Annual conference of the French Association of Social Sciences of Religion (AFSR)
4– 5 February 2013
EHESS Paris, Amphithéâtre François Furet
105 bd Raspail
Paris 6e

During the 1990s, Internet developed in every field of the public sphere and of social life. A new and unprecedented chance to spread a message almost universally (Lévy, 1994) or a danger for the social link because of growing individualism (Breton, 2000) – the increasing importance of virtual reality can be assessed positively or negatively by the social sciences depending on how it is analyzed.

At its beginnings the web offered its users the possibility to consult websites, but for several years a second more interactive phase has been developing that allows users to express themselves on forums and social networks and interact on websites which reproduce the real world online (“Second Life”).

Religions participate in this evolution. They have indeed adapted relatively quickly to modern technologies and sometimes even played a pioneering role. Religious phenomena – institutional religions or more diffuse religious experiences – are nowadays totally present on the web. The Internet itself can become an object of belief or cult.

This conference aims to explore new relationships between the Internet and religions situated in precise cultural contexts. It will be interesting to point out the representations of space and time and the use of written contents and images in each context. It does not aim to establish an inventory of the presence and uses of religions on the Internet, but to deliver detailed analyses of the relations between the former and the latter. Analysis also involves a methodological reflection on the way this new field can be investigated by the social sciences.

With this in mind, three main axes have been identified which will structure three sessions of the conference:

1. Designers and users of the religious virtual scene

Although it may seem easy to carry out a content analysis of these websites because of their visibility (by essence), it is more difficult but indispensable to define their reception and the use to which they are put. Different questions can be envisaged:
– Who are the designers of the website: religious institutions, a self-proclaimed leader, radical movements? This refers back to questions about authority and religious legitimacy, forces of opposition – also secular – or dissidence.
– What do religious institutions, movements or leaders reveal of themselves through contents, images, virtual identities? Which publics are they addressing?
– How is regulation organized on websites and who are the persons in charge?
– How do the users move about those spaces: participation, interactions between users, direct or roundabout use, liberty, constraints, anonymity, amount of time spent online?

2. What is the impact of Internet on religions?

Is the Internet just one more medium by which to disseminate contents or does it produce in-depth change and if so, in what fields and in what ways?  Several questions can be asked:
– Is the local anchoring reinforced? Is religious globalization intensified?
– Are rituals transformed or renovated?
– Forms of religious jurisprudence (fatwas, responsa…) and requesting advice on blogs, forums, social networks…
– Marketing and all sorts of religious services on the internet: marriage agencies, geo-localization of religious businesses or places of worship, sales of religious goods…In this respect, we are interested not only by the services offered but also by the uses to which they are put
– Is the Internet conducive to creating new religions?

3- How does virtual reality relate to reality per se?

– When and how do people go from virtual reality to actual reality and vice-versa?
– What does that imply from the point of view of the organization and perception of time and space?
– Presence/absence of the body in a certain number of religious acts: conversion, confession, rituals…
– Has the religious factor not always been concerned by virtual reality, by the communication it supposes with the super-natural?

Papers must be based on specific fieldwork.
All cultural and religious contexts qualify.

Papers for the International Conference “Religion on the Web” should be sent before September 30^th 2012 to the following address: afsr@afsr.cnrs.fr and must include: title, applicant’s full name and scientific affiliation, and an abstract of ca. 300 words in French and English, specifying the axis, the methodology and cultural area concerned.

• Presentation of papers (in English or French) should not go over 20 min.
• Applicants should already be AFSR members or decide to join (http://www.afsr.cnrs.fr/)
• The Acts will be published.

Questions concerning the conference may be sent to the following addresses:

• Fabienne Duteil-Ogata, Laboratoire d’anthropologie urbaine (LAU), IIAC/ EHESS-CNRS, fabdutogata@yahoo.fr
• Isabelle Jonveaux, Centre d’études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux (CEIFR/EHESS-CNRS) et Université de Graz (Autriche), isabelle.jonveaux@uni-graz.at
• Liliane Kuczynski, Laboratoire d’anthropologie urbaine (LAU), IIAC/ EHESS-CNRS, kuczynski@ivry.cnrs.fr
• Sophie Nizard, Centre d’études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux (CEIFR/EHESS-CNRS) snizard@ehess.fr

Redeeming Power: Overcoming Abuse in Church and Society

A two-day conference at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, to launch a major new research project by the European Society for Catholic Theology (ESCT). Organized in conjunction with Heythrop College, University of London, and the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University.

4 Tuesday – 5 Wednesday September 2012

Confirmed speakers (more to be added):
* Rt. Revd John Arnold (Auxiliary Bishop, Westminster)
* Prof. John Bell (University of Cambridge)
* Prof. Annemie Dillen (KU Leuven)
* Mary Kenny (Irish Independent, Irish Catholic)
* Revd Dr Dariusz Krok (Opole University)
* Mgr Charles Scicluna (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
* Madeleine Teahan (Catholic Herald)

Conference aims
· The aim of the event is to bring together researchers from a wide range of disciplines, interested in: a) examining the nature, scope, and context of abuses of power, both in the Church and beyond; and b) investigating the means by which they may be overcome.
· While the sexual abuse crisis will naturally form a major focus of the conference (and project), this cannot be understood within a vacuum. We are therefore keen to explore all other issues relating to the topic of theology, power, and abuse.
· The conference will identify a number of key themes that will guide and inform the Redeeming Power project over the next two years, leading to a number of events, projects and publications across Europe.

Call for Papers

Significant time has been set aside in the conference schedule for short papers (i.e., 20 mins) and discussion. Established and emerging scholars from a wide range of disciplines – including, but not limited to, theology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, social work, history, and law (canon and secular) – are strongly encouraged to consider submitting a proposal.

Abstracts (no more than 250 words) of proposed topics should be sent to Dr Stephen Bullivant at stephen.bullivant@smuc.ac.uk by Friday, 13 July.
Decisions will be communicated by Friday, 20 July.

Registration

Full conference information (e.g., full schedule), and details on how to register, will be made available on the project website:
http://www.smuc.ac.uk/inspire/redeeming-power.htm by the end of June. It is hoped that the conference fee (inc. meals, and accommodation on 4 Sept.) will be in the region of £140-150 (TBC). Small bursaries may also be available for postgraduate students giving short paper. Please address all queries to Stephen Bullivant.

Redeeming Power is a joint venture between the ESCT and scholars at  University College Dublin (Ireland), Durham University (UK), Heythrop College (UK), KU Leuven (Belgium), University of Opole (Poland), St Mary’s University College (UK), and University of Trnava (Slovakia)

CALL FOR PAPERS
Religions: fields of research, methods and perspectives

Jagiellonian University, Kraków, 12-14 September 2012

http://www.religioznawstwo.uj.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1138&Itemid=105

Organisers:
International Journal for the Study of Religions “Studia Religiologica” and Institute for the Study of Religions of Jagiellonian University

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Grace Davie (University of Exeter)

Prof. Ralph W. Hood Jr (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)

Prof. Barnaba Maj (University of Bologna)

CALL FOR PAPERS

“Religion is a defining mark of humanity – as emblematic of its bearer as the web for the spider, the dam for the beaver, and the song for the bird,” writes Patrick McNamara in his most recent book. It may seem that such a role and position of religion would require sophisticated reflection, extended methods of scientific analysis and the creative activity of research communities. However, in spite of the clear evidence of the importance of these issues, religious studies is a long way both from the role of the “crown of the humanities” foreseen by Eliade and from agreement on and verification of research tools. For some scholars, religions remain a “by-product” and a “virus of the mind”, while for others they are proof of the existence of “supernatural forces” and the central activity of people on the path to transforming their condition.

The conference “Religions: fields of research, methods and perspectives” will present the spectrum of approaches to religious phenomena that are multi-layered and anchored in various ways in cultures, societies and individuals as well as new methods of research  and refined versions of previous ones. It will also show the research quandaries and problems to be solved which religious studies scholars come up against in their historical, comparative, sociological, philosophical and psychological studies. The aim of the conference is to demonstrate the potential of religious studies and related fields in solving and comprehending
the fundamental problems of humanity.

Conference languages: English, Polish

Conference fee: 200 PLN (or 50 EUR). The fee does not cover the cost of accommodation and meals.

Registration form available for download at www.religioznawstwo.uj.edupl.

Please send registrations (marked “Conference”) by 30 June  2012

by email:  symposium@iphils.uj.edu.pl

Call for Paper
Workshop on

Identity Religion and Ethnicity: New Patterns, Realities and Pitfalls

[http://www.gcis-kuleuven.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Workshop-identity-religion-and-ethnicity1-150×150.jpg]http://www.gcis-kuleuven.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Workshop-identity-religion-and-ethnicity1.jpg

Where: Istanbul, Turkey
Date: 29 Nov – 1 Dec 2012
Organisers: KULeuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies (GCIS), Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP) and Department of Sociology (Suleyman Sah University, Istanbul)

Workshop theme and questions
Identity, Religion and Ethnicity are three terms interrelated and become all important issues in the European Union and its neighbourhood. The social change and economical transformation of societies fallowed by flow of people, objects, symbols and places enforce the change on identity and citizenship relations. In sum, in addition to the flows, all changes concern the interpersonal and inter-group dimensions. Today, a high degree of human mobility, telecommunications have contributed to the new understanding of citizenship as a mode of identity in relation to national identity, ethnicity, religion, groups and social movements. Belonging to an ethnic-religious group and distinctions are increasingly blurred or strengthened in the new national and international contexts. The motivations and modalities of belonging and identifying are much more diverse. It is therefore useful to explore relatively new patterns of the intersection between religion, identity and ethnicity issues.  As noted “Race, ethnicity, and nation are not things in the world but ways of seeing the world. They are ways of understanding and identifying oneself, making sense of one’s problems and predicaments, identifying one’s interests, and orienting one’s action. They are ways of recognizing, identifying, and classifying other people, of construing sameness and difference, and of “coding” and making sense of their actions” (Brubaker, Loveman, and Stamatov 2004). The workshop proposes to analyse the relation between these three notions interconnected in different political, cultural and economical cases to understand also some challenges and pitfalls in a plural society.

What is the relation between identity, ethnicity and citizenship in a global world? What are the new patterns of ethnic identities in plural societies? Can globalization de-ethnicize religion? How ethnical and religious identity is changed and faced with social and economic changes? What are the roles of social movements in these undergoing changes? What are the challenges for the classical religious-ethnic identity? How can nation state models regulate the plurality of religious and ethnic groups? How does EU deal with ethnical pluralism and diversity?
Participants in the workshop Identity, Religion and Ethnicity will explore the answers of these questions. The workshop will analyse the interaction and the interpenetration of race, ethnicity and identity through the problematic of transnationalism, globalization and nation-state approaches. The workshop will be accompanied by practical visits with local communities. Participants are invited to discover the theoretical debates and issues in local different areas with practitioners and civil society representatives to further having insights from demographic, economic, philosophic, legal and socio anthropological approaches. This workshop looks at identity, citizenship and ethnicity issues across Belgium as well as in the Turkey, focused primarily on Belgium-EU cases.

Topics of Workshops
The workshop will be organized around three central themes.
Authors are invited to send abstracts (maximum 500 words) of their papers on themes of their own choosing, which may include (by way of example only):

Ethnicity and ethno-nationalism
Multiple language policies and education
Racism and nationalism
Immigration, Assimilation and National History

Religion and ethnic identities
Religious Minority and Identity
Immigration and Religion

Politics and Ethnicity
Identity policies and Citizenship
Citizenship and Nation state
Multiculturalism and ethnic relations

Programme
A detailed schedule will follow in due course.

Tuition Fees and Scholarships
There is no tuition fee for the workshop programme.  The IDP will pay all the costs of accommodation and board, and transfers, and there is no registration fee for participants in the Workshop. However, authors are expected to pay the costs of their flight to and from Turkey (currently about 300 euros). A limited number of scholarships are available for outstanding candidates to cover tuition, travel and accommodation.

Outcome
Within six months of the event, a book will be produced and published by the GCIS, comprising some or all of the papers presented at the Workshop. The papers will be arranged and introduced, and to the extent appropriate, edited, by scholar(s) to be appointed by the Editorial Board. Copyright of the papers accepted to the Workshop will be vested in the GCIS.

Selection Criteria
The workshop will accept up to 20 participants, each of whom must meet the following requirements:
– have a professional and/or research background in related topics of the workshop;
– be able to attend the entire programme.
Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers as well as civil servants and professionals from intergovernmental and governmental agencies working in ethnicity, migration areas are encouraged to apply.
Since the Workshop expects to address a broad range of topics while the number of participants has to be limited, writers submitting abstracts are requested to bear in mind the need to ensure that their language is technical only where absolutely necessary and intelligible to non-specialists and specialists in disciplines other than their own; and present clear, coherent arguments in a rational way and in accordance with the usual standards and format for publishable work.

Timetable
1. Abstracts (300–500 words maximum) and CVs (maximum 1 page) to be received by 10th August 2012.
2. Abstracts to be short-listed by the Editorial Board and papers invited by 30th August 2012.
3. Papers (2,500 words minimum – 5,000 words maximum, excluding bibliography) to be received by 1st October 2012.
4. Papers reviewed by the Editorial Board and classed as: Accepted – No Recommendations; Accepted – See Recommendations; Conditional Acceptance – See Recommendations; Not Accepted.
5. Final papers to be received by 20th October 2012.

Workshop Editorial Board
Johan Leman, KULeuven
Erkan Toguslu, KULeuven
Ismail Mesut Sezgin, IDP and Leeds Metropolitan University

Workshop Co-ordinator
Ismail Mesut Sezgin

Venue
Suleyman Sah University, Istanbul, Turkey
The international workshop will be entirely conducted in English and will be hosted by Suleyman Sah University in Istanbul.

Papers and abstract should be sent to Erkan Toguslu
erkan.toguslu@soc.kuleuven.be<mailto:erkan.toguslu@soc.kuleuven.be>

For more information plz contact:
Erkan Toguslu
KULeuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies
Parkstraat 45 – box 3615
3000 Leuven
erkan.toguslu@soc.kuleuven.be<mailto:erkan.toguslu@soc.kuleuven.be>

http://www.gcis-kuleuven.com/cpt_events/identity-religion-and-ethnicity-new-patterns-realities-and-pitfalls/?preview=true&preview_id=559&preview_nonce=04c7ca206f

Spirituality and spiritual movements in Hungary and Eastern Central Europe
11th Szeged Conference on Ethnology of Religion Szeged, 10-12 October 2012

Venue: University of Szeged, Conference Room of the Arts Faculty, 6722 Szeged, Egyetem u. 2. fszt.

In November 2012 Pope Benedict XVI is launching the “Year of Faith”. This is an occasion for us to examine the forms taken by manifestations of faith, historically and in our time, in religious life and the whole of religious culture. Faith is manifested differently in different historical periods, among different social strata, in different age groups, occupational groups and by place of residence, among men and women, children and adults, and linguistic/ethnic features can also be discovered (or are thought to exist). And naturally, it is manifested differently in all those contexts within the various Christian and non-Christian denominations. We welcome for the conference concrete empirical case studies that deal with manifestations of spirituality in word, action/rhythm, in art (representational arts, poetry, music, architecture, applied arts: metalwork, embroidery, etc.), in pedagogy (e.g. religious instruction); that take a social approach to both lay or clerical communities (characteristics of the spirituality of orders, monastic schools, third orders, charismatics, Focolare and other spirituality), especially to the 19th-20th century movements (Legion of Mary, Schönstatt, etc.), or spiritual movements associated with beatification and canonisation procedures in the 20th-21st centuries (Saint Margaret of Hungary, István Kaszap, Mária Bogner, etc.); and which examine the presentation of these spiritualities/cults in the press, their small printed materials, periodicals, manuscript legacy, aim; which analyse the growing ecumenical movements of the turn of the 20th-21st century, as well as the virtual communities. We also welcome papers on the life and spirituality of religious but not church-type associations, such as charitable associations, denominational reading circles, youth movements and circles, etc.

On behalf of our department and the Sándor Bálint Institute for Research on Religion we respectfully invite applications for participation in the conference from Hungarian ethnologists, folklorists and anthropologists, as well as art historians, literary historians, photography historians, cultural historians, theologians, church historians, liturgical historians, music historians, dance researchers, educators, sociologists, philosophers, psychologists and representatives of other disciplines.

The conference will have a Hungarian and an international section, the languages of the conference will be Hungarian, English and German. Papers can be on any theme within the range of themes listed. Our circular is intended as a general guide rather than setting strict frames covering all aspects.

Papers should be 20 minutes (approx. 13,000 characters) in length including any illustrations, and will be followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

Deadline for applications: 15 June 2012

The organisers reserve the right to accept or reject papers. Depending on the interest shown, the conference is planned to last two or three days. Students may also apply to participate without presenting a paper. Applications should be submitted on the attached form with an abstract of the proposed paper.

Costs
Participants are to cover their own costs. The participation fee of 5,000 HUF covers participation in the work of the conference sections, attendance at auxiliary events and refreshments during the breaks. Accommodation can be provided at a very favourable rate (approx. 3,800 HUF/night) in university guest rooms and 2-3-bed hostel rooms (most of these have shared bathroom
in the corridor) if reserved in advance through the Department of Ethnology. The cost of accommodation is to be paid by participants at the place of accommodation.
To make a reservation in a hotel, pension or guest house in Szeged, visit
http://www.iranymagyarorszag.hu/keres/szeged/szallasok-p1/ , where accommodation to
suit your requirements can be found if you make your reservation in time (!).

Participants make their own arrangements for meals in restaurants and university canteens in the vicinity of the conference venue.

Books for sale

During the conference we are planning to offer books for sale. If you have a publication that fits into the theme of the conference or more broadly the field of ethnology of religion, we will be happy to handle sales on the basis of prior agreement.

Please send your application by the deadline to
barna@hung.u-szeged.hu<mailto:barna@hung.u-szeged.hu>.

Please find below a link for details on a forthcoming ( Mon 10 to Wed 12 Sept 2012) conference in London, University of Roehampton, on the theme:
“Women, Authority and Leadership in Christianity and Islam”

Deadline for abstracts is 31st May 2012.

http://estore.roehampton.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&prodid=85&deptid=164&catid=70

When submitting the abstract of 250 words, please add the full details of your position at university and a working bibliography of at least 5 titles of the main sources you are going to use for your paper. Participation to the conference is also open to a few post graduate students who are nearing completion of their PhD.

Dr Simonetta Calderini
Reader in Islamic Studies
Department of Humanities
University of Roehampton | London | SW15 5PJ
s.calderini@roehampton.ac.uk
www.roehampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8392 3422 |

Call for Papers: Journal of Modern Jewish Studies Essay Prize 2013

Journal of Modern Jewish Studies are inviting submissions to their annual
essay prize for scholars in the early stages of their career. Papers are invited on
topics in Jewish history, social studies, religion, thought, literature and the arts from the 16th century to the present day. They should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and should not be submitted to any other journal until the outcome of the competition is known.

The Prize:
Cash prize of £150 GBP/$244 USD
Publication of the winning essay in Journal of Modern Jewish Studies as the opening article of the July 2013 issue (volume 11, issue 2)
The winning essay will also be promoted on the journal website

For further information about the jury and the prize conditions, please click here.
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/cfp/cmjscfp.pdf

Pilgrimage and Sacred Places in Central and Eastern Europe: Place, Politics and Religious Tourism
University of Zadar, Croatia
27-30 September 2012

John Eade (University College London and University of Roehampton), Mario Katic (University of Zadar, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology), Božena Krce Miocic (University of Zadar, Department of Tourism and Communication Sciences) and Tomislav Klarin (University of Zadar, Department of Tourism and Communication Sciences)

Call for Papers

With the global expansion of travel and tourism more and more people are engaged in what can be broadly described as religious tourism. According to the UNWTO, for example, in 2008 300 million tourists claimed that their trips were motivated in one way or another by religion. Pilgrimage plays a key role in such religious tourism and it is now attracting the attention of a wide variety of experts, e.g. religious leaders, those involved in the travel and tourism industry and academic researchers.

Theoretical debates are moving beyond earlier communitas and contestation models and a more global reach is emerging as researchers explore beyond W. Europe and the Americas, examine the increasing religious diversity caused by global migration and investigate the intimate, historic links between pilgrimage, sacred places, politics and tourism. In this conference we want to contribute to this widening focus by bringing together academics from different disciplines and travel and tourism professionals to explore pilgrimage across Eastern Europe broadly conceived as extending beyond W. Europe. In this way we seek to look at different religious traditions, e.g. Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim, and territorial ties (local, national, transnational, global).

We invite papers which will explore:

• Construction and deconstruction of sacred places
• Embodied spaces and body as a mediator
• Pilgrimage as a form of religious tourism
• Relationship between travel and tourism industry
• Pilgrimage and territorial boundaries
• Politics and Pilgrimage in the past and today
• Pilgrimage in memories and narratives
• Tourist ab/use of pilgrimage and sacred places
• Tourist perspectives on the pilgrimage journey
• Secular pilgrimage and tourism
• The realm of pilgrimage / tourism experience

Keynote speakers:

Josef Langer, University of Klagenfurt
Glenn Bowman, University of Kent
John Eade, University College London/University of Roehampton

Program committee:

Josef Langer (University of Klagenfurt), Glenn Bowman (University of Kent), John Eade (University College London/University of Roehampton), Jurica Pavicic (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb), Nikša Alfirevic (Faculty of Economics, University of Split), Marijana Belaj (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb), Božena Krce Miocic (Department of Tourism and Communication Sciences, University of Zadar), Mario Katic (Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zadar).

Submission details:

Abstracts (up to 350-words in Word doc.), with contact details and affiliation, should be sent to the conference E-mail address (pilgrimageandsacred@gmail.com), or to Božena Krce Miocic (krceb@unizd.hr) or Mario Katic (makatic@unizd.hr) by 1th May 2012.
You will be informed about acceptance or non-acceptance of your proposal by 15th May 2012.

Conference participation fees
Participation fee is € 50
The participation fee includes all symposium proceedings, daytime refreshments, excursions to the Croatian royal city and a pilgrimage place of Nin, and tourist guidance through Zadar.

Accommodation and website

Accommodation is not included in the conference fee. Further information about travel, accommodation and conference program will be available on the conference website: www.pilgrimageandsacred.info