Author Archives: Janaki

CFP: The Muhammad Cartoons – Ten Years After

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Ten years after – The Muhammad Cartoons: Perspectives, Reflections, and Challenges

Aalborg, September 28-29, 2015

Ten years have gone since the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten decided to
publish 12 Muhammad cartoons of the prophet Muhammad as cartoonists ‘imagined him’. The
cartoons and the stories about them cost the lives of 150 people. Denmark’s reputation abroad
and export to Arab speaking countries were severely impacted. In addition, it has affected the
opportunities of immigrants, who experience they are being stigmatized and not fully allowed
to be Danes. Many Danes have had their ideas of womanhood among Muslims re-enforced,
ideas of incompatible values have been strengthened, and the debate about freedom of speech
reified. For many non-Western Muslims, the cartoon story has become an icon of Western
arrogance and hatred towards Islam. Their anger came from a deep sense that they are not
respected, that they and their most cherished feelings are “fair game.”
New research suggests that increased racial discrimination and enforcement of racial-cultural
logics of belonging facilitates mobilization of minority youth groups to crime, violence, political
activism, carelessness and terrorism. This development exposes a “schismogenetic” process
that merits academic attention analysis and solutions.
Some of the questions for the conference:
– How is the gap between “the academics” and “the politicals” being played out?
– Is there a gap between the understanding of the crisis in Denmark and abroad?
– What are the differences in the debates about Islam in contemporary Denmark and
other non-Muslim countries?
– Ten years after – did the insult, the ridicule, and the mocking lead to a better society?
– How does the cartoon story relate to the moralization of Danish society and the
emergence of online social media?
– How are democratic values and free speech affected ten years after by the spread of
Islamophobia, policies, and confrontational news media coverage and debate?
Key note speakers are Lene Hansen, Mark Allen Peterson, Deepa Kumar, Peter Hervik and
Arun Kundnani. Chairs of workshops are Carsten Stage, Signe Kjær Jørgensen, Anja Kublitz,
and Mikkel Rytter. Read more at the conference website:
http://www.ten-years-after.aau.dk
Please send your title, abstract, affiliation and contact information before 28 August via
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mc2015
Please send correspondence to:
Peter Hervik hervik@cgs.aau.dk

The post CFP: The Muhammad Cartoons – Ten Years After appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.

CFP: Psychotherapy and Religious Values

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CALL FOR PAPERS
for the topical issue of Open Theology journal
PSYCHOTHERAPY AND RELIGIOUS VALUES


Open Theology  (http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth) invites submissions for the topical issue “Psychotherapy and Religious Values”, under the general editorship of Prof. P. Scott Richards (Brigham Young University).

 

In 1980, Allen E. Bergin, published a landmark article “Psychotherapy and religious values” in the Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology. The article, which became a citation classic, produced intense interest, enthusiasm, and controversy in the psychology profession. Ultimately, it helped energize an international movement to bring religious perspectives into mainstream psychology and psychotherapy. Great progress has been made during the past 35 years in this effort, but more work remains to be done. The focus of this special issue of Open Theology is to commemorate the publication of Bergin’s 1980 article by affirming the progress that has been made and exploring directions for the future in the movement to bring religious values and spiritual perspectives into mainstream psychotherapy. Manuscripts with a theoretical, historical, theological, empirical, and/or clinical focus will all be considered for the special issue. For empirical studies, a variety of research methodologies are encouraged, including experimental, practice-based evidence, process, case reports, single-N, and qualitative designs.


 
HOW TO SUBMIT

 

Submissions are due by December 31, 2015. To submit an article for the special issue of Open Theology, please use the on-line submission system http://www.editorialmanager.com/openth/  choosing as article type:  ‘Special Issue Article: Psychotherapy and Religious Values’.

All contributions will undergo a critical review before being accepted for publication.
Further questions about the thematic issue can be sent to P. Scott Richards at scott_richards@byu.edu. In case of technical questions or problems please contact Managing Editor of the journal Dr. Katarzyna Tempczyk at katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyteropen.com.

 

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Book Announcement: Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India

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Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India
Edited by Knut A. Jacobsen
Routledge 2015
India is the second largest country in the world with regard to population, the world’s largest democracy and by far the largest country in South Asia, and one of the most diverse and pluralistic nations in the world in terms of official languages, cultures, religions and social identities. Indians have for centuries exchanged ideas with other cultures globally and some traditions have been transformed in those transnational and transcultural encounters and become successful innovations with an extraordinary global popularity. India is an emerging global power in terms of economy, but in spite of India’s impressive economic growth over the last decades, some of the most serious problems of Indian society such as poverty, repression of women, inequality both in terms of living conditions and of opportunities such as access to education, employment, and the economic resources of the state persist and do not seem to go away.

This Handbook contains chapters by the field’s foremost scholars dealing with fundamental issues in India’s current cultural and social transformation and concentrates on India as it emerged after the economic reforms and the new economic policy of the 1980s and 1990s and as it develops in the twenty-first century.

Following an introduction by the editor, the book is divided into five parts:

Part I: Foundation

Part II: India and the world

Part III: Society, class, caste and gender

Part IV: Religion and diversity

Part V: Cultural change and innovations

Exploring the cultural changes and innovations relating a number of contexts in contemporary India, this Handbook is essential reading for students and scholars interested in Indian and South Asian culture, politics and society.

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Workshop: Religious diversity in Asia

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Workshop: 7.-8. December 2015. Organised by the Centre for Contemporary Religion, Aarhus University, funded by the Danish Research Council.

 

Applications are invited for a limited number of people to participate in the two days’ workshop in Aarhus, Denmark. Expenses for travel, food, and accommodation will be covered.

The study of religious diversity has in recent years been rising on the agenda. Focus has almost exclusively been on North America, Europe and Australia and issues concerned with maintaining cohesion in these societies. It is however obvious that religious diversity is not a phenomenon confined to the west. Especially in Asia religious diversity at both individual and institutional level has a long history with many examples of both syncretic traditions and religious divisions of labour. Yet the concepts associated with research on religious diversity are clearly drafted in a Western context. This means that they are constructed upon concepts of membership and adherence, with a strong Christian and Western bias not necessarily fitting Eastern models of multiple and contextual affiliations.

Previously, the Critical Analyses of Religious Diversity (CARD) have met for two workshops in Denmark (http://cardnetwork.au.dk/). This network explores ways in which research could proceed in order to craft concepts and models of understanding religious diversity which will allow fitting representations of religious diversity in Asia, and in a broader sense create new perspectives for understanding religious diversity globally.

A workshop on the topic was held in Delhi in May 2015, and the network will have two more workshops in Kyoto and Nagoya in October before this final one in Aarhus in December, where a limited number of Asian scholars are invited to continue the scholarly discussions and make strategic plans for future cooperation and publication of an anthology on religious diversity.

The network is be led by Jørn Borup, Lene Kühle, and Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger, Aarhus University.

Invitees are expected to pesent a paper and be prepared to engage in a critical discussion of their work. In addition, we want our participants to think critically about the assumptions that have been made about religious diversity in their research methods/context.

Some of the topics that we hope to have included in the workshop are:

–       Terminology; do you (your colleagues) use “religious diversity”, “religious pluralism” and/or other concepts?

–       Methods; Are you using quantitative data, qualitative data, census data, or micro, macro?

–       Empirical data; Is your research focused on specific geographical areas, or do you engage in comparative work? Are there specific points about religious diversity in Asia compared to the West?

–       Specific topics; do you investigate religious diversity in relation to demography, ethnicity, nationality, gender, human rights, diaspora, media, law, politics?

If interested in joining the workshop, please send a 250 word abstract by Oct 1st  2015 to Jørn Borup, JB@cas.au.dk

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Job Opening: Assistant Professor specializing in Islam (tenure-track) – Vassar College

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The Department of Religion at Vassar College seeks applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor (to begin Fall 2016) specializing in Islam. Vassar College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer, and applications from members of historically underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. Vassar is strongly committed to fostering a community that reflects the values of a liberal arts education and to promoting an environment of equality, inclusion and respect for difference. The area of specialization within Islam is open, and we would especially welcome a candidate whose research or teaching addresses issues of gender and/or sexuality. We also seek a candidate whose theoretical and methodological approaches complement those of other faculty in the department. The candidate will be expected to offer courses in Islamic traditions as well as develop other courses in his or her areas of specialization. The candidate should be prepared to teach at regular intervals an introductory course on Jews, Christians, and Muslims and contribute to a required course on method and theory in the study of religion. In addition, the department encourages partnerships with the variety of multi/interdisciplinary programs on campus. Appropriate scholarly language skills, teaching experience, and a Ph.D. in hand at the time of employment are required. Teaching load in the first year is four courses; after that it is five courses per year. Preliminary interviews of selected applicants will be conducted at the annual American Academy of Religion conference from November 22- 24, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. For full consideration applications should be received by October 9, 2015. Candidates are asked to submit a letter of application, a current C.V., an article-length writing sample, a sample syllabi, graduate school transcript (unofficial copies accepted for initial application), and three letters of recommendation. To apply, please visit https://employment.vassar.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51888 Please direct any questions about the position to Jonathon Kahn, Chair, Department of Religion, jokahn@vassar.edu.

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CFP: Imagining an Alternative ‘Post-Secular’ State: Historicizing and Comparing National Struggles over Resecularization

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A RC43 Religion and Politics Panel, 24th IPSA World Congress of Political Science, July 23-28, 2016, Istanbul, Turkey.

In this era of public religions, religious revivalists of various traditions have become powerful forces not just socially but politically in many parts of the globe. In the more successful among such cases, they have either captured the whole (as in Iran) or penetrated some crucial parts (as in Turkey and India) of the modern state, thereby garnering institutional (including discursive) leverages through which to enforce their versions of rather totalizing ‘post-secularities’ over their variously-oriented and thus multidirectional societies.

Following the footsteps of the recent scholarships built on the notions of multiple and diverse secularities, this panel proposes to historicize and compare various local efforts at resecularization, or societal (often national) struggles over reformulating and reinstitutionalizing state-religion relationships after experiencing significant periods of religious resurgence or dominance. As in secularization processes, such resecularization processes are analytically better approached as phenomena that are inherently multi-level and dimensional, contentious and mutually constituting, and nationally varying.

This panel aims to focus on cases in which resecularization involves imagining and institutionalizing alternative ‘post-secular’ state-religion relationships in their national contexts, and comparatively examine and discuss various locally-rooted cultural articulations of, and struggles for, such alternative ‘post-secular’ states.

Convenor & Chair: Yasuyuki Matsunaga (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan)
Co-Chair: Umut Azak (Okan University, Turkey)
Discussant: Naser Ghobadzadeh (Australian Catholic University, Australia)

Deadline to submit Paper proposals: October 7, 2015

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Job Opening: Assistant Professor of Sociology of Religion, Tenure-track

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Assistant Professor of Sociology of Religion, Tenure-track, Boston University School of Theology

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position in Sociology of Religion at the Assistant Professor rank, to begin July 1, 2016. The candidate will hold a PhD in Sociology of Religion or an appropriate, equivalent degree. An additional seminary degree (e.g., MDiv, MTS, MAR) is highly desirable. Candidates should have a strong research record and research skills with an emphasis on congregational or community studies, and on cross-cultural and global issues in the field. Active engagement in empirical research and excellence in teaching are expected. The ideal candidate might also contribute to the School’s strengths in lived religion, cultural studies, and practical theology.

Candidates should be committed to the School’s mission of preparing leaders for diverse forms of ministry in religious communities and faith-based organizations, as well as teaching doctoral students for the professoriate, clinical practice, and other forms of scholarship within the interdisciplinary context of a research university. Opportunities also include doctoral advising in the PhD programs in Theological Studies, particularly Practical Theology, and in the Graduate Division of Religious Studies. Boston University expects excellence in teaching and research and is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse faculty and staff committed to engaged scholarship in a multicultural environment.

Applications, including a curriculum vitae, statement of teaching and research plans, a major publication sample, and three professional references (sent separately), should be sent to the Omnibus Search Committee, Boston University School of Theology, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 110, Boston, MA 02215. Applications may be submitted as email attachments to Danielle Stecher at dstecher@bu.edu.

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CFP: Muslim and Sports

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In the recent years, there have been an increasing number of studies on
the physical activity of muslim youth and especially on Muslim
schoolgirls in Europe. The researches on physical activity have expanded
in new domains such as sports activities during the month of Ramadan,
wearing headscarf in olympic games and footbal matches, halal meals in
football training camps, mixed-sex swimming lessons and dancing clubs.
Sports are also at the centre of the debates on Islamic expressions of
identity and diversity. These researches on life experiences of Muslims
in different contexts reveal how sports constitute a terrain for
identity making, empowerment, and religious plurality particulary with
regards to Islam.

The visibilty of Muslim and the presence of Islam in sports need
specific attention. On the one hand, there is an increase in social
mobility, socialisation and participation in the society via sport; on
the other hand, research has indicated that this participation in sports
reveals some particularities in Islamic codes of living. These
particularities and religious expressions in sports are seen as a means
of defying secular values and life.

This workshop attempts to provide more insight on the relationship
between Muslims who live in Europe and sports-physical activity. We
would like to examine how Muslims make sense of religion and their
religious identity in sportive activities and how public policies are
organized vis-a-vis the needs of the Muslim populations in Europe.
During this workshop we want to adress a range of issues such as space,
gender, social inclusion, multiculturalism, citizenship, politics of
identity and secularism.

Tuition Fees

There will be no tuition fees.

Outcome

An edited book will be produced and published by the GCIS with Leuven
University Press, comprising some or all of the papers presented at the
Workshop, at the condition that they pass a peer review organized by the
publisher. The papers will be arranged and introduced, and to the extent
appropriate, edited, by scholar(s) to be appointed by the Editorial Board.

Copyright of the papers accepted to the Workshop will be vested in the GCIS.

Selection Criteria

The workshop will accept up to 10 participants, each of whom must meet
the following requirements:

  • have a professional and/or research background in related topics
    of the workshop;
  • be able to attend the entire programme.

Since the Workshop expects to address a broad range of topics while the
number of participants has to be limited, writers submitting abstracts
are requested to bear in mind the need to ensure that their language is
technical only where it is absolutely necessary and the language should
be intelligible to non-specialists and specialists in disciplines other
than their own; and present clear, coherent arguments in a rational way
and in accordance with the usual standards and format for publishable work.

Timetable

Abstracts (300–500 words maximum) and CVs (maximum 1 page) to be
received by 20th September 2015.
Abstracts to be short-listed by the Editorial Board and papers
invited by 30th September 2015.
Conference: 7 December 2015

Workshop Editorial Board and Organizers

Joyce Koeman, KU Leuven

Pascal Delheye, KU Leuven

Erkan Toğuşlu, KU Leuven

Venue

KU Leuven University, Belgium.

The international workshop is organized by KU Leuven Gülen Chair for
Intercultural Studies and Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation
Sciences (FaBeR). The language of the workshop is English and will be
hosted by KU Leuven Gülen Chair in Leuven.

Papers and abstract should be sent to :

erkan.toguslu@soc.kuleuven.be

For more information plz contact:

Erkan Toguslu

KU Leuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies

Parkstraat 45 – box 3615
3000 Leuven

Dr. Erkan Toguslu
Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies
IMMRC – Anthropology
KU Leuven

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Implicit Religion Journal – Seeking New Editor

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Following the death of the Founding Editor Edward Bailey in April,
Equinox is seeking to appoint a new editor for Implicit Religion. If
you might be interested in the role, or have anyone to suggest, please
contact Janet Joyce jjoyce@equinoxpub.com.

Implicit Religion is an international journal published quarterly which
welcomes papers on theory and evidence in the study of religion and
secularity, and those which explore the relationship between the context
and dynamism of religious and secular phenomena. It is particularly
concerned with religious life outside the boundaries of the
churches/organized religion in post-modernity. The aim of Implicit
Religion is to enhance our general understanding of human behaviour,
through the insights developed by the academic study of religion.

http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/IR

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