Monthly Archives: July 2012

Inform Seminar: Changing Beliefs and Schisms in New Religious Movements

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INFORM Seminar XLIX
CHANGING BELIEFS AND SCHISMS IN NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, London School of Economics, Saturday 1 December 2012
http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/howToGetToLSE.htm

To register: WE ARE NOW TAKING PAYPAL BOOKINGS:
http://www.inform.ac/seminar-payment
Or post a booking form (attached) and a cheque payable to ‘Inform’ to Inform, Houghton St., London WC2A 2AE.
(Inform@lse.ac.uk; 020 7955 7677).
Tickets (including buffet lunch, coffee and tea) paid by 12 November 2012 cost  £38 each (£18 students/unwaged).
NB. Tickets booked after 12 November 2012 will cost £48 each (£28 students/unwaged).
A limited number of seats will be made available to A-Level students at £10 before 12 November 2012 (£20 after 12 November). A party of 5 or more A-Level students from one school can include one member of staff at the same price.

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

The presence of speakers on an Inform programme does not mean that Inform endorses their position.
The aim of Inform Seminars is to help participants to understand, or at least recognise, different perspectives.
For Inform’s codes of practice see http://www.inform.ac/

9.30-9.50    Registration and coffee

9.50-10.00   Welcome and Introduction

10.00-10.25   Eileen Barker (Professor Emeritus, LSE; Chair & Honorary Director, Inform)
“Re-vision and Division in New Religions: Some Introductory Remarks”

10.25-10.50   Claire Borowik (Co-Director of the Worldwide Religious News Service, and member of The Family International)
“The Family International: Rebooting for the Future”

10.50-11.15   J. Gordon Melton (Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Baylor University)
“When Science Intervenes-Revising Claims in the New Age”

11.15-11.45 Coffee

11.45-12.10   Pat Ryan and Joe Kelly (International Cultic Studies Association; ex-members of TM and Society of Divine Love)
“Transcendental Meditation and Swami Prakashananda Saraswati”

12.10-12.35   Susan Palmer (Lecturer in Religious Studies, Dawson College / Concordia University)
“Dr. Malach Z. York’s Spiritual Divagations”

12.35-13.00   Masoud Banisadr (PhD in chemical engineering and engineering mathematics, and former member of MEK)
“The Metamorphism of MEK (Mujahedin e Khalgh) and its Schism”

13.00-14.00 Lunch

14.00-14.25   James Tong (Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles)
“The Re-Invented Wheel: Revisioning and Diversification in the Falun Gong, 1992-2012”

14.25-14.50   Mike Mickler (Professor of Church History, Unification Theological Seminary)
“The Post-Sun Myung Moon Unification Church”

14.50-15.15   Eugene Clay (Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University)
“Mother of God Derjavnaja / The New Cathar Church”

15.15-15.45 Tea

15.45-16.10   Eugene Gallagher (Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies, Connecticut College)
“The Branch Davidians”

16.10-16.35   Massimo Introvigne (Lawyer and Managing Director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), Turin)
“Mormon Origins – Revisionism or Re-Interpretation?”

16.35-17.15 Panel Discussion

Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications
disclaimer: http://lse.ac.uk/emailDisclaimer

Call for Papers: SOCIOLOGY OF ISLAM JOURNAL (BRILL) Winter 2013 Volume 1

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CALL FOR PAPERS: SOCIOLOGY OF ISLAM JOURNAL (BRILL)
Winter 2013 Volume 1
ISSN: 2213-140x E-ISSN: 2213-1418

The Sociology of Islam Journal (http://www.brill.nl/soi) invites article submissions for the first issue, which will be published in the Fall of 2012.
We are delighted to announce the founding of the peer-reviewed, academic journal, the Sociology of Islam (SOI) to be published by Brill once a year beginning in the Fall of 2012. Since Max Weber’s groundbreaking research on the sociology of religion, sociologists have grappled with aspects of religion both at the theoretical and empirical levels. While an increasing number of social scientists, particularly in recent decades, have employed innovative sociological frameworks for the study of Islam, this promising sub-discipline has so far lacked its own academic journal. The Sociology of Islam is intended to bridge this gap by functioning as an academic forum for the publication of innovative contributions to the study of Islam and Muslim societies. For the first issue of Sociology of Islam, we welcome article contributions that address theoretical dimensions of the sociology of Islam and Muslim societies. Submissions for this issue are expected to explore the importance of the sociology of Islam and the influential contributions, current trends and future prospects, and the competing sociological frameworks that apply to the study of Islam. Please email your draft article of 7000-10,000 words by no later than Monday October 3rd. The deadline for submissions to the first issue is October 3rd.

The sub-themes for the first issue are the following:
* Islamic Movements and Parties
* Islam and Capitalism/Neoliberalism
*     Islam and Secularism
*     Islam and Orientalism/Neo-Orientalism
* Sociology of Religion
* Social and Political Transformations in Muslim Societies

If you need further information, please do not hesitate contact us:
Contact: Tugrul Keskin or Gary Wood
Editor Email: sociologyofislam@yahoo.com

Our book review editors are:
Mustafa Gurbuz (mustafa.gurbuz@uconn.edu) and
Joshua D. Hendrick (jdhendrick@loyola.edu)

Best to all,
Gary Wood, Najm al-Din Yousefi and Tugrul Keskin

Associate Editors
*      Armando Salvatore (University of Naples)
*      Asef Bayat (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
*      Bryan S. Turner (CUNY)
*      Mohammed A. Bamyeh (The University of Pittsburgh)
*      Najm al-Din Yousefi (Virginia Tech)
*      Tahir Abbas (Fatih University)

Editor-in-Chief
*      Gary Wood (Virginia Tech)
*      Tugrul Keskin (Portland State University)

Editorial Board
*  Babak Rahimi, (UC San Diego)
*  Birol Baskan (Georgetown University – Doha, Qatar)
*  Carool Kersten (King’s College London)
*  Cihan Tugal (UC Berkeley)
*  Khalil al-Anani (Durham University)
*  Ibrahim Kalin (Georgetown University)
*  Jeremy Walton (New York University)
*  Mohammad Nafissi (SOAS)
*  Mohammedmoin Sadeq (Qatar University)
*  Nader Hashemi (University of Denver)
*  Nuri Tinaz (Marmara University)
*  Shah Mahmoud Hanifi (James Madison University)
*  Talip Kucukcan (Marmara University and SETA)
*  Ted Fuller (Virginia Tech)

Book Review Editors
*      Joshua Hendrick (Loyola University of Maryland)
*      Mustafa Gurbuz (University of Connecticut)

International Advisory Board:
*      Ali Akbar Mahdi (Ohio Wesleyan University)
*      Ayesha Jalal (Tufts University)
*      Berna Turam (Northeastern University)
*      Birol Yesilada (Portland State University)
*      Charles Kurzman (UNC Chapel Hill)
*      Daromir Rudnyckyj (University of Victoria)
*      Ejaz Akram (Lahore University of Management Sciences)
*      Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University)
*      Husnul Amin (International Islamic University, Islamabad)
*      Kemal Silay (Indiana University)
*      Jocelyne Cesari (Harvard University)
*      Judith Blau (The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
*      Mariusz Turowski (The University of Wroclaw)
*      Martin van Bruinessen (Utrecht University)
*      Mehran Kamrava (Georgetown University – Doha, Qatar)
*      Muqtedar Khan, (Universiyt of Delaware)
*      Mumtaz Ahmad (International Islamic University, Islamabad)
*     Rachel Woodlock (Monash University)
*     Steven Wright (Qatar University)
*     Tim Luke (Virginia Tech)

New Book “Building a Shared Future: Religion, Politics and the Public Sphere”

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Building a Shared Future: Religion, Politics and the Public Sphere
by Qamar-ul Huda, PhD, Ayatollahi Tabaar, Jocelyne Cesari, Nader Hashemi, Amjad Saleem, Mark Hammond, Florence Laufer, Sajjad Rizvi, Prof. Abdellatif Bencherifa, Maleiha Malik, Hilary E. Kahn, PhD, M.H. Vorthoren & Sheila B. Lalwani

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/building-shared-future-religion/id543980300?mt=11

Description
During the last decade, debates on the role of religion in the public space, migration, social cohesion and other issues have revealed increasing social tensions and polarisation in public opinion. Misperceptions and misinformation often dominate public dialogue about relations between Muslims and others. Although they don’t speak with the loudest voice, academics, scholars and thought leaders have a key role to play in helping to rebalance these debates by providing fact-based opinion and informed arguments. In the ‘Building a Shared Future’ series, these opinion leaders offer insights into the issues facing Muslims through American and European communities today.

How successful have European models of integration been compared with the American model of multiculturalism? How can multiple layers of identity be accommodated in pluralistic societies? This volume explores a selection of these questions.

Call for Participation in the Filipino Youth and Sacred Research Workshops 2012-13

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The College of Liberal Arts of De La Salle University holds research workshops on The Youth and the Sacred: On Filipino Youth’s Sacred Experiences, Sacred Performances and Notions of the Sacred.

The workshops are divided into the following themes: “The Youth and Religious Discourses”, “The sacred as resource/s”, “Sacred in Spaces and Places: Visual and Material Culture As Media of the Sacred” and “Towards the Rubrics of the Sacred in Young Filipinos: Methodologies, Frameworks,and Avenues for Research.”

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE 1ST WORKSHOP JULY 27, 2012
“The Youth and Religious Discourses”
Main Speaker: Dr. Gerry Lanuza, University of the Philippines
July 27, 2012
Andrew Gonzalez Building RM 1506, De La Salle University Philippines

In the Philippines, a cursory research on Google yields results on sacred that are intimately connected to religion or religious identity. This first workshop gathers scholars who research on youth and religious discourses. Participants will explore the intersections of sacred and religion, of the varying manifestations of sacred in spiritualities, and how these intersect with gender, class and ethnicity in young Filipinos. Moreover, in Asian context, the affirmation of life is widely held and valued.
Nevertheless, an exhaustive research on youth cultures has to take into consideration the myriad of experiences of young people that seemingly undermine such value, like poverty, child labor, sexual trafficking and belonging in large families, to name a few.

Tentatively, the following questions will be considered:
1. In young Filipinos who find increasing dissonance between their new found beliefs and traditional beliefs, how is sacred conceptualized, interrogated or negotiated?
2. In young Filipino Muslims, how is sacred understood or conceptualized that takes into account the religious mandate of Islam that one’s life should be completely surrendered to Allah?
3. How have the “new religious movements,” “new-age movements,” “mega-church phenomenon,” and the like define or re-define the understanding of sacred in young Filipinos?
4. Is sacred to be identified solely as religious? How has spirituality revealed/manifested sacred? Is spirituality connected to sacred?
5. Is life in the Philippines sacred? What is the current evidence/s to show that it is so? What are the threats to the sacredness of life?

Expected output:

Critical inquiry into the classical division between sacred and profane, religious and secular, traditional and modern, sacralization and secularization, believers/nonbelievers, atheists, religious minority, indigenous peoples and its contemporary significance to young Filipinos in particular.

For more information on the workshop, please contact Dr. Jeane C. Peracullo, Philosophy Department, De La Salle University at jeane.peracullo@dlsu.edu.ph or mobile: +63-939-9208-132.  Workshop website is at
http://interfaithphilippines.wordpress.com/filipino-youth-and-sacred-research-workshops-2012/

International Congress: RUDOLF OTTO Marburg 2012

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The Rudolf-Otto-Congress 2012 in Marburg, Germany, 4th-7th October.
For information please visit
www.rudolf-otto.com and
http://www.facebook.com/RudolfOtto .

Or please contact Peter Schüz
Academic Assistant
Rudolf-Bultmann-Institute for Hermeneutics
Fachbereich Evangelische Theologie
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Lahntor 3 D-35032 Marburg Germany
phone: +49-(0)6421-28 22437
hermeneu@staff.uni-marburg.de

Appel à communication: Le religieux sur Internet

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Colloque annuel de l’Association française de sciences sociales des religions (AFSR)
4 et 5 février 2013
EHESS Paris, Amphithéâtre François Furet (à confirmer)
105 bd Raspail Paris 6e

Au cours des années 1990, Internet s’est développé dans tous les champs de l’espace public et de la vie sociale. Chance jusque-là inégalée pour diffuser un message de manière quasi universelle (Lévy, 1994) ou mise en danger du lien social par un individualisme croissant (Breton, 2000), cette place grandissante du virtuel est évaluée par les sciences sociales positivement ou négativement selon les analyses qui y sont consacrées.

Si dans les premiers temps le web mettait à disposition des internautes des sites à consulter, nous sommes passés depuis quelques années à une deuxième phase beaucoup plus interactive, où l’usager prend lui aussi la parole à travers les forums et les réseaux sociaux et peut interagir sur des sites de reproduction virtuelle du monde réel (second life).

Le religieux participe de cette évolution. En effet, les religions se sont adaptées relativement rapidement à cette modernité technologique ou dans certains cas ont été pionnières en la matière.

Aujourd’hui, le phénomène religieux – religions instituées ou religieux plus diffus – est pleinement présent sur la toile, Internet pouvant même devenir lui-même objet de croyance ou de culte.

L’objet de ce colloque international est d’explorer les rapports entre internet et religions en les replaçant dans des contextes culturels précis, notamment en repérant les représentations de l’espace et du temps et les usages de l’écrit et de l’image dans chacun de ces contextes.

Il ne s’agit pas de faire ici un état des lieux de la présence et des usages du religieux sur internet, mais de privilégier l’analyse en profondeur des relations entre l’un et l’autre. Cette analyse implique aussi une réflexion méthodologique sur la manière dont le chercheur s’empare de ce nouveau terrain qu’est Internet.

Dans cette optique, nous avons identifié trois axes principaux qui structureront trois sessions du colloque :

1- Les concepteurs et les usagers du paysage virtuel religieux.

S’il paraît aisé de dresser une analyse du contenu des sites qui sont à notre disposition en raison de leur visibilité (par essence), il est indispensable de cerner la réception dont ils sont l’objet et les usages qui en sont faits, même si leur évaluation est a priori beaucoup moins évidente.  On pourra envisager différentes questions :
– Qui sont les « concepteurs » (ceux qui créent ces sites – contenu et agencement) : institutions religieuses, leaders autoproclamés, mouvements radicaux… ? Cette question renvoie à celle de l’autorité et de la légitimité religieuses, des contre-pouvoirs, y compris des oppositions laïques, ou des dissidences. Elle renvoie aussi à la présence de plus en plus fragmentée d’acteurs hors des cadres institués.
– Qu’est ce qu’une institution religieuse, un courant religieux ou un leader religieux, donnent à voir d’eux-mêmes en termes de contenus, d’images, d’identités virtuelles… ? A quels publics s’adressent-ils ?
– Quelle place pour la régulation des sites et quels en sont les éventuels acteurs ?
– Comment les usagers investissent-ils ces espaces : type de participation, interactions entre internautes, usages directs ou détournés, liberté, contrainte, anonymat, temps de connexion… ?

2- Quel est l’impact d’Internet sur le religieux?

S’agit-il d’un média de plus dans la diffusion des contenus, ou Internet produit-il des changements en profondeur et si oui dans quels domaines et de quelles façons ?  On pourra envisager différentes questions :
– Renforcement de l’ancrage local ? Intensification de la globalisation religieuse ?
– Les rituels sont-ils transformés ou renouvelés ?
– Formes de la jurisprudence religieuse (fatwas, responsa…) et demandes de conseils sur les blogs, forums, réseaux sociaux…
– Marketing et tous services religieux sur internet : agence matrimoniale, géo-localisation de commerces religieux ou de lieux de culte, vente de produits religieux…On considèrera ici non seulement les propositions de services mais également les usages qui en sont faits.
– Internet conduit-il à la création de nouvelles religions ?

3- Quelles articulations entre le virtuel et le réel ?

– Quand et comment passe-t-on du virtuel au réel et inversement ?
– Qu’est-ce que cela implique au niveau de l’organisation et de la perception du temps et de l’espace ?
– Présence/absence des corps dans un certain nombre d’activités religieuses : conversion, confession, rituels…
– Le religieux n’a-t-il pas toujours été en prise avec le virtuel, par la communication qu’il suppose avec le surnaturel ?

Les communications proposées devront s’appuyer sur des terrains spécifiques.

Tous les contextes culturels et religieux pourront être présentés.

*******

Les propositions de communication au colloque international « Le religieux sur Internet » sont à envoyer avant le 30 septembre 2012 à l’adresse suivante :  afsr@afsr.cnrs.fr

Elles devront comprendre :
– Un titre
– Le nom et le rattachement du communicant
– Un résumé d’environ 1500 signes en français et en anglais, faisant apparaître notamment l’axe auquel la communication se rattache, la méthodologie employée et le contexte culturel étudié.

  • La communication (présentée en anglais ou en français) durera 20 mn
  • Les intervenants devront être membres de l’AFSR ou y adhérer (http://www.afsr.cnrs.fr/)
  • Les actes du colloque donneront lieu à publication

Comité organisateur :

  • Fabienne Duteil-Ogata, Laboratoire d’anthropologie urbaine (LAU), IIAC/ EHESS-CNRS, fabdutogata@yahoo.fr
  • Isabelle Jonveaux, Centre d’études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux(CEIFR/EHESS-CNRS) et Université de Graz (Autriche) isabelle.jonveaux@uni-graz.at
  • Liliane Kuczynski, Laboratoire d’anthropologie urbaine (LAU), IIAC/ EHESS-CNRS, kuczynski@ivry.cnrs.fr
  • Sophie Nizard, Centre d’études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux (CEIFR/EHESS-CNRS) snizard@ehess.fr

Pour informacion: http://calenda.revues.org/nouvelle24671.html

Call for Papers: Religion on the Web

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Annual conference of the French Association of Social Sciences of Religion (AFSR)
4– 5 February 2013
EHESS Paris, Amphithéâtre François Furet
105 bd Raspail
Paris 6e

During the 1990s, Internet developed in every field of the public sphere and of social life. A new and unprecedented chance to spread a message almost universally (Lévy, 1994) or a danger for the social link because of growing individualism (Breton, 2000) – the increasing importance of virtual reality can be assessed positively or negatively by the social sciences depending on how it is analyzed.

At its beginnings the web offered its users the possibility to consult websites, but for several years a second more interactive phase has been developing that allows users to express themselves on forums and social networks and interact on websites which reproduce the real world online (“Second Life”).

Religions participate in this evolution. They have indeed adapted relatively quickly to modern technologies and sometimes even played a pioneering role. Religious phenomena – institutional religions or more diffuse religious experiences – are nowadays totally present on the web. The Internet itself can become an object of belief or cult.

This conference aims to explore new relationships between the Internet and religions situated in precise cultural contexts. It will be interesting to point out the representations of space and time and the use of written contents and images in each context. It does not aim to establish an inventory of the presence and uses of religions on the Internet, but to deliver detailed analyses of the relations between the former and the latter. Analysis also involves a methodological reflection on the way this new field can be investigated by the social sciences.

With this in mind, three main axes have been identified which will structure three sessions of the conference:

1. Designers and users of the religious virtual scene

Although it may seem easy to carry out a content analysis of these websites because of their visibility (by essence), it is more difficult but indispensable to define their reception and the use to which they are put. Different questions can be envisaged:
– Who are the designers of the website: religious institutions, a self-proclaimed leader, radical movements? This refers back to questions about authority and religious legitimacy, forces of opposition – also secular – or dissidence.
– What do religious institutions, movements or leaders reveal of themselves through contents, images, virtual identities? Which publics are they addressing?
– How is regulation organized on websites and who are the persons in charge?
– How do the users move about those spaces: participation, interactions between users, direct or roundabout use, liberty, constraints, anonymity, amount of time spent online?

2. What is the impact of Internet on religions?

Is the Internet just one more medium by which to disseminate contents or does it produce in-depth change and if so, in what fields and in what ways?  Several questions can be asked:
– Is the local anchoring reinforced? Is religious globalization intensified?
– Are rituals transformed or renovated?
– Forms of religious jurisprudence (fatwas, responsa…) and requesting advice on blogs, forums, social networks…
– Marketing and all sorts of religious services on the internet: marriage agencies, geo-localization of religious businesses or places of worship, sales of religious goods…In this respect, we are interested not only by the services offered but also by the uses to which they are put
– Is the Internet conducive to creating new religions?

3- How does virtual reality relate to reality per se?

– When and how do people go from virtual reality to actual reality and vice-versa?
– What does that imply from the point of view of the organization and perception of time and space?
– Presence/absence of the body in a certain number of religious acts: conversion, confession, rituals…
– Has the religious factor not always been concerned by virtual reality, by the communication it supposes with the super-natural?

Papers must be based on specific fieldwork.
All cultural and religious contexts qualify.

Papers for the International Conference “Religion on the Web” should be sent before September 30th 2012 to the following address: afsr@afsr.cnrs.fr and must include: title, applicant’s full name and scientific affiliation, and an abstract of ca. 300 words in French and English, specifying the axis, the methodology and cultural area concerned.

  • Presentation of papers (in English or French) should not go over 20 min.
  • Applicants should already be AFSR members or decide to join (http://www.afsr.cnrs.fr/)
  • The Acts will be published.

Questions concerning the conference may be sent to the following addresses:

  • Fabienne Duteil-Ogata, Laboratoire d’anthropologie urbaine (LAU), IIAC/ EHESS-CNRS, fabdutogata@yahoo.fr
  • Isabelle Jonveaux, Centre d’études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux (CEIFR/EHESS-CNRS) et Université de Graz (Autriche), isabelle.jonveaux@uni-graz.at
  • Liliane Kuczynski, Laboratoire d’anthropologie urbaine (LAU), IIAC/ EHESS-CNRS, kuczynski@ivry.cnrs.fr
  • Sophie Nizard, Centre d’études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux (CEIFR/EHESS-CNRS) snizard@ehess.fr

Ordinary Lives and Grand Schemes: An Anthropology of Everyday Religion

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ORDINARY LIVES AND GRAND SCHEMES
An Anthropology of Everyday Religion
Edited by Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec Berghahn Books, 2012
http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=SchielkeOrdinary

“This volume is very well put-together. The editors have done a good job to rein in the various authors to a single collective argument.It’s an important volume on an important issue.”  ·  Jon Mitchell, University of Sussex

“The topic of everyday religion is becoming an increasingly attractive in the social sciences of religion, as an alternative to more orthodox and canonical accounts of religious phenomena. This volume sets out to debate the concept of ‘everyday religion’ in a very explicit and straightforward manner.The final result is a convincing volume with diverse and challenging case studies that open different paths for the discussion of the main theme.”  ·  Ruy Blanes, Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon

Everyday practice of religion is complex in its nature, ambivalent and at times contradictory. The task of an anthropology of religious practice is therefore precisely to see how people navigate and make sense of that complexity, and what the significance of religious beliefs and practices in a given setting can be. Rather than putting everyday practice and normative doctrine on different analytical planes, the authors argue that the articulation of religious doctrine is also an everyday practice and must be understood as such.

Samuli Schielke is a research fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin. His research interests include Islam, festive culture, subjectivity and morality, and migration and aspiration in Egypt.

Liza Debevec is a research fellow at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts. Her research focuses on the anthropology of everyday life practices in urban Burkina Faso.

Series: Volume 18, EASA Series
Subject: Religion, Anthropology, Sociology

Contents

Introduction
Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec

Chapter 1. Divination and Islam: Existential Perspectives in the Study of Ritual and Religious Praxis in Senegal and Gambia Knut Graw

Chapter 2. Postponing Piety in Urban Burkina Faso: Discussing Ideas on When to Start Acting as a Pious Muslim Liza Debevec

Chapter 3. Everyday Religion, Ambiguity and Homosocial Relationships in Manitoba, Canada from 1911 to 1949 Alison R. Marshall

Chapter 4. ‘Doing Things Properly’: Religious Aspects in Everyday Sociality in Apiao, Chiloé Giovanna Bacchiddu

Chapter 5. The Ordinary within the Extraordinary: Sainthood Making and Everyday Religious Practice in Lesvos, Greece Séverine Rey

Chapter 6. Say a Little Hallo to Padre Pio: Production and Consumption of Space in the Construction of the Sacred at the Shrine of Santa Maria delle Grazie Evgenia Mesaritou

Chapter 7. Going to the Mulid: Street-smart Spirituality in Egypt Jennifer Peterson

Chapter 8. Capitalist Ethics and the Spirit of Islamization in Egypt Samuli Schielke

Afterword: Everyday Religion and the Contemporary World: The Un-Modern, or What Was Supposed to Have Disappeared but Did Not Robert A. Orsi

Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index

Event announcement: Religion, Youth and Sexuality: Stories from the United Kingdom & Canada

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Religion, Youth and Sexuality: Stories from the United Kingdom & Canada

Monday 3rd September 2012 – 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Followed by Buffet Reception

Venue: Room B63, School of Sociology & Social Policy, Law & Social Sciences Building, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.

The School of Sociology and Social Policy cordially invites you to this event organised for young people, academics, and non-academic professionals (e.g. religious leaders, youth workers, sexual health workers, counsellors).

The event will present findings from two related research projects: The completed Religion, Youth and Sexuality: A Multi-Faith Exploration in the UK (www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/rys<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/rys>).
The ongoing Religion, Gender, Sexuality and Youth among Youth in Canada(http://www.queensu.ca/religion/Faculty/research/dickeyyoung.html>).

Guest Speakers
Prof. Pamela Dickey Young, Queen’s University, Canada
Dr. Heather Shipley, University of Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Sarah-Jane Page, Aston University, England
Prof. Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip, University of Nottingham, England

Registration

The event is free of charge, but registration is required. Please return all completed registration forms to michelle.fusco@nottingham.ac.uk.
These can be found on the School website, via the following link; http://tiny.cc/RYSSept2012

Read The Swiss Minaret Ban: Islam in Question

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Read The Swiss Minaret Ban: Islam in Question

Edited by Patrick Haenni and Stéphane Lathion

With an Afterword by Olivier Roy

On 29 November 2009 Swiss voters approved the proposal to introduce a ban on building minarets on Swiss territory into the Federal Constitution. The result surprised large parts of the media and political class. The most frequently mentioned motive of supporters of the initiative was the wish to give a clear signal against the expansion of Islam and the type of society associated with this religion. The vote’s real objective was not the minaret as such. Rather, the minaret was being turned into a symbol of the issues raised by Islam.

Read full text: http://www.minaret.li/