Category Archives: Announcements

Book Announcement: Let them not return

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 Publication of the edited volume LET THEM NOT RETURN: Sayfo – The Genocide against the Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire.  In May the publisher offers it at a 50% discount (see attached code). Link to table of contents: http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/GauntLet
 
See for my latest article about the same theme in Genocide Studies International: http://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/gsi.10.2.04 
‘What Could Not Be Written: A Study of the Oral Transmission of Sayfo Genocide Memory Among Assyrians’.
 
 
 

Call for Abstracts: Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society

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Routledge International Handbook ofReligion in Global Society

Eds. Jayeel Serrano Cornelio (Ateneo de Manila), François Gauthier (Université de Fribourg), Tuomas Martikainen (Migration Institute of Finland) and Linda Woodhead (Lancaster University)

 

This is a Call for Abstracts to contribute to theRoutledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society (target publication: 2018).  We are particularly interested in contributions from early career scholars from around the world.

The study of religion is at a turning point, along with religion itself. This book will capitalise on the emergence of a new paradigm, which considers religion in the 21st century as globally interconnected and mediated by new geopolitical and market logics.

 

This volume will showcase new approaches toreligion, which work across boundaries of religioustradition, academic discipline, and region.

Please consider the following rationale for your proposed papers.

You may send your proposed title, abstract (no more than 500 words), name, and affiliation to Jayeel Cornelio (jcornelio@ateneo.edu) by July 15, 2017.

RATIONALE

The volume understands changes in religion since the 1980s as shaped by wider socio-political-cultural changes of the period.  The shift is from one dominated by modernist national-statist formations and alliances to one in which forces, institutions and ideologies of neoliberalism, consumerism, migration, and mediatisation have become major structuring vectors.  But at the same time we also see a pushback from anti-globalisation movements of right and left and a return to the nation and/or more locally based identities. Growing environmental concern and the concept of the Anthropocene add an additional element.   

This is how the handbook characterizes the contemporary state of global society.  As a result, ‘soft power’, including religion and competing forms of secularity and ‘no religion’, come to be central in new geopolitical configurations and contestations of power.  Recognizing these new configurations, this handbook will interrogate the past, present and futures of religion in global society. 

The handbook welcomes contributions approaching religion at different levels of society (whether local, regional, national, transnational) — the macro, meso and micro.  For example, chapters can focus on internal transformations that occur within religious institutions; on the changing nature of practices, belief, adherence, piety and devotion among individuals; or the changing role of religious organizations with respect to politics, the economy and other social institutions.  Some contributions may discuss how religious movements are taking on global issues. Others will take a theoretical perspective and try to make sense of the current situation, even when this requires rethinking existing theories and concepts.

The handbook is multidisciplinary in approach and organized according to the following themes.  We invite contributions from scholars around the world, particularly those who are in their early careers.  Our aim is to make this handbook the first to go beyond Western-centric appraisals, and present a truly global portrait. Contributions dealing with dynamics around the world are therefore solicited.

The following topics are indicative only, and will change in response to submissions. 

A.  CONTEXT

1.  Introduction: a new approach   

2.  Theorising religion in a global context 

3.  Global demographics of religion

4.  Globalization and the national   

5.  Rethinking religious traditions  

6.  Authority and individualization

B.  INDIVIDUALS, IDENTITY, and INTIMACIES

7.  Generations         

8.  Religion, sex, family and gender

9.  Intimacy   

10.  Global classes    

11.  Religion and identities

C.  MARKETS, MEDIA, and CULTURES

12.  Branding religion          

13.  Merchandising religion

14.  Digital religion   

15.  Popular culture 

16.  Religion and fashion

D.  MOBILITY AND MIGRATION

13.  International migration and mobility 

14.  Missionaries and traveling gurus       

15.  Transnationalism and diasporas        

16.  Migrant religious settlements 

17.  Pilgrimage and religious tourism

E.  COMMUNITIES and MOVEMENTS

18.  Moderates versus fundamentalists    

19.  The shape of religious organizations  

20.  Networks and virtual communities    

21. Religious spectacle, pilgrimage and festivals  

22.  Global subcultures        

23.  Religion and science

 

F.  POLITICS, THE STATE and INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

24.  Secularism and the post-secular         

25.  State governance of religion    

26.  Religion and civil society          

27.  Radicalization, securitization and terrorism  

28.  Religion and law           

29.  Religion and supranational organizations     

30.  Religion and populism

G.  GOVERNANCE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

31.  Governance of religious diversity       

32.  Religion and education

33.  Religious freedom         

34.  Religion and development       

35.  Religion, peace and violence    

36.  Religion in international relations      

37.  Religion and the environment

Book Announcement: Religion and Superdiversity

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New Diversities • Volume 18, No. 1, 2016

Religion and Superdiversity

Guest Editors: Irene Becci (University of Lausanne) and Marian Burchardt (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Goettingen)
Superdiversity has become a major concept to address the increasing complexity of urban populations across the globe beyond the emphasis on monolithic identity categories. This special issue breaks new ground by opening up the debate to questions of how religion is part of, and affected by the condition of superdiversity. This set of original research articles explores how different kinds of religious differences interact with one another in shaping people’s lives, cultural self-understandings, social ideals and political practices in Europe, Latin America and North America.

LIST OF CONTENTS

Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction
by Marian Burchardt (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen) and Irene Becci (University of Lausanne)
»read the full article

Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars
by Gertrud Hüwelmeier (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
»read the full article
Abstract and Keywords

Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity
by Deirdre Meintel (Université de Montréal)
»read the full article
Abstract and Keywords

Multi-Religiosity: Expanding Research on Ties to Multiple Faiths in the 21st Century
by Liza G. Steele (State University of New York at Purchase)
»read the full article
Abstract and Keywords

Mobility and Religious Diversity in Indigenousness-Seeking Movements: A Comparative Case Study between France and Mexico
by Manéli Farahmand (University of Lausanne / University of Ottawa) and Sybille Rouiller (University of Lausanne)
»read the full article
Abstract and Keywords

When Homogeneity Calls for Super-Diversity: Rome as a Religious Global City
by Valeria Fabretti (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’) and Piero Vereni (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’)
»read the full article
Abstract and Keywords

http://newdiversities.mmg.mpg.de/?page_id=2575

Announcement: Visualizing Faith, Trauma and Conflict through Art

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Visualizing Faith, Trauma, and Conflict through Art: The Work of Marcello Silvestri

“In a fast-paced world saturated by flashy images and by the monotonous black and white colour of the written words of experts or pseudo experts, I have opted to pause and stay away from the frantic international travel and glamour of my early career. I like to observe and meditate and then to engage, away from the spotlight, on a local level, with many of those that have been left behind or have experienced all sorts of traumas in their life.

With my artwork I reflect on the dramatic yet extraordinary beautiful mystery of human life – and God’s deeds in it. With the naivety of a baby taking its first steps ‘sensing’ the world, and inspired by my post-WWII rural upbringing steeped in simple pious religious practices, I explore human journeys through life. I like to wonder at how the Divine is present throughout our experiences, as a ray of hope, even in the most tragic situations – and how the material earth is responding to these traumas alongside human beings. With the use of humble waste materials I also want to show how nothing is worthless and can be Beautiful in the eyes of God.

While I believe that art is there to be enjoyed intuitively and not to be explained, I have always felt the urgency to translate, through my multi-media artistic expressions, my existential dilemmas and concerns relating to thorny societal problems. Hence my paintings, sculptures and murals seek to bring out the lived traumas and denunciating societal hypocrisy that emerge through conflict, migration, refuge, detention, drug addiction, and execution. These choices have naturally led me to become involved as a volunteer in a range of educational and interfaith and rehabilitation projects addressed to youth, orphans and children from deprived backgrounds as well as with mental health problems, recovering drug addicts, and other marginalised groups, such as my current art and faith workshops with (immigrant) detainees in Civitavecchia.” – Marcello Silvestri

Book Announcement: A New Issue of Sociology of Islam Journal 2017 Volume 5 Issue 1

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A New Issue of Sociology of Islam Journal 2017 Volume 5 Issue 1

Editors-in-Chief 

Gary Wood, Virginia Tech
Tugrul Keskin, Shanghai University

Assistant Editors
Sara Swetzoff, Howard University
Michael McCall, American University of Beirut

Associate Editors
Joshua Hendrick, Loyola University of Maryland
Isabel David, University of Lisbon
Mark Gould, Haverford College
Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut
Sean Foley, Middle Tennessee State University

Book Reviews Editor:
Joshua Hendrick, Loyola University of Maryland

Research Article

Multivocality in Shia Seminary

Research Article

Hair: Practices and Symbolism in Traditional Muslim Societies

Research Article

Navigating the Cultural Divide: Islam, Gender, and the Integration of Somali Immigrants

Book Review

Inside the Muslim Brotherhood: Religion, Identity, and Politics, written by Khalil al-Anani

Book Review

On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Shari’a Councils, written by Bowen, John R.

Book Review

For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan’s Islamic State, written bySalomon, Noah

VIth Open Conference of the Section on Sociology of Religion, German Sociological Association, 7th – 9th December 2017

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Conference Venue: St. Bernhard in Rastatt (near Karlsruhe) / GERMANY

Sociological research on religion is empirically and thematically diverse.
Since the classical authors, religion has been identified as a mirror and
as a place of social change. With its integrative and contentious
potentials, as well as its continuities and discontinuities, religion is
also currently a central object of sociological interest; it allows an
exemplary reflection on social processes of transformation and
stabilisation. This leads to multifaceted research on religious realities,
both in European societies and in other world regions. In order to
highlight the relations between religion and society, the Section on
Sociology of Religion in the German Sociological Association (DGS)
invites scholars to its VIth Open Conference, to present diverse,
empirically and theoretically oriented contributions from a sociology of
religion perspective.

Research themes may concern institutional conditions and organisational
forms of religious practice, religious knowledge and beliefs, the
configuration of power relations in the religious field, religious gender
relations, processes of professionalisation or the diversification of
religiosity towards popular religion and spiritualisation, religious
movements, emotions and ritual forms or religious biographies, the
negotiation of religious practices and identities in migration contexts or
the representation of religiosity in the public sphere. Contributions to
varying topics and areas are very welcome. A special focus of the
conference is on methodological questions; several panels will be reserved
for the discussion of this issue. The conference offers the opportunity to
present and discuss different theoretical perspectives and empirical
approaches (quantitative and qualitative) – and to network.The conference
welcomes the presentation of current research projects and the discussion
of topics that do not fit into the thematically focused events of the
section. Junior scholars are particularly invited to submit abstracts. The
primary language of the conference is German, however English papers are
very welcome.

Deadline: Please submit abstracts of 250 words (in .doc or .pdf format)
by May, 31st 2017 to the three organisers listed below:

Marc Breuer, Katholische Hochschule NRW, Paderborn, m.breuer@katho-nrw.de

Uta Karstein, Universität Leipzig, karstein@uni-leipzig.de

Kornelia Sammet, Universität Leipzig, sammet@uni-leipzig.de

Call for Applications: “Religion, Culture, and Society: Entanglement and Confrontation”

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 The 2017 UCSIA  summer school is a one-week course taking place from Sunday 27th of August until Saturday  2nd of September 2017. This year the program will focus on the topic ‘Between Market, State and Religion: Economic Realities, Social Justice & Faith Traditions’
 
Topic:
 
This year, the central aim of the UCSIA summer school is to reflect upon the evolutions of economic markets interacting with specific political and socio-religious contexts through time and space. The focus is put upon the ways in which socio-economic evolutions such as globalization, the historical rise of capitalist economies and the idea of the self-regulating market interact with and affect socio-religious and cultural normative frameworks on both the level of governmental policy, economic stakeholders and the individual household. The present call invites paper proposals in which the broad topic of economic realities interacting with social contexts and faith traditions will be discussed from a diverse line of approach, clustered around following subthemes:
 
§  Globalization, economic imperialism, and social justice
§  Religious communities and economic values and production
§  Capitalism under construction: appropriation of capitalist producing and consuming
 
 
Guest lecturers are Prof. Dr. Jennifer Olmsted(Department of Economics and Middle East Studies at Drew University), Prof. Dr. Mayfair Yang (Department of Religious Studies and Department of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara), Dr. David Henig (School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, UK) and Prof. Dr. Paul Oslington (Alphacrusis College, Sydney, Australia)
 
Practical details:
 
Participation and stay for young scholars and researchers are free of charge. Participants should pay for their own travel expenses to Antwerp.
 
You can submit your application via the electronic submission form on the summer school website.The completed file, as well as all other required application documents, must be submitted to the UCSIA Selection Committee not later thanSunday 14th of May 2017.
 
For further information regarding the program and application procedure, please have a look at our website: www.ucsia.org/summerschool.
 
Please help us to distribute this call for applications among Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars who might be interested in applying for this summer school.
 
For all further information, do not hesitate to contact us at the address below.
 
Contact:
 
Ellen Decraene
Project Manager UCSIA
Prinsstraat 14
2000 Antwerp – Belgium
Tel: +32/3/265.45.99
Fax: +32/3/707.09.31

Call for Applications: “Religion, Culture, and Society: Entanglement and Confrontation”

Posted on by
 The 2017 UCSIA  summer school is a one-week course taking place from Sunday 27th of August until Saturday  2nd of September 2017. This year the program will focus on the topic ‘Between Market, State and Religion: Economic Realities, Social Justice & Faith Traditions’
 
Topic:
 
This year, the central aim of the UCSIA summer school is to reflect upon the evolutions of economic markets interacting with specific political and socio-religious contexts through time and space. The focus is put upon the ways in which socio-economic evolutions such as globalization, the historical rise of capitalist economies and the idea of the self-regulating market interact with and affect socio-religious and cultural normative frameworks on both the level of governmental policy, economic stakeholders and the individual household. The present call invites paper proposals in which the broad topic of economic realities interacting with social contexts and faith traditions will be discussed from a diverse line of approach, clustered around following subthemes:
 
§  Globalization, economic imperialism, and social justice
§  Religious communities and economic values and production
§  Capitalism under construction: appropriation of capitalist producing and consuming
 
 
Guest lecturers are Prof. Dr. Jennifer Olmsted(Department of Economics and Middle East Studies at Drew University), Prof. Dr. Mayfair Yang (Department of Religious Studies and Department of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara), Dr. David Henig (School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, UK) and Prof. Dr. Paul Oslington (Alphacrusis College, Sydney, Australia)
 
Practical details:
 
Participation and stay for young scholars and researchers are free of charge. Participants should pay for their own travel expenses to Antwerp.
 
You can submit your application via the electronic submission form on the summer school website.The completed file, as well as all other required application documents, must be submitted to the UCSIA Selection Committee not later thanSunday 14th of May 2017.
 
For further information regarding the program and application procedure, please have a look at our website: www.ucsia.org/summerschool.
 
Please help us to distribute this call for applications among Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars who might be interested in applying for this summer school.
 
For all further information, do not hesitate to contact us at the address below.
 
Contact:
 
Ellen Decraene
Project Manager UCSIA
Prinsstraat 14
2000 Antwerp – Belgium
Tel: +32/3/265.45.99
Fax: +32/3/707.09.31

Book Announcement: Pentecostals and the Body

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New Book in the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion Series –

Michael Wilkinson and Peter Althouse, eds. 2017. Pentecostals and the Body. Leiden, Brill.

The intersection of religion, ritual, emotion, globalization, migration, sexuality, gender, race, and class, is especially insightful for researching Pentecostal notions of the body. Pentecostalism is well known for overt bodily expressions that include kinesthetic worship with emotive music and sustained acts of prayer. Among Pentecostals, there is considerable debate about bodies, the role of the Holy Spirit, possession of evil spirits, deliverance, exorcism, revival, and healing of bodies and emotions. Pentecostalism is identified as a religion on the move and so bodies are transformed in the context of globalization. Pentecostalism is also associated with notions of sexuality, gender, race, and class where bodies are often liberated and limited. This volume evaluates these themes associated with contemporary research on the body.