Author Archives: Jim

Job Opening: Islamic Religion and Culture

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The Department of Religion and Culture at The University of Winnipeg invites applications for a two-year term appointment in Islamic Religion and Culture at the Assistant Professor rank, commencing July 1, 2015, subject to final budgetary approval. The area of specialization is open to any aspect or geographical area of Islam; preference will be given to candidates who have an academic background in Religious Studies and are able to teach courses that focus on Islam in multicultural, pluralistic contexts. The successful candidate will be expected to maintain a research program and engage in administrative duties. Additionally, the candidate will be able to teach introductory survey courses in both Classical and Modern Islam, and demonstrate a firm grasp of gender analysis. Competency in teaching modern standard Arabic will be considered an asset.

Applicants will typically have completed their Ph.D. by the time of appointment. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a cover letter (outlining the candidate’s suitability for the position, as well as research and teaching interests), an indication of teaching experience, and a representative writing sample (e.g. a publication or dissertation chapter).

  • Applicants should arrange for this material and three confidential letters of reference to be submitted electronically in PDF format to Mr. Lee Richard, administrative assistant for the Department of Religion and Culture: le.richard@uwinnipeg.ca.
  • Questions should be directed to Dr. Jeffrey Newmark, Departmental Personnel Committee Chair at: j.newmark@uwinnipeg.ca.
  • Review of applications will begin on May 1, 2015. The search will continue until such time as the position is filled.

The Department of Religion and Culture at the University of Winnipeg offers a 3-Year BA, a 4-Year BA, and a BA Honours degree. The Department also participates in a Joint Masters Program in Religion with the University of Manitoba. Applicants can learn more about the Department, including descriptions of current course offerings in Islam and faculty research interests at http://religionandculture.uwinnipeg.ca/Home.html

The University of Winnipeg is committed to employment equity, welcomes diversity in the workplace, and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous persons and persons with disabilities. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, this advertisement is initially directed to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.

The post Job Opening: Islamic Religion and Culture appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.

Open Seminar on the Role of Religion in Sweden, 1980-2009

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Welcome to an open seminar on the role of religion in Sweden 1980-2009, hosted by the research programmes Impact of Religion and The role of religion in the public sphere: A comparative study of the five Nordic countries (NOREL).

The research project NOREL presents the results from Sweden, April 15th, 14-17, followed by an informal reception 17-18, Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre (CRS), room 4-2007.

Please register to info@crs.uu.se, no later than April 10th.

More information and program.

Välkommen på ett öppet och kostnadsfritt seminarium om religionens roll i Sverige, 1980-2009. Seminariet arrangeras av forskningsprogrammen Impact of Religion och NOREL, The role of religion in the public sphere: A comparative study of the five Nordic countries.

Vid seminariet presenteras och diskuteras  de svenska resultaten av NOREL-studien.

Tid: den 15 april, kl 14-17, följt av mingel 17-18 med dryck och lättare förtäring.

Plats: Centrum för forskning om religion och samhälle, sal 4-2007.

Anmälan senast den 10 april till info@crs.uu.se.

Mer information och program.

The post Open Seminar on the Role of Religion in Sweden, 1980-2009 appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.

New Book: The Catholic Church and Argentina’s Dirty War

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The Catholic Church and Argentina’s Dirty War

Gustavo Morello (Boston College)

Oxford University Press

(June 2015)

On August 3rd, 1976, in Cordoba, Argentina’s second largest city, Fr. James Week and five seminarians from the Missionaries of La Salette were kidnapped. A mob burst into the house they shared, claiming to be police looking for “subversive fighters.” The seminarians were jailed and tortured for two months before eventually being exiled to the United States. The perpetrators were part of the Argentine military government that took power under President General Jorge Videla in 1976, ostensibly to fight Communism in the name of Christian Civilization. Videla claimed to lead a Catholic government, yet the government killed and persecuted many Catholics as part of Argentina’s infamous Dirty War. Critics claim that the Church did nothing to alleviate the situation, even serving as an accomplice to the dictators. Leaders of the Church have claimed they did not fully know what was going on, and that they tried to help when they could. Gustavo Morello draws on interviews with victims of forced disappearance, documents from the state and the Church, field observation, and participant observation in order to provide a deeper view of the relationship between Catholicism and state terrorism during Argentina’s Dirty War. Morello uses the case of the seminarians to explore the complex relationship between Catholic faith and political violence during the Dirty War-a relationship that has received renewed attention since Argentina’s own Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis. Unlike in countries such as Chile and Brazil, Argentina’s political violence was seen as an acceptable tool in propagating political involvement; both the guerrillas and the military government were able to gain popular support. Morello examines how the Argentine government deployed a discourse of Catholicism to justify the violence that it imposed on Catholics and how the official Catholic hierarchy in Argentina rationalized their silence in the face of this violence. Most interestingly, Morello investigates how Catholic victims of state violence and their supporters understood their own faith in this complicated context: what it meant to be Catholic under Argentina’s dictatorship.

A preview of the book is available at: 

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr&id=c0zCBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&ots=jKNSic0xBy&sig=xeKc2-heUotKf2rWwLZYOxigJYA#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Seminar: Islamic Modernities: Time and Space

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University of Louisville
Louisville, KY
April 16-17, 2015

Presented by:
Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies (MAMEIS)
Middle East and Islamic Studies program, University of Louisville

Keynote Speaker: Asma Afsaruddin, Chair and Professor, NELC, Indiana University

Full Conference Schedule: http://www.indstate.edu/mameis/conference.htm

The Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies and University of Louisville’s Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies program are pleased to present this joint conference on Islamic Modernities: Time and Space at the University of Louisville, April 16-17, 2015.

Modernity serves as a dynamic lens for viewing a wide range of transformations in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies, even as no generally accepted definition of modernity has yet emerged. The scholarly discussion on modernity has broadened to view this as not only a global, structural transformation centered on Europe, but a process that has created “many modernities,” each with its own local vernacular form. Moreover, modernity has been recognized as not only a temporal period, but also a process manifested in spatial relationships that shape, and are shaped by, historical agents. This conference will highlight current research related to theorizing and applying the concept of “modernity” to Middle East and Islamic studies in a broad, interdisciplinary manner.

For more information, contact:

James.Gustafson@indstate.edu, or Julie.Peteet@louisville.edu
MAMEIS: http://www.mameis.org
Middle East and Islamic Studies – University of Louisville:
http://www.louisville.edu/meis

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Seminar on religious transnationalism

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Date: Thursday 16 and Friday 17 April 2015

Venue: VU University (Metropolitan building, room Z009 and Z007)

            De Boelelaan 1081, Amsterdam

Time: 9.00 a.m. till 5.00 p.m.

Conveners:

Prof. Dr. Thijl Sunier, department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, VU University

Prof. Dr. Nina Glick Schiller, University of Manchester

General theme

The seminar deals with the contemporary dynamics of transnational religious fields across the world by addressing the shifting configurations between new modes of transnational religious practices on the one hand and evolving forms of nation-building and national domestication of religious communities in a time of growing nationalism en exclusion. Transnational activity of religious communities and social actors is certainly not new, nor is the paradox between people living religious lives, locally and transnationally and states domesticating religions (Glick Schiller et al. 1994). However, emerging new forms of regulatory regimes both at a national and a local level have engendered new forms of transnational activity. The ever changing character of the ‘cosmologistical problem’ (Vasquez et al. 2003) informs and shapes new modes of transnational religious activity.

Keynote address: Prof. Dr. Manuel Vasquez (University of Florida, USA), Thursday morning, the 16th

“Seeing Transnationally: Religion and the Emergence of New Regimes of Visibility and Discipline”

Four panels ( Click here for the full program in PDF)

Transnational religious activism

Pilgrimage

Secular intolerance

Cosmopolitanism and religion

Admission is free. Please register with Heleen van der Linden: h.l.e.vander.linden@vu.nl

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Editorship, Marburg Journal of Religion

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Marburg Journal of Religion – Managing Editor Required

Marburg Journal of Religion was launched in 1996, being the first internet journal for the study of religions. It is an open source, peer-reviewed journal and carries a wide range of relevant articles and reviews by contributors from all over the world. It is multi-lingual. The editors are based at the University of Marburg in Germany and for many years most of the editorial work has been carried out by the founding editor, Michael Pye. However, since he is now using retirement for the urgent conclusion of various research projects, it is no longer practical for him to carry out this function efficiently.

We are therefore looking for a Managing Editor with expertise in the study of religions and relevant linguistic skills. The current policies of the journal will continue, and guidance and assistance will be given by the wider editorial group including the General Editor. The journal will remain at its current location and technical support is provided in the Department of the Study of Religions at Marburg. It is not necessary for the Managing Editor to have a position in Marburg; however a location in Europe is preferred, since this would probably facilitate occasional meetings.

The position is unfortunately not remunerated. It is simply an opportunity to provide a valuable service to the scholarly community in the Study of religions (Religionswissenschaft).

Please address expressions of interest jointly to the undersigned:
Prof. Dr. Edith Franke <efranke@staff.uni-marburg.de>
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Pye <pye@staff.uni-marburg.de>

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New Book: Muslims in Ireland, Past & Present

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Muslims in Ireland: Past and Present

Oliver Scharbrodt, Tuula Sakaranaho, Adil Hussain Khan, Yafa Shanneik and Vivian Ibrahim
Edinburgh University Press, 2015

The first complete study of  a little known Muslim presence in Europe.  Since 9/11, the interest in Muslims in Europe has increased significantly. There has been much public debate and academic research focused on Muslims living in larger Western European countries like Britain, France or Germany, but little is known of Muslims in Ireland. This book fills this gap, providing a complete study of this unexplored Muslim presence, from the arrival of the first Muslim resident in Cork, in the southwest of Ireland, in 1784 until mass immigration to the Republic of Ireland during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ period from the mid-1990s onwards. Muslim immigration and settlement in Ireland is very recent, 0and poses new challenges to a society that has perceived itself as religiously and culturally homogeneous. Ireland is also one of the least secular societies in Europe, providing a different context for Muslims seeking recognition by state and society. This book is essential for anyone who wants to understand the diversity of Muslim presences across Europe.

The post New Book: Muslims in Ireland, Past & Present appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.

Public Lecture: Christianity and the Shaping of Vanuatu’s Social and Political Development

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The Religion and Society Research Centre and the Peace and Development Studies Group at the University of Western Sydney invite you to attend a public lecture.

Christianity and the Shaping of Vanuatu’s Social and Political Development

Speaker: Professor Matthew Clark – Deakin University

Date: 24th April, 2015

Time:  1.30pm – 3.00pm

Venue: UWS Bankstown Campus, Building 23, Room G.40

RSVP: SSAP-Research@uws.edu.au by 17th April, 2015

The Pacific island state of Vanuatu has been considerably shaped by its Christian heritage. Indeed, the role of the various Christian Churches has been pivotal in the development and sustenance of Vanuatu prior to and since its Independence. These Churches include Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal and evangelical denominations. Missionaries and later local Church leaders were involved directly in Independence movements and shaped the legal and social infrastructure of this nation. This involvement and influence has continued to the present. This paper will consider the role the Church has played in the development of Vanuatu. Firstly, this paper will present case study analysis of both the historical and contemporary role the Church has played in the development of Vanuatu. This review will consider the impact of both key individual Church leaders who played central roles Vanuatu’s Independence. Secondly, the paper will consider the contemporary role Christian Churches play in the provision of social service – including education and health – across Vanuatu. This paper will conclude that Christianity has therefore played and continues to play a central role in the political and social development of Vanuatu.

Professor Matthew Clarke is Head of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University (Australia). Matthew has worked in the international development sector for more than 20 years. His research interests include aid effectiveness, the Millennium Development Goals, HIV and AIDS and disability-inclusive development. Much of this work has focussed on the Pacific region. More recently Matthew has focussed on the intersection between religion and development. His books in this area include  Development and Religion: Theology and Practice, Islam and Development: Exploring the Invisible Aid Economy, and Handbook of Research on Religion and Development.

This Public Lecture is an open and free event

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Job Opening: Islamic Studies

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The Bates College Department of Religious Studies invites applications for a one-year visiting position, contingent upon funding, in Islamic Studies to begin in September 2015. Ph.D. preferred, but ABD candidates near completion
will be considered. Discipline, geographical focus, and area of specialization within Islamic Studies are open. Candidates should beprepared to teach general undergraduate courses in subjects like Islamic History and Traditions, the Qur’an, Islam and the Modern World, Sufism, Women and Gender in Islam, as well as seminars in their own areas of interest and specialization.

The teaching load is 5 courses per year, either 3/2 or 2/2/1 (Bates has a five-week May term), plus occasional advising of undergraduate theses.

The Department is particularly interested in candidates who can establish connections with our interdisciplinary programs, and offer courses that may be cross-listed with other departments in the college.   Bates College and the Department of Religious Studies are committed to increasing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum. Candidates who can contribute to this goal are encouraged to apply and identify their strengths and
experiences in this area.

Consideration of candidates will begin April 15, 2015, and continue until the position is filled. Please send cover letter, c.v., graduate transcript, and three letters of recommendation.
Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check. apply.interfolio.com/29230.

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New Journal: Waikato Islamic Studies Review

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The first issue of Waikato Islamic Studies Review has just been published.

Waikato Islamic Studies Review is published by The University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

The following link provides detailed information about this publication and contribution/submission of articles:
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml

Table of contents:
Waikato Islamic Studies Review (2015), Vol. 1, No. 1

  1. Tale of Two Dialogues: 21st Century Christian-Muslim Initiatives
    Douglas Pratt
  2. Comparative Contextualization of Political Islam in Malaysia & Indonesia
    Simon Gray
  3. Mostly Harmless: A Short History of the First Century of Muslim
    Settlement in New Zealand
    Abdullah Drury
  4. Demography of New Zealand’s Muslims: Patterns and Disparities
    Yaghoob Foroutan

The full version of these articles are available at the following link: http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml

With best regards,
Dr Yaghoob Foroutan

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