Call for Articles for a Thematic Issue of Religion

Working titles (comments/suggestions welcome):

Emic Categories and New Paths / Case Studies in the Scholarly Use of Indigenous Concepts

Religion invites contributions for a thematic issue consisting of case studies of concepts from non-prominent cultures (not just religions) that have been or could be useful in the study of religion/s. Is there a blindspot, lacuna or distortion in the study of religion/s that can be highlighted or addressed by a term from a tradition that you study? Does a particular concept from your materials/data/fieldwork move past our existing vocabulary or contribute to current debates? Is our discipline missing key terms for specific areas of research – material culture, views of selfhood, non-binary categories, dynamic and non-essentialist views of pluralisms etc. – and where might these be found? On the negative side, have classic appropriations of certain insider concepts created more problems than they are worth (god, guru, hell, liturgy, mana, shaman)? Within the academy, are there terms used in non-English language scholarship, beyond the North-Atlantic axis (or even within, e.g., evangelical Christianity and other well-studied traditions), that can contribute to our discipline (e.g., emerging emic concepts, indigenous methods or southern theory)? Each article will discuss a single concept (or two or three closely related terms), spelling out the significance of the term in its home context, contribution to the study of religions, and a critical assessment of existing uses (if any) in the relevant scholarly literatures. Final length: 5000–10000 words, all-inclusive.

Please send a brief proposal or outline (500–1200 words) by February 1, 2021. Proposed submission deadline: Sept 1, 2021. Web copy of this call: https://stevenengler.ca/cfp/ Questions and comments: sengler@mtroyal.ca