Call for Papers
Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion
16th November 2012, Enterprise Centre, University of Derby

Organised by the Centre for Society, Religion & Belief
<http://www.derby.ac.uk/health/social-care/research-groups/society-religion-and-belief-research-group>
(SRB), University of Derby
Funded by Digital Social Research<http://www.digitalsocialresearch.net/wordpress/> (DSR)

Within an era of a growing reliance on digital technologies to instantly and effectively express our values, allegiances, and multi-faceted identities, the interest in digital research methodologies among Sociologists of Religion comes as no surprise (e.g. Bunt 2009; Cantoni and Zyga 2007; Contractor 2012 and Ostrowski 2006; Taylor 2003). However the methodological challenges associated with such research have been given significantly less attention. What are the epistemological underpinnings and rationale for the use ‘digital’ methodologies? What ethical dilemmas do sociologists face, including while protecting participants’ interests in digital contexts that are often perceived as anonymised and therefore ‘safe’? Implementing such ‘digital’ research also leads to practical challenges such as mismatched expectations of IT skills, limited access to specialized tools, project management and remote management of research processes.

Hosted by the Centre for Society, Religion, and Belief at the University of Derby and funded by Digital Social Research, this conference will bring together scholars to critically evaluate the uses, impacts, challenges and future of Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion. We envisage that the conference will lead to an edited textbook and are currently in discussion with key publishers. For the purpose of the conference and textbook, digital research is broadly defined as research that either works within digital contexts or which uses either online or offline digital tools. Abstracts for papers that focus on one, or more, of the following themes are invited:

1.         Epistemological Positioning
2.         Ethical Dilemmas
3.         Implementation & Practical Challenges
4.         Wider impacts beyond Academia

Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words, as well as the title of the paper, name of the presenter, institutional affiliation, and contact details to Dr Sariya Contractor (s.contractor@derby.ac.uk) and Dr. Suha Shakkour (s.shakkour@derby.ac.uk) by 5pm on Tuesday 28th August, 2012. We welcome submissions for Doctoral Candidates and Early
Career Researchers.
Shortlisted participants will be notified by 11th September 2012 and will be expected to submit summary papers (1000 words) by 1st November 2012 for circulation prior to the conference.
A registration fee of £30 will apply for all speakers and delegates.
A few travel bursaries are available for post-graduate students. Further details about the registration process will be circulated by
mid-August 2012.

Dr Sariya Contractor
Project Researcher
Religion and Belief, Discrimination and Equality Project
Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences
University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GB
E-mail: S.Contractor@derby.ac.uk

http://www.derby.ac.uk/religion-and-society

Call for Papers
Indiana University, Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies Chair Conferences: 5
Islam, Political Islam, and Islamophobia: An International Conference
To be held on March 29-30, 2013 at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

Muslims representing all strata of society throughout the world face an extraordinary degree of negative attention from both public and government eyes often resulting in discriminatory practices. These practices, born of stereotypical descriptions and definitions of “Islam” and “Muslims,” are connotative of the level of fear and hatred in many parts of the world when topics concerning this religion and its adherents arise.
The upcoming conference will attempt to clarify this phenomenon by examining intersections between Islam, political Islam, Islamophobia, and human rights. How does Islamophobia resemble other forms of social prejudice, and in what ways does it differ? What is the political function of Islamophobia?  To what degree and in what ways is Islamophobia fed by the actions of political Islam? To what degree does the politicization of Islam exacerbate the victimization of Muslims? To what degree do the militant operations of political Islam serve as an excuse for those who intend to legitimize and institutionalize prejudice against Muslims? To what degree is prejudice a result of ignorance or lack of understanding of Islam and its followers? This conference invites all scholars of relevant disciplines for an in-depth theoretical, analytical, conceptual, and historical examination of Islamophobia. Proposals showing signs of polemics, propaganda, conspiracy theories, binary dichotomies, such as “Arabs vs. Jews,” “East vs. West,” “Muslims vs. Christians,” “Israelis vs. Palestinians,” and the like will be rejected. The medium of the conference will be English. However, a small number of papers in Turkish will also be considered due to the advanced instructional needs of Indiana University’s Turkish Language Program.

Brief proposals (approximately 250 words) along with CVs should be sent to:
turk@indiana.edu

Deadline for proposals: November 1st, 2012

Organizers:
Dr. Kemal Silay, Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies, Director of the Turkish Studies Program, Indiana University
Dr. Tuğrul Keskin, Assistant Professor of International and Middle Eastern Studies, Portland State University
Screening Committee:
Dr. Kemal Silay, Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies, Director of the Turkish Studies Program, Indiana University
Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld, Professor of Jewish Studies and English, Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University
Dr. Mehmet Paçacı, Professor of Religious Studies, and General Director of Foreign Relations at the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Ankara, Turkey
Dr. David Brunsma, Professor of Sociology, Virginia Tech
Dr. Deepa Kumar, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University
Dr. Tuğrul Keskin, Assistant Professor of International and Middle Eastern Studies, Portland State University
Dr. Nader Hashemi, Assistant Professor of International Studies, University of Denver

Pilgrimage and Relics
23 – 26 May 2013, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Conference organizers:

Mathieu Boisvert, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada, Boisvert.mathieu@uqam.ca.
Francis Brassard, American College of Management and Technology, Croatia, frbrassard@gmail.com.

Conference description:
This international conference aims at gathering a small number of scholars – carefully selected – who specialise on pilgrimage and relics, belonging to various academic fields and focussing on various religious traditions. The main objective is to articulate the notion of pilgrimage with that of relics, to demonstrate how relics participate to pilgrimage, or vice versa, how pilgrimage itself contributes to enhance relics. Papers must be well established in a social sciences perspective, may it be  sociological, historical, anthropological, political or other.

The conference is limited to about thirty papers. Those will be selected by the scientific committee according to the quality of the proposed paper, of course, but also to ensure breadth in religious and disciplinary approaches of the theme.

Amongst the papers selected for presentation, the committee will choose about twelve of them for publication in a book on Pilgrimage and relics, book that will be released in Dubrovnik in June 2014. For more, please see
http://www.iuc.hr/conference-details.php?id=199.

Important dates :

November 15th 2012 Deadline for submission of the abstract (500 words)
December 15th 2012 Notification of acceptance of papers for the conference
April 15th 2013 Deadline for reception of completed papers (15 to 20 pages, line spacing 1,5, font 12pts)
May 23rd – 26th 2013 Conference in Dubrovnik
May 31st Notification to candidates of selected papers for publication
September 2nd 2013 Reception of the final text for publication
June 2014 Launch of the book on Pilgrimage and relics in Dubrovnik

Abstracts can be presented in either English, Croatian or French.
Papers, however, must be delivered in English and the written version must also be in English.

Mathieu Boisvert
Département de sciences des religions
Université du Québec à Montréal

3rd Annual International Symposium on Multiculturalism Reclaiming Multiculturalism: Global Citizenship and Ethical Engagement with Diversity
Hosted by the Centre of Citizenship and Globalisation (CCG) in partnership with the Audiovisual Media Lab for the Study of Cultures and Societies (LAMACS) at the University of Ottawa
15-16 November 2012
Venue: The Richard Searby Room (hd 2.006) Melbourne Burwood Campus, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Multiculturalism has been vehemently criticised at the turn of the 21st century, and academics and state actors have made many recent efforts to ‘reframe’ and ‘rethink’ it. However, others have argued for the need to preserve multiculturalism, more or less in its original form, and to align it with other terms such as interculturalism, rather than replace it with new, and less developed, concepts.
Therefore, it is possible that the ‘multicultural turn’ needs to be rectified by restating the importance of multicultural and cosmopolitan principles. Anti-multicultural rhetoric, perpetuated by public figures and the media, has led to a rise of xenophobia that threatens the rights and safety of citizens. Rather than rejecting or reconfiguring multiculturalism this conference will explore whether multiculturalism can be reclaimed in culturally and religiously diverse societies as a foundation of ethical citizenship, social inclusion and peaceful societies.

Confirmed Speakers include:
* Professor Afef Benessaieh, Professor of International Studies, University of

Quebec
* Emeritus Professor Gary Bouma, Professor of Sociology and UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Relations – Asia Pacific, Monash University
* Associate Professor Anita Harris, ARC Future Fellow, Monash University
* Dr Peter Kivisto, Chair of Sociology, Augustana College
* Professor Kevin McDonald, Director of the Centre for Cultural Diversity and Wellbeing, Victoria University
* Associate Professor Adam Possamai, Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Western Sydney

Call for Papers
The conference will bring together scholars, state and community actors specialising in the fields of multiculturalism, intercultural and interreligious relations across diverse disciplines and geographical regions. Participants will build on the discussions of previous CCG and AMLSCS symposia and debate multicultural, intercultural and interreligious policies, practices, theories, histories and

controversies. Papers should address the following themes:
§ Differences between Transculturalism, Interculturalism and Multiculturalism
§ Effects of Anti-multicultural and Anti-cosmopolitan Political and Media Rhetoric
§ Benefits and Challenges of Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue and Action
§ Rights, Religion and Governance
§ Cosmopolitanism and Ethical Citizenship
§ Racism, Disempowerment and Recognition
§ Addressing Gender Inequalities in Multicultural and Multifaith Societies
§ Multiculturalism, Community Engagement and Countering Violent Extremism
§ Reconfiguring Self and Other in the Context of Plural Societies

This conference will include invited speakers and a limited number of additional presenters. Please send a 200 word abstract and a 100 word biography to citglob@deakin.edu.au<mailto:citglob@deakin.edu.au> by 31st August 2012.
Selected papers will be published in an edited volume and contribute to the submission of a special issue proposal to an international journal.
Download call for papers flyer<http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/ccg/events/conferences/12-reclaiming-multiculturalism/images/reclaiming-mulitculturalism-flyer.pdf>
Visit the Conference website for more details:
§ http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/ccg/events/conferences/12-reclaiming-multiculturalism/index.php

Colloque annuel de l’Association française de sciences sociales des religions (AFSR)
4 et 5 février 2013
EHESS Paris, Amphithéâtre François Furet (à confirmer)
105 bd Raspail Paris 6e

Au cours des années 1990, Internet s’est développé dans tous les champs de l’espace public et de la vie sociale. Chance jusque-là inégalée pour diffuser un message de manière quasi universelle (Lévy, 1994) ou mise en danger du lien social par un individualisme croissant (Breton, 2000), cette place grandissante du virtuel est évaluée par les sciences sociales positivement ou négativement selon les analyses qui y sont consacrées.

Si dans les premiers temps le web mettait à disposition des internautes des sites à consulter, nous sommes passés depuis quelques années à une deuxième phase beaucoup plus interactive, où l’usager prend lui aussi la parole à travers les forums et les réseaux sociaux et peut interagir sur des sites de reproduction virtuelle du monde réel (second life).

Le religieux participe de cette évolution. En effet, les religions se sont adaptées relativement rapidement à cette modernité technologique ou dans certains cas ont été pionnières en la matière.

Aujourd’hui, le phénomène religieux – religions instituées ou religieux plus diffus – est pleinement présent sur la toile, Internet pouvant même devenir lui-même objet de croyance ou de culte.

L’objet de ce colloque international est d’explorer les rapports entre internet et religions en les replaçant dans des contextes culturels précis, notamment en repérant les représentations de l’espace et du temps et les usages de l’écrit et de l’image dans chacun de ces contextes.

Il ne s’agit pas de faire ici un état des lieux de la présence et des usages du religieux sur internet, mais de privilégier l’analyse en profondeur des relations entre l’un et l’autre. Cette analyse implique aussi une réflexion méthodologique sur la manière dont le chercheur s’empare de ce nouveau terrain qu’est Internet.

Dans cette optique, nous avons identifié trois axes principaux qui structureront trois sessions du colloque :

1- Les concepteurs et les usagers du paysage virtuel religieux.

S’il paraît aisé de dresser une analyse du contenu des sites qui sont à notre disposition en raison de leur visibilité (par essence), il est indispensable de cerner la réception dont ils sont l’objet et les usages qui en sont faits, même si leur évaluation est a priori beaucoup moins évidente.  On pourra envisager différentes questions :
– Qui sont les « concepteurs » (ceux qui créent ces sites – contenu et agencement) : institutions religieuses, leaders autoproclamés, mouvements radicaux… ? Cette question renvoie à celle de l’autorité et de la légitimité religieuses, des contre-pouvoirs, y compris des oppositions laïques, ou des dissidences. Elle renvoie aussi à la présence de plus en plus fragmentée d’acteurs hors des cadres institués.
– Qu’est ce qu’une institution religieuse, un courant religieux ou un leader religieux, donnent à voir d’eux-mêmes en termes de contenus, d’images, d’identités virtuelles… ? A quels publics s’adressent-ils ?
– Quelle place pour la régulation des sites et quels en sont les éventuels acteurs ?
– Comment les usagers investissent-ils ces espaces : type de participation, interactions entre internautes, usages directs ou détournés, liberté, contrainte, anonymat, temps de connexion… ?

2- Quel est l’impact d’Internet sur le religieux?

S’agit-il d’un média de plus dans la diffusion des contenus, ou Internet produit-il des changements en profondeur et si oui dans quels domaines et de quelles façons ?  On pourra envisager différentes questions :
– Renforcement de l’ancrage local ? Intensification de la globalisation religieuse ?
– Les rituels sont-ils transformés ou renouvelés ?
– Formes de la jurisprudence religieuse (fatwas, responsa…) et demandes de conseils sur les blogs, forums, réseaux sociaux…
– Marketing et tous services religieux sur internet : agence matrimoniale, géo-localisation de commerces religieux ou de lieux de culte, vente de produits religieux…On considèrera ici non seulement les propositions de services mais également les usages qui en sont faits.
– Internet conduit-il à la création de nouvelles religions ?

3- Quelles articulations entre le virtuel et le réel ?

– Quand et comment passe-t-on du virtuel au réel et inversement ?
– Qu’est-ce que cela implique au niveau de l’organisation et de la perception du temps et de l’espace ?
– Présence/absence des corps dans un certain nombre d’activités religieuses : conversion, confession, rituels…
– Le religieux n’a-t-il pas toujours été en prise avec le virtuel, par la communication qu’il suppose avec le surnaturel ?

Les communications proposées devront s’appuyer sur des terrains spécifiques.

Tous les contextes culturels et religieux pourront être présentés.

*******

Les propositions de communication au colloque international « Le religieux sur Internet » sont à envoyer avant le 30 septembre 2012 à l’adresse suivante :  afsr@afsr.cnrs.fr

Elles devront comprendre :
– Un titre
– Le nom et le rattachement du communicant
– Un résumé d’environ 1500 signes en français et en anglais, faisant apparaître notamment l’axe auquel la communication se rattache, la méthodologie employée et le contexte culturel étudié.

• La communication (présentée en anglais ou en français) durera 20 mn
• Les intervenants devront être membres de l’AFSR ou y adhérer (http://www.afsr.cnrs.fr/)
• Les actes du colloque donneront lieu à publication

Comité organisateur :

• 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

Pour informacion: http://calenda.revues.org/nouvelle24671.html

Pagans in Dialogue with the Wider World: A Pagan Studies Symposium
Friday, February 15, 2013
at San José State University
(semi-concurrent with PantheaCon, February 15-18, 2013, DoubleTree Hotel, San Jose, CA)
Sponsored by San José State University, Humanities Dept., Comparative Religious Studies Program
Organizers: Lee Gilmore (SJSU) & Amy Hale (St. Petersburg College)

Contemporary Paganism, in all its varieties, stands at a unique cultural and religious intersection that can provide insights for a wide range of global, social, and political subjects, beyond its own inward facing concerns. For this symposium, we are calling for scholarly submissions that focus on Paganism’s contributions to and engagements with broader cultural and religious dialogues in an increasingly pluralist world. These could include, but are not limited to, explorations of Paganisms’ endeavors in community, economic, media, health, legal, social justice, and institutional development work, as well as activist, applied, interdisciplinary, and interfaith work.

More generally, all submissions that critically examine Paganism(s) in relationship to categories such as religion, culture, gender, identity, authenticity, power, and ritual–among other possible frameworks–are welcome. In addition, all papers presented at the symposium will be considered for publication in a special issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies.

All proposals & queries should be sent to: pagansymposium@gmail.com
Deadline: September 15, 2012
More info (including submission requirements & a pdf of this call):
http://www.sjsu.edu/people/lee.gilmore/paganstudies/

South-East Asia as a Crossroads for Buddhist Exchange: pioneer European Buddhists and Asian Buddhist networks 1860-1960
Study of Religions Department, University College Cork, Ireland
13-15 September 2012

The recent discovery of the extraordinary life of `The Irish Buddhist’ U Dhammaloka (documented in the special issue of Contemporary Buddhism 11:2, December 2010) has stimulated new avenues of research into numerous significant but neglected East-West and global Buddhist encounters. This conference focuses on forgotten or under-represented Buddhist pioneers, their connections and collaborations, and the contribution of these individuals and networks to the construction of Buddhist modernities.

Casting South-East Asia as a `cross roads’ invites contributions on pioneer exchanges and connections not only between `the West’ and `Asia’ but also within Asia, from China, Korea and Japan through Southeast Asia to India and Ceylon. The period to be covered, broadly 1860-1960, is intended to include the earliest documented pioneer European [and e.g. Japanese] Buddhist practitioners of the colonial period whilst stopping short of the mass interest in Buddhism of the late 20th century. We are interested in any figures, groups or networks whose commitment to Asian Buddhist praxis in the colonial period contributed in some way to the emergence of modern global Buddhism and whose role was pioneering, rather than following a traditionally established path. We are equally interested in networks of exchange and communication such as trade routes, monastic interrelationships, military ventures, cultural exchanges, missionary enterprises and imperialist and socialist (etc.) institutions and ideas which enabled Buddhists to interact in pioneering ways during this period

Forgotten figures such as U Dhammaloka, despite their historical significance for these exchanges in colonial Asia, have long been obscured in conventional scholarly narratives which have presented a very small selection of `pioneer’ figures found respectable within today’s Western Buddhist lineages or canonised in Asian accounts. Recent discoveries overturning these entrenched narratives have been made possible in part by the new digitisation and indexing of colonial-era newspapers, travel books, directories, missionary reports and other obscure and disparate sources which can provide – often fragmentary – pointers to lost lives and events which may in the end be documented only through traditional archival research. This conference aims to further this new and exciting field of research by bringing together scholars with a shared interest in global Buddhism and expertise in different periods and regions of Asia and the West.

There are many contested issues and theoretical perspectives to be explored in this context, and we welcome papers of a theoretical nature so long as they are to some extent grounded in empirical examples.

We intend to produce a journal special issue or edited volume based on papers presented at the conference.

The conference will take place from Thursday afternoon 13th September to Saturday morning 15th September 2012 and is hosted by the Study of Religions Department, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. There is no conference fee but delegates will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation; there is plenty of moderately priced accommodation close by the University. Cork Airport is a short distance from the University and about 1hr by air from London and other major European hubs. Some limited financial support for postgraduates may be available.

The conference is co-organised by Prof Brian Bocking and Dr Phibul Choompolpaisal (UCC Study of Religions Department) with an advisory committee comprising Dr Laurence Cox (NUIM, Ireland), Prof Alicia Turner (York University, Toronto), Dr Andrew Skilton (KCL, London) and Dr Kate Crosby (SOAS, London), in association with the 12-month postdoctoral research fellowship project `Continuities and Transitions in Early Modern Thai Buddhism’ at UCC supported by the Dhammakaya International Society of the United Kingdom. The Conference itself has a far wider remit than Thailand, and papers in all regions are warmly welcomed.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Monday 9 July 2012, but abstracts will be considered as they are submitted from now on to facilitate your travel planning.
If you hope to attend the conference we would appreciate an email indicating this a.s.a.p.

A conference website will be established in the near future. In the meantime enquiries, expressions of interest and abstracts should be emailed to Prof Brian Bocking in Cork, email: b.bocking [at] ucc.ie or to Dr Phibul Choompolpaisal in Thailand, email: phibulart@yahoo.com