Category Archives: Calls for Papers

Call for Papers ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS PRACTICE IN THE U.S.

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Writer’s Seminar and Volume on: ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS PRACTICE IN THE U.S.

How do Muslims in the United States practice their religion? Where, when, how and why do they pray, fast during Ramadan, and make pilgrimage to Mecca? What rituals accompany the birth of a child, a wedding, and the death of a loved one? How do they celebrate holidays and mark days of commemoration such as the martyrdom of Husayn? How do U.S. Muslims recite the Qur’an, celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, and praise God?

The growing scholarly corpus on Islam in America includes significant coverage of Muslim American organizations and associations, anti-Muslim prejudice and the politics of Islam, Sufism, the interpretation of Islamic law and ethics, gender and women’s issues, the sociology of mosque attendance, the assimilation of Muslim immigrants, Muslim American public opinion, and the ways that Muslim Americans construct their ethnic and racial identities. But there is a dearth of scholarship on Islamic ritual practice. Scholars, journalists, students, and members of the general public often resort to introductory textbooks to describe the ritual practices and performances of Muslim Americans rather than consulting a body of peer-reviewed scholarship.

This project, which includes a writer’s seminar and a resulting edited volume, will explore in concrete detail how Muslim Americans practice their religion through ritual performance. Drafts of volume chapters will be due on June 1, 2016. Contributors will then gather in early July, 2016, on the campus of IUPUI in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, to comment on each other’s papers. Final drafts, approximately 30 pages long, will be due on November 1, 2016.

Scholars are welcome to use a variety of theoretical approaches, but all chapters should give readers a concrete sense of what it feels like, looks like, sounds like, and smells like (as relevant) to perform the ritual under consideration. So, each chapter should be descriptive as well as analytical. All writing should be accessible to a broad audience (so scholarly jargon, whenever used, must be defined and explained).

Generally speaking, chapters will cover topics such as the pillars of practice, life cycle rites, holidays, food rituals, dhikr, and Qur’an recitation but other thematic approaches to ritual practice and
performance are also welcome.

Contributors to the project so far include: Kambiz GhaneaBassiri on Hajj; Amir Hussain on funerals and burials; Michael Muhammad Knight on Ramadan; Marcia Hermansen on mawlid/milad; and Laury Silvers on congregational prayer.

If interested, please send a brief expression of interest to Edward Curtis, ecurtis4@iupui.edu . Participants will then be invited to submit a brief proposal by May 1, 2015.

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Call for papers: International Conference of the Belgian Association for the Study of Religions

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Call for papers :
International Conference of the Belgian Association for the Study of Religions

IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINS OF RELIGIONS
Ghent 11-13 September 2015

This conference (in Ghent) will analyze factors that contributed to the origins of religion as such, the origins of a specific religion and of a specific tradition within a religion. It also includes the beginnings of the scientific study of religion. The geographical scope is global and papers can be submitted on any historical period. The aim of the conference is both to give the floor to international specialists and to Belgian researchers.

Proposals (max. 300 words) and a cv should be sent  to Danny Praet (danny.praet@ugent.be) before March 1, 2015.
The scientific committee of the conference will select the papers by the end of March 2015.

For more information, please visit the conference website: http://www.babel-religions.be/node/117

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Call for Papers: Heritage Religion & Travel: Theoretical and Empirical Journeys

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Conference: Heritage Religion & Travel: Theoretical and Empirical Journeys

Çağ University, Tarsus, Turkey 1-4 October, 2015
www.heritagereligionandtravel.com

Around the globe and across a wide variety of religious traditions, heritage has become central to our understanding of landscape, space and time. Heritage sites attract hundreds of millions of visitors each year, often as a form of pilgrimage to sacred destinations. Their popularity has provoked a burgeoning interest in both ‘sacred’ and ‘secular pilgrimage’ as a legitimate focus of academic enquiry.
This unique conference seeks to build on four decades of research on the relationship between Heritage, Religion and Travel and to advance new theoretical and empirical perspectives concerning this relationship. It also offers an interdisciplinary space for debate. Hence, and not coincidentally, the conference will be hosted in the ancient city of Tarsus in Turkey  ̶  a country that could be defined as at the crossroads of history, i.e. between east and west. It is a land deeply influenced by religious traditions of extraordinary variety and richness. It also has been the setting for the rise and fall of many cultures and entire civilizations. Drawing on the work of leading academics, we hope to evoke the depth and breadth of the importance of heritage and its connection to religion and new and old forms of travel and tourism.

The focus of the conference will be on re-assessing old and building new theoretical frameworks for the study of heritage, religion and travel, with particular emphasis on the study of pilgrimage and religious tourism.

Keynote speakers:

  • Prof. Dr. John Eade – University of Roehampton/University of Toronto
  • Prof. Dr. Ian Reader – Lancaster University
  • Dr. Avril Madrell – University of the West of England
  • Prof. Maria Coroucli – Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre

Program committee:

  • Dr. Eduardo Chemin (Çağ Üniversitesi, Tarsus, Turkey)
  • Prof. Dr. John Eade – University of Roehampton (U.K.)/ University of Toronto (Canada)

Please see the conference website for more information: www.heritagereligionandtravel.com

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Call for Papers to the 6th Annual Islamophobia Conference

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Deadline Jan. 31st, 2015
https://www.academia.edu/9975951/Call_for_Papers_for_the_6th_Annual_Islamophobia_Conference_UC_Berkekey
University of California, Berkeley Call for Papers to the 6th Annual Islamophobia Conference

Islamophobia Studies: The State of the Islamophobia Studies Field UC Berkeley Center for Race and GenderIslamophobia Research and Documentation Project is hosting the sixth annual International
Islamophobia Conference and invite’s Scholars, Researchers, Artists, Poets, Media Producers, Artists, Activists and Community Organizations to submit an abstract for a mutli-medium engagement in the Islamophobia Studies field. The conference’s theme this year is focused on assessing the Islamophobia studies field from a broader multi-disciplinary and transnational perspectives. As the Islamophobia Studies Field has witnessed rapid expansion in the past 15 years, an assessment and exploration of the research already done, in progress and existing gaps needing scholarly attention is the focus of the 6th annual conference.

This year’s conference committee is attentive on creating a collaborative approach to forging more critical scholarship in the Islamophobia Studies Field and expanding the existing networks of
researchers across disciplined and the geographical areas of the world. We encourage themes and panels covering specific academic disciplined, quantitative and qualitative research, specific case studies in countering Islamophobia, curriculum and course designs, as well as comparative approaches to Islamophobia in different countries and settings. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words, include a title for the paper and a short bio to be used for the conference program if selected. Please the abstract should be in Microsoft word document and sent to the attention of Dr. Hatem Bazian: hatemb@berkeley.edu

Abstract Deadlines: January 31st , 2015 Invite Letters: Feb. 27th, 2015
Conference Dates: April 23-25, 2015 Location: Boalt Law School, UC Berkeley

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CFP: InterAmerican Postgraduate Forum: Politics of Entanglement in the Americas

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The Center for InterAmerican Studies of Bielefeld University invites scholars to participate in the 7th International Postgraduate Forum that takes place at Bielefeld University from June 25 – 27, 2015.

This three-day conference addresses an international community of postgraduate and early-career researchers with perspectives from across the humanities and the social sciences. The conference is integral part of the project “The Americas as Space of Entanglement”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). We welcome paper proposals that address the overarching theme of the conference: Politics of Entanglement in the Americas. Thereby we want to explore entanglements in their diachronic and/or synchronic dimensions and to contribute to a relational and historically grounded thinking of hemispheric Area Studies in a global context.

For a full description, please see the attached PDF.

Basic Information:

With the transdisciplinary approach – that characterizes the CIAS – we welcome post-graduate and early career contributions from the fields of cultural, literary, and media studies; history and sociology; postcolonial and global studies, social anthropology, geography, and political sciences that have a focus on the Americas. We are especially interested in papers that alongside with an empirical case-study provide conceptual reflections on entanglement in the Americas. Presentations of 20 minutes can be held in English or Spanish.

The Center for InterAmerican Studies invites all interested doctoral students and early-career researchers to submit abstracts in English or Spanish, which should not exceed 500 words, as well as a brief CV. The deadline for paper proposals is February 15, 2015.

A limited number of partial travel grants is available. Please submit your proposals to: cias@uni-bielefeld.de Organizer: Prof. Dr. Olaf Kaltmeier

For further information also contact Dr. Lukas Rehm Center for InterAmerican Studies Bielefeld University P.O. Box 10 01 31 D-33501 Bielefeld cias@uni-bielefeld.de Phone: ++49 (521) 106-6956

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Call for Papers: Sociology of Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion

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American Academy of Religion Annual Conference
Atlanta, Georgia
November 21-24, 2015

Sociology of Religion Group

Call for Papers:

The Sociology of Religion Group (SOR) aims to bridge the gap between sociology of religion and religious studies. For the most part, these fields have been isolated from each other with scholars from each existing in separate departments, attending different meetings, and publishing in different journals. We believe that this cloistering has hindered the development of both fields and that only a cross-fertilization that transgresses departmental boundaries can foster progress in research. Therefore, we invite scholars from both sociology of religion and religious studies to submit innovative papers pushing the boundaries of both fields.

We are open to both panel and paper proposals across a wide range of topics of interest to both the sociology of religion and religious studies and are particularly interested in papers, which speak to both thereby encouraging increased dialogue between them.

Theory, Method, and their Application

Sociology of Religion as part of a larger discipline is marked by a canonization of its theory and its division by paradigms and methodologies–whether these be the classics (Weber and Durkheim), the old paradigm (functionalism and social constructionism), or the new paradigm (rational choice) on the one hand or quantitative, qualitative, or historical-comparative sociology on the other. As it intersects with sociology of religion, the study of religion has drawn from theories and methodologies in conversation with sociology, anthropology, critical theory, psychology, history, and other related disciplines. We are interested both in papers that utilize the theories of religious studies and bring them into the sociological canon as well as those that help religious studies gain a better grasp of the sociological theory of religion. We encourage papers that exploit both the theory and methodology of sociology of religion and religious studies and use them as frames for analysis of concrete cases. In particular, we request papers that touch upon social divisions examining race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, region, age, etc.

Internationalism and Diversity

Critics of sociology of religion have pointed out that the field is dominated by North Americans scholars primarily interested in Protestantism. The discipline of religious studies provides a clear antidote to these perceived limitations. Therefore, we encourage contributions from academics not only studying Protestantism in North America but those who study the various religious traditions around the world. In particularly, we would like submissions from scholars from all academic ranks across the lines of nationality, region, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

Topics:

Below is a list of potential topics in which we are interested. These are merely suggestions, and we are open to a broad range of topics as discussed above. Suggested topics are alphabetized to indicate no particular preference. We encourage submissions on any topic deemed relevant.

  • Critical Religion
  • Critical Sociology of Religion
  • Critical Theory and Religion
  • Feminism and Religion
  • Marxism and Religion
  • Postcolonialism and Religion
  • Queer Studies and Religion
  • Religion and Class
  • Religion and Conflict
  • Religion and Environmental Sociology
  • Religion and Gender
  • Religion and Ideology
  • Religion and Inequality
  • Religion and Political Power
  • Religion and Social Stratification
  • Religious Movements and Social Movements
  • Religion and Race
  • Secularization Theory
  • Sociology of Islam

Co-Sponsored Session

“No Method to the Madness? Sociological Approaches to the Study of Black Expressive Cultures”

We request paper submissions for a possible co-sponsored session with the Critical Approaches to Hip Hop and Religion Group. Topics should explore theory and method in the academic study of religion, in particular, sociological approaches to religion, with attention to race and class in urban contexts, in the domains of hip hop and black expressive cultures. We encourage proposals that consider/make use of varying cultural practices/data, cartographies and formats. The interpretation of cultural products and the analyses that come to bear on them have a tendency to rely on “meaning” (and religion) as/in self-evident ways. As such, this session proposes to wrestle with the challenges faced, overcome and unearthed through the scholarly handling of such materials through sociological/social scientific means.

Publication

The Sociology of Religion Group of AAR regularly co-sponsors panels with the peer-reviewed print and online journal Critical Research on Religion (CRR) (http://crr.sagepub.com). Published by SAGE Publications, over 2500 libraries worldwide have subscriptions to the journal. Presenters of promising papers in SOR panels will be invited to turn their papers into articles and submit them for peer review to CRR.

Submission

Please submit paper and panel proposal through on-line system at: http://papers.aarweb.org

Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015

For further information, please contact SOR co-chairs:

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Call for Papers: Muslim Integration in Britain 2015

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SOAS-Nohoudh Muslim Integration Conference 2015
Convenor: Professor M.A.S. Abdel Haleem
5 — 6 November 2015  |    Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre

CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline for abstracts: 1 April 2015

Britain is a net host country for global migration. This has resulted in great diversity in the languages, faiths, traditions, cultural practices and identities that are represented in the multicultural fabric of British society. Current debate surrounding the issue of integration and the challenges that it presents has brought to the fore the need to re-examine the question of what constitutes an integrated and successful multicultural society.

SOAS is delighted to announce this new annual conference series on ‘Muslim Integration in Britain’, a collaboration between the Centre of Islamic Studies at SOAS and the Nohoudh Endowment for Development Studies. The Centre of Islamic Studies is an integral part of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and aims to promote scholarship and research in all areas of Islamic Studies. In addition to regular teaching and research, Centre activities include lectures and seminars, conferences, and occasional publications. The Nohoudh Endowment for Development Studies is an independent international trust, registered in the state of Kuwait, which seeks to engage with global issues facing Muslim cultures and societies. Nohoudh supports intellectual reform within Islamic thought via graduate study grants, international knowledge transfer partnerships and institutional links. This conference series has been funded by the generosity of Nohoudh.

The inaugural Muslim Integration in Britain Conference will commence with two crucial questions: what is integration?, and what is meant by Muslim integration in Britain? To this end, it aims to provide a forum for multidisciplinary research into the major issues at stake. Areas of discussion will include the historical context; integration and alienation; the role of national and international politics (civil and human rights, radicalisation and Islamophobia etc.) in the shaping of orientation and dis-orientation; normativity and diversity within the British Muslim community; and the framing of Muslim identities in Britain.

The deadline for abstracts is 1 April 2015. Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio (of up to 200 words) should be submitted in MS Word format by email attachment to muslimintegration@soas.ac.uk .  All applicants will be notified of the status of their proposals by 1 June 2015.

Presentations of papers should be 20 minutes long (full papers should not exceed 8,000 words and should be submitted, in full, prior to the Conference by the 1st of October), and will be followed by 5 minutes for questions.

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Call for Papers: Sociology of Islam – Reflection, Revision & Reconceptualization

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Call for Papers
Sociology of Islam – Reflection, Revision & Reconceptualization

Conference of the Section on Sociology of Religion German Sociological Association (DGS)  in cooperation with the Center for Religious Studies (CERES), Ruhr-University Bochum
25 – 27 June 2015

Conference Venue: Ruhr-University Bochum

From the 1980s onwards, sociological research has paid increased attention to Islam. While focussing on selected countries from the Middle East in an earlier stage, the interest has gradually shifted to Europe where Muslims have become a rapidly growing minority in many countries due to labour migration. Since then, research on Islam is steadily increasing and generates substantial empirical research results. Parallel, a political and normative discourse about Islam and Muslim immigrants can be observed in many host countries that has been intensified by the events of 9/11 and that extends into the academic realm.

We consider this situation as the starting point for a reflection on the theoretical framework. Initially, a sociology of Islam has to question the traditional foundations of Western humanities and the social sciences, e.g. its inherent orientalism. We want to face this challenge in the planned conference. Beyond the daily political problematisation of Islam, we want to deal with its social foundations and its various forms of social appearance, not only in Europe but also worldwide. The reflection of sociological concepts and theories will take centre stage. Outdated theories that have already been criticized many times, shall be reviewed – whether they are Eurocentric, based on modernisation theory or on a homogenizing cultural understanding, as all of them lead to an asymmetric consideration.

A reflected sociology of Islam also needs to reconstruct everyday life of Muslims from an empirical perspective, while examining social practices, institutions, and knowledge systems. Following Weber’s concept of sociology, a particular approach could be to explore the conduct of life and the social forms of Muslim sociality.  Finally, a global, transnational and historical perspective is analytically indispensable, simply due to migration processes. However, this leads to a series of challenges: On the one hand, it is important to look at mutual and inner entanglements of knowledge, culture and
power instead of following the idea of self-contained and homogenous Western or Islamic civilisations. On the other hand, a change of perspectives is intended: scientific observation should not any longer prioritise the focus on the effects of Islam for European societies. It should rather deepen the analysis of Muslim’s particular lifeworlds as well as the social arrangements of negotiation processes in their societies of origin and the host societies (e.g. from a legal standpoint or with regards to normative orders, the public-private relation, gender relations etc.). This includes questions of how the cultural contact changes Muslim life and everyday practices and how this takes place in other world regions, e.g., in Asia. In other words, a global perspective that includes intertwined histories and various paths of transformation is essential.

Against this background, the Section for the Sociology of Religion of the German Sociological Association cordially invites to submit abstracts on the reflection about the sociology of Islam. We equally welcome theoretically and empirically based contributions, which allow further theoretical and methodological reflection.

Contributions on the following topics are particularly welcome:

  • - Papers on Muslim everyday reality as well as on the social appearance of Islam in European and non-European contexts (concerning religious identity and institutions as well as faith, everyday practices, and conduct of life)
  • - Papers which examine how knowledge systems, cultural codes, and institutions of power are shaped by Muslim actors and how they affect them
  • - Papers about the patterns of sociality, solidarity, and civility in  the countries of origin and their alteration as a result of migration – Papers concerning the sphere of political action, especially questions of political integration, religious education and citizenship
  • - Papers on Muslim practice in the public and in legislation; especially about the effects of Islam’s public perception from a perspective of visibility and “public observation”. What does this mean for Muslims, for their everyday life, identity processes, practice of religion, right to privacy, and religious freedom, anti-discrimination, and gender equality?
  • - Papers examining Islamic based gender orders, their linkage with power and institutions and their renegotiation in the process of migration as well as the impact of Western gender specific stereotypes and ethnic discrimination

Confirmed keynote speakers: Bryan Turner and Georg Stauth.

Deadline: Please submit abstracts by 30 January 2015 to all organizers. The abstracts should not exceed one page.

Organization:
Christel Gärtner: cgaertner@uni-muenster.de
Levent Tezcan: levent.tezcan@rub.de
Heidemarie Winkel: heidemarie.winkel@mailbox.tu-dresden.de

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Call for Papers: Conference on Islam in Russia

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Conference on Islam in Russia
Thursday, October 15-16, 2015
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
http://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/events/conference-islam-russia

Call for Paper Proposals

The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University invites submissions of paper proposals for an international conference on Islam in Russia.

Islam in Russia takes many forms, from the Tatars’ moderate EuroIslam to traditional Sufism in the Caucasus to the radicalized Salafi ideas found among a minority of young Muslims throughout the country. These different Muslim identities interact with a state that has in recent years come to be increasingly dominated by ethnic Russian and Orthodox Christian identities. At the same time, the strengthening of the Russian state has led it to increase its influence on Muslim religious practices and the everyday lives of Russian Muslims.

The Crimean crisis of 2014 has again highlighted the significance of Islam in contemporary Russia. The Russian government tried to mobilize state-supported Muslim organizations to sway Crimean Tatars to its side. This strategy was consistent with Moscow’s long-standing practice of co-opting religious groups by appointing a state-sanctioned representative. Since the time of Catherine the Great, Islamic authorities were expected to promote interpretations of Islam that supported the state. Needless to say, attempting to co-op believers into supporting a particular religious interpretation runs the risk of alienating those who disagree with the official interpretation. The resulting power struggles have played an important role in shaping Muslim identity in Russia in the post-Soviet period.

This conference will focus on what it means to be a Muslim in Russia today and how these meanings are reflected in Russian political life. Conference participants will examine the variety of Muslim identities in modern Russia and also consider the evolving role of Muslims in Russian history.

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Conference CFP: “Pluralism and Community: Social Science History Perspectives”

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Call for Papers: Social Science History Association Religion Network

Social Science History Association 2015 Annual Conference

Baltimore, Maryland, November 12-15, 2015

Conference Theme: “Pluralism and Community: Social Science History Perspectives”

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 14, 2015

The Religion Network of the Social Science History Association invites proposals for papers, panels, and book sessions for the 40th annual meeting of the Social Science History Association in Baltimore, Maryland, November 12-15, 2014.  We also are looking for volunteers to serve as panel chairs and discussants. 

The SSHA is the leading interdisciplinary association for historical research in the US, providing a stimulating venue for explorations of how social processes unfold over time. The Religion Network serves as the home within the organization for scholars interested in religious history, religious mobilization, religious change, and religion’s effect on social and political processes. Our network is interdisciplinary and cross-national in scope, and embraces all scholarship that examines how religion intersects with other social processes in historical perspective.

We encourage the participation of graduate students and recent PhDs as well as more established scholars from a wide range of disciplines and departments. Graduate students are eligible to apply for financial support to attend the annual meeting (see http://www.ssha.org/grants). Further details about the association, the 2015 annual meeting, and the call for proposals are available on the SSHA website: www.ssha.org.

The deadline for paper and/or panel submissions is February 14th, 2015.
We welcome and encourage papers and panel proposals on a wide array of issues related to the historical study of religion and society. While complete panel proposals (consisting of 4-5 individual papers, a chair, and a discussant) are preferred, we also seek out high-quality individual paper submissions. Panels and papers may address the topics below, or any other relevant and related topic examining religion in a historical context:

  • · Religious Pluralism and Community
  • · Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
  • · Empire, Missions, and Global Religious Encounters
  • · Religious Minorities and the Public Sphere
  • · Religion, Education, and Diversity
  • · Secularization and Secularism
  • · Religious Identities
  • · Religion, Science, and Medicine
  • · Religion and Law
  • · Religion and Genocide

Please use the SSHA’s web conference management system to submit your papers and panel proposals. Paper title, brief abstract, and contact information should be submitted at http://prod.sshaconference.org/people/login. Please do not hesitate to contact the Religion Network representatives with any questions, comments, or for help with submissions.

Thank you, and we look forward to a stimulating set of panels at this year’s SSHA meeting.

Ates Altinordu (atesaltinordu@sabanciuniv.edu)

Damon Mayrl (dmayrl@clio.uc3m.es)

Sam Nelson (scnelson0@gmail.com)

Philip Gorski

SSHA Religion Network Representatives

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