We are welcoming submission for the open session “post-global religion” for the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) conference “Religion – Continuations and Disruptions” from June 25 to June 29, 2019 in Tartu, Estonia. The deadline for individual papers is December 15, 2018.

OPEN SESSION (J. BORUP): Post-global Religion

Just like globalisation has been challenged by new political realities (walls, borders, boundaries, diversifications, enclavisations) in a post-global world, critical responses to globalisation also affects religious worlds. Reports from Pew Forum show more religious intolerance and less freedom of belief, and also religious voices applaud discourses of contraction. What could be termed ‘post-global religion’ is characterised by the strategic disruption of existing orders, and the articulation of a particularity re-enchantment. Just like post-colonial voices were critical responses to Western hegemony, post-global discourses and practices at both individual, institutional and national levels are critical reactions to globalisation, favouring the forces of centrifugal dispersion. This can be represented by anti-global religious re-nationalisation, re-ethnification, re-culturalisation, re-traditionalisation, re-racialisation, re-tribalism, re-territorialisation and re-configuration of the codes appropriating religious diversity. It can be seen in discourses and practices favouring monolithic cultural/national narratives, minority suppression, fractionalisation, downscaling of religious freedom. And it has increasingly been articulated in ‘culture wars’ with challenges of cultural appropriation and religionisation of political, cultural, ethnic or gender-related identity politics being turned into sacred authenticity claims.

This open session investigates disruptive responses to globalisation and articulations of strategic particularity in (the study of) religions. The session is explorative and invites scholars of religion to think with the term ‘post-global religion’ through both theoretical perspectives as well as empirical cases from around the world. Especially papers related to religious or cultural appropriation and identity politics (and their challenges to the study of religion) will be welcomed.

Deadline: 15th Dec 2018
Chair/contact: jb@cas.au.dk    
For more information about the call for papers please see: https://easr2019.org/call-for-individual-papers/

Convener(s):
Julia Martínez-Ariño
University of Groningen
j.martinez.arino@rug.nl

Abstract (English):
This panel addresses the general topic of the conference from an urban perspective. The panel will delve into the interaction(s) between religion and politics in city contexts, namely how religious discourses, practices, imaginaries, expectations and mobilisations affect or influence urban politics and how urban politics deal with, shape, regulate or ignore religion. Papers that analyse the intersection of and interaction between the two fields in different geographical and religious contexts are welcome. Some questions that the papers may address are: What are the channels of interaction between religion and politics in cities? How are these shaped, maintained, contested? Are religious actors present in governance networks and political structures? Does this involvement entail forms of co-optation of, and cooperation or competition between, religious and political actors? How do religious/spiritual groups and organisations get in contact with, influence or ignore urban political arenas? How are religion, spirituality and non-religion mobilised in identity claims and claims to the right to the city? How do religious actors articulate struggles over visibility and recognition in urban contexts? What is the scope of intervention of religious and spiritual leaders, groups, and advocates in urban politics? How do urban political processes and policies transform local religious groups? What are urban policy tools used to govern and regulate religion in urban contexts?

Abstract (French):
Ce panel aborde le sujet général de la conférence d’un point de vue urbain. Le panel explorera les interactions entre la religion et la politique dans les contextes urbains, à savoir comment les discours, les pratiques, les imaginaires, les attentes et les mobilisations religieux affectent ou influencent la politique urbaine et comment la politique urbaine traite, façonne, régule ou ignore la religion. Les articles qui analysent l’intersection et l’interaction des deux domaines dans différents contextes géographiques et religieux sont les bienvenus. Certaines questions que les contributions peuvent aborder sont : quels sont les canaux d’interaction entre la religion et la politique dans les villes ? Comment sont-ils façonnés, entretenus, contestés ? Les acteurs religieux sont-ils présents dans les réseaux de gouvernance et les structures politiques ? Cette participation implique-t-elle des formes de cooptation et de coopération ou de compétition entre les acteurs religieux et politiques ? Comment les groupes et organisations religieux / spirituels entrent-ils en contact, influencent-ils ou ignorent-ils les arènes politiques urbaines ? Comment la religion et la spiritualité sont-elles mobilisées dans les revendications identitaires et du droit à la ville ? Comment les acteurs religieux et non-religieux articulent les luttes sur la visibilité et la reconnaissance dans les contextes urbains ? Quel est le champ d’intervention des leaders et groupes religieux et spirituels dans la politique urbaine ? Comment les processus politiques et les politiques urbaines transforment-ils les groupes religieux locaux ? Quels sont les outils de l’action publique urbaine utilisés pour régir et réguler la religion ?

SUBMIT A PAPER

The deadline for submitting your abstracts is 16 December 2018

Theme: “East-West Encounters and Religious Change in Modernizing East Asia”

Dates: July 27-28, 2019

Place:  Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

East Asia has undergone globalization and modernization in the last five hundred years. The first encounter between East Asia and the modernizing West was with the Jesuit missionaries in the late 16^th century in China, Korea, and Japan, where their inculturation strategy succeeded in attracting some converts in certain social circles. The cultural and political elites in these countries began to realize the uniqueness of the institutional religion of Catholicism in contrast to the local customary religiosities originated from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. In response, Christianity was suppressed in East Asia until the mid-19^th century, when the second encounter between the East and the West brought about waves of modernization to East Asian countries. Under the Western-hegemony, Asian countries were coerced to modernize or Westernize, adopting a modern system of law, bureaucracy, education system, and abolishing many of their own traditions. The concept of religion and the relationship between religion and the state have been constructed and reconstructed in the process of this East-West encounter in the process of modernization. Along with the introduction of science and technology, theory of evolution, atheism, and various ideologies, East Asian societies became rapidly secularized. In the first half of the 20^th century, most states in East Asia enforced administrative control over religions.

Since the end of World War II in 1945, East Asian societies have diverged in their paths of social development and religious change. In mainland China, following a period of eradication of religion in the 1960s and 1970s, some religions have revived in spite of strong state control. In Taiwan, institutional Buddhism and other Chinese religions have undergone modernization and many religions have thrived since the end of martial law. South Korea has experienced the rapid rise of Christianity, with nearly 30% of the population identifying as either Protestant or Catholic. Japan retained traditional religions and added many new religions in the free market religious economy, but today organized religions are in steady decline due to aging and secularization. Why are these societies so different even though they shared similar traditional religiosities and experiences of modernization in response to the West? 

At present, East Asian countries have strengthened their economic and cultural exchanges despite occasional political tension among them. Religious exchange has also accelerated with the growth of missionaries and migrant populations. Religious diversity has increased and nationalism has risen in response to the perceived foreign religions. Meanwhile, religions or religiosities originating in East Asia have spread to the West and other parts of the world. How do the various states in the region manage religious pluralism and provide social space for migrants and missionary religions? How do individuals and communities of the Global East practice religion in late modernity?

In short, East Asia has varieties of religious institutions and communities, folk religions and new religions, and atheism and other secularisms. The research on religion in East Asia needs historical, sociological, political, and other perspectives. While all topics on religion are welcome at the conference, we especially invite papers that address one or more of the following research questions:

· How did religions and their practitioners in the Global East encounter and respond to Christianity backed by western modernity and hegemonic power in recent centuries?

· How were the concepts of the boundary between religion and secularity, administrative control of religions in authoritative regimes and the policy of religious pluralism formed in the Global East?

· What kind of similarity and difference in traditional and new religions are there in the Global East?

· How has secularization proceeded in the Global East and manifested in the growth of religious “nones” and in the new forms of “believing without belonging” and “belonging without believing”?

Beyond addressing these questions, we seek a range of papers that draw on different geographical contexts and religious traditions. We particularly encourage proposals of organized sessions with 3-4 papers addressing the same religion or topic. For individual papers we will arrange them in the session of similar topics.

DEADLINES:

• Presentation proposals are due by January 31, 2019.  Please submit your paper’s title, abstract (200 to 500 words), author’s information by clicking here: Submit Paper Presentation Proposal for EASSSR 2019 Conference. For submission-related questions, please email: Lily C Szeto,  lszeto@purdue.edu .
• Notification of acceptance of presentation proposals will be sent out by February 28, 2019.
• Meeting Registration will be open between March 1 and 31, 2019.
• Participants need to make their own hotel reservations (see information below).

Call for Papers

The Donner Institute will arrange a symposium 5–7 June 2019 in Åbo/Turku, Finland

Approaching esotericism and mysticism: Cultural influences

Conference website: www.abo.fi/esomyst

Hashtag: #esomyst2019

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1954347284622536/

This multidisciplinary conference approaches the traditions of Western esotericism and mysticism from a cultural-historical perspective. The aim is to analyse the diverse influences of esoteric ideas and practices and the various forms of mysticism in their cultural-historical surroundings. We promote approaches that focus on individuals, groups and networks, and various archival source materials, but we also welcome papers dealing with esoteric or mystical textual traditions.

The conference will consist of keynote lectures and sessions that can be either traditional paper sessions or roundtable talks, panels and/or artistic performances. The social program of the conference will consist of e.g. esoteric and occult walking tours in Turku and artistic performances (plans for an event together with Art Teatro Circus -group). An excursion to the exhibition on Finnish art and clairvoyance at the Gallen-Kallela Museum (Espoo/Esbo, 11.5.–8.9.2019) is also being planned. The exhibition is part of the research project Seekers of the New and is curated by Nina Kokkinen.

Keynote speakers:

• Per Faxneld, senior lecturer/associate professor at Södertörn University, Stockholm

• Christine Ferguson, professor in English Literature at the University of Stirling

• Olav Hammer, professor in the Department of History, Study of Religions at The University of Southern Denmark

• Maarit Leskelä-Kärki (PhD, Adjunct Professor), University Lecturer at the Department of Cultural History at the University of Turku

The expert symposium is arranged jointly by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural history and the research project Seekers of the New: Esotericism and the transformation of religiosity in the modernising Finland at the University of Turku. The project is funded by the Kone Foundation.

To apply, please send an abstract (or panel proposal with abstracts) of approximately 150 words to the Donner Institute, donner.institute@abo.fi, no later than 31 December 2018. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 31 January, 2019.