Special Issue Information: See online CFP at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Australia_muslim

Dear Colleagues,

The growth of Muslim populations globally, in the Asia–Pacific region, and in Australia means Islamic and Muslim studies in Australia are increasingly important. Over the past two decades, Islamic and Muslim studies in Australia have grown along with some notable contributions to the scholarly literature, including the Melbourne University Press Islamic Studies Series. However, research on Islam and Muslims in Australia tends to receive less attention than in other Western countries. This Special Issue will contribute to filling this gap.

The aim of this Special Issue of the open-access journal Religions is to showcase some of the most important research currently being undertaken in Islamic and Muslim studies in Australia. The papers will address the challenging and often unprecedented phenomena concerning Islam and Muslim Australians that have developed particularly since the turn of the century. Scholars in the fields of Islamic and Muslim studies are invited to submit papers on Islamic religious thought and practice; Islamic groupings and organisations; migration, settlement and integration; citizenship and belonging; social cohesion and intercommunity relations; Islamophobia, radicalisation and extremism; national and community security; and other issues concerning the historic and contemporary conditions, experiences and representations of Islam and Muslims in Australia.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Halim Rane
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI’s English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (JSRNC) is calling for paper proposals exploring the entanglements of religion, the Coronavirus, and socioecological (aka biocultural) systems.

We seek scholarly work that explores how the virus, and religious dimensions of the response to it are influencing, and may decisively reshape socioecological systems, including religious perceptions and practices.

Pandemics are nothing new in human and religious history, of course. Indeed, religion and disease have long been entwined as people struggled to understand the mysterious origins of diseases and why they sometimes cause mass deaths and concomitant social and ecological disasters. Unsurprisingly, invisible spiritual beings or forces, which influence if not control environmental conditions, have often been postulated to explain the invisible-to-the-naked eye organisms that precipitate diseases and disasters. Some theorists even contend that the roots of religion may lie in the existential crises precipitated by disease and death.

Although the history of religion is replete with examples in which disease has played an important role, there may be novelty in the current pandemic and fresh insights about the diversity of religion-related responses to it. Indeed, if apocalypse means the end of the world as we know it, the current pandemic may well precipitate profound, destructive changes.

Yet as with much apocalyptic expectation, perhaps after its tribulations new and positive ways of being in the world will emerge that were previously hidden from human imaginations – or only envisioned by previously marginalized individuals and groups.

We have provided examples of social phenomena and specific questions that we think would be fitting for analysis under the heading “Further Information for Interested Scholars” at our web-based CFP: https://issrnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus-Special-CFP_JSRNC.pdf

By 15 June 2020 interested scholars should send prospective titles, a summary of the proposed paper (300-500 words), and ideally, relevant references, to JSRNC Managing Editor Amanda Nichols via amnv22@ufl.edu. Papers will be due 1 October 2020. All manuscripts will undergo the JSRNC’s full editorial review process, including double-blind peer review, before publication. Those requiring a later due date should discuss that with JSRNC Editor-in-Chief Bron Taylor via bron@ufl.edu.