CALL FOR PAPERS The Religious and Ethnic Future of Europe: An International Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Religious and Ethnic Future of Europe: An International Conference

12-13 June 2017, Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo, Finland

Conference website: http://www.abo.fi/refe/

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1684659638516383/

Europe is undergoing significant demographic changes due to an aging population and increased immigration. This expert symposium will gather internationally leading experts to discuss the cultural, ethnic and religious aspects of this ongoing demographic shift.

The demographics of religion is a new field that has developed alongside growing xenophobia and Islamophobia worldwide. Fear of the demographic change in Europe is one of the ideological motors behind several xenophobic and populist social and political movements. Academic research has lagged behind, but now there is a growing body of serious scholarship on this controversial topic. The conference will bring together people to present the latest research findings as well as methodological and theoretical questions concerning the cultural and societal implications of demographic trajectories. Groundbreaking research has been conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Religious Futures Project that has provided elementary data on global demographic trajectories in the 2010s. Also the Vienna Institute of Demography has given major contributions in projecting the future development of religious adherence in the City of Vienna and developing methodologies for the visualization of demographic change.

Keynote lectures:

  • .”What we know and do not know about future religious developments: The contribution of demography” by Dr Anne Goujon, Vienna Institute of Demography, Austria
  • .”New estimates and projections of Europe’s Muslim population” by Dr Conrad Hackett, Pew Research Center, USA
  • .”Religion and demographic change around the world ” by Prof. Vegard Skirbekk, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
  • .”Estimating Future Religious Diversity in Finland” by Dr Tuomas Martikainen, Migration Institute of Finland

We invite people from different academic backgrounds to discuss religion and demographic developments including but not limited to the following topics:

  • – Demographic projections on religion and ethnicity
  • – Statistics on religion and ethnicity
  • – The use and misuse of demographic and statistics of religion and ethnicity
  • The larger implications of demographic changes for the research on multicultural societies, interreligious encounters and diversity.

To apply, please send an abstract of approximately 150 words to the Donner Institute, donner.institute(at)abo.fi, no later than 31 December, 2016. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 31 January, 2017.

Selected papers from the conference will be published in volume 28 of the Donner Institute series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis as a co-publication of the Donner Institute and the Migration Institute of Finland.

The expert symposium is arranged jointly by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History, the Migration Institute of Finland and the “Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective” Åbo Akademi University Centre of Excellence in Research.

Seeking book reviewer

Book to be reviewed for Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity

Apologies for cross-posting. Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity (http://www.brill.com/asian-medicine) is a peer-reviewed, english-language multidisciplinary journal aimed at researchers and practitioners of Asian Medicine in Asia as well as in Western countries, published by Brill on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine (IASTAM).

We are looking for someone to review the book Healing Traditions in the Northwestern Himalayas (authored by Pankaj Gupta, Vijay Kumar Sharma and Sushma Sharma and published by Springer).If you are interested, please send an e-mail to Susannah Deane: susannahdeane@gmail.com

Best wishes,

Susannah Deane

Book reviews editor, Hiamalayan  section

Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity

New book in the series “ Muslims in Global Societies” (Springer)

Springer has published a new book in the series “ Muslims in Global Societies”, edited by Bryan Turner

Visit the series website at https://www.springer.com/series/7863?detailsPage=titles

Muslims in Global Societies Series

(Editor’s note: Thanks to Springer for contributing to the ISA-RC22 Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars!)

A new book in the series “Popular Culture, Religion and Society. A Social-Scientific Approach” (Springer)

Springer has published a new book in the series “Popular Culture, Religion and Society. A Social-Scientific Approach”, edited by Adam Possamai

Visit the series website at http://www.springer.com/series/13357

Popular Culture, Religion and Society. A Social-Scientific Approach

(Editor’s note: Thanks to Springer for contributing to the ISA-RC22 Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars!)

Four New Books from the series “Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies” (Springer)

Springer has published four new books in the series “Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies”, edited by Lori G. Beaman, Anna Halafoff, and Lene Kühle

Visit the series website at http://www.springer.com/series/11839

Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies

(Editor’s note: Thanks to Springer for contributing to the ISA-RC22 Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars!)

Thank you from the organizers of the Nordic Conference for the Sociology of Religion

Thank you!

We, the whole organizing team, wish to thank all the conference participants!

From our distinguished keynote speakers Anne Birgitta Pessi, Courtney Bender, Jörg Stolz and Nancy Ammerman to students and first time attendees, you were the ones who made the conference possible!

We also want to thank our supporters, who helped to make the conference an enjoyable experience:

  • Federation of Finnish Learned Societies
  • Church Research Institute
  • Helsinki Parish Union
  • Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • RelSoc

And finally, thank you to each and everyone of you and us, the friends of Nordic Sociology of Religion – whether you made it to this year’s meeting or not! We’re looking forward to the next conferences  – and all the fruitful collaboration in-between the meetings!
On behalf of the Finnish organizing team,

Kati Tervo-Niemelä and Jenni Spännäri

Nordic Journal of Religion and Society is happy to consider your articles for publication! Deadline for submissions November 15th. Click the link for more information!

The next NCSR will be organized in Oslo, 2.-4. August 2018. See you there!

CFP: Open Theology Journal issue on: Alternative Religiosities in the Soviet Union and the Communist East-Central Europe: Formations, Resistances and Manifestations

Open Theology (http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth) invites submissions for the topical issue “Alternative Religiosities in the Soviet Union and the Communist East-Central Europe: Formations, Resistances and Manifestations”, under the general editorship of Dr. Rasa Pranskevičiūtė and Dr. Eglė Aleknaitė (Vytautas Magnus University).

DESCRIPTION

After the boom of traditional religions (i. e. prevailing national religions or those that have a relatively long history in a particular country) and alternative religious movements (i. e. religious movements that offer an alternative to the traditional religion(s) in a particular country) in post-communist/post-socialist countries, the religion(s) of this area have gained increasing scholarly attention. Research on the religious situation during the prior communist/socialist period is primarily focused on restrictions placed on traditional religions and their survival strategies, while the corresponding phenomena of the alternative religious of that time still lack proper analysis.

The special issue invites papers that address alternative religiosities in the communist/socialist countries up to 1990. Due to Soviet control, they mostly existed underground and could remain only if expressed clandestinely. Beside the officially-established Soviet culture, connected with the Communist Party’s aim to control all aspects of the public sphere, there was an unofficial cultural field that was very receptive to the arrival, formation, spread and expressions of diverse alternative religiosities and spiritualities. The disappointment with the existing narrowness of the official communist ideology and the loss of the absolute allegiance to it led to the formation and rise of unofficial socio-cultural alternatives within the system. The underground activities, including access to alternative spiritual and esoteric ideas and practices, generally existed in parallel, or even jointly, with the official culture and institutions.

We invite religious scholars, historians, anthropologists, as well as authors representing other disciplines, to submit both empirical and theoretical papers including, but not limited to the following topics:

  • Networks and inter-community connections
  • Flows of ideas within the Soviet Union and communist East-Central Europe and from the outside
  • Centers and peripheries of the milieu of alternative religiosity in the region
  • Politics and actions of the regime towards alternative religiosity
  • Restrictions, repressions and survival strategies of practitioners of alternative religiosity
  • Milieu of alternative religiosity as a space of resistance
  • Relationships of communities of alternative religiosity with dominant religious traditions
  • Theoretical frameworks and methodological problems in research on alternative religiosities within the Soviet Union and the communist East-Central European region

Authors publishing their articles in the special issue will benefit from:
    · transparent, comprehensive and fast peer review
    · efficient route to fast-track publication and full advantage of De Gruyter Open’s e-technology,
    · no publication fees,
    · free language assistance for authors from non-English speaking regions.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submissions are due November 30, 2016. To submit an article for the special issue of Open Theology, authors are asked to access the on-line submission system at: http://www.editorialmanager.com/openth/
Please choose as article type: “Special Issue Article: Alternative Religiosities”.

Before submission the authors should carefully read over the Instruction for Authors, available at: http://www.degruyter.com/view/supplement/s23006579_Instruction_for_Authors.pdf

All contributions will undergo critical review before being accepted for publication.

Further questions about this thematic issue can be addressed to Dr. Rasa Pranskevičiūtė at Rasa.Pranskeviciute@degruyteropen.com or Dr. Eglė Aleknaitė at ealeknaite@yahoo.com. In case of technical questions, please contact journal Managing Editor Dr. Katarzyna Tempczyk at katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyteropen.com.

Call for Abstracts – Religion in Contexts

Call for Abstracts


Religion in  Contexts

-Handbook of the Sociology of Religion-



We are inviting for outline abstracts of 500 words by 30.9.2016 to each editor.

For further information see the annexed file please.


Melanie Reddig, Düsseldorf/ Annette Schnabel, Düsseldorf/ Heidemarie Winkel, Bielefeld

It is the aim of the volume to collect contributions that contextualise religions in their worldwide multiplicity, their particular societal configurations and their dynamics of social transformation. We want to understand religion as a multi-dimensional concept comprising of religious beliefs, world views and practices as well as the richness of religious groups, parishes, organisations and professions characterized by varying hierarchical relations, norms and values systems of societal range. Additionally, religion is also relevant from a macro-perspective as a category of social belonging and social difference; this includes institutional settings as well as social teachings and the religious bodies of knowledge.

At large, the volume will gather and systematically discuss a wide range of contexts and their varying influences on religion. On the basis of selected empirical data, the contributions shall reveal the social mechanisms and processes by which religion is shaped, realised and made salient. By this, the volume will provide a theoretical reconstruction of varying social effects in various societal contexts and a critical input to the up-to-date sociology of religion. This includes the analysis of interdependencies with other social fields like politics or science as well as the intersection with other social categories of difference like gender, race or age.

We are looking for manuscripts that locate religion in spatial, functional and societal contexts: (i) spatial contexts may comprise of global, regional or local environments that influence the relationship between religion and society. (ii) Functional contexts may relate to law, politics and economics but also to social inequalities and social identities. (iii) Societal contexts are practice- and interaction-related and embedded in everyday life on the micro-level; they endorse organisations, networks and their hierarchical order on the meso-level and relate to societal discourses, world views, and values on the macro-level.

Our explicit aim is to emphasise the so far neglected perspective on religion arising from culturally and socially structured phenomena–religion in this regard is understood as neither ‘quasi-naturally’ given nor as a necessarily antecedent and independent category. By this, we want to question Eurocentric perspectives in the sociology of religion and instead, search for alternative accesses to compare religions and contribute to a better understanding of the social mechanisms that make (and maintain) religions salient.

Projected structure:

 

(I) Introduction: Contextualising religion

(II) Religion in spatial contexts

Global contexts

Regional contexts

Local contexts

(III) Religion in social contexts

Religion and its political context

Religion and its legal contexts

Religion and contexts of economy and social inequality

Religion and its contexts of identity

(IV) Religion and the levels of inquiry

Religion in the context of everyday life

Religion in the context of organisations, networks and hierarchies

Religion in the context of structure and culture

The volume will be published by NOMOS end of 2017. Manuscripts should be submitted by 31.03.2017.

We are inviting for contributions of up to 30.000 characters (including bibliographical indications). We very much appreciate your acceptance. Initially, please submit an outline abstract of 500 words by 30.09.2016 to each editor:

 

Melanie Reddig: reddig@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de

Annette Schnabel: annette.schnabel@uni-duesseldorf.de

Heidemarie Winkel: heidemarie.winkel@uni-bielefeld.de

Call for Abstracts – Religion in Contexts

Call for Abstracts

Religion in Contexts

-Handbook of the Sociology of Religion-

                                                                                          We are inviting for outline abstracts of 500 words by 30.09.2016 to each editor.

                                                              Melanie Reddig, Düsseldorf/  Annette Schnabel, Düsseldorf/ Heidemarie Winkel, Bielefeld

It is the aim of the volume to collect contributions that contextualise religions in their worldwide multiplicity, their particular societal configurations and their dynamics of social transformation. We want to understand religion as a multi-dimensional concept comprising of religious beliefs, world views and practices as well as the richness of religious groups, parishes, organisations and professions characterized by varying hierarchical relations, norms and values systems of societal range. Additionally, religion is also relevant from a macro-perspective as a category of social belonging and social difference; this includes institutional settings as well as social teachings and the religious bodies of knowledge.

At large, the volume will gather and systematically discuss a wide range of contexts and their varying influences on religion. On the basis of selected empirical data, the contributions shall reveal the social mechanisms and processes by which religion is shaped, realised and made salient. By this, the volume will provide a theoretical reconstruction of varying social effects in various societal contexts and a critical input to the up-to-date sociology of religion. This includes the analysis of interdependencies with other social fields like politics or science as well as the intersection with other social categories of difference like gender, race or age.

We are looking for manuscripts that locate religion in spatial, functional and societal contexts: (i) spatial contexts may comprise of global, regional or local environments that influence the relationship between religion and society. (ii) Functional contexts may relate to law, politics and economics but also to social inequalities and social identities. (iii) Societal contexts are practice- and interaction-related and embedded in everyday life on the micro-level; they endorse organisations, networks and their hierarchical order on the meso-level and relate to societal discourses, world views, and values on the macro-level.

Our explicit aim is to emphasise the so far neglected perspective on religion arising from culturally and socially structured phenomena–religion in this regard is understood as neither ‘quasi-naturally’ given nor as a necessarily antecedent and independent category. By this, we want to question Eurocentric perspectives in the sociology of religion and instead, search for alternative accesses to compare religions and contribute to a better understanding of the social mechanisms that make (and maintain) religions salient.

Projected structure:

 

(I) Introduction: Contextualising religion

(II) Religion in spatial contexts

Global contexts

Regional contexts

Local contexts

(III) Religion in social contexts

Religion and its political context

Religion and its legal contexts

Religion and contexts of economy and social inequality

Religion and its contexts of identity

(IV) Religion and the levels of inquiry

Religion in the context of everyday life

Religion in the context of organisations, networks and hierarchies

Religion in the context of structure and culture

The volume will be published by NOMOS end of 2017. Manuscripts should be submitted by 31.03.2017.

We are inviting for contributions of up to 30.000 characters (including bibliographical indications). We very much appreciate your acceptance. Initially, please submit an outline abstract of 500 words by 30.09.2016 to each editor:

 

Melanie Reddig: reddig@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de

Annette Schnabel: annette.schnabel@uni-duesseldorf.de

Heidemarie Winkel: heidemarie.winkel@uni-bielefeld.de

Religions journal

Dear Colleagues,

Religions (ISSN 2077-1444, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions) feels honored to be announced at the ISSR website.

Religions is an international, open access scholarly journal, publishing peer reviewed studies of religious thought and practice. It is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database, Web of Science, Scopus, etc. Religions is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and, accordingly, submissions are peer reviewed rigorously to ensure that they conform to the highest standards in their field.

Religions publishes regular research papers, reviews, communications and reports on research projects. We dedicate to research of religion and sociology, as a result, we have published some papers in this filed. You may go to our website to have a look at the manuscripts that we published so far http://www.mdpi.com/search?journal=religions&section=97

We wish the conference will be a fabulous success. We sincerely hope we will have the opportunity of working with the conference participants in the near future.

On behalf of the editorial team,

Kind regards,
Jie Gu
Senior Assistant Editor


Ms. Jie Gu
MDPI Branch Office, Beijing
Religions Editorial Office
Tel. + 86 10 81521170
E-mail: religions@mdpi.com
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions
MDPI AG
Klybeckstrasse 64, 2nd Floor, Basel CH-4057, Switzerland
Tel. +41 61 683 77 34; Fax. +41 61 302 89 18