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Islam and Peaceful Relations, 5th April 2016, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University

·         Plenary address by Professor Jørgen S. Nielsen

·         Last date for submission of abstracts: 15th February 2016

·         Co-hosted by the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University and the Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN)

For further information read below or visit: http://www.mbrn.org.uk/cfp-islam-and-peaceful-relations/

Islam has been an important force for peace in the world historically and now. Peace is integral to Islamic theology and Muslim ethos, either as part of the individual’s personal experience or the wider context of maintaining peaceful relations in society. Yet terrorism undermines this discourse around peace and Islam. Recent attacks in France, Lebanon and Bangladesh have once again put Islam at the fore of debates around religiously-motivated conflict. Terrorists constitute a very small proportion of the global Muslim population and their ideology at best represents only a fringe, yet the narratives they propound have a dominating influence in shaping how Islam and Muslims are perceived. This has resulted in an increased focus on radicalisation and preventing violent extremism in policy, media discourse and some academic research around Islam and Muslims in Britain and beyond, subverting most other narratives of Islam and Muslims.

This conference will ‘radically’ depart from this trend. Instead it will focus its discussion about Islam on dialogue, peace and peaceful relations. In doing so it will uncover Islamic theological traditions around peacebuilding, historical precedents of peaceful existence with Muslims and contemporary lived experiences of intra-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, improved societal understanding of difference and peaceful relations. The conference will move the debate beyond simplistic ‘good and bad’, ‘us and them’ binaries to more complex discussions that consider the impact of diverse social factors including, gender, class, economy and geography.

The Faith and Peaceful Relations Research Group at CTPSR explores the role religion can play in achieving more peaceful and just societies. Faith can be a driver of peace, reconciliation and social justice, yet it can also be a source of violence, exclusion and misunderstanding. This conference will build on our research expertise and will explore the positive difference faith and belief, in this case Islam, can make in today’s world and how conflicts relating to Islam can be overcome.

Proposals for papers, panel discussions, workshops and poster presentations that focus on one, or more, of the above themes are invited from scholars, community activists and policy makers. For the purposes of the conference, we do not define the term ‘Islam and Peaceful Relations’, but rather envisage that contributions will broaden our understanding of what this can mean in contemporary plural society.

The conference will explore themes including:

–          Theological and sociological constructs and definitions of Islam and peace

–          Contemporary debates, including the role of the digital world

–          Interfaith and Inter-cultural dialogue

–          Intra-faith dialogue across diverse Muslim denominations and traditions

–          Local ramifications of international events and initiatives

–          Develop a narrative of Islam and peace

Abstracts & Proposals:

To submit a proposal:

–          Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words, indicating whether it is a paper / panel / workshop / poster presentation.

–          Please include names and short biographies (150 words maximum) of the presenter/s, institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.

–          Proposals should be sent to the conference administrator Charlotte Martin via email ac1894@coventry.ac.uk

–          Deadline: 5pm on Monday 15th February 2016.

–          Successful participants will be notified by 29th February 2016.

Registration:

A registration fee of £20 will apply for all speakers and delegates.

A reduced fee of £15 will apply for students, representatives of voluntary organisations and those not in paid employment.

Further details about the registration process will be circulated and posted on this website in February 2016.

Conference Organisers:

CTPSR, Coventry University

Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk)

Dr Kristin Aune (ab8574@coventry.ac.uk)

Dilwar Hussain (ab9522@coventry.ac.uk)

Charlotte Martin (ac1894@coventry.ac.uk)

MBRN

Prof Sophie Gilliat-Ray

Dr Carl Morris

Mobeen Butt

Chris Moses

Contact the MBRN team via muslimsinbritainrn@gmail.com

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The Eurel Conference will be held in Luxembourg in September 2016.

The topic of the conference is Governance and Religion in Europe and there will be four different thematic panels:

1. Religion, Party Discourse, and Policy-Making

2. Religious Engagement and Political Mobilization of Minority Religious Groups

3. Religious Groups as Actors and Objects of Local Governance

4. Religion in Legislation and Law Enforcement.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31 January 2016.

Please, feel free to circulate the call among colleagues.

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5th European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health

“Religion and Spirituality in Health Care: Risk or Benefit for the Patient?”

May 12-14, 2016 • Gdansk (Poland) • www.ecrsh.eu

The 5th European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health will focus on the integration of religion and spirituality into health care and its implications for patients. Keynote speakers approach the topic from their specific professional background. The Gdansk Lecture will be held by Prof. Dr. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyn´ska (Poland).  Symposia invite for discussion and free communications allow research groups to present their research projects.

Contact:

The ECRSH16 is organised by the

Research Institute for Spirituality and Health RISH
[http://www.rish.ch/en/home]

Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
[www.ptprid.pl]

and the

University of Gdansk (Poland) [http://en.ug.edu.pl]

Send your requests to office@ecrsh.eu.

We kindly ask you to disseminate information about the Conference among
psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, doctors, nurses, chaplains,
Universities and places which provide help to the ailing. Please note that
the Conference welcomes not only scholars, but also practitioners.

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Crossing the borders. Interdisciplinary research in Arabic and Islamic studies

Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia, May 2016

The Chair of Arabic Studies at Yerevan State University in cooperation
with Middle Orient project is pleased to invite graduate students (MA
and PhD) and recent post-docs of all fields associated with Arabic and
Islamic Studies (broadly defined) to present their recent research
during the graduate conference entitled Crossing the borders.
Interdisciplinary research in Arabic and Islamic studies, which will
take place in the first week of May 2016 (the exact date of the
conference will be specified later).

Research papers are accepted on all aspects of Arabic and Islamic
studies, including, but not limited to:
–Islamic Studies (History, religion, politics)
–Arabic Literature
–Arabic Linguistics
–The History of Arabic countries
–The Arab world in the framework of international relations
–Intercultural dialogue
–The topical issues of Arab Middle East

Each participant will be expected to speak for no longer than 20
minutes. At the end of each session the discussion will be opened by
the session moderator.

Submission process

For submitting a paper proposal, please send an abstract of proposed
paper (no more than 300 words) and a current CV to
graduateconferenceysu@gmail.com by 15th of February, 2016. Abstracts
should provide a brief description of the work, clearly outlining the
theoretical perspectives and methodology to be applied in the paper.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent until 29th of February, 2016.

All proposals will be subjected to peer-reviews. The selected papers
will be published in the proceeding volume of “Arabic Studies”- the
annually published official journal of the Chair of Arabic Studies,
YSU.

Please find the call for papers attached.

For any enquiries regarding the conference, please contact
info@middleorient.com.

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Call for Papers

Conference on

“Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World: Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality”

University of Chester, Chester (UK), 20-21 May 2016

Global migrations flows in the 20^th century have seen the emergence of Muslim diaspora and minority communities in Europe, North America and Australia. In addition to these new Muslim presences in the global “West”, there have been, since the late 19^th century, migration flows from the Middle East (Lebanon and Syria in particular) to South America and West Africa. Likewise, South Asian Muslims settled in East and South Africa in the 19^th century. While there is a growing body of research on these Muslim minorities in various regional contexts, the particular experiences of Shia Muslim minorities across the globe has only received scant attention.

As “a minority within a minority”, Shia Muslims face the double-challenge of maintaining an Islamic as well as a particular Shia identity in terms of communal activities, practices, public perception and recognition. Often coming from minority contexts of marginalisation and discrimination, their experience of migration and settlement in other parts of the world, whether enforced or voluntary, is often different from those of other Muslim immigrants. The rich tradition of Shia ritual practices and the authority structures specific to different forms of Shia Islam likewise shape the post-migratory minority experience of Shia.

The conference will bring together researchers working on Shia minorities outside of the so-called “Muslim heartland” (North Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia). The conference will focus on Shia minorities in Europe, North and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, the Pacific Rim and East Asia that emerged out of migration from the Middle East and South Asia in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, in particular. The papers presented at the conference will offer unique comparative insights into Shia minorities in a variety of contexts across the globe.

Paper proposal can address but are not limited to the following topics:

–          dynamics between centre and periphery in global Shia Islam

–          multilocality and transnationalism of global Shia networks

–          transnational impact of events in the Middle East on post-migratory Shia minority communities

–          institutionalisation and organisation of post-migratory Shia minorities

–          public representation and perception of post-migratory Shia minorities and their interaction with state and majority-societies

–          sectarianism and Sunni-Shia relations in minority contexts

–          gender and generational dynamics within post-migratory Shia minorities

–          ritual practices and their adaptation in post-migratory minority contexts

–          adaptation of legal practices and legal reforms in minority contexts

–          role of clerical authority and leadership (whether transnational or local) in Shia minority contexts

Key note speakers:

Prof Liyakat Takim, McMasters University, Canada

Dr Sabrina Mervin, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris / Centre Jacques Berque, Rabat

Dr Mara Leichtman (Michigan State University) will launch her book Shi‘i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015) at the conference.

The conference is organised by the new Chester Centre for Islamic Studies and held in conjunction with a research project on transnational Shia networks that operate between Britain and the Middle East, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. A limited number of travel bursaries is available for PhD students and early career researchers whose paper proposals are accepted. The publication of a selection of papers in an edited volume is also planned.

The deadline for abstract submission is 15 December 2015. Abstracts of up to 300 words and a short bio of (up to 200 words) should be sent in MS Word format as an email attachment to ccis@chester.ac.uk. Notifications of acceptance of papers will be sent out by 20 January 2016. Early career researchers should indicate whether they would like to receive a travel bursary when submitting the abstract.

Presentations of papers should be 15 minutes long, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussions. Full papers should not exceed 8,000 words, including references and footnotes, and should be submitted, in full, prior to the conference by 1 May 2016.

For general enquiries, email Prof Oliver Scharbrodt, Director of Chester Centre for Islamic Studies, o.scharbrodt@chester.ac.uk.

Timeline:

Abstract submission:                      15 December 2015

Notification of acceptance:          20 January 2016

Full paper submission:                   1 May 2016

Conference:                                       20-21 May 2016

The post CFP – “Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World: Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality”, 20-21 May 2016 appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.