Book Announcement: Church in an Age of Global Migration – A Moving Body

Susanna Snyder, Joshua Ralston and Agnes Brazal are delighted to announce the publication of a new volume, Church in an Age of Global Migration: A Moving Body (Palgrave, 2015), that brings together contributors from all over the world to reflect on the question: How is migration changing the Church?

Migration has become a defining feature of the contemporary age. It has brought about significant changes in political, economic, social, and religious landscapes. This volume explores a question that has been little considered to date: how are churches being transformed in the face of global migration? The book features contributors from diverse national, denominational, cultural, professional, and linguistic backgrounds. Their essays reveal the ways in which migrants and the phenomenon of migration expose longstanding gaps and failings within Christian communities. However, the prevalence of migration and migrants simultaneously opens up fresh possibilities for churches to grow, renew, becoming more authentic, dynamic, and diverse. Church in an Age of Global Migration presents a collage of embodied ecclesial practices, understandings, and realities that have emerged and are continuing to develop in the face of global migration. Committed to transnational and ecumenical dialogue, and to integrating practical and theoretical perspectives, this volume is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of the ways in which churches are being changed by migrants.

UK, Europe, & ROW (excl. Australia & Canada): Direct Customer Services, Palgrave Macmillan, The Macmillan Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, UK, Tel: 0207 418 5802, Email: orders@palgrave.com

USA: Palgrave Macmillan, VHPS, 16365 James Madison Highway,  (US route 15), Gordonsville, VA 22942, USA, Email: consumerorders@mpsvirginia.com

Australia: Customer Services, Palgrave Macmillan, Level 1, 15-19 Claremont St, South Yarra, VIC 3141, Australia, Tel +61 3 9811 2555 (free call),  Email: orders@unitedbookdistributors.com.au

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5th European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health in Gdansk

5th European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health

“Religion and Spirituality in Health Care: Risk or Benefit for the Patient?”

May 12-14, 2016 • Gdansk (Poland) • www.ecrsh.eu

The 5th European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health will focus on the integration of religion and spirituality into health care and its implications for patients. Keynote speakers approach the topic from their specific professional background. The Gdansk Lecture will be held by Prof. Dr. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyn´ska (Poland).  Symposia invite for discussion and free communications allow research groups to present their research projects.

Contact:

The ECRSH16 is organised by the

Research Institute for Spirituality and Health RISH
[http://www.rish.ch/en/home]

Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
[www.ptprid.pl]

and the

University of Gdansk (Poland) [http://en.ug.edu.pl]

Send your requests to office@ecrsh.eu.

We kindly ask you to disseminate information about the Conference among
psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, doctors, nurses, chaplains,
Universities and places which provide help to the ailing. Please note that
the Conference welcomes not only scholars, but also practitioners.

 

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CFP – “Crossing the borders: Interdisciplinary research in Arabic and Islamic studies

Crossing the borders. Interdisciplinary research in Arabic and Islamic studies

Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia, May 2016

The Chair of Arabic Studies at Yerevan State University in cooperation
with Middle Orient project is pleased to invite graduate students (MA
and PhD) and recent post-docs of all fields associated with Arabic and
Islamic Studies (broadly defined) to present their recent research
during the graduate conference entitled Crossing the borders.
Interdisciplinary research in Arabic and Islamic studies, which will
take place in the first week of May 2016 (the exact date of the
conference will be specified later).

Research papers are accepted on all aspects of Arabic and Islamic
studies, including, but not limited to:
–Islamic Studies (History, religion, politics)
–Arabic Literature
–Arabic Linguistics
–The History of Arabic countries
–The Arab world in the framework of international relations
–Intercultural dialogue
–The topical issues of Arab Middle East

Each participant will be expected to speak for no longer than 20
minutes. At the end of each session the discussion will be opened by
the session moderator.

Submission process

For submitting a paper proposal, please send an abstract of proposed
paper (no more than 300 words) and a current CV to
graduateconferenceysu@gmail.com by 15th of February, 2016. Abstracts
should provide a brief description of the work, clearly outlining the
theoretical perspectives and methodology to be applied in the paper.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent until 29th of February, 2016.

All proposals will be subjected to peer-reviews. The selected papers
will be published in the proceeding volume of “Arabic Studies”- the
annually published official journal of the Chair of Arabic Studies,
YSU.

Please find the call for papers attached.

For any enquiries regarding the conference, please contact
info@middleorient.com.

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CFP – “Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World: Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality”, 20-21 May 2016

Call for Papers

Conference on

“Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World: Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality”

 

University of Chester, Chester (UK), 20-21 May 2016

Global migrations flows in the 20th century have seen the emergence of Muslim diaspora and minority communities in Europe, North America and Australia. In addition to these new Muslim presences in the global “West”, there have been, since the late 19th century, migration flows from the Middle East (Lebanon and Syria in particular) to South America and West Africa. Likewise, South Asian Muslims settled in East and South Africa in the 19th century. While there is a growing body of research on these Muslim minorities in various regional contexts, the particular experiences of Shia Muslim minorities across the globe has only received scant attention.

As “a minority within a minority”, Shia Muslims face the double-challenge of maintaining an Islamic as well as a particular Shia identity in terms of communal activities, practices, public perception and recognition. Often coming from minority contexts of marginalisation and discrimination, their experience of migration and settlement in other parts of the world, whether enforced or voluntary, is often different from those of other Muslim immigrants. The rich tradition of Shia ritual practices and the authority structures specific to different forms of Shia Islam likewise shape the post-migratory minority experience of Shia.

The conference will bring together researchers working on Shia minorities outside of the so-called “Muslim heartland” (North Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia). The conference will focus on Shia minorities in Europe, North and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, the Pacific Rim and East Asia that emerged out of migration from the Middle East and South Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries, in particular. The papers presented at the conference will offer unique comparative insights into Shia minorities in a variety of contexts across the globe.

Paper proposal can address but are not limited to the following topics:

–          dynamics between centre and periphery in global Shia Islam

–          multilocality and transnationalism of global Shia networks

–          transnational impact of events in the Middle East on post-migratory Shia minority communities

–          institutionalisation and organisation of post-migratory Shia minorities

–          public representation and perception of post-migratory Shia minorities and their interaction with state and majority-societies

–          sectarianism and Sunni-Shia relations in minority contexts

–          gender and generational dynamics within post-migratory Shia minorities

–          ritual practices and their adaptation in post-migratory minority contexts

–          adaptation of legal practices and legal reforms in minority contexts

–          role of clerical authority and leadership (whether transnational or local) in Shia minority contexts

Key note speakers:

Prof Liyakat Takim, McMasters University, Canada

Dr Sabrina Mervin, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris / Centre Jacques Berque, Rabat

Dr Mara Leichtman (Michigan State University) will launch her book Shi‘i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015) at the conference.

The conference is organised by the new Chester Centre for Islamic Studies and held in conjunction with a research project on transnational Shia networks that operate between Britain and the Middle East, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. A limited number of travel bursaries is available for PhD students and early career researchers whose paper proposals are accepted. The publication of a selection of papers in an edited volume is also planned.

The deadline for abstract submission is 15 December 2015. Abstracts of up to 300 words and a short bio of (up to 200 words) should be sent in MS Word format as an email attachment to ccis@chester.ac.uk. Notifications of acceptance of papers will be sent out by 20 January 2016. Early career researchers should indicate whether they would like to receive a travel bursary when submitting the abstract.

Presentations of papers should be 15 minutes long, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussions. Full papers should not exceed 8,000 words, including references and footnotes, and should be submitted, in full, prior to the conference by 1 May 2016.

For general enquiries, email Prof Oliver Scharbrodt, Director of Chester Centre for Islamic Studies, o.scharbrodt@chester.ac.uk.

Timeline:

Abstract submission:                      15 December 2015

Notification of acceptance:          20 January 2016

Full paper submission:                   1 May 2016

Conference:                                       20-21 May 2016

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CFP: EASR Christianity in diaspora – ethnographic case studies of religious practice and identity construction

Dear colleagues,
please consider the opportunity to present your ethnographic research on Christianity in diaspora and if possible, distribute in your networks:

European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) 2016 Conference ‘Relocating Religion’

28 June – 1 July 2016, Helsinki

CALL FOR INDIVIDUAL PAPERS for OPEN SESSION on:

 

CHRISTIANITY IN DIASPORA: ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS PRACTICE AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION

 

The session will use the concept of diaspora – broadly defined both in relation to the transnational and in-country movement of groups of people – in order to explore the practice and experience of Christianity in different socio-cultural settings as communities of people relocate to areas outside their ‘homelands’. The session invites ethnographic papers discussing, but not exclusively, questions such as: What role does Christianity and its institutions play in community-building, community empowerment and community welfare in diaspora settings? How are churches constituted and organised in diaspora? How do churches mediate relations and negotiate cultural differences with (non-Christian) host populations? To what extent are Christian churches involved in facilitating integration with/separation from host societies? What relations do diasporic Christians maintain with their ‘homelands’? How does Christianity shape diasporic identities? How is Christian practice/theology (re)shaped by the diasporic experience? By exploring diasporic forms of Christianity across the world, the session will open up understanding of the diversity of Christian identities, practices, theologies and ways of engaging with and explaining the world among diasporic communities, and the theoretical potentiality inherent in this.

In order to submit an abstract for this open session, please follow the link https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/65198/lomake.html and the submission instructions.

Submission deadline: 31 December

 

Session conveners:

Iliyana Angelova (University of Oxford)

Ksenia Medvedeva (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia)

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Job Opening: Comparative Muslim Societies and Cultures Associate Professor/Assistant Professor – Simon Fraser University

Comparative Muslim Societies and Cultures

Associate Professor/Assistant Professor

The Department of History, in conjunction with the Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures (CCSMSC) at Simon Fraser University, seeks to make an appointment at the rank of associate professor (with tenure for qualifying candidates) in the field of comparative Muslim societies and cultures. Exceptional candidates at the rank of assistant professor (without tenure) may also be considered.  The recommended candidate will serve as director of the CCSMSC for a 5-year term.  The teaching load for the Director will be 3 courses per year over 2 teaching semesters. The director of the CCSMSC will have access to research funding from the Centre.

Strong candidates in all disciplinary fields will be given serious consideration. The geographic area of specialization is open. Knowledge of Arabic and/or Persian or other regional research language(s) is preferred. The successful candidate will have an international reputation with a strong publication record and extensive teaching experience, preferably at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Simon Fraser University is committed to employment equity and encourages applications from all qualified women and men, including visible minorities, aboriginal people, and persons with disabilities. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. Under the authority of the University Act, personal information that is required by the University for academic appointment competitions will be collected. For further details see the Collection Notice. This position is subject to final approval by SFU’s Board of Governors.

Applications must be submitted electronically in PDF format to ccsmsc@sfu.ca and include a cover letter describing research and teaching experience, a curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and a sample publication. Applicants should arrange to have three reference letters sent independently.

The review of applications will begin on January 15, 2016, and will continue until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration, applications should be submitted by this date.  The Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures was established at Simon Fraser University in 2006 to encourage the academic discussion and public understanding of the cultures and societies of Muslim peoples in the past and the present. The community of scholars addressing Muslim societies and cultures at SFU currently numbers over 20 regular faculty in departments across the university, together with a complement of visiting scholars and research associates. Please visit the CCSMSC online at http://www.sfu.ca/ccsmsc.html for details.

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Christmas in the Multicultural City: Public and Private Rituals between Culture, Religion and Consumption

Christmas in the Multicultural City: Public and Private Rituals between Culture, Religion and Consumption

A workshop of the Religion and Public Memory in Multicultural Societies Project

Christmas is a not a holiday just for Christians anymore, if it ever was. Embedded in calendars around the world and long a lucrative merchandising opportunity, the festive season of Christmas enters multicultural, multi-religious public spaces through decorative displays, ritual activities and collective gatherings. The presence of Christmas in the public sphere also affects what goes on in private homes: many non-Christians get caught up in the celebration of Christmas, adapting and transforming it, adding new layers of meaning to it. In the process, Christmas becomes a contested political object, particularly when various social players begin to articulate their claims to Christmas: Is it a religious holiday, as the churches would have it – and should it therefore be ‘secularized’ in the public sphere, as the secularist view would have it? Or is it ‘cultural’ – as many different groups argue – and what does this claim entail? This workshop takes a comparative historical and ethnographic perspective on the affective and political significance of Christmas in the multicultural city.  Based on a workshop model with pre-circulated papers, the two-day gathering will include scholars working on diverse regions who have considered the ways that Christmas has served as a catalyst of conflict and compromise in the “secular” yet religiously diverse city.

10. – 12.12.2015  — Tübingen, Neue Aula, Kleiner Senat und Raum 236 
 
Chair: Prof. Dr. Monique Scheer, University of Tübingen, Ludwig Uhland Institute for Historical and Cultural Anthropology; Prof. Dr. Pamela Klassen, University of Toronto; supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

If you are interested in attending this workshop, please send an email

Program:

Thursday, 10 December

 

14:00 – 14:15

 

Official welcome (Pamela Klassen, Monique Scheer)

 

14:15 – 15:15

Pamela Klassen, University of Toronto // Monique Scheer, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen: 

Religion and Public Memory in Multicultural Societies

 

15:15 – 16:00

Isaac Weiner, Ohio State University: 

And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!’: Listening to Christmas in the Multicultural City”

 
 

COFFEE BREAK (30 minutes)

 

16:30 – 17:15 

Juliane Brauer, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung Berlin: 

Christmas Songs and Christmas Feelings – Music, Emotion and Remembrance 

 

17:15 – 18:00

Andreas Bandak, University of Copenhagen: 

The Nativity Crib and the Scenery of Good Tidings; or on Celebrating Christmas Damascus’ Style

 

 

DINNER

 

Friday, 11 December

 

9:00 – 9:45 

 

Yaniv Feller, Jüdisches Museum Berlin: 

“O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum”: The Role of a Christmas Tree in a Jewish Museum

 

9:45 – 10:30

Helen Mo, University of Toronto: 

The Christmas Crisis: Lessons from a Canadian Public School’s Seasonal Skirmish

 

 

COFFEE BREAK (30 minutes)

 

11:00 – 11:45

Christian Marchetti, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen:

German Volkskunde, Christmas and Southeastern Europe

 

11:45 – 12:30

Pamela Klassen, University of Toronto: 

‘The First White Christmas’: Settler Odes and Nisga’a Hospitality on the Nass River

 

 

LUNCH BREAK (1h 30 minutes)

 

14:00 – 14:45

Amy Fisher, University of Toronto: 

Sleeping Rough and Feeling Stuffed: A “Homeless” Christmas in Toronto

 

14:45 – 15:30

Sophie Reimers, Viadrina University, Frankfurt/Oder: 

“What Exactly Do You Celebrate on Christmas?”: Different Perceptions of Christmas Among German-Turkish Families in Berlin

 

COFFEE BREAK (30 minutes)

 

16:00 – 16:45

Simon Coleman, University of Toronto: 

The Walsingham Cathedral

 

16:45 – 17:30 

Katja Rakow, Utrecht University: 

Christmas on Orchard Road in Singapore: Celebrating the Gift of Jesus Christ among Gucci and Tiffany’s stores

 

17:30 – 18:00

FINAL DISCUSSION

 
 

WEIHNACHTSMARKT TÜBINGEN & DINNER

 

Saturday, 12 December

 

FIELD TRIP TO NÜRNBERG

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CFP: Religions and Human Rights

CALL FOR PAPERS

International conference

RELIGIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Padua (Italy), April 14-15, 2016

The relationship between religion and human rights is controversial and
debated. The aim of the international conference is to take stock of the
complex connections between religion and human rights, emphasizing that
both the definition and the application of these two concepts are
influenced by the different social and cultural contexts within which they
are placed.
Starting from the geopolitical changes which have involved contemporary
society on a global scale, the conference intends to critically evaluate
the two main narratives on this topic: on the one hand religions
understood as an element opposing the affirmation of human rights, and on
the other religions considered as agencies facilitating the implementation
of human rights. Religious rights, understood as individual and/or
collective rights, are disputed as well.
How do religious traditions and new religious communities approach human
rights issues? How do states manage religious traditions and religious
diversification? How are human rights discourses and practices affected by
the social context?

Participants are invited to explore from different disciplinary
perspectives the following topics:
Freedom of expression, speech, choice, association; non-discrimination;
gender issues; religion-state relations; violence; conflict; peace.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Eileen Barker, London School of Economics
Lori Beaman, University of Ottawa
Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers International
Silvio Ferrari, University of Milan
Enzo Pace, University of Padua
James Richardson, University of Nevada
Hans-Georg Ziebertz, University of Wuerzburg

The international conference is organized by the Joint PhD Programme on
“Human Rights, Society, and Multi-level Governance” (Universities of
Athens-Panteion, Padua, Western Sydney, Zagreb).

Scientific Committee:
Giuseppe Giordan, University of Padua
Adam Possamai, Western Sidney University
Constantin Preda, University of Bucharest
Siniša Zrinščak, University of Zagreb

Abstracts (300 words) should be sent to Giuseppe Giordan
(giuseppe.giordan@unipd.it) no later than January 15th, 2016.
Acceptance notification will be sent by January 25th, 2016.
There are no fees for attendance.

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