class

Intersectional perspectives on gender and religion

Religion, gender, and nationalism

Completed manuscripts, due September 1, 2013, should be submitted online to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gendsoc and should specify in the cover letter that the paper is to be considered for the special issue.

For additional information, please contact any of the guest editors for this issue:

Orit Avishai

Department of Sociology

Fordham University

avishai@fordham.edu

07Feb

Call for Papers: Post-Secularism

10:58 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: Post-Secularism: Between Public Reason and Political Theology A Special Issue of THE EUROPEAN LEGACY http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cele20/current

Guest Editors: Camil Ungureanu (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) and Lasse Thomassen (Queen Mary, University of London)

This special issue is scheduled for late 2014.

CALL FOR PAPERS: In recent years, leading philosophers, including Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and or John D. Caputo, have criticized "old-style" secularism and proposed instead a post-secular model for understanding the relation of religion and democracy, faith and reason. There are however profound theoretical and practical divergences in the post-secular models proposed. First, what are the precise characteristics of post-secularism as a philosophical alternative? In what sense could it be said to break with secularism? Second, what are the practical political and legal consequences of adhering a post-secular approach? From a critical theoretical perspective, Habermas focuses on a revised concept of public reason and deliberation in promoting an active interaction of democracy and religion. From a hermeneutical perspective, Taylor’s recent work centres on the new "conditions of belief" and the dilemmas inherent to both religious and atheist experience. In contrast, Caputo and Richard Kearney develop a Derridean aporetic understanding of the nexus of democracy and religion, faith and reason, whereas Hent de Vries, William Connolly and Simon Critchley reject Habermas’s rationalist approach and propose a distinct understanding of post-secularism by focusing on Schmitt’s and Benjamin’s re-appropriation of the tenets of Saint Paul in their political-theological works. Although these trends have been studied to some extent, there has been no sustained attempt so far to subject them to a comparative analysis that would more fully address the issue of “post-secularism.”

Our "Call for Papers" invites scholars to submit a study, with a comparative dimension, that addresses both the philosophical import and the practical-political effects of the post-secular alternative. The work of the following authors will be at the centre of our proposed special issue: Habermas, Taylor, Caputo, Critchley, Connolly, Gianni Vattimo, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Žižek, Giorgio Agamben, and Jean-Luc Nancy. Comparative studies that focus on various religious traditions (Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, Confucian, etc.) and theologians, and those that focus on the public role of religion in democracy (e.g., Rawls, Weithman, Wolterstorff) are particularly welcome.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to: - Significance and varieties of post-secularism - Open secularity, post-secularism or political theology? - Deliberative post-secularism or political liberalism - Post-secularism: religious imagination and practice (Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist, etc.) - Discussion of (legal, moral or political) practical cases from a post-secular perspective - Is political theology useful for re-thinking democracy? - Varieties of political theology today - Re-thinking the legacy of Saint Paul - Visions of sovereignty: between proceduralism and political theology - Faith: religious? secular? - Post-secularism and feminism - The state of exception between deliberation and political decision - Rethinking solidarity from a postsecular perspective

Deadline for submissions: 27 October 2013

Length of essay: 6,000 – 8,000 words, including notes. (For the referencing style, please consult http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cele20/current)

Potential contributors are welcome to contact the editors to discuss their proposed essay.

Camil Ungureanu (camil.ungureanu@upf.edu) Lasse Thomassen (l.thomassen@qmul.ac.uk)

01Feb

Call for papers: The role of religion in interstate and intrasocietal conflict

09:51 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Since 1988, the German Peace Psychology Association (FFP e.V.) has been organising an annual conference, initially under the name “Peace Initiative Psychology-Psychosocial Professions”. This year’s symposium has the following topic:

“Opium for the people or source of secure attachment: The role of religion in interstate and intrasocietal conflict.”

In spite of the fact that it is at the same time the 26th Annual Conference of the German Peace Psychology Associations, contributions are by no means just sought from psychologists.

The meeting will be held from June 28 to June 30 at Jacobs University Bremen.

http://www.friedenspsychologie.de/WP/en/

22Jan

Call for Papers: Sociology of Islam (SOI), Special Issue on Kurdish Islam

18:01 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

Sociology of Islam (SOI)

Special Issue on Kurdish Islam

Sociology of Islam, a peer reviewed quarterly journal published by BRILL ( http://www.brill.com/publications/journals/sociology-islam ), plans a special issue on Kurdish Islam to be published in January 2014 (Volume 2, Number 1). Original research articles from any discipline are welcome, with special emphasis on papers that use vernacular-language empirical material and sociological perspective. Lately, Kurdish Islamic cultural repertoires and public religious symbolism have become a significant issue in defining contentious ethnic politics in Kurdish-populated regions in the Middle East. Despite its growing importance especially after the Arab Spring, the topic remains to be understudied among scholars. This special issue aims to shed light to recent revitalization of Kurdish Islamic sphere as well as emerging ethno-religious Kurdish initiatives in the Middle East and will be edited by Mustafa E. Gurbuz, University of South Florida, and Gulsum Kucuksari, University of Arizona.

Submission Info: Please submit manuscripts to the editor of the special issue, Mustafa Gurbuz, gurbuz@usf.edu, by April 15, 2013. Maximum length is 40 pages, not including figures and tables. Remove all self-references (in text and in bibliography) save for on the title page, which should include full contact information for all authors. Include the paper's title and the abstract on the first page of the text itself. For initial submissions, any standard social science in-text citation and bibliographic system is acceptable. All submissions will be evaluated upon receipt and, if judged appropriate, sent to referees for review.

07Jan

Call for Papers (SGIR Conference, Warsaw): International Relations and Islam

15:41 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

sgir-logo.jpg

You are kindly invited to submit a panel or paper proposal(s) for the section on the "Critical Relations between International Relations and Islam" chaired by Nassef Manabilang Adiong and Dr. Adis Duderija for the 8th Pan-European Conference on International Relations (18-21 September 2013, Warsaw, Poland). It is organized by the Standing Group on International Relations (European International Studies Association) in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations of the University of Warsaw and the Polish Association for International Studies. The website of the general conference is http://www.8thpaneuropean.org/ For more details about the particular section on IR and Islam, please visit http://www.nassef-m-adiong.com/2012/12/critical-relations-of-international.html

Scholars are also cordially invited to join the "International Relations and Islamic Studies (IR-IS) Research Cohort." It is an experimental-research-cohort or network and e-community of theoreticians and practitioners - be they scholars, authors, diplomats, policy makers, teachers, (post/undergraduate students), and/or laypersons - interested in the advancement or progress of the relations between International Relations and Islamic Studies in the academic (disciplinary) and practicum (practice/phenomena) areas or perspectives.

For further details, please visit http://www.nassef-m-adiong.com/p/international-relations-ir-and-islamic.html

07Jan

Call for Papers (ECPR Conference, Bordeaux): Changing Boundaries between Religion and Politics in a Pluralizing World

12:47 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

7th ECPR General Conference, Bordeaux 4-7 September 2013

ecpr

CALL FOR PAPERS For the Panel:

“God and Caesar in Motion: Changing Boundaries between Religion and Politics in a Pluralizing World”

Deadline: February, 1 2013

Prof. Dr. Michael Minkenberg (minkenberg@europa-uni.de)

Dr. Anja Hennig (ahennig@europa-uni.de)

(Comparative Politics, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany)

About the Panel: Much has been said about the re-emergence of religion in the public sphere. Nonetheless, even José Casanova noticed a lack of empirical research that analyzes how and to what extent religious actors, ideas or ideologies interact with the public sphere. Against this background this panel addresses the fundamental question of the transformations of boundaries between religion and the (democratic) state in light of ongoing pluralization in the Western world. Instead of focusing on the usual configuration of church-state relationships the panel suggests to look at more subtle boundaries between religion and politics and to reflect their changing characteristics and functions. Such a perspective includes (1) normative boundaries, which typically stem from – or challenge – classical liberal views denying religion a public role. A prominent example would be the normative principle of state-neutrality; (2) institutional boundaries, which determine e.g., whether or to what extent religious actors are involved in public processes of political decision making or consultation. In this vein, they represent mechanisms of recognition and in- or exclusion; (3) symbolic boundaries, which either divide religion from politics or create a religious-political public space and may be identified in media discourses, political ceremonies or public images. They reflect specific forms of regional or national representation. Against this backdrop, the panel invites papers addressing one or several of the following overarching questions and issues: (1) the suggested theoretical conceptualization of boundaries between religion and politics or between the sacred and the profane. More empirical questions may ask (2) how these assumed boundaries have been changing during the last decades and in the light of cultural pluralization and political transformations? For example, did the re-interpretation of existing normative principles perforate assumed legal boundaries between the religious and the secular spheres? (3) To what extent do new institutional arrangements with religious groups and the state in- or exclude certain religions? Another question raises the issue (4) how these different types of boundaries are related to each other. For example, does the dissolution of one boundary provoke the emergence/creation of another? And finally, shifting the perspective: (5) which internal or external factors influence the change of boundaries between or within religion and politics? The papers may be theoretical contributions reflecting the concept of boundaries as analytical tool itself, as well as multiple country-case comparisons (rather than single country studies) which focus on the mentioned questions in the area of Western democracies.

How to submit your paper proposal via MyECPR?

http://new.ecprnet.eu/Documents/Conferences/General/2014BordeauxPaperProposalInstructions.pdf

· Paper proposers must have a myECPR account in order to submit a paper proposal.

· Paper proposals are welcomed from both ECPR Member and Non Member institutions.

· Whilst proposers may submit more than one paper at this stage, the Academic Convenors will not accept more than one paper proposed by the same person.

1) Log in to your myECPR account, or create an account: http://ecprnet.eu/Login.aspx 2) Follow the links to the Bordeaux General Conference home page and then select ‘Propose a Paper’ from the menu. 3) From the dropdown box, select the Panel to which you wish to propose a paper. 4) Select 3-6 keywords from the list which best describe the field to which your paper relates (this is key to ensuring your paper is allocated to the correct Panel). 5) Upload/insert an abstract of no more than 300 words. 6) Provide the e-mail addresses of any co-authors to the paper. To enable us to find them in the system, these addresses must be the ones they have used to create their myECPR account (if they do not already have an account, please ask them to create one.) 7) Attach the full paper proposal in pdf format. (Please note, this can also be done at a later stage via myECPR under the ‘My Events’ page up until the deadline below.) The deadline for paper proposals is 1 February 2013. For additional information regarding deadlines please read the Guidelines and Deadlines for Section Chairs.

19Dec

Call for Papers: Religion and Political Participation

10:40 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Call for paper: Partecipazione e Conflitto

Special issue:

Religion and Political Participation

Editors: Emanuele Polizzi (Università di Milano-Bicocca) emanuele.polizzi@unimib.it Alberta Giorgi (Centro de Estudos Sociais - Coimbra) albertagiorgi@ces.uc.pt

In the latest decades, European societies have been characterized by major changes, that affected also the practices of religious and political engagement. Such developments have been widely investigated by both sociology and political science, by focusing on topics such as electoral behavior and associative practices of religiously-oriented people, Church-State relations, role of religious soft power and transnational religious organizations in foreign policy and international relations. The relationship between religious identity and political participation, as well as between religious and political participation are also well-established fields of studies, in both sociology and political science. On the one hand, in the last decades of the 20th Century religiously-inspired movements flourished all over the world (the Christian Right in the US, Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah in the Middle-East, the nationalist religious movements in Israel and India, Communion and Liberation in Italy and abroad, etc.), as well as religious parties (the Christian democratic parties in Europe and Latin America, the Hindu parties in India, the Muslim parties in the Middle East, such as the Turkish AKP, etc.). On the other hand, the political role of religious organizations has been increasing, with a growing influence on peace-keeping processes, Arab Spring and European political movements against austerity, within-countries political participation, welfare systems, and the decision-making processes. More broadly, religion is an important element for political identity and organization. It appears to be the case in Italy, for instance, where a religiously inspired political area is gathering consensus after the end of Berlusconi hegemony, and local religious leaders and organizations have a high political weight and influence in local political arenas, such as in Lombardia and in Rome. It appears to be the case in several other countries too, such as for US religious lobbies, Church-related movements in Spain and Portugal, and the issue about the recognition of religions in nowadays Hungary. Religiously inspired movements appear to have an increasingly important role in political campaigns. This happened, for instance, in Arab Spring movements - which resulted in a wide consensus for Islamic political actors, but also in the Italian context, where religious associations have been involved in the ‘Public Water’, ‘Migration’, and ‘Anti-nuclear’ movements. This special issue aims at collecting contributions exploring and explaining the relations between religious and political participation. Comparative studies are welcome, as well as single-case studies and theoretical analyses. Suggested paper topics include (but are not limited to): - Religious parties - Forms of political activism and participation of religious movements and organizations. - Relations between local government and religious actors in the field of civic engagement - Relations between political and religious identity of local activists - Political and religious identities interplay in electoral behavior

Papers can be submitted either in Italian or in English, and should not exceed 55.000 characters. Please, refer to: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/NR/Paco-norme.pdf Deadline for submission: 30 April 2013 Date of expected publication: 2014

11Dec

Call for papers: Sacred Space in Secular Institutions

13:53 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

Sacred Space in Secular Institutions Please send abstracts to Chris Hewson by 15 December: chris.hewson@manchester.ac.uk

Venue: Humanities Bridgeford Street Building 1.69 (University of Manchester)

Date: Friday 18th January

The role, form and affect of sacred space(s) within ‘secular’ institutions is a theme that is increasingly attractive to scholars within the social sciences. This Socrel study day will consider how different types of organisation – including but not limited to educational establishments, hospitals and hospices, airports, public buildings, shopping centres, etc – ‘make space’ for faith, sacrality and religious practice(s) within their buildings, management structures and public offerings.

The study day will also consider: the key social, cultural and political drivers behind these spaces; precursors and ongoing developments; how such spaces are positioned within contemporary policy debates; and the practical issues practitioners should consider when designing and managing ‘sacred space’ within a secular institution. The day will be centred around three axes:

A reflection upon the wide range of institutions that contain set-aside ‘sacred space’. A close sociological reading of what ‘happens’ within these spaces on a day-to-day basis, and how this might be conceptualised methodologically. For instance, how are they ‘shared’? How can effective use be measured? A thoroughgoing assessment of the role and practice(s) of extant religious groups and traditions, within the provision and ongoing usage of these spaces.

We welcome contributions of any length (20 minute papers, 10-15 minute presentations) which address these, and any of the following questions:

What are these spaces for, and how are roles and designations contested? What is or can be sacred about these spaces? To what extent are these spaces multi-faith in either description or usage? Do these spaces demonstrate novelty or continuity with existing forms? What are the normative factors governing the development of these spaces (e.g. cohesion, diversity, customer focus, etc). Can these factors always be reconciled?

Please send abstracts to Chris Hewson by 15 December: chris.hewson@manchester.ac.uk

05Dec

Call for papers: Politics, Violence and the Sacred

04:05 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

POLITICS, VIOLENCE AND THE SACRED: Exploring René Girard’s thought in Security and International Studies University of Central Lancashire, UK 23-24 May 2013

“Order in human culture certainly does arise from an extreme of disorder, for such disorder is the disappearance of any and all contested objects in the midst of conflict, and it is at such a point that acquisitive mimesis is transformed into conflictual mimesis and tends toward the unification of conflict against an adversary.”

René Girard, Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World RATIONALE René Girard (1923) is arguably one of the most important scholars of our time. His corpus of reflections on religion, violence and mimetic theory has been acknowledged as one of the most striking approaches to human culture ever presented, to the point that it has been argued that his work has changed forever “the way we think about who and where we are” (Philosophy and Literature). In recent years, his thought has been studied and explored in many academic fields, including anthropology and literature, philosophy and sociology, history and psychology. These studies have generated a number of Girard-inspired research engagements and projects as witnessed by the creation of The Colloquium on Violence & Religion (COV&R) and Imitatio. Despite the strong assonance between Girardian themes and contemporary international issues and security challenges, scholars have not yet explored the implications of Girardian ideas for Security and more broadly International Relations.

The aim of the Conference is bring together a range of scholars in international relations, security, social and political theory which may develop a multidisciplinary engagement with René Girard’s work and its relevance for contemporary International Studies. A Special Issue of a journal and/or an edited volume is also envisaged as an outcome of the event.

Keynote Speakers includes:

Dr Michael Kirwan, Head of Theology, Heythrop College, University of London and author of Girard and Theology (New York & London: Continuum, 2009); Discovering Girard (London: Darton, 2004) Dr Scott Thomas, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Bath, and author of The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)

We invite potential participants from across these disciplines to submit abstracts of no more than 250 words by February 15th 2013 drawing upon, but not limited to, such issues as: THEORY

The relation between violence, the sacred and the “political” Comparisons between Girard’s thought and that of other classical thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, Carl von Clausewitz, Reinhold Niebuhr, Carl Schmitt, Max Weber, Hans Morgenthau, George Bataille, Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben Religion, sovereignty and the sacrality of borders The international system and the “mimetic” balance of power The transcendence/immanence split and political mediation Christendom, political theologies and the origins of modernity War, peace and the victimization process Biopolitics and the sacrality of violence

ISSUES AND CASE STUDIES

“Mimetic rivalry” and foreign policy Fundamentalisms, extremisms and the scapegoat theory Terrorism, human security and “sacrifice” Capitalism, desire and the victimization of the “other” Revolutions, “mimetic desire” and the scapegoat Nuclear deterrence, imitation mechanism and (in)stability Financial crises and the vicious circle of rivalry

Please send abstracts with “2013 Girard Conference” in subject line to:

Dr Antonio Cerella: acerella@uclan.ac.uk Conference blog: http://renegirard2013.wordpress.com/

Please address any inquiries to:

Dr Antonio Cerella Lecturer in International Relations School of Education and Social Sciences University of Central Lancashire Preston PR1 2EH Lancashire, UK Office: +44 (0) 1772 892798

05Dec

Call for papers: Conference of the Association for Israel Studies

03:54 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

29th Annual Conference of the Association for Israel Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 24-26 June 2013

Deadline for submissions 10 January 2013. Contact: mkresnick@international.ucla.edu; information http://www.aisisraelstudies.org/ucla2013.ehtml

05Dec

Call for papers: Popular Movements in the Middle East and Islamic World

03:40 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

BRISMES Conference: "Popular Movements in the Middle East and Islamic World, University College Dublin, Ireland, 24 - 26 June 2013.

The recent events have brought unprecedented change to the MENA region. They have reasserted a key feature of the region - the centrality of popular movements in engendering change. This conference focuses on the challenges posed both by the emergence of new popular movements and by the resurgence of traditional ones such as religious, tribal groupings and trade unions. The organisers welcome submissions focusing on change in all areas of public life, including politics and society, language, literature and the arts, and on the broader Muslim world.

Deadline for proposals and panels 18 January 2013. Further information http://www.brismes.ac.uk/events/92-brismes-annual-conference-2013

04Dec

Call for papers: Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance

08:27 - By Administrator - Calls for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: MUSLIM PARTICIPATION IN CONTEMPORARY GOVERNANCE Academic Workshop followed by Report Launch Event

Venue: Bishopsgate Institute, East London, UK Date: 31 January 2013

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Professor Tariq Modood (Bristol University)

Humera Khan (An-Nisa Society)

Dilwar Hussain (Islamic Society of Britain)

This Workshop will bring together academic contributors from Britain and across Europe to discuss Muslim participation in forms of contemporary governance. Over the past decade, Muslims in many European states have emerged as participants in governance at different levels and across a range of policy domains. Important changes in this regard include the increased presence of Muslims in: structures of political representation; participatory initiatives concerned with social cohesion, faith-based social welfare programmes or countering violent extremism; a range of local democratic and consultative forums and bodies; lobbying and advocacy for equalities legislation both at the state-level and EU-level; and increasingly sophisticated political coalitions for the acknowledgement and diminution of Islamophobia.

The workshop will feature a day of research on and discussion of developments in the study of Muslim participation in forms of contemporary governance. This will be followed by a public Report Launch Event in the evening, featuring a research presentation from the AHRC/ESRC project Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance: a two and a half year study of developments in Muslim participation in governance at national level and in three local case-study areas of Birmingham, Leicester and Tower Hamlets. At this Report Launch Event policy makers and Muslim civil society actors will respond to the project’s Report, and debate the key issues relating to the participation of Muslims in governance and public life in Britain.

We are particularly pleased to invite research from other European countries as well as from the British context, that will complement the work being done in Britain by our AHRC/ESRC project on Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance in the UK. Authors of the papers selected for the day workshop will have an opportunity to be invited as contributors to an edited volume comparing developments in Muslim participation in governance in Britain and Europe.

Abstracts for papers on the following topics (and other cognate topics) are invited:

  • Muslim representation through electoral politics, representative bodies, and other modes
  • Community-based and partnership approaches to policing and counter-terrorism
  • Muslim agency, governmentality, and the everyday state
  • The development of Muslim civil society organisations
  • Coordinated campaigns and lobbying on Islamophobia
  • Muslim mobilisations in relation to multiculturalism, equalities, diversity, and cohesion
  • The participation of Muslims and Muslim organisations in the ‘faith sector,’ in inter faith activities, and in faith-based service delivery
  • Muslim mobilisations that link domestic, EU-level, and/or international governance
  • Comparisons of Muslim participation in governance across states

Please submit abstracts of up to 300 words to Dr Therese O’Toole, Professor Tariq Modood, and Dr Daniel Nilsson DeHanas, (mpcg.uk@gmail.com). Abstracts must be submitted by Noon on 15 December 2012 to be considered for inclusion.

For details on the Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance (MPCG) project, please visit: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/ethnicity/projects/muslimparticipation/

MPCG is a project of the Centre for Ethnicity and Citizenship, in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. The project is led by Dr Therese O’Toole, and funded by the Religion & Society Programme of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council in the UK.

=========================================== Dr Daniel Nilsson DeHanas Centre for Ethnicity and Citizenship School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies University of Bristol 11 Priory Road Bristol BS8 1TU Phone: +44 (0)790 807 5719

Research Centre: http://bris.ac.uk/ethnicity

Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance Project: http://bris.ac.uk/ethnicity/projects/muslimparticipation

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