CALL FOR PAPERS: 44th Annual Conference of the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS)
“Sectarianism in Islam and Muslim Communities”

Brown University, Providence, RI Saturday, September 19, 2015
Deadlines: Abstracts: May 15, 2015 Final Papers: August 31, 2015

Sectarian difference and conflict has been part of Islamic history from early times, beginning in a tangible, if not fully established, way during the First Civil War in the mid-1st/7th century. By the late 3rd/9th century, Islamic heresiographers began to document a wide variety of real or reified sectarian identities within the Islamic community. This sectarian history has always been tempered, however, by a well-established Islamic principle that allowed for a certain degree of theological and legal pluralism within the Muslim community, and the fairly widespread acceptance of the idea that the unity of the Muslim ummah was best achieved through the tolerance of a certain degree of diversity. Indeed, some might argue that “sects” and “sectarianism,” as they are understood in a Christian context, do not actually exist in the Islamic world, given that the unifying fundamentals of Islam – its scripture, its central beliefs and practices – are essentially the same across all interpretations of Islam, and communal boundaries have historically been more porous and informal between, for example, Sunnis and Shi`is than between certain Christian sects and denominations.

Nonetheless, conflict has waxed and waned between Sunnis and Shi`is, and among Shi`i groups, and there have been varying degrees of intolerance for smaller sectarian groups in the Islamic world. Today, sectarian intolerance and violence, particularly between Sunnis and Twelver Shi`is seems to be growing increasingly acute, not only in the Middle East, but also in South and Southeast Asia as well. This conference aims to explore the conceptual and religious significance of such sectarian divisions in Islam, as well as the practical and material manifestations of those divisions in Muslim communities both historically and in the contemporary world. The conference aims to examine the issue both in the context of Muslim majority countries, and among minority Muslim communities in North American and Europe. It seeks to investigate not only the religious and historical origins and bases for sectarian
differences in the Islamic world, but also the social, political, and economic conditions that generate, exacerbate, or ameliorate sectarian tensions.

We invite a diverse range of papers from professors and advanced Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences.

Abstracts (250 words) are due by May 15, 2015:

Abstracts ONLY from professors and advanced Ph.D. candidates will be considered. Abstracts will be evaluated according to the following categories: originality of theme, clear data and methodology, clarity and relevance of the proposal to the conference theme, and contribution to the conference theme. Final papers must be submitted by August 31, 2015.

Program panelists are required to preregister and pay non-refundable conference fees by June 29, 2015.

Program Chair: Professor Beshara Doumani, Brown University, Providence, RI
Send abstracts and final papers to Layla Sein, Director of Academic
Affairs, at conferences@naaims.org

The post CFP: “Sectarianism in Islam and Muslim Communities” appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.

CFP: Panel on ‘In Search of Faith: Itinerant Religiosities and Negotiated Moralities in Asia’
Conference: Annual Conference of the Australian Anthropological Society, Melbourne, Australia, 1-4 December 2015
Conference Website: http://www.nomadit.co.uk/aas/aas2015/cfpan.shtml

Deadline for Abstracts: Friday, 12 June 2015

We would like to invite paper proposals to our AAS panel. Focusing on the ritual, missionary and pastoral dimensions of religion in the context of migration, this panel aims to explore how Asian migrant communities interpret religious commitments, grapple with alternative moralities and refashion narratives of displacement. A detailed panel abstract is appended below.

Please email your abstracts (max. 250 words) to the Co-Convenors of this panel by Friday, 12 June 2015. Our contact details are as follows:

• Sin Wen Lau, University of Otago (sinwen.lau@otago.ac.nz)
• Bernardo Brown, Asia Research Institute (aribeb@nus.edu.sg)

We look forward to hearing from all interested parties.

Panel Abstract:

Religious observance in a foreign country is not merely an effort to uphold traditional values and to connect to the homeland, it is an important way of negotiating alternative moralities, generating new meanings, re-signifying the experience of migration, and increasingly, extending the global reach of formerly regionally bounded religious traditions. This panel aims to unpack the religious innovations of Asian migrant communities in order to explore the lines of connection that emerge between transnational flows and religious identities. We focus on understanding how migrant communities pursue their religiosity when unfastened from local settings, and explore what spatial displacements do to religious experiences, practices and duties, and how the affective dimensions of migration are addressed by old and new religious commitments. In doing so, this panel examines the multiple ways in which migrant communities negotiate new and old moralities and how these activities factor in the quality of the migratory experience.

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Religions et pouvoir: habiter le(les) judaïsme(s), le(les) catholicisme(s) et l’Islam(s) à partir des subalternités

Dans ce Groupe de Travail, nous proposons de décentrer l’orientation des regards qui pense le religieux comme un lieu de domination. Au contraire, nous valorisons les perspectives analytiques qui mettent l’accent sur les réflexions qui interrogent la manière qu’ont les sujets subalternes de construire leurs positions et d’habiter les normes et les espaces tout en donnant sens simultanément à leurs pratiques et à leurs croyances. À partir d’une perspective comparée pour le(les) judaïsme(s), le(les) catholicisme(s) et l’Islam(s) en Amérique Latine, nous mettons en valeur les formes de penser les normes (de genre, de la vie quotidienne, éthiques, sexuelles, reproductives, de la santé, de la famille, du parenté) et le religieux, ainsi que les situations de pouvoir et les formes d’habiter les positions des subalternités. Comme Saba Mahmood (2005) nous le suggère, ce n’est pas simplement de démontrer comment les normes religieuses agissent sur les sujets, mais plutôt et au même moment comment ces sujets habitent la norme. Nous nous sommes intéressés à l’ouverture d’un espace de réflexion que cherche l’analyse critique et décolonial sur les relations, les intersections et les confrontations du religieux et leurs normes à partir des différentes sphères de la vie quotidienne, en considérant les multiples et changeantes manifestations de la religion en contextes sociaux et culturels différents.

Pour info :
http://www.alternativasreligiosas.fcp.uncu.edu.ar/index.php/alternativasreligiosas2015/alternativasreligiosas2015

Appel à communications / Date limite de soumission jusqu’au 31 mai 2015GT13.

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GT13. Religiones y poder: habitar el(los) judaísmo(s), catolicismo(s) e Islam(s) desde las subalternidades

En este Grupo de Trabajo nos proponemos descentrar la mirada de las posiciones que piensan a lo religioso como un lugar de dominación, rescatando perspectivas analíticas que aborden un campo de discusión sobre cómo los/as sujetos/as subalternos/as construyen sus posiciones, habitan las normas y los espacios, dando significado a sus prácticas y creencias. Destacamos las formas de pensar las normas (de género, vida cotidiana, éticas, sexuales, reproductivas, salud, familia, parentesco) y lo religioso, las situaciones de poder y las formas de habitar esas posiciones desde la subalternidad en perspectiva comparada para el/los judaísmo(s), catolicismo(s) e Islam(s) en América Latina.Como Saba Mahmood (2005) nos sugiere no es simplemente demostrar cómo las normas religiosas actúan sobre los/as sujetos/as, sino más bien y al mismo tiempo cómo ellos/as habitan esas normas. Nos interesa abrir un espacio de reflexión que busque analizar de manera crítica y descolonial las relaciones, intersecciones y confrontaciones de lo religioso y sus normas con las distintas esferas de la vida cotidiana, considerando las múltiples y cambiantes manifestaciones de la religión en contextos sociales y culturales diferentes.

Convocatoria abierta / Envío de resúmenes hasta el 31 mayo 2015

Coordinatrices:

• María Gabriela Irrazábal,
  Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche / Ceil-CONICET, Argentina
  gabrielairrazabal@gmail.com
• Ana María Tapia Adler
  Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad de Chile, Chile
• Mari Sol García Somoza
  Universidad de Buenos Aires / Université Paris Descartes, Francia

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

Aalborg, Denmark, 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 suggest 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?

Confirmed keynote speakers are Lene Hansen, Mark Allen Peterson, Faisal Devji, Deepa Kumar, and Peter Hervik. Chairs of workshops are Carsten Stage, Signe Kjær Jørgensen, Anja Kublitz, and Mikkel Rytter. Read more at this site which opens within very soon:

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

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