Call for Papers: Joint BASR/BSA-SOCREL panel on the ‘Public benefit in the study of religion’ with keynote panel speakers Prof. Eileen Barker and Prof. Douglas Davies. BASR annual conference, September 5-7 2012 University of Winchester.

The topic of the panel is how research has directly benefited ‘the public’. The panel will focus on two aspects of this broad theme as it relates to the study of religion: 1) What do we mean by ‘public benefit’?  How do we demonstrate it, measure it, communicate it and what are the practical and theoretical issues surrounding the idea of how the study of religion – or faith, or belief – can operate in the, or perhaps as a, public good? Are there theoretical problems in considering what is meant by ‘public’ or ‘benefit’ in different cultural and historical contexts? 2) What are some case examples of how research or teaching about religion has contributed to the public good? We are not asking here for examples about how ‘religion’ has contributed to the public but specifically how the study of and research on religion has done so.

Abstracts to Dr Abby Day a.f.day@kent.ac.uk and Dr Bettina Schmidt b.schmidt@tsd.ac.uk by 1 April 2012.

Conference Topic: The evolution of Mormonism from sect to Church and from Church to sects
Université de Bordeaux 3
6 et 7 décembre 2012
Maison des Sciences de l’Homme d’Aquitaine

Organized par Bernadette RIGAL-CELLARD with the Master Religions et Sociétés and CLIMAS (EA 4196), Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3

The 2012 Mormonism conference is the sequel to the first French conference on Mormonism (Bordeaux 2009). It will address the issues arising from its institutional evolution.  The currently admitted typology of religious groups includes, sketchily,
the cult, the sect, the denomination, the Church, the movement. All groups will not necessarily move from one level to the next and a number of them may stagnate, willingly or not, or simply disappear. It is the prophetic and organizational qualities of the founder(s) and of the successors that dictate the evolution of the group as much as the social and political surroundings.

Mormonism is one of the most interesting religions to study in this regard for, since its birth in 1830, it has operated constant changes that led its major institution, the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter Day Saints, to move from the status of “sect”—in the sense of a group separating itself from a major tradition to follow a radical prophet—to that of denomination, and then to reach the crowning status of Church, at least in its native land.

If the general history of Mormonism is relatively well documented, it is not the case concerning all the steps it has climbed in less than two centuries, when most of its competitors, born in the same conditions, have not succeeded as well. How has Mormonism gone from the complete separatism of its early decades to an almost complete acceptance at home and in several foreign countries?

Send a 20 line abstract and a short biography before September 15th, 2012 to bcellard@numericable.fr
No funding can be granted to participants

Faith in Civil Society: Religious Actors as Drivers of Change
Conference April 24-25, 2012 Uppsala, Sweden.

Religious associations and communities are increasingly recognized as important social actors across the world. This belies common European assumptions of a universal development path of modernisation and secularisation, wherein religion becomes a privatised matter separate from the realms of politics and public civic culture. Instead, religious faith continues to be a force by which people mobilise around shared identities with spiritual as well as political objectives, sometimes creating vast networks that extend beyond and contest nation-state borders.

In this conference, we will discuss how to understand these diverse faith-inspired actors, who not always fit neatly within liberal notions of civil society. When are they promoters of social change, democratisation and development, and how do their adherents envision such changes? We invite researchers, actors in international development cooperation, activists, and others with interest in the issues to participate and make presentations during the conference.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is 10 February 2012. 

For more information: http://www.csduppsala.uu.se/civsoc/

AHRC/ESRC RELIGION AND SOCIETY PROGRAMME
5th to 7th September 2012
The Divinity School, St John’s College, Cambridge, CB2 1TW

The fact that religion has not privatised, but remains an important aspect of public life, is now well recognised.  But talk of ‘public
religion’ can be vague and unfocused. The aim of this conference is to explore – with new findings – the forms which public religion is taking today, not only in the West, but elsewhere in an increasingly connected world.

The conference streams indicate the main arenas in relation to which public religion will be discussed, and on which papers are invited. Additional suggestions are also welcome:
     – The Market and Religion
     – Politics and Religion
     – Law and Religion
     – Religion, Media and Civil Society
     – Violence (State and Non-state) and Religion
     – Religion in Public Places and Spaces
     – Religion, Health and Welfare
     – Religion and Education
     – Religion and Migration

The conference will showcase thirty or so projects funded by the Religion and Society Programme which have new findings in this area.   These will be supplemented by the papers received through this open call.
Individual paper proposals (max. 200 words) should be submitted to:
     Peta Ainsworth:  p.ainsworth@lancaster.ac.uk by 30th April 2012.

The conference is subsidised by the sponsors and costs £100 per delegate, £50 for postgraduates/unwaged (for the entire conference) or £50 per day, £25 for postgraduates/unwaged.  The conference fee excludes
accommodation and evening meals. 

For further details and registration go to:
http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/events/programme_events/show/new_forms_of_public_religion

A limited number of bursaries are available for postgraduates in the UK who need to travel some distance to Cambridge.  Please send an email with your registration form to Peta Ainsworth stating in one paragraph
why you require assistance and how much your travel costs will be.

We are pleased to invite scholars to take part in the first conference
of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions (ISASR).

The Conference will take place Fri-Sat May 25th – 26th, 2012 and is open
to scholars of all disciplines that approach religions, both past and
present, from a non-theological, critical, analytical and cross-cultural
perspective. We invite papers from scholars working in Ireland on all
aspects of religion both at home and globally, and from scholars
worldwide who work on religions in Ireland or themes connected with
Ireland. As this is the first conference of ISASR, paper proposals on
any aspect of religion, both in Ireland and the wider world that
contribute to Ireland’s engagement with the academic study of religions,
will be considered. For information on this newly formed society, see:
http://isasr.wordpress.com/ .

Please send a 150-200 word abstract for papers to James Kapalo
(j.kapalo@ucc.ie) by closing date Friday March 2nd, 2012. Notification
of abstract acceptance will be given by April 2nd, 2012.

Further information on the ISASR Conference 2012 will be posted at
http://isasr.wordpress.com/

Call for Papers
Religion on the Move How Motion and Migration influence Religion
10th Conference of the SIEF Working Group on Ethnology of Religion
Szeged, Hungary 12-14 September, 2012

Organizers: the conference is organized by the Department of Ethnology and
Cultural Anthropology of the University of Szeged together with the Bálint
Sándor Institute for Research on Religion and the International Society for
Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF).
Venue: University of Szeged and Gál Ferenc Theological College of Szeged
Fee: the conference fee is 60 €, including conference materials, reception,
coffee, brunch, excursion.
Participants are responsible for travel and accommodation; there is no funding
for expenses available.
Application: submit an abstract of your paper of maximum 300 words, together
with your name, position, and institutional affiliation to Dr. István Povedák
povedak@yahoo.com by March 15, 2012. The selection of the papers will be done
in collaboration with the Board of the SIEF Working Group on Ethnology of
Religion. The final selection will be communicated by April 1, 2012.
Contacts: povedak@yahoo.com; peter.jan.margry@meertens.knaw.nl