Religion and Politics – Conflict and Peace
13th International Conference of the SIEF Ethnology of Religion Working Group
Siena, September 20th-23rd, 2018

Politics and religion have never existed in isolation but always stood in continuous interaction throughout times. The “growing salience of religion on the world stage” (Hackett 2005:145) is to a great part due to the politization of religion in different contexts and dimensions: already in the early 2000s Grace Davie pointed to the European exceptionalism to the former persistent secularization thesis (cf. Berger 1967): “New arrivals”, especially Muslim Immigrants, challenged the image of the secular state. Right wing oriented, anti-Muslim political parties arose all over Europe as a reaction to the supposedly Muslimization of certain sectors of society. At the same time, orthodoxy was re-established in Putin´s Russia and conservative or contestative Roman Catholic movements address political developments all over the world. Nationalist Hinduism rose in India up to the election of a respective prime-minister. These various developments in political discourse also drew attention to the scientific study of religion. For the ethnography of religion it is a chance to broaden its objects of study and increase its public visibility.

While the aforementioned interactions between religion and politics gave way to conflicts on various levels, attention must also be paid to the “ambivalence of the sacred” (Appleby 2000): Reconciliation processes in South Africa and Northern Ireland for example have been informed by Christian ideas of peace. Other examples of political peacebuilding work can be found in Muslim or Buddhist discourse or the role of religions in the African-American emancipation movements.

Grasping the relationship of religion and politics in conflict and peace can also be framed in historical context. The conference invites papers that take up the context of fascism and racism with relation to religion in the year of the 80th anniversary of the Italian race-laws.

The 13th conference of the SIEF Ethnology of Religion Working Group aims to explore from ethnological / anthropological perspective the general theme of politics and religion in various national and political contexts, either in historical or contemporary times. Theoretical proposals and papers illustrating the productivity of ethnographic methods in research into the connection between religion and politics are especially welcome.

Possible subthemes of the conference are:

• The role of religion in ongoing conflicts and peacebuilding initiatives
• The politization of religion in discursive and historical dimensions
• Grassroots movements and religious creativity under different political regimes
• Sacred spaces, religious art, performances: objects, rituals, languages and practices in terms of religious and political tension.

Proposals can be sent to ethnorelsiena(at)unisi.it; the deadline for sending the proposals is January, 31st 2018.

Notification about acceptance will be sent before March, 31st 2018.

Conference fee: 90 EUR (also covers drinks and food at the welcome reception and snacks/brunch during coffee or lunch breaks).

The organizers are not able to support the participants financially. Participants are responsible for covering their own travel and accommodation expenses.

For more information: ethnorelsiena(at)unisi.it

Call for Papers

The Joint PhD Program on «Human Rights, Society, and Multi-Level Governance» offered by the University of Padova, University of Zagreb-Faculty of Law, University of Western Sydney, Panteion University of Athens, and the University of Nicosia

invites submissions for an international Conference on

Universality v Particularity: Human Rights and Religions

Nicosia, Cyprus

8-9th of June, 2018

The two-day conference will examine the aspects of the relationship between human rights and religions, universality and particularity, considering both the internal aspects of regulating human rights within a religious group, as well as the external aspects of regulating the interaction between religion and human rights on behalf of the state.

Religion is a salient aspect of a global public order. Extensive migration flows and the growth of religious plurality alongside with different levels of secularization have led to diverse models of relationship between human rights and religion. The particularity of ethnic and cultural diversities highlights the need for a re-evaluation of the traditional legal and socio-political thinking on religious freedom within the universality of human rights.

All these aspects will be considered through a multi- and interdisciplinary approach which encompasses law, sociology, philosophy, and political science. Participants are invited to address these issues and propose papers in line with the conference rationale, in relation to the following topics:

1. 1. Universal human rights, domestic regimes, and dominant religions/ religious minorities
2. 2. The religious effect on the states’ commitment to human rights
3. 3. Religious freedom and ECtHR rulings
4. 4. Religious freedom governance in domestic and international perspectives
5. 5. Generational evolution of rights and the impact of religions
6. 6. Political and legal secularisms and religious freedom
7. 7. Regional negotiations of religious freedom practices
8. 8. Religion and LGBT rights
9. 9. Women inside and outside religions: human rights approaches
10. 10. Grassroots society initiatives and religious freedom engagement
11. 11. Global ethics and moral and cultural particularities
12. 12. Religion, migration, and human rights
13. 13. Human rights rhetorics within a religious tradition
14. 14. Interreligious dialogue and human rights
15. 15. Religion, human rights, and economic crisis

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Prof. Marco Ventura, University of Siena

Dr. Effie Fokas, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Study (ELIAMEP)

Key Dates

January 15th, 2018 – Abstracts (400 words) should be sent to christodoulidou.e@unic.ac.cy

February 10th, 2018 – Notification of acceptance

There are no fees for attendance. Participants are, however, responsible for securing their own funding for travel and lodging.

Questions

Please direct inquiries in connection with this Conference to:

Prof. Achilles Emilianides: emilianides.a@unic.ac.cy

I am writing to inform you of a Conference on ‘Religious Marriages in the Mediterranean‘ to be hosted by the University of Malta on the 20th and 21st March 2018. The deadline for submission of abstracts is the 31st January 2018.Further details are in the accompanying blurb. I hope to see some of you there.

Best regards,

David E. Zammit LL.D. Ph.D. (Dunelm)
Head of Department of Civil Law
Faculty of Laws Room 116
University of Malta
Tal – Qroqq
Msida MSD 2080
Malta

ECPR General Conference, Hamburg 24-26 August 2018

Section: Revisiting Religion and Politics Research: Achievements, Critique, Future Questions

Panel Chair: Anja Hennig, European University Viadrina (ahennig@europa-uni.de)

This panel specifies some of the major questions, addressed in the section “Revisiting Religion and Politics Research: Achievements, Critique, Future Questions”. It departs from the observation that over the last three to four decades a research field analysing the mutual impact of religion and politics has been consolidating. The existence of various research networks on national and transnational level, dictionaries, handbooks, an ever growing number of edited volumes with empirical studies on various aspects of religion and politics such as Church-state arrangements, governance of religious diversity, religious voting, religion and public policy etc. and respective journals is a proof of it.

However, a reflection on the approaches, theories, or assumptions constitutive of this field is rare. This panel opens the floor for dispute and reflection on the subject by taking the Western origin of the religion and politics research agenda as point of departure.

To what extent does contemporary religion and politics research reflect a predominantly Western- or Eurocentric agenda? What justifies such perspective? Which decentralizing perspectives (empirically or theoretically) do exist or are desirable?

West- or Eurocentrism here implies primarily a reference to the liberal-democratic separation principle, and, thus, to the normative assumption that religion and politics/Churches and state ought to be separated or constitute separate spheres; a still dominant perspective despite the fact that politico-religious cooperation or overlaps of both spheres is a matter of fact also in the global West. Such a perspective reflects not only the normative impact of the secularization (or nowadays rather differentiation) paradigm. The separation principle grounded in Western liberal thinking structures also empirical research on religion and politics. An example would be the widely used analytical distinction between religious and political actors or factors.

Paper givers may also propose a different understanding of “West-or Eurocentrism” as focal point for critically revisiting the state of the art of religion and politics research. Counter arguments are welcomed as well!

Scholars are invited to submit a proposal of max. 350 words that outlines the major arguments in relation to the central questions. Such arguments may be based on (comparative) case studies or reflect theoretical or conceptual thoughts.

Please submit your proposals (350 words) to ahennig@europa-uni.de latest by 1 February 2018!

Please consider also our Call for Panels for the Section “Revisiting Religion and Politics Research” at the ECPR General Conference 2018: https://ecpr.eu/Events/SectionDetails.aspx?SectionID=725&EventID=115

Dr. Anja Hennig
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin / Lecturer and Researcher
Lehrstuhl für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft / Chair of Comparative Politics
Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences
Europa-Universität Viadrina / European University Viadrina
in / at Frankfurt/Oder