IPSA RC 43 - Religion and Politics

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12Dec 2014

New Publication: Politics and Religion Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2014

New Issue Volume VIII (No, 2) - Autumn 2014

Full text available at: http://www.politicsandreligionjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=6&Itemid=3&lang=en

Content

The Word of Editor in Chief TOPIC OF THIS ISSUE RELIGION, IMMIGRATION AND COSMOPOLITANISM

Joanna Kaftan Immigration Reform as a Moral Question: Elite and Non-Elite Evangelical Attitudes of Immigration Reform in the U.S.A

Petr Kratochvil, Tomáš Doležal The European Union and the Roman Catholic Church: the Alliance of the Throne and the Altar Revisited?

Graham Maddox Religion and the Search for a new Cosmopolitanism

ANALYSES

Benson Ohihon Igboin "The President of Nigeria has no Final Say": Sharia Law controversies and implications for Nigeria

Darko Trifunović, Milan Mijalkovski Terrorist Threats by Balkan Radical Islamist to International Security

Davis Brown Christian and Muslim Populations and First use of Force by States, 1946-2001

REVIEWS, CRITICAL VIEWS AND POLEMICS

Joseph Wuest Republican Theology: The Civic Religion of American Evangelicals

27Oct 2014

New Book: Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond

Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond Edited by Paul Bramadat and Lorne Dawson 2014, University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division

canada.jpg

http://www.utppublishing.com/Religious-Radicalization-and-Securitization-in-Canada-and-Beyond.html

Description

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, those in London and Madrid, and the arrest of the "Toronto 18," Canadians have changed how they think about terrorism and security. As governments respond to the potential threat of homegrown radicalism, many observers have become concerned about the impact of those security measures on the minority groups whose lives are "securitized."

In Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond, Paul Bramadat and Lorne Dawson bring together contributors from a wide range of academic disciplines to examine the challenges created by both religious radicalism and the state's and society's response to it. This collection takes a critical look at what is known about religious radicalization, how minorities are affected by radicalization from within and securitization from without, and how the public, media, and government are attempting to cope with the dangers of both radicalization and securitization.

Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond is an ideal guide to the ongoing debates on how best to respond to radicalization without sacrificing the commitments to multiculturalism and social justice that many Canadians hold dear.

Editors

Paul Bramadat is the Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society and an associate professor in the Department of History and the Religious Studies Program at the University of Victoria.

Lorne Dawson is a professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo.

Contents

List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements

1. The Public, the Political, and the Possible: Religion and Radicalization in Canada and Beyond (Paul Bramadat)

RELIGION AND RADICALIZATION 2. Beating a Path to Salvation: Themes in the Reality of Religious Violence (Ian Reader) 3. Trying to Make Sense of Homegrown Terrorist Radicalization: The Case of the Toronto 18 (Lorne Dawson) 4. Pluralism and Radicalization: Mind the Gap! (Valérie Amiraux and Javiera Araya-Moreno) 5. Securitization and Young Muslim Males: Is None Too Many? (Peter Beyer)

SECURITIZATION AND CANADIAN ETHNO-RELIGIOUS MINORITIES 6. The Impact of Securitization on South Asian Muslims in Montreal (Uzma Jamil) 7. The Sikhs in Canada: Culture, Religion, and Radicalization (Doris R. Jakobsh) 8. Religion, Politics, and Nationalism in Tamil Militancy in Sri Lankan and the Diaspora (Amarnath Amarasingam)

PUBLIC DISCOURSE AND RELIGIOUS RADICALIZATION 9. Religion, Reporting, and Radicalization: The Role of News Media in Securitized Discourses (Joyce Smith) 10. The Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security as a Response to Radicalization: Personal Experiences and Academic Reflections (Edna Keeble) 11. Narratives, Identity, and Terrorism (Sean Norton and Afzal Upal) 12. Conclusion (Paul Bramadat and Lorne Dawson)

27Oct 2014

New Book: Islam and Development

Islam and Development

Exploring the Invisible Aid Economy

Edited by Matthew Clarke, Deakin University, Australia and David Tittensor, Deakin University, Australia

9781409470809.JKT_template

· Islam and DevelopmentThe study of Islam since the advent of 9/11 has made a significant resurgence. However, much of the work produced since then has tended to focus on the movements that not only provide aid to their fellow Muslims, but also have political and at times violent agendas. This tendency has led to a dearth of research on the wider Muslim aid and development scene.

Focusing on the role and impact of Islam and Islamic FBOs, an arena that has come to be regarded by some as the 'invisible aid economy', Islam and Development considers Islamic theology and its application to development and how Islamic teaching is actualized in case studies of Muslim FBOs. It brings together contributions from the disciplines of theology, sociology, politics and economics, aiming both to raise awareness and to function as a corrective step within the development studies literature.

· Contents: Introduction: the invisible aid sector, David Tittensor and Matthew Clarke. Part I Islam in Development: Zakat and poverty in Islam, Jan A. Ali; The changing nature of Islamic mission: the cases of Tablighi Jama’at and the Gülen Movement, David Tittensor; Islamic international aid flows for poverty alleviation, Matthew Clarke; Development by Muslims, with Muslims and among Muslims: prospects and challenges for Christian aid agencies, Peter Riddell; Riba-free finance and zakat-induced economic aid: the political economy of two developmental initiatives in the Muslim world, Ameer Ali. Part II Islam in Practice: Applying Islamic finance principles to microfinance, Aimatul Yumna; Mobile phones and religion: the case of women micro-entrepreneurs in a religious community in Indonesia, Misita Anwar and Graeme Johanson; Religion and post-disaster development, Ismet Fanany and Rebecca Fanany; Piety, gender relations and Muslim women’s empowerment: the case of Islamic NGOs in Bangladesh, Mohammed Musfequs Salehin. Conclusion: invisible aid: Islam, Muslim NGOs and development, Matthew Clarke, Gerhard Hoffstaedter and David Tittensor; Index.

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409470809

27Oct 2014

New Book: Religious Pluralism. Framing Religious Diversity in the Contemporary World

Religious Pluralism Framing Religious Diversity in the Contemporary World Edited by Giuseppe Giordan, Enzo Pace Springer - 2014 - 188 pages

http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/religious+studies/book/978-3-319-06622-6

This volume illustrates both theoretically and empirically the differences between religious diversity and religious pluralism. It highlights how the factual situation of cultural and religious diversity may lead to individual, social and political choices of organized and recognized pluralism. In the process, both individual and collective identities are redefined, incessantly moving along the continuum that ranges from exclusion to inclusion.

The book starts by first detailing general issues related to religious pluralism. It makes the case for keeping the empirical, the normative, the regulatory and the interactive dimensions of religious pluralism analytically distinct while recognizing that, in practice, they often overlap. It also underlines the importance of seeking connections between religious pluralism and other pluralisms. Next, the book explores how religious diversity can operate to contribute to legal pluralism and examines the different types of church-state relations: eradication, monopoly, oligopoly and pluralism.

The second half of the book features case studies that provide a more specific look at the general issues, from ways to map and assess the religious diversity of a whole country to a comparison between Belgian-French views of religious and philosophical diversity, from religious pluralism in Italy to the shifting approach to ethnic and religious diversity in America, and from a sociological and historical perspective of religious plurality in Japan to an exploration of Brazilian religions, old and new.

The transition from religious diversity to religious pluralism is one of the most important challenges that will reshape the role of religion in contemporary society. This book provides readers with insights that will help them better understand and interpret this unprecedented transition.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction: Pluralism as Legitimization of Diversity; Giuseppe Giordan.- PART I: IDEAS AND CONCEPTS ON RELIGIOUS PLURALISM.- Chapter 2: Rethinking Religious Pluralism; James A. Beckford.- Chapter 3: Religious Diversity, Social Control, and Legal Pluralism: A Socio-Legal Analysis; James T. Richardson.- Chapter 4: Oligopoly Is Not Pluralism; Fenggang Yang.- PART II: CASE STUDIES IN RELIGIOUS PLURALISM.- Chapter 5 : Religious and Philosophical Diversity as a Challenge for the Secularism: A Belgian-French Comparison; Jean-Paul Willaime.- Chapter 6: The Diversity of Religious Diversity. Using Census and NCS Methodology in Order to Map and Assess the Religious Diversity of a Whole Country; Christophe Monnot and Jörg Stolz.- Chapter 7: Increasing Religious Diversity in a Society Monopolized by Catholicism; Enzo Pace.- Chapter 8: Rethinking Religious Diversity: Diversities and Governance of Diversities in “Post-Societies”; Siniša Zrinščak.- Chapter 9: Diversity vs Pluralism? Notes from the American Experience; James V. Spickard.- Chapter 10: Between No Establishment and Free Exercise: The Dialectic of American Religious Pluralism; William H. Swatos, Jr.- Chapter 11: Missionary Trans-border Religions and Defensive Civil Society in Contemporary Japan: Toward a Comparative Institutional Approach to Religious Pluralism; Yoshihide Sakurai.- Chapter 12: Religious Tendencies in Brazil: Disenchantment, Secularization, and Sociologists; Roberto Motta.- Index

Editors

Giuseppe Giordan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Padua. From 2009 to 2013 he served as General Secretary of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion. With Enzo Pace and Luigi Berzano he edits the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion. His books in English include Identity and Pluralism. The Values of the Post-Modern Time. Center for Migration Studies, 2004; Vocation and Social Context (ed.), Brill, 2007; Conversion in the Age of Pluralism (ed.), Brill, 2009; Youth and Religion (ed.), Brill, 2010; Religion, Spirituality and Everyday Practices (ed. with William H. Swatos, Jr.) Springer, 2011.

Enzo Pace, Full professor of sociology of religion at Padua University, Directeur d’Études invité at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Past-President of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR). Co-editors of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion (Brill). Recent publications: Religion as Communication. Farnham: Ashgate, 2011; Il carisma, la fede, la chiesa: introduzione alla sociologia del cristianesimo. Roma: Carocci, 2012; La comunicazione invisibile. Religioni e internet. Cinisello Balsamo, San Paolo Editore, 2013.

27Oct 2014

New Book: Religion and Power: No Logos without Mythos

Religion and Power: No Logos without Mythos David Martin, London School of Economics, UK Ashgate, August 2014

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http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472433596

There are few more contentious issues than the relation of faith to power or the suggestion that religion is irrational compared with politics and peculiarly prone to violence. The former claim is associated with Juergen Habermas and the latter with Richard Dawkins.

In this book David Martin argues, against Habermas, that religion and politics share a common mythic basis and that it is misleading to contrast the rationality of politics with the irrationality of religion. In contrast to Richard Dawkins (and New Atheists generally), Martin argues that the approach taken is brazenly unscientific and that the proclivity to violence is a shared feature of religion, nationalism and political ideology alike rooted in the demands of power and social solidarity. The book concludes by considering the changing ecology of faith and power at both centre and periphery in monuments, places and spaces.

Contents

Introduction; Secularisation, secularism and the post-secular: the power dimension. Part I Religion, War and Violence: The problematic; The rhetorical issue of sentences about religion and violence; Modes of truth and rival narratives; the rival narratives. Part II Religion and Nationalism, Religion and Politics: The political future of religion; Nationalism and religion: collective identity and choice; Charisma and founding fatherhood; Religion and politics; Religion, politics and secularisation; No logos without mythos. Part III Religion, Power and Emplacement: The historical ecology of European and North American religion; Inscribing the general theory of secularisation and its basic patterns in the space/time of the city; England and London; Moscow and Eurasia: centre and periphery, ethno-religion and voluntarism, secularisation and de-secularisation. Index.

About the Author

David Martin is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, LSE, UK, and Fellow of the British Academy. He was born in Mortlake, in 1929 and attended East Sheen Grammar School and Westminster College, In the latter part of a seven year period in primary school teaching he took a first class (external) degree in sociology in his spare time and won a post-graduate scholarship to the LSE. He became a lecturer in the LSE sociology department in 1962 and professor from 1971-89. After his first book on Pacifism (1965) he produced the first critique of secularisation theory (1965) and the first statement of a general theory of secularisation (1969 and 1978). From 1986-90 he was distinguished professor of Human Values at Southern Methodist University and turned to the study of global Pentecostalism, producing, the first summary statement of the world-wide Pentecostal phenomenon in 1990. He also returned to the issue of religion and violence and explored issues in music and nationalism and sociology and theology. His intellectual autobiography The Education of David Martin appeared in 2013.

27Oct 2014

New Book: The Changing Soul of Europe

The Changing Soul of Europe Religions and Migrations in Northern and Southern Europe

Edited by Helena Vilaça, University of Porto, Portugal, Enzo Pace, University of Padova, Italy, Inger Furseth, University of Oslo, Norway and Per Pettersson, Karlstad University and Uppsala University, Sweden

Layout 1

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472434692

Ashgate, August 2014

Edited by Helena Vilaça, University of Porto, Portugal, Enzo Pace, University of Padova, Italy, Inger Furseth, University of Oslo, Norway and Per Pettersson, Karlstad University and Uppsala University, Sweden

This book paves the way for a more enlarged discussion on religion and migration phenomena in countries of Northern and Southern Europe. From a comparative perspective, these are regions with very different religious traditions and different historical State/Church relations. Although official religion persisted longer in Nordic Protestant countries than in South Mediterranean countries, levels of secularization are higher. In the last decades, both Northern and Southern Europe have received strong flows of newcomers. From this perspective, the book presents through various theoretical lenses and empirical researches the impact mobility and consequent religious transnationalism have on multiple aspects of culture and social life in societies where the religious landscapes are increasingly diverse. The chapters demonstrate that we are dealing with complex scenarios: different contexts of reception, different countries of origin, various ethnicities and religious traditions (Catholics, Orthodox and Evangelical Christians, Muslims, Buddhists). Having become plural spaces, our societies tend to be far more concerned with the issue of social integration rather than with that of social identities reconstruction in society as a whole, often ignoring that today religion manifests itself as a plurality of religions. In short, what are the implications of newcomers for the religious life of Europe and for the redesign of its soul?

Contents: Introduction. Part I Theoretical Remarks: Religion in motion: migration, religion and social theory, Enzo Pace; New economy, migration and social change: the impact on religion, José Madureira Pinto; Immigrant religions and the context of reception in advanced industrial societies, Tuomas Martikainen. Part II Religion and Migration in Europe: Case Studies: Migration and ethno-religious identity in contemporary Greece: the role of the Orthodox Church, Elisabeth A. Diamantopoulou; How the Portuguese Catholic Church is dealing with newcomers: the particular case of Eastern European immigrants, Helena Vilaça; Beyond parishes: challenges of Catholic-Christian second generations, Roberta Ricucci; Ethnic and religious diversities in Portugal: the case of Brazilian Evangelical immigrants, Donizete Rodrigues; Accommodation and tension: African Christian communities and their Swedish hosts, Anne Kubai; Young Muslim women's public self-representations: a new generation of Italians seeking legitimacy, Annalisa Frisina; Values and religion in transition: a case study of a Swedish multicultural public school, Per Pettersson; Hijab street fashion and style in Oslo, Inger Furseth; Religiosity and ethnicity: Vietnamese immigrant religion in Denmark, Jørn Borup. Conclusion; Index.

27Oct 2014

Call for Papers: Global Halal

Call for Papers

Global Halal

An International Conference on Muslims and the Cultural Politics of the Permissible

February 19-21, 2015

Michigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan

Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Kecia Ali, John Esposito, Sherman Jackson, and Ingrid Mattson

Global Halal is an international conference organized by the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University in partnership with the UK-based Muslim, Trust and Cultural Dialogue Program. The conference topic addresses a range of cultural, economic and political concerns associated with the principle of halal, especially in relation to contemporary food, banking, and lifestyle. Often associated with Muslim dietary practices, the concept of halal applies to that which is permissible to Muslims and serves as one of the key ethical concepts in Islamic theological doctrines. Yet as with any religious principle, concepts like halal and its antithesis haram, are subject to interpretation and variation, especially in the contemporaryglobal era. Muslim practices today are conditioned by a wide-range of technological and contextual influences that raise many questions about what constitutes halal. While the term halal refers to all that is permitted, its specific associations with Islamic restrictions underscore the cultural politics of religious practices at a time of growing awareness among Muslims of the ethics of consumption, the diversity of cultural values, the changing nature of interpersonal relations, and the globalization of financial interactions.

In the majority Muslim regions of the world, halal is embedded in daily life, but it nevertheless raises other issues, for example in regard to the rights of non-Muslim minorities. In contexts where Islam is the minority religion, adaptations of daily practices have been historically necessary to the establishment of Muslim communities. With the growing number of Muslims in Europe and North America, there has been increased demand for halal options, especially with regard to the availability and marketing of halal meats, which has caused some controversy in the United States, Britain, France, among other countries. These controversies illustrate the centrality of the halal concept in contemporary discussions of Muslimness, national belonging and ethics.

This conference will provide a forum for exploring the principle of halal within a global context, emphasizing the complexities of the permissible and the impermissible (haram).

Please send abstracts in MS Word or PDF format to the organizers at the following addresses: hassans3@msu.edu and khalilmo@msu.edu.

Abstracts should be no more than 200 words, and should include a title, correspondence address, and institutional affiliation. Deadline for receipt of abstracts is 1 November 2014.

27Oct 2014

Conference: Religion, Diversity and Governance

3-5 December 2014: Religion, Diversity and Governance

Registration is now open for the annual conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion, hosted in partnership with the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University, Religion and Society Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney and the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University.

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Lori G. Beaman, University of Ottawa

Professor Gary D. Bouma, Monash University

Professor Matthew Clarke, Deakin University

Dr Cathy Byrne, Southern Cross University

3-5 December 2014 | Deakin University Melbourne City Centre: http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/centre-for-citizenship-and-globalisation/events/conferences/2014/religion,-diversity-and-governance

27Oct 2014

CFP for Workshop on Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism

CFP for Workshop on Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism

Workshop date: 25 February 2015

Place: Middlesex University, London, UK

Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2014

This workshop will explore the various ways in which contemporary international migration and transnationalism affect Catholicism both as practices and institutionally. The focus is on the diversity of ways in which international migration makes an impact: as individual faithful bring their religious practices to new contexts; as the faithful in immigrant societies relate to changes due to migration; and, with regard to transnational religious flows and exchanges within the Catholic Church. In relation to an exploration of the ways in which the practices of the faithful are affected by migration and transnationalism, it is also pertinent to ask, how Catholicism institutionally, whether in the Vatican, at bishop conference or diocese or parish level, is impacted by migration and transnationalism, and how the Catholic Church as an institution responds. The geographic scope of the theme is explicitly global, and perspectives beyond the Global South to Global North movement of migrants are necessary. Furthermore, the global religious landscape is also changing, and there are interesting comparisons to be drawn for example between the ways in which migration and transnationalism may affect Catholic and Pentecostal parishes as well as the individual faithful in particular geographic contexts.

Abstracts for papers on particular case-studies which illustrate dimensions of the diversity of ways in which migration and transnationalism are making their mark on Catholicism are welcome, whether focusing on individual or institutional perspectives globally, with a theological perspective, adopting a comparative approach between contexts or denominations or religions, and using qualitative or quantitative methods. There is no charge for the workshop but we are unable to offer any support for travel and accommodation.

Please send abstracts (200 words + title), together with your name, position, institutional affiliation and discipline to Dominic Pasura (d.pasura@mdx.ac.uk) and Marta Bivand Erdal (marta@prio.no) by 15 November 2014.

Decisions about selected abstracts will be communicated by 1 December 2014. All participants will be expected to submit full papers of 7 000 – 9 000 words, including references, no later than 15 February 2015.

27Oct 2014

Religion, Security and Global Uncertainties report

Religion, Security and Global Uncertainties - John Wolffe and Gavin Moorhead Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, The Open University

Religion, Security and Global Uncertainties report for the Religion, Martyrdom and Global Uncertainties (1914-2014) project. This report examines the relationship between religion and security, including terrorism and so-called ‘religious violence’. It has two key objectives:

· To provide guidance on identifying circumstances in which religion (either on its own or in combination with other factors) is likely to give rise to security challenges. · To provide a constructive interrogation of some underexplored assumptions relating to religion and security.

The report is informed by research conducted between October 2013 and January 2014, which included a series of interviews with academic researchers and roundtable discussions with MPs, public policy officers, journalists, church ministers, and representatives of faith communities, local community organisations and NGOs.

The full report and executive summary can be found at: www.open.ac.uk/arts/research/religion-martyrdom-global-uncertainties/reports

The Religion, Martyrdom and Global Uncertainties (1914-2014) project is funded under a Research Council UK Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellowship.

27Oct 2014

Religion and Political Theory Centre Lecture Series 2014-15

Religion and Political Theory Centre Lecture Series 2014-15 Multidisciplinary Engagements with Religion

Wednesday 24 September 2014, Council Room ‘Spiritual Governance: The Chaplain as Priest of the Secular’ Winnifred Fallers Sullivan , Indiana University Bloomington

Thursday 30 October 2014, Council Room ‘Religious Divisions After the Reformation: A Spur to Secularization?’ Ben Kaplan, UCL (University College London)

Thursday 4 December 2015, Council Room ‘Equality and Discrimination Law: What has Religious Conscience Got to Do with It?’ Maleiha Malik, King’s College London

Tuesday 3 February 2015, Committee Room ‘The Sociology of Religion and its Cultured Despisers: A Modest Defence’ James A. Beckford, University of Warwick

Tuesday 3 March 2015, Committee Room ‘Multiculturalising Secularism, Multiculturalising State-Religion Connexions’ Tariq Modood, University of Bristol

Monday 23 March 2015, room TBC ‘Moral Majority and Moral Minority: The Values and Beliefs of Religious and Non-religious People in the UK Today’ Linda Woodhead, Lancaster University

Thursday 9 July 2015 Title TBA Saba Mahmood, University of California, Berkeley

The RAPT lecture series showcases the work of prominent international scholars in, and in relation to, the study of religion and political theory. It is organised by UCL’s Religion and Political Theory (RAPT) Centre. RAPT is a 5-year project funded by the European Research Council and led by Professor Cécile Laborde. It aims to interrogate the special status of religion (ethics, epistemology and practices) in western political and legal theory.

Unless otherwise stated, all lectures take place at 5.15pm and will be held in the Council or Committee Rooms (as stated) at the School of Public Policy, The Rubin Building, 29-30 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9QU.

All are welcome. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please email Aurelia Bardon (a.bardon@ucl.ac.uk) or Lois Lee (lois.lee@ucl.ac.uk). To attend, please register at www.uclspp.eventbrite.com

27Oct 2014

New Book: Secularism, Religion, and Politics. India and Europe

Secularism, Religion, and Politics India and Europe Edited by Peter Losonczi, Walter Van Herck Routledge India – 2014

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138796003/

This book highlights the relationship between the state and religion in India and Europe. It problematizes the idea of secularism and questions received ideas about secularism. It also looks at how Europe and India can learn from each other about negotiating religious space and identity in this globalised post-9/11 world.

27Oct 2014

Call for Papers: Religion, Gender and Body Politics

Call for Papers: Religion, Gender and Body Politics Post-secular, post-colonial and queer perspectives

International conference on behalf of the international research project “Interdisciplinary Innovations in the Study of Religion and Gender: Postcolonial, Post-secular and Queer Perspectives”, at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 12-14 February 2015.

Call for papers

At this conference we welcome contributions that:

· use theoretical approaches drawing from insights in post-secular, postcolonial, queer and gender theories, clarifying body practices as a contested site of religious and secular practices;

· either theoretically or empirically challenge the secular/religious and public/private binaries in understanding contemporary body politics;

· do not only explore expressions and accounts of ideal religious and secular practices and norms, but also their manifold articulations with all the lived ambiguities and ambivalences;

· suggest, imagine or develop innovative methodologies in order to understand the complex ways in which religious and secular identities are formed through bodily practices.

Moreover, at this conference we encourage an interdisciplinary approach, welcoming insights from, amongst others, gender studies, men and masculinity studies, disability studies, theology, religious studies, anthropology, history, literature, cultural studies and media studies.

Key-notes

Minoo Moallem, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, University of California, Berkeley Yvonne Sherwood, Professor of Biblical Studies and Politics, University of Kent Ulrike Auga, Professor of Theology and Gender Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin Scott Kugle, Associate Professor of South Asian and Islamic Studies, Emory University, Atlanta Sarojini Nadar, Professor of Gender and Religion, University of KwaZulu-Natal Please find the preliminary program with key-note lectures attached to this email and on our website: http://projectreligionandgender.org/programme

Practical Information

Panel sessions · Paper or panel proposals need to be submitted on the project website before 1 December 2014 (http://projectreligionandgender.org/submission). The conference organisation will inform all applicants about its decision before 15 December 2015.

· Individual paper proposals should include your name and institutional affiliation, the title of your paper and an abstract of max. 250 words.

· Besides individual papers it is also possible to submit proposals for a pre-arranged panel session of one and a half hour. A panel consists of maximum three to four paper presentations. Please provide the following information (max. 1.000 words): title of the panel session; name of the chair of the panel session; names, titles and abstracts of the papers.

Poster sessions · There is also the possibility to present your research via a poster presentation. Poster proposals need to be submitted on the project website before 1 December 2014 (http://projectreligionandgender.org/submission). The conference organisation will inform all applicants about its decision before 15 December 2015.

· Poster proposals should include your name and institutional affiliation, the title of your poster and an abstract of max. 100 words.

· During the ceremony on the second day (see programme), a prize of €200,- will be awarded for the best poster presentation.

Finances · The conference fee is €200,- and includes an annual membership of the International Association for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion and Gender (IARG).

· For students or researchers with a low budget, we can provide a small reduction of the conference fee.

Contact · For more information you can contact the project assistant Jorien Copier (projectreligionandgender@gmail.com).

24Jul 2014

New Book: Islam, Democracy, and Cosmopolitanism

Islam, Democracy, and Cosmopolitanism: At Home and in the World

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Ali Mirsepassi Tadd Graham Fernée

Cambridge University Press May 2014

http://www.cambridge.org/tr/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/middle-east-government-politics-and-policy/islam-democracy-and-cosmopolitanism-home-and-world?format=HB

This book presents a critical study of citizenship, state and globalization in societies that have been historically influenced by Islamic traditions and institutions. Interrogating the work of contemporary theorists of Islamic modernity such as Mohammed Arkoun, Abdul an-Na'im, Fatima Mernissi, Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood and Aziz Al-Azmeh, this book explores the debate on Islam, democracy and modernity, contextualized within contemporary Muslim lifeworlds. These include contemporary Turkey (following the 9/11 attacks and the onset of war in Afghanistan), multicultural France (2009-10 French burqa debate), Egypt (the 2011 Tahrir Square mass mobilizations), and India. Ali Mirsepassi and Tadd Graham Fernée critique particular counterproductive ideological conceptualizations, voicing an emerging global ethic of reconciliation. Rejecting the polarized conceptual ideals of the universal or the authentic, the authors critically reassess notions of the secular, the cosmopolitan and democracy. Raising questions that cut across the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology and law, this study articulates a democratic politics of everyday life in modern Islamic societies.

Introduction: citizenship, state, and globalization 1. Ways of being in the world: religion and secularism 2. Islams and modernities: Al-Azmeh's secular critique 3. Talal Asad's romance with Islamism 4. Arkoun's The Unthought in Islamic Thought 5. An-Na'im's Islamic reformation: the reconciliation of equality of rights and the Shari'a 6. Fatima Mernissi: 'locally' rooted cosmopolitanism Conclusion.

24Jul 2014

New Book: Religion, Identity and Human Security

Giorgio Shani (2014) Religion, Identity and Human Security (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge) ISBN: 978-0-415-50906-0.

shani.jpg

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415509060/

Description

Religion, Identity and Human Security attempts to articulate a 'post-secular' approach to Human Security suited to a globalizing and increasingly post-Western world. It is divided into two sections. The first section provides the theoretical framework for re-conceptualizing Critical Human Security along post-secular lines. The second attempts to apply this framework to three sites of insecurity: the EU, South Asia and Japan. It will primarily be of interest to students of International Relations, Critical Security Studies and Religion and Politics.

Contents

Part I: Reconceptualizing Human Security in a Post-Secular Age, 1. Globalization and Identity After the Financial Crisis, 2. Provincializing Post-Secularism, 3. Re-conceptualizing Security: Towards a Critical Human Security Paradigm? 4. De-Secularizing Human Security, Part II: Sites of Human Insecurity, 5. Emancipating Zoe: The Securitization of the Veil in France, 6. Sarva Dharma Sambhava: Religion and Human In/Security in South Asia 7. Tabunka Kyōsei ? Ethno-Nationalism and Human Insecurity in Japan, Conclusion: To be Human is not to be resilient.

24Jul 2014

Call for Book Chapters: Resistance versus promotion of globalization

Edited Book project – contributions needed for specific chapters:

Resistance versus promotion of globalization: contrasting roles of religious activism in the global economy

The study of religion in international relations has focused on the relationship between religion and modernity, the impact of religion on the secular state system, on both religious and secular violence, and on the role of religious actors in world politics. There is however an absence of inquiry into how religious social movements relate to global capitalism. This is surprising given that politics of austerity, flexibility and economic liberalisation have spread throughout the world further entrenching a global economy. The book will discuss the relationship of religion to global capitalism by taking a novel approach to the study of religious actors. Instead of taking an essentialist definition of religion as its starting point, the authors in the book utilise the close study of specific religious movements and investigate how they see neoliberal globalization. The book will thus show that religion is not an explanatory variable since there are religious social movements that promote and resist neoliberal globalization. Instead the book promotes a constructivist approach to the study of religion and employs concepts from the study of global social movements to study how religious activists frame global political economy questions.

For this book project to be more representative – I need a chapter on prosperity religion, if possible on the African continent, a study of the Hindutva movement, specifically its economic success in Gujarat (alongside its authoritarianism), and a study of indigenous thought developing on the American continent with notions such as buen vivir and a completely different conceptualisation of the role of an ‘economy’.

So far we have covered the Gülen movement, Ennahda in Tunisia, AKP in Turkey, the Interfaith initiative in Tanzania against mining regulations, US evangelical groups activism to prevent global climate change, religious groups in the occupy movement and World Social Forum. Interestingly enough, the Christian movements we covered are all opposing neoliberal globalization whereas the Islamic activists are promoting further integration into the global economy. But I do not want to have another chapter on the anti-capitalist Muslims in Turkey, they will be integrated in the general discussion of the Turkey/AKP chapter. The list also shows that we utilize a broad understanding of social movements.

We have received an informal expression of interest from a publisher but need a stronger proposal to actually submit this to a preliminary review. Your commitment would only be finalised once we have a positive feedback from the publisher. If this works out, a first, rough, draft of the chapter would have to be submitted within 9 months.

Please contact Sabine Dreher, Department of International Studies, Glendon College, sdreher@yorku.ca if you are interested in contributing to this project.

24Jul 2014

Ph.d. and post-doc fellowships - University of Oslo

Ph.d. and post-doc fellowships at the University of Oslo, Norway:

1. Two Doctoral research fellowships in Politics and Society in the Middle East http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1207849/62042?iso=no

2. Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship - Ideological and cultural development in the Middle East after ca 1850 http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1207979/62042?iso=no

3. Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in the study of central aspects of the development of Islam as a religious tradition http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1207991/62042?iso=no

4. Doctoral research fellowship in Semitic Studies with emphasis on language, religion and societal changes http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1207899/62042?iso=no

02Jul 2014

RC43 panels at the IPSA Montreal Conference

Towards the end of July, Political Scientists from all over the world will gather in Montreal for the 23rd World Congress of Political Science. The Research Committee 43 on Religion and Politics hosts the following 12 panels*

Civil Society and Religion Chair: Prof. Jeffrey Haynes Palais des congrès - 512d Wednesday, July 23rd - 13:00-14:45

Governance Implications of EU Integration for Post-communist States Chair: Prof. Jeffrey Haynes Palais des congrès - 522b Tuesday, July 22nd - 11:00-12:45

Individual Attitudes towards Religion and Politics Chair: Mr. Lieuwe Kalkhoven Palais des congrès - 514a Sunday, July 20th - 17:00-18:45

Political Leaders' End Games and Military Engagement: Political-Military Relations in Mobilizing Societies Chair: Prof. Aurel Croissant Palais des congrès - 522c Monday, July 21st - 13:00-14:45

Religion, Democratization and Democracy Chair: Prof. Jeffrey Haynes Palais des congrès - 513c Sunday, July 20th - 15:00-16:45

Religion, International Relations, and Foreign Policy Chair: Dr. Carimo Mohomed Palais des congrès - 522c Monday, July 21st - 11:00-12:45

Religious Criticism and Protest: Two Driving Forces for Socio-Political Change? Chair: Dr. Julia Enxing Palais des congrès - 522b Tuesday, July 22nd - 13:00-14:45

Religious-motivated Criticism and Democratic Protest Movements Chair: Dr. Massimiliano Livi Palais des congrès - 515a Tuesday, July 22nd - 15:00-16:45

Secularization and Its Discontents: Debates over the Legitimacy of a Historical Category Chair: Prof. Jeffrey Haynes Palais des congrès - 512g Thursday, July 24th - 9:00-10:45

The Arab Spring: Three Years On Chair: Prof. Jeffrey Haynes Palais des congrès - 512g Thursday, July 24th - 11:00-12:45

Thought, Action and Faith in an Age of Governance Chair: Mr. Colin Cordner Palais des congrès - 522c Monday, July 21st - 9:00-10:45

Turkey: Politics, State, and Governance Chair: Dr. Yusuf Sarfati Palais des congrès - 512g Thursday, July 24th - 13:00-14:45

18Jun 2014

New Book: Religiously Oriented Parties and Democratization

Religiously Oriented Parties and Democratization Edited by Luca Ozzano, Francesco Cavatorta

ozzano.jpg

Routledge – 2014 – 174 pages

Series: Democratization Special Issues

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138775381/

To the surprise of both academics and policy-makers, religion has not been relegated entirely to the private sphere; quite the contrary. Over the last few decades, religion has begun to play a significant role in public affairs and, in many cases, directly in political systems. This edited volume analyses in detail how religion and religious precepts inform the ideology, strategies and electoral behaviour of political parties. Working with an original and innovative typology of religiously oriented political parties, the book examines cases from different regions of the world and different religious traditions to highlight the significance of religion for party politics. This interest for religiously oriented parties is combined with an interest in processes of democratic change and democratic consolidation. Political parties are central to the success of processes of democratization while religion is seen in many circles as an element that prevents such success because it is perceived to be a polarising factor detrimental to the consensus necessary to build a liberal-democratic system. Through the different case-studies presented here, a much more complex picture emerges, where religiously oriented political parties perform very different and often contradicting roles with respect to democratic change.

This book was published as a special issue of Democratization.

Contents:

1. Introduction: religiously oriented parties and democratization (Luca Ozzano and Francesco Cavatorta) 2. The many faces of the political god: a typology of religiously oriented parties (Luca Ozzano) 3. The perils of polarization and religious parties: the democratic challenges of political fragmentation in Israel and Turkey (Sultan Tepe) 4. Moderation through exclusion? The journey of the Tunisian Ennahda from fundamentalist to conservative party (Francesco Cavatorta and Fabio Merone) 5. Refining the moderation thesis. Two religious parties and Indian democracy: the Jana Sangh and the BJP between Hindutva radicalism and coalition politics (Christophe Jaffrelot) 6. Ahab and the white whale: the contemporary debate around the forms of Catholic political commitment in Italy (Alberta Giorgi) 7. Religious parties in Chile: the Christian Democratic Party and the Independent Democratic Union (Juan Pablo Luna, Felipe Monestier and Fernando Rosenblatt) 8. Religion and democratization in Northern Ireland: is religion actually ethnicity in disguise? (Eoin O'Malley and Dawn Walsh) 9. Conclusion: reassessing the relation between religion, political actors, and democratization (Luca Ozzano and Francesco Cavatorta)

18Jun 2014

Cfp: Diasporic and Migrant Identities

International Conference: "Diasporic and Migrant Identities: Social, Cultural, Political, Religious and Spiritual Aspects", Sarajevo, 23-24 April 2015

The conference will open up the floor for dialogue about diasporic and migrant identities of Balkan Muslims and also establish a network of scholars and researchers working on these issues.

Information http://www.iitb.ba/content/call-for-submission-of-papers-for-the-international-conference/297

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