Religious Fundamentalism in the Middle East A Cross-National, Inter-Faith, and Inter-Ethnic Analysis
Mansoor Moaddel, Eastern Michigan University and Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan
Brill – July 2013
In Religious Fundamentalism in the Middle East, Moaddel and Karabenick analyze fundamentalist beliefs and attitudes across nations (Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia), faith (Christianity and Islam), and ethnicity (Azari-Turks, Kurds, and Persians among Iranians), using comparative survey data. For them, fundamentalism is not just a set of religious beliefs. It is rather a set of beliefs about and attitudes toward whatever religious beliefs one has. In this analysis, the authors show that fundamentalist beliefs and attitudes vary across national contexts and individual characteristics, and predict people’s orientation toward the same set of historical issues that were the concerns of fundamentalist intellectual leaders and activists. The authors’ analysis reveals a “cycle of spirituality” that reinforces the critical importance of taking historical and cultural contexts into consideration to understand the role of religious fundamentalism in contemporary Middle Eastern societies.
The John Templeton Foundation is launching a $3m funding competition to advance the scientific study of religious cognition.
Purpose and scope: Scientific descriptions of how people think about God and gods are currently fragmented across sub-disciplines of the psychological, cognitive, and social sciences. This competition is designed to promote integration of ten existing lines of research and to generate and test new hypotheses that emerge from this integration. Applicants may request up to $250,000 for empirical or conceptual projects of up to 30 months in duration.
Eligibility: The competition is open to researchers worldwide. Proposals are encouraged from — but not limited to — scholars in the disciplines of psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, religious studies, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science.
Deadline: October 1, 2013
Full details are available at
http://www.templeton.org/what-we-fund/funding-competitions/gods-in-minds-the-science-of-religious-cognition
The Religious and the Political:
A Comparative Sociology of Religion
Bryan S. Turner
Cambridge University Press, 2013
Description
While the relationships between ethics and religion, and violence and politics, are of enduring interest, the interface between religion and violence is one of the most problematic features of the contemporary world. Following in the tradition of Max Weber’s historical and comparative study of religions, this book explores the many ways in which religion and politics are both combined and separated across different world religions and societies. Through a variety of case studies including the monarchy, marriage, law and conversion, Bryan S. Turner explores different manifestations of secularization, and how the separation of church and state is either compromised or abandoned. He considers how different states manage religion in culturally and religiously diverse societies and concludes with a discussion of the contemporary problems facing the liberal theory of freedom of religion. The underlying theoretical issue is the conditions for legitimacy of rule in modern societies experiencing global changes.
The Vitality of New Religions: Thinking Globally, Existing Locally
Baylor University
Waco (Texas), 5-8 June 2014
http://www.cesnur.org/2014/waco-cfp.htm
CALL FOR PAPERS
The 2014 CESNUR Conference will return to Waco, Texas, and Baylor University, where it will be hosted by the Institute for Studies on Religion. We welcome papers especially on this year’s theme:
“The Vitality of New Religions: Thinking Globally, Existing Locally”
As the 2013 CESNUR conference in Falun focused on the changing scene relative to new religions, this one will focus on space-the global visions projected by new religion and their attempts to embody their vision in local centers. With this theme in mind, we will welcome especially papers on new religious movements in Texas and the American Southwest, including but by no means limited to the Latter-day Saints, the House of Yahweh, Freemasonry, Barsana Dham, the Branch Davidians, and the Texas phase of various national and international new religions.
Papers will also be welcomed on
– 21st-century new, new religions
– Third generation new religions movements
– New religions operation as global networks
– And all those topics upon which you are currently conducting research in our usual, larger area.
Papers and sessions proposals should be submitted by E-mail before the close of business on 21 January 2014 to cesnur_to@virgilio.it, accompanied by an abstract of no more than 300 words and a CV of no more than 200 words. Proposals may be submitted either in English or in French.
The conference will begin on Wednesday evening with a reception and opening session, introducing Waco and Texas’ history of new religions which reaches back to Sam Houston and the founders of the Texas Republic. Did you know that Houston corresponded with Joseph Smith, Jr., on the relocation of the Saints to the Republic?
Conference sessions will run through the day on Thursday and Friday, through Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon will be a time for a local tour, which will focus on the Homestead Heritage community north of Waco, and will also provide for an optional visit to the Branch Davidian site.
Call for Proposals and Films
The Bodily and Material Cultures of Religious Subjectivation
The Bodily and Material Cultures of Religious Subjectivation
www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/anthropology-news/call-for-proposals-religious-subjectivation
Program Details
Intended date of conference: 17-18 June, 2014.
Venue: UCL, Dept. of Anthropology.*
Deadline for CFP: 31 December, 2013.
Conference Convenors: Jean-Pierre Warnier and Urmila Mohan.
For further information please contact Urmila Mohan (u.mohan.11@ucl.ac.uk<mailto:u.mohan.11@ucl.ac.uk).
Statement of Purpose
There is no known religious practice that does not involve bodily motions (bowing, standing, walking, fasting, feasting, etc.) and their associated emotions, nor the use of given material things (shrines, musical instruments, substances of various kinds). Both involve the sensory apparatus of touch, sight, smell, etc. Without disregarding religious discourses and creeds, the conference will focus on the cultures of religious practice with a strong emphasis on both ethnographic documentation and theoretical elaboration based on a few basic principles — the importance of Bodily and Material Culture, and Religious Subjectivation involving technologies of the self.
Call for Proposals and Films
We welcome proposals from students, faculty and independent researchers based on ethnographic fieldwork focused on both bodily and material cultures of religious practice as part of the production of a religious subject in different areas and religious settings (Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Asiatic, African and other religions, etc.). The papers should address theoretical issues, whatever theoretical references may be put to use, provided they articulate bodily and material cultures. We aim at establishing discussions between various academic traditions on both sides of the Atlantic and the Channel. Short documentary films (e.g. 20 min maximum as a rule) showing the intertwinement of bodily and material cultures in religious practice are welcome. The proposals (of ca. one page) should be addressed to the convenors. They will be assessed by the organizing committee of the conference. Ultimately, we expect to end up with an edited volume.
*This event is organised by UCL Anthropology<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropologytogether with the Interdisciplinary Research Group (GDRI) “Anthropology and Art History” http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/enseignement/research/the-gdri-anthropology-and-art-history.html
at the Musée du Quai Branly.
Call for Paper: Developing a sense of belonging in diverse societies: Hui-Muslims in China and Muslims in Europe
14-15 May 2014
Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies
KU Leuven University, Belgium
www.gcis-kuleuven.com
Keynote Speakers: Hui-Muslims in China, Li Zhinong, Yunnan University Muslims in Europe: Jorgen Nielsen, Copenhagen University
Key words: Citizenship, Immigration, Translocality, Nation-State, Ethnic-religious identity, Memory
The aim of this workshop is to gather scholars who work on Hui-Muslims in China and Muslims in Europe to compare the similitudes and differences of identity practices. Hui are predominantly Chinese speaking Muslims in China’s vast territory. With a population of 10 million, they are also the most numerous recognized ethnic group in China. Muslims in Europe are hardly featured in international media, domestic politics, and scholarly discussions. Multiculturalism, radicalisation, immigration, integration, forced marriage are discussed through the Muslim visibility and presence in Europe. Recent debates on integration and secularism are focused on the ‘Muslim question’. In contrast to the focus on Muslims in Europe, there is a notable lack of interest in Muslims in China with the exception of the Uyghur community.
In this workshop, we want to study the impact of ethnic-religious interactions, state integration positions and policies to grasp the increasing influence of religious-collective-national expression of Muslims in the public sphere. We would like to examine the new patterns of expression and visibility of the Muslims in China and Europe. Tracing Muslim’s interaction with non-Muslims, this workshop investigates how Muslims encounters, accommodates and negotiates into different socio-political contexts in China and Europe.
A comparison between China and Europe provides a guide for analysis of different models. The workshop looks at the modes of organization of Muslims, their identity demands, social-cultural and religious dynamics of solidarity.
To examine Muslims’ ethnic-religious identifications in contemporary China and Europe, and trace in which ways Muslims develop a sense of belonging to the wider society, this international workshop will broadly focus (but also restrain the focus) on two topics: (1) the collective memory and identification of Muslims and (2) the interaction of Muslims with the local communities and the State.
– Creating Collective Memory and Identity (through festivals, food, other trivial identity markers): This part looks at the Muslim way of life and their practices within different contexts to understand how a Muslim memory is shaped and constructed. In this regard, we want to analyze the circulation of narratives, translocal practices among Muslims in Europe and in China to seek whether they create new patterns-mixtures of their self-presentation. As Muslims are not homogeneous groups both in Europe and China, ethnic-religious diversity enforces the diversification of Muslim identity and practices within various secular-national contexts. The aim is to observe the daily practices, narratives and strategies to figure out the dynamics through which Muslims formulate their self.
– Relations with other local ethnic-religious communities and with the State (exchange with different faith people, institutions, public authorities, citizenship models etc.) In this part, we want to understand the interaction of Muslims with non-Muslims, local communities and the state to adjust and to maintain their cultural-religious identity. The capacity of adjusting religious-political identity enables to study the citizenship rhetoric, community dynamics, and institutional structures. The different modes of dynamics between Muslims, non-Muslims and the State constitute the possible ways of pluralism and co-existence of differences. We examine the specific strategies and policies developed by Muslims and authorities to negotiate the citizenship and integration models.
Tuition Fees
There is no tuition fee for participants in the workshop programme. However, presenters and participants are expected to pay the costs of their travel and accommodation. The organizers have a reduced prize from ‘La Royale’ hotel in Leuven. The GCIS covers the meals and transportation in Belgium during the workshop.
Outcome
A proceedings book of the workshop will be printed and distributed in advance of the workshop itself.
Within six months à maximum 1 year of the event, an edited book will be produced and published by the GCIS with Leuven University Press, comprising some or all of the papers presented at the Workshop, at the condition that they pass a peer review organized by the publisher. The papers will be arranged and introduced, and to the extent appropriate, edited, by scholar(s) to be appointed by the Editorial Board. Copyright of the papers accepted to the Workshop will be vested in the GCIS.
Selection Criteria
The workshop will accept up to 15 participants, each of whom must meet the following requirements:
– have a professional and/or research background in related topics of the workshop; – be able to attend the entire programme.
Since the Workshop expects to address a broad range of topics while the number of participants has to be limited, writers submitting abstracts are requested to bear in mind the need to ensure that their language is technical only where it is absolutely necessary and the language should be intelligible to non-specialists and specialists in disciplines other than their own; and present clear, coherent arguments in a rational way and in accordance with the usual standards and format for publishable work.
Timetable
1. Abstracts (300-500 words maximum) and CVs (maximum 1 page) to be received by 1st October 2013.
2. Abstracts to be short-listed by the Editorial Board and papers invited by 7th October 2013. 3. Papers (3,000 words minimum – 5,500 words maximum, excluding bibliography) to be received by 1st March 2014.
4. Papers reviewed by the Editorial Board and classed as: Accepted – No Recommendations; Accepted – See Recommendations; Conditional Acceptance – See Recommendations; Not Accepted, by 20th March 2014. 5. Final papers to be received by 15th April 2014.
Workshop Editorial Board
Johan Leman, KU Leuven
Li Zhinong, Yunnan University
Erkan Toguslu, KU Leuven
Ching Lin Pang, KU Leuven
Workshop Co-ordinator
Erkan Toguslu, KU Leuven
Ding Yuan, Yunnan University – KU Leuven
Venue
KU Leuven University
The international workshop is organized by KU Leuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies and Research Center for Studies of Chinese Southwest’s Borderland Ethnic Minorities of Yunnan University. It will be entirely conducted in English and will be hosted by KU Leuven Gülen Chair in Leuven.
Papers and abstract should be sent to Erkan Toguslu: erkan.toguslu@soc.kuleuven.be
For more information plz contact:
Erkan Toguslu
KU Leuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies Parkstraat 45 – box 3615 3000 Leuven