Postdoc in the Sociology of Religion

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Happy New Year dear SocRel colleagues!

I would like to draw your attention to a 2-year post doc open at the University of Helsinki, with a focus on sociology of religion (religion in Europe, religion and migration, stats skills preferred, but all considered).

https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/avoimet-tyopaikat/postdoctoral-researcher

Please share!

Best,
Dr Titus Hjelm
Associate Professor in the Study of Religion
Department of Cultures
University of Helsinki

Three new books on Religion & Sexualities

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Religion and Sexualities: Theories, Themes and Methodologies, by Sarah-Jane Page and Heather Shipley (Routledge 2020) https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Sexualities-Theories-Themes-and-Methodologies/Page-Shipley/p/book/9781138504288. This book offers an encompassing account of the sociology of sexuality and religion, considering theoretical and methodological lenses, queer experiences, and how sexuality is gendered in religious contexts.

Intersecting Religion and Sexuality: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Sarah-Jane Page and Andrew Kam-Tuk Yip (Brill 2020) https://brill.com/view/title/38647. This edited collection outlines what an intersectional analysis can offer research into religion and sexuality, over 12 chapters.

Embodying Religion, Gender and Sexuality, edited by Sarah-Jane Page and Katy Pilcher (Routledge 2020) https://www.routledge.com/Embodying-Religion-Gender-and-Sexuality/Page-Pilcher/p/book/9780367649555. Taking the notion of embodiment as its starting point, this volume maps the interconnecting relationships between religion, gender and sexuality.

Job Opening: Assistant Professor of Sociology

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Assistant Professor – Sociology Pacific University Forest Grove, OR
Information at the Pacific University website.

Focus on quantitative sociology

The department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice Law and Society (SOANCJ) at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon is seeking an Assistant Professor of Sociology (tenure-track) to join the department in Fall 20

  • In alignment with the university’s mission to mentor students to be individuals who ‘think, care, create, and pursue justice in our world,’ the SOANCJ department strives to ‘engage students to create learning environments that foster critical and creative thinking using social science research and methods regarding the context, origins, and solutions to pressing social issues.’ The successful candidate’s approach to teaching, research, and university service will align with these mission statements. Candidates must have a PhD in Sociology or related field by September 1st, 20
  • The department seeks an individual with a quantitative background in sociology who demonstrates a promise for excellent teaching and mentorship of students and who will be able to teach courses within a liberal arts context. In addition to a promise for excellent teaching and mentorship, the successful candidate will implement a promising research agenda. Tenure-track faculty at Pacific teach 20 credits (typically, five courses) per year. The successful candidate will be asked to teach First Year Seminar (FYS), Social Statistics, Quantitative Research Methods and other courses in their specialty. We especially encourage scholars with a specialty in ethnic/intersectional studies and/or an interest in contributing to the development of an ethnic/intersectional studies program to apply. Pacific University is located in Forest Grove, Oregon, twenty-five miles west of Downtown Portland.

    • Call for Papers: “The Family in Chinese Christianity”

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    “Generational Legacies:
    The Family in Chinese Christianity”
    Special Issue of Review of Religion and Chinese Society

    Though the vast majority of Christians in China today are converts, or first-generation Christians, a significant and influential number of Chinese Christians trace their faith back to earlier generations. Some Chinese families count a Christian heritage six, seven, or even more generations back. In the contemporary Western tradition, Christianity is often framed as an individualized religion—conversion is an individual’s choice and having a “personal relationship” with God is emphasized. However, outside of the West where Christianity has experienced rapid growth, particularly in collectivist cultures, such a framing may not fit. In China, the family, rather than the individual, has traditionally been the most basic unit. The family is integral to the understanding of Chinese religious life, but this has not been a major focus of much of the research on Chinese Christianity, particularly Protestantism. By focusing on the importance of the family in Chinese Christianity, we see that this religion is not simply a Western implant, but truly a Chinese religion.
    This special issue of Review of Religion and Chinese Society will publish select articles that provide fresh perspectives on how understandings of the family may shed new insights onto Chinese Christianity. Topics may include (but are not limited to):

    • Commemoration of family history by Chinese Christian families
    • How Chinese Christianity is linked to kinship or lineage networks
    • Religious influence of (great) grandparents on young generations
    • “Sinification” of Chinese Christian families
    • Intergenerational challenges for Chinese Christian families
    • Multi-religious or mixed religious Chinese families
    • How Chinese Christian families perform life course rituals
    • How Chinese Christian families express their religious identity

    Important Dates:

    • Complete drafts: March 20, 2021. Drafts should be 5,000-8,000 words (including bibliography and notes). Please refer to the RRCS Instructions for Authors for paper formatting details. Also, please include abstract (100-200 words) and a brief CV. Submit these materials and any questions to Chris White: chrismwhite@purdue.edu.
    • Decisions will be made by April 1. Those selected will be invited to participate in a workshop that will take place on April 26, 2021, 9:00-11:30 am EST. The goal of this workshop is for all contributors to offer constructive suggestions on the papers and better allow the articles to dialogue with each other. (Attendance at the workshop is not mandatory for consideration.)
    • Final draft: May 31, 2021. After final submission, all papers will go through the normal, rigorous blind peer-review process with the journal. The tentative plan is that the special issue will be published in late 2021 as issue 8.2 of Review of Religion and Chinese Society.

    Annual Review: “Chinese Religions Going Global”

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    Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion
    Volume 11:     Chinese Religions Going Global

    Edited by Nanlai Cao, Giuseppe Giordan, & Fenggang Yang

    Cover Chinese Religions Going GlobalAs China is being increasingly integrated into the global economy, more and more Chinese people live transnational lives and practice religion globally. So far scholarship of the relationship between religion and globalization in the Chinese religious field has primarily been set in the historical context of the encounter between Western Christian missionaries and local Chinese agents, and little is known about a global Chinese religious field that is in the making. The Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion Volume 11: Chinese Religions Going Global seeks to challenge the dichotomous ordering of the western global and the Chinese local, and to add a new perspective for understanding religious modernity globally. Contributors from four continents who represent a range of specialisms apply social scientific methods in order to systematically research the globalization of Chinese religions.

    The latest issue of Review of Religion and Chinese Society is available online

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    Review of Religion and Chinese Society
    Volume 7, Issue 2

    The latest issue of Review of Religion and Chinese Society has been published and is now available online. Edited by Anna Sun, Volume 7 Issue 2 is a special issue entitled “Confucianism and Daoism: From Max Weber to the Present” which gathers scholars of Confucianism and Daoism to have a open conversation. The articles included in RRCS 7.2 are listed below.

    Editorial
    Confucianism and Daoism: From Max Weber to the Present
    Anna Sun
    Articles
    “The Last Confucian” in the Rice Paddy of Java: Toward Constructing an Anthropology of Confucianism
    Yong Chen
    From Female Daoist Rationality to Kundao Practice: Daoism beyond Weber’s Understanding
    Robin R. Wang
    From Alchemy to Science: Daoist Healthcare in Contemporary China
    Jonathan Pettit
    Religion and the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia
    Kenneth Dean
    Thinking with Weber’s Religion of China in the Twenty-First Century
    Anna Sun
    Book Reviews
    The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China, written by Carsten T. Vala
    Marie-Eve Reny
    China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
    Alexander Chow
    Buddhism after Mao: Negotiations, Continuities, and Reinventions, edited by Ji Zhe, Gareth Fisher, and André Laliberté
    Tzu-Lung Chiu
    Family Sacrifices: The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans, written by Russel M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim
    Steven Hu

    CFP: “Feasts in Latin America: Customs, Cultural Heritage, Social Patterns”

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    Daniela and I are organizing at the XLIII INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICANISM, PERUGIA 2021 the panel 15 FEASTS IN LATIN AMERICA: CUSTOMS, CULTURAL HERITAGE, SPACIAL PATTERNS (Fiestas en América Latina: prácticas, patrimonio cultural, patrones espaciales)

    The conference takes place at Perugia (Italia), from 6-11 May 2021. The deadline for the submission of a proposal is 31.01.2021. Further information on the conference you find at the following links:

    http://www.amerindiano.org/xliii-convegno-internazionale-di-americanistica/?lang=es (Spanish)

    http://www.amerindiano.org/xliii-convegno-internazionale-di-americanistica/?lang=en (English)

    The proposals and a CV have to be submitted till 31 January 2021 via the online registration form you may find following the same link.

    Presentations can be held Portuguese, English, French, Italian, Spanish and any Latin American language.

    For any questions please contact the coordinators: Daniela.Salvucci@unibz.it  or Tobias Boos,
    tobiboos@gmail.com.

    We wish you nice festive days, that you stay healthy and we hope to see you soon another time face-to-face.

    Best wishes,
    Tobias

    Theological Action Research Training Day

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    Event Information

    TARN

    Date of Event

    6th January 2021
    Last Booking Date for this Event

    4th January 2021
    Description

    The training is designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to embark on your own theological action research project. 

    The day is run by Dr Helen Cameron, Research Associate of the Centre for Baptist Studies at Regent’s Park College, Oxford and Dr James Butler, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Roehampton and MA lecturer at the Church Mission Society, Oxford.

    The day runs from 2.30pm to 8.30pm (UK time).  It will be interactive and conversational and take place over Zoom.

    • Early Bird Fees (now until 30/11/2020):  Waged Researcher £45;  Doctoral student £30.     
    • Standard fee (1/12/2020 – 4/1/2021): Waged Researcher £50; Doctoral student £35.

    https://estore.roehampton.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/conferences/tarn-2021/theological-action-research-training-day-6-january

    The Peter B Clarke Memorial Essay Prize

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    I’m writing you just before breaking for the holidays to let you know that our annual postgraduate essay prize is open to receive submissions. The Peter B Clarke Memorial Essay Prize is sponsored by Taylor and Francis, and it awards an essay on any aspect of contemporary religion addressed from a sociological perspective.

    Up for grabs is £100 cash prize, £50 book voucher, a subscription to Journal of Contemporary Religion, and a full pass for a Socrel Annual Conference. As well, the winner is welcome to submit their entry to Journal of Contemporary Religion and, subject to peer review, it will be published and identified as the prize-winning article.

    Full details are on our website, including the cover sheet can be download.

    https://www.britsoc.co.uk/groups/study-groups/sociology-of-religion-study-group/funding/

    The deadline for the essay prize is 30 April 2021. There is lots of time, so if you are a postgraduate member, please consider entering! And if you are supervising a student or teach students in this field, please pass on the details for their consideration.

    With best regards,

    Michael Munnik

    Publications and Communications Officer, Socrel

    on behalf of the Socrel Executive Committe

    Online seminar: “Becoming religious: How and why beliefs and practices are transmitted.”

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    This is a reminder that INFORM’s next online seminar will take place from 5.30-7.30pm on 14th January, on the topic “Becoming religious: How and why beliefs and practices are transmitted.” The seminar will explore the motivations of minority religions and spiritual seekers to transmit and learn, and the processes they employ.

    You can register to attend by making a donation through our website, at https://inform.ac/seminars . If you would prefer not to make a donation, please email us at inform@kcl.ac.uk to book your place.

    Speakers will give short presentations, followed by an extended conversation and Q&A. More details about the seminar are below. 

    Confirmed speakers include:

    • “The Stickiness of Non-Religion? Intergenerational Transmission and the Formation of Non-Religious Identities in Childhood” – Dr Anna Strhan, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of York and Dr Rachael Shillitoe, Research Associate, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham
    • “Religious transmission among British Sikhs” – Dr Jasjit Singh, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds 
    • “Making Witches: Transmission of Wicca Before, During and After the Era of the Self-help Paperback” – Dr Christina Oakley Harrington, Pagan Federation
    • “Inventing Memory: the challenges of mass conversion in a liberal setting” – Professor Ben Pink Dandelion, University of Birmingham
    • Professor Emerita Kim Knott, Lancaster University will respond. 

    Seminar abstract

    All people, young and old, are involved in the process of learning and passing on ideas, beliefs and practices that are important to them. This is how they express their identities and commitments, and how they sustain their worldviews, ideologies and ritual systems. Without effective processes for intergenerational and adult transmission, religious institutions, new or well-established, cannot survive and thrive. That ‘chain of memory’, as Danièle Hervieu-Léger noted, is the major feature distinguishing religion from other systems of meaning. And, although many in Western societies find themselves unschooled and adrift when it comes to religious affiliation and participation, they have increasing access, especially online, to an immense array of spiritual opportunities and resources. What paths they choose to follow, formal or informal, and how they go about acquiring the necessary beliefs, practices and training, are varied.

    Best wishes,
    Warwick J S Hawkins
    Office Manager
    INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements)