Category Archives: Calls for Papers

CFP: Special Issue "Islamic and Muslim Studies in Australia"

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Special Issue Information: See online CFP at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Australia_muslim

Dear Colleagues,

The growth of Muslim populations globally, in the Asia–Pacific region, and in Australia means Islamic and Muslim studies in Australia are increasingly important. Over the past two decades, Islamic and Muslim studies in Australia have grown along with some notable contributions to the scholarly literature, including the Melbourne University Press Islamic Studies Series. However, research on Islam and Muslims in Australia tends to receive less attention than in other Western countries. This Special Issue will contribute to filling this gap.

The aim of this Special Issue of the open-access journal Religions is to showcase some of the most important research currently being undertaken in Islamic and Muslim studies in Australia. The papers will address the challenging and often unprecedented phenomena concerning Islam and Muslim Australians that have developed particularly since the turn of the century. Scholars in the fields of Islamic and Muslim studies are invited to submit papers on Islamic religious thought and practice; Islamic groupings and organisations; migration, settlement and integration; citizenship and belonging; social cohesion and intercommunity relations; Islamophobia, radicalisation and extremism; national and community security; and other issues concerning the historic and contemporary conditions, experiences and representations of Islam and Muslims in Australia.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Halim Rane
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI’s English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Call for Paper Proposals: Religion and the Coronavirus Pandemic

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The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (JSRNC) is calling for paper proposals exploring the entanglements of religion, the Coronavirus, and socioecological (aka biocultural) systems.

We seek scholarly work that explores how the virus, and religious dimensions of the response to it are influencing, and may decisively reshape socioecological systems, including religious perceptions and practices.

Pandemics are nothing new in human and religious history, of course. Indeed, religion and disease have long been entwined as people struggled to understand the mysterious origins of diseases and why they sometimes cause mass deaths and concomitant social and ecological disasters. Unsurprisingly, invisible spiritual beings or forces, which influence if not control environmental conditions, have often been postulated to explain the invisible-to-the-naked eye organisms that precipitate diseases and disasters. Some theorists even contend that the roots of religion may lie in the existential crises precipitated by disease and death.

Although the history of religion is replete with examples in which disease has played an important role, there may be novelty in the current pandemic and fresh insights about the diversity of religion-related responses to it. Indeed, if apocalypse means the end of the world as we know it, the current pandemic may well precipitate profound, destructive changes.

Yet as with much apocalyptic expectation, perhaps after its tribulations new and positive ways of being in the world will emerge that were previously hidden from human imaginations – or only envisioned by previously marginalized individuals and groups.

We have provided examples of social phenomena and specific questions that we think would be fitting for analysis under the heading “Further Information for Interested Scholars” at our web-based CFP: https://issrnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus-Special-CFP_JSRNC.pdf

By 15 June 2020 interested scholars should send prospective titles, a summary of the proposed paper (300-500 words), and ideally, relevant references, to JSRNC Managing Editor Amanda Nichols via amnv22@ufl.edu. Papers will be due 1 October 2020. All manuscripts will undergo the JSRNC’s full editorial review process, including double-blind peer review, before publication. Those requiring a later due date should discuss that with JSRNC Editor-in-Chief Bron Taylor via bron@ufl.edu.

Conference CFP: Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy

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“Harvest of Endurance: A History of the Chinese in Australia 1788-1988” (detail) by Mo Xiangyi and Wang Jingwen (1988), National Museum of Australia, used with permission.

Date & time: Tue 08 Dec 2020, 9am – Thu 10 Dec 2020, 9pm

Location: Sir Roland Wilson Building, Australian National University

3rd ANU Religion Conference – Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy

Forms of human movement including global immigration, asylum-seeking, climate migration, and the internal migration accompanying mass urbanisation, have radically altered religious cultures around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The aim of this 3rd ANU Religion Conference is to explore the various phenomena related to religion and migration; the political and social transitions impacting upon the transnational religiosity of contemporary communities.

Key dates

  • Proposal deadline:  21 June 2020
  • Notification:  30 June 2020
  • Registrations open:  14 July 2020
  • Registrations close:  10 September 2020
  • Conference:  08-10 December 2020

3rd ANU Religion Conference Committee    

For more information, see: https://hrc.cass.anu.edu.au/events/religion-and-migration-culture-and-policy-0

CFP for the Bloomsbury Handbook in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

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Please find below the CFP for the Bloomsbury Handbook in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. Due to the UK strikes and the current global health crisis, we have extended the deadline. I’d be grateful if you could pass around your networks and do get in touch if you have any questions!
Warmest wishes,
Dawn

CFP: Bloomsbury Handbook in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

We are seeking papers for a new peer-reviewed edited volume, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. The aim is to generate a globally diverse, interdisciplinary and intersectional collection that captures emerging and contemporary themes and questions for the study of religions, genders, and sexualities.
We are looking for in-depth, scholarly essays, from a range of theoretical, methodological and disciplinary perspectives (conceptual and empirical). The Handbook aims to be a reference point for scholars and students searching for innovative engagements with critical issues relating to religion, gender, and sexuality.
We are seeking…

  *   to raise future-forming questions and provocations for religions, genders, and sexualities;
  *   to represent themes and issues emerging from broad geographical contexts;
  *   to explore religion and spirituality within and beyond institutional and historical settings;
  *   to promote the intersectional analyses of religion, gender, and sexuality with different identities and social locations such as race, nationalism, embodiment, class, economic status, and disability/ableness;
  *   to advocate that religion is significant for gender, feminist and women’s studies, and is a crucial social and political force in everyday life.

Suggested topics: This is, genuinely, an open call for papers, and indicative topics can include but are not limited to:
  *   politics and activism
  *   migration, diaspora, and transnational networks
  *   material cultures and products
  *   texts (literatures, scriptures, digital media, archives, documents, popular culture, arts, visual cultures, for example)
  *   well-being and healthcare
  *   the body and embodiment
  *   intimacies and relationships
  *   individual, communal, and social identities
  *   practices, beliefs, and experiences
  *   violence, oppressions and emancipations
  *   technologies
  *   spaces

Proposals
Proposals for chapters between 8,000 – 10,000 words (depending on the topic)

Please send proposals to all three editors:

  1. d.llewellyn@chester.ac.ukmailto:d.llewellyn@chester.ac.uk 
  2. sh79@soas.ac.uk<mailto:sh79@soas.ac.uk>
  3. sonya.sharma@kingston.ac.uk<mailto:sonya.sharma@kingston.ac.uk>

Please including the following:
  *   name, affiliation (if relevant), and any other helpful information
  *   an abstract (max 200 words)
  *   a proposal (max 1000 words)
  *   anticipated word count for completed chapter

We welcome contributions from independent scholars, authors at all career stages and collaborative pieces. Please do feel free to contact the editors with any questions, at any stage.

Deadlines
Proposals Due: June 30th 2020
Acceptance Response: September 30th 2020
Contributors’ Chapters Due: April 30th 2021

Religion and Spirituality in a Frightening World – Call for Papers

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SSSR – Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

October 23-25, 2020 | Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh

We are living in frightening times. The World Health Organization reports that rates of anxiety and depression continue to rise as people around the globe are bombarded by a wide range of circumstances that may evoke fear. What roles might religion—variously defined—and spirituality play in causing and ameliorating anxieties in today’s world?

Social scientists across disciplines who study religion and spirituality are remarkably well situated to add essential layers to our understanding of frightening social forces. For example, we cannot fully understand the rise of authoritarian nationalism, or efforts to resist it, without interrogating religion’s power as a social identity. We also need to understand when and how religion might bolster resistance to change. Many of today’s deepest divisions between and among humans are essentially different reactions to change. How does religion fuel—and try to bridge—divisions in attitudes about changing social norms, migration, new means of communication, and climate change? And how might religion contribute to perpetuating and challenging social and economic inequalities?

Meanwhile, religion itself is changing in myriad ways. How do forces such as declining rates of religious participation, state suppression of religion, and the increasing relevance of the internet to religious and spiritual practice affect religion’s capacity to help people and societies to cope? How well do 21st-century religions and spiritualities work to support mental health, provide meaning in everyday life, build communities rooted in social trust, and promote prosocial behavior and civic engagement?

Submissions Open: February 1, 2020

Submissions Close: March 31, 2020

Decision Notification: April 30, 2020

Please submit proposals for individual papers, full panels, author-meets-critics sessions, and roundtables via the online portal at www.sssreligion.org, choosing the SSSR option on the submission form.

Please direct all inquiries to the SSSR 2019 Program Chairs Job Chen (Department of Psychology, Clemson University) and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme (Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo) at program@sssreligion.org.

CFP: Journal: Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Professor Ralph Hood and I, welcome your proposals for the Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR). The ‘Call for Papers’ is appended below. We both look forward to your responses
Many thanks
Sariya
*****     *****     ******    *****     *****     ******
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion
Edited by Ralph Hood & Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
For more information, please visit brill.com/rssr
ISSN 1046-8064
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR) is an interdisciplinary, international peer-viewed annual series, which publishes new and innovative research within the social scientific study of religion or belief. Contributions span a range of theoretical orientations, geographic contexts and research methods, though most articles are reports of original quantitative or qualitative research related mainly to the sociology and/or psychology of religion.
RSSR usually includes a guest-edited special section that allows networks of researchers to report studies in areas that are or current interest or which are innovative and expanding the discipline into new areas. For 2020, RSSR will include a special section on Feminist Approaches to the Sociology of Religion. This section will include chapter about research that utilises feminist epistemological frameworks to study lived experiences of religion or belief. For this issue we define feminist approaches broadly as those that
*         use a gendered lens
*         privilege lesser-heard voices including women
*         reflect on researcher positionality
*         seek societal transformation as an integral aspect of research.
Submitting Proposals: We invite proposals for the next edition of the RSSR. We welcome proposals from academics at all levels of their career, including early career researchers and final year PhD students. Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words together with names and short biographies (150 words), institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.
*         Deadline for abstracts: 5pm on Monday 13th January 2020
*         Notification of acceptance of paper: 30th January 2020
*         If accepted full papers will be due by 5pm Friday 31st April 2020
Manuscripts for both the main and special sections should be send to the editors, Ralph Hood (ralph-hood@utc.edu<mailto:ralph-hood@utc.edu>) & Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk<mailto:ac0967@coventry.ac.uk>). For more information and submission guidelines please visit the Instructions for Authors document on brill.com/rssr, or contact the editor.
*****     *****     ******    *****     *****     ******
Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
Assistant Professor | Research Group Lead | Faith and Peaceful Relations
Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University

Call for Papers: 3rd Annual Meeting of East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (EASSSR)

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“Religion and Peace in East Asia: Reconsideration of Roles of Religion in the Post-Secular Age“

July 23-25, 2020
Jeju National University, Republic of Korea

Religion has always played an important role in promoting hope and vision for peace. Each religion present in both East and West emphasizes a religious importance of spiritual and ethical life based on justice, peace, brotherhood, and mercy. Religious beliefs and practices for the pursuit of a just and peaceful world should be considered more expansively at the political, social and national level as well as at the individual level, and further at the level of the entirety of humanity. The complex roles of religions in war and peace in modern times, especially in East Asian societies, should be examined more carefully and systematically.
With the global spread of political nationalism and economic protectionism, China, Japan, Korea, and other societies all face an internal conflict triggered by extreme oppositions and tensions within the established social order, while increasing the possibility of a clash between nations in the area. In this circumstance, both scholars of religion and peace need to pay more attention to social roles of religion through reflecting on a reconsideration of the revival of religion and, more specifically, the public roles of religion in the ‘Post-secular Age’ which needs a multi-layered dialogue beyond what “interreligious dialogue” has ever pursued.
Finding the spirit of religious tolerance and harmony inherent in East Asian religious traditions as well as religions introduced in modern times, papers based on various perspectives are welcome. In particular, priority will be given to papers that include the following topics and interests without any limitation to the geographical and cultural context and boundaries of East Asia.

  • Socio-historical studies on religion as an agent of peace or conflict
  • Relationship between religion and peace in the (post-) secular age.
  • Comparison of Eastern with Western religions in the quest for peace.
  • Case studies of peace building in East Asia.
  • Thoughts and practices of peace in traditional religions and/or newly-risen religions in East Asia.
  • Case studies of the transformations (or appropriation) of traditional religions.

However, any topic in the social scientific study of religion is welcome. In particular, any proposals of closed sessions organized by three or four papers are welcome, focusing on different perspectives within the same religious tradition. In the case of individual papers we will arrange them into each session in accordance with their topics.
Abstract Submission
Paper abstracts should be submitted from Dec 1, 2019 to Feb 15, 2020 by clicking below:

Submit Paper Abstracts for the 2020 EASSSR Annual Meeting

For more information about any fees of membership, registration, and accommodation, please visit the website http://www.easssr.org/ or send e-mail by easssr2020@gmail.com

[CfP] Religion and Cultural Change: Summer School in Åbo/Turku 8-10.6 2020

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Call for Papers

Welcome to an interdisciplinary summer school and conference to be held in Åbo/Turku 8–10 June, 2020.

Religion and Cultural Change

Conference website: www.abo.fi/rcc

Keynote speakers:

  • Prof. Catharina Raudvere, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Prof. Anders Runesson, University of Oslo, Norway
  • Prof. Rebecca Catto, Kent State University, Ohio, USA

The aim of this summer school and conference is to bring together doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers from various academic fields that engage with the study of religion, such as theology, religious studies, history, philosophy, the arts, social and political sciences and other. We invite papers that engage with the theme Religion and Cultural Change from both historical and contemporary perspectives, also looking to the future where possible. We understand cultural change both as dramatic breaking points in history and as slowly evolving transformations and will address past, present and emerging trends and trajectories within culture, society and the scholarly community. The societal relevance and impact of our research is also an important theme.

The summer school will consist of working groups, tutored by the keynote presenters and other academic teachers, where doctoral candidates are given the opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing PhD work in a cross-disciplinary, international setting. Postdoc researchers will present their papers in sessions running parallel to the summer school. Thematic groups and working groups dealing with particular theories or methodologies may also be held. 

To apply, please send an abstract of approximately 150 words to cscc@utu.fi no later than 15 January, 2020. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 15 February, 2020. Upon acceptance to the summer school, doctoral candidates will furthermore be asked to submit a 500-word synopsis of their research theme no later than 1 May, 2020.

The summer school is arranged as a joint venture between three different research bodies in Åbo/Turku: the Centre for the Study of Christian Cultures(CSCC) at the University of Turku, the Polin Institute for Theological Research at Åbo Akademi University and the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture (DI).

Notices from the Australian Association for the Study of Religion

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Call for Papers:
Conferences

  • International Conference on Religious Tourism (ICRT), University of Punjab, Lahore Pakistan, 8-9 January 2020. Abstract deadline: 11 November 2019. More info.
  • “Mosques, power and politics”, Copenhagen, Denmark, 22-24 January 2020. Abstract deadline: 15 November 2019. More info.
  • The 25th Nordic Conference in the Sociology of Religion. 17-19 August 2020, Gothenburg, Sweden on ‘Religious Organisation(s): Challenges and changes in contemporary society’. Session proposal deadline: 15 November 2019. More info.
  • British Muslim Charitable Organisations: A Best Practice Forum, Birmingham, 15 January 2020. Abstract deadline: 22 November 2019. More info.
  • Rethinking​ ​Media, Religion and Secularities. Conference of the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture Conference location: Sigtuna Foundation, Sigtuna, Sweden. Conference dates: 4-7 of August 2020. Deadline for Paper proposals: 6 December 2019. More info.
  • International Communication Association Preconference on Intersectional Imaginaries in Media, Religion & Gender, Gold Coast, Australia, May 2020. Proposal deadline 15 December 2019. More info.
  • The XXII Quinquennial World Congress of the IAHR, hosted by the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions, will take place at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand from 23-29 August 2020. Submission deadline 31 December 2019. More info.
  • Navigating the non/confessional in university Islamic studies. University of Birmingham. 20-22 April 2020. Submission deadline 17 January 2020. More info.

  Publications

  • Call for Papers on Digital Visibilities of the Religious. Deadline 15 January 2020. More info.
  • Call for papers on Religion & Ecology for a special issue of Religions. Deadline 31 May 2020.

Postgrad/ECR Opportunities

Also if you’re on Facebook, we have a postgrad page so do join us 🙂

New Publications
Oosterbaan, M., van de Kamp, L. and Bahia, J. (2019), Global Trajectories of Brazilian Religion: Lusospheres, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

CFP: “Religion and the urban, natural and virtual environments”

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Biennial Conference of the ESA RN34- Sociology of Religion
Groningen (Netherlands), 26-28 August 2020

This conference wants to adopt a broad approach to the study of the relation between religion and different “environments”: the urban environment, the natural environment and the virtual environment. This threefold approach allows us to capture three areas of religious transformation and innovation, which are of high academic and societal relevance in contemporary European societies and beyond. By approaching these three topics, we aim to contribute both to the academic advancement of the sociology of religion in relation to its conceptual and methodological tools and to a broader societal reflection on the dynamic between religion and the urban, natural and virtual environments. Some of the questions we seek to address are the following:

  • How do religions and cities interact with one another and transform each other? How does the urban environment affect religious practices and, conversely, how do religious practices and groups transform the urban environment? How are religious and secular meanings negotiated in urban spaces? How do tourism, heritage industries and gentrification processes produce and transform urban religious heritage?
  • How do religious groups relate to the natural environment? How do religions see and interpret the ecological crisis and which alternatives do they suggest? How do religious groups conceptualise their role in relation to environmental concerns and claims? Which forms does faith-based environmentalism take? How do religions position themselves in relation to other social actors in environmental concerns?
  • How do the virtual environment and religion interact with and affect one another? How does the virtual environment influence how we understand the idea of “religious community” and community in general? How are religion and the concept of religion affected and challenged by the increasingly digitalized world? What challenges and inspirations for religion can the developments in artificial intelligence and virtual reality bring about? What conceptual, epistemological, methodological and ethical challenges are faced by scholars exploring “virtual religion”?

Papers addressing these and other questions and topics relevant to the sociology of religion are welcome. Besides individual papers, it is possible to propose a panel with a maximum of four papers per panel.

Additionally, MA and PhD students will have the opportunity to combine their participation in the conference with a summer school. See more information here

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

  • Dr. Giulia Evolvi, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Prof. Dr. Jens Koehrsen, University of Basel
  • Dr. Pooyan Tamimi Arab, Utrecht University

All interested should submit an abstract of 200 to 250 words, including a reference to the theoretical framework, research question, methodology and main findings. Panel proposals should include the title and a short description of the panel (200 to 250 words), the name and affiliation of the convener(s), and the title, author’s name and abstract (200 to 250 words) for each of the proposed papers. Proposals should be submitted to esarn34-groningen2020@rug.nl

Deadline: 31 January 2020 

Visit the conference website for more information: https://www.rug.nl/education/summer-winter-schools/religion-urban-natural-virtual-environments/