New book on youth and religion

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Flàvio Munhoz Sofiati, Religião e juventude. Os novos carismàticos, Editora Ideias&Letras, São Paulo 2013².

O estudo aqui apresentado percorre a maneira como a vitalidade carismática coloniza a o cotidiano de seus jovens seguidores, vertebrando propostas aparentemente “estranhas” à juventude, que oscilam da rigidez doutrinal, no campo sexual, a integração das mais avançadas tecnologias e performances musicais. Numa narrativa fluída, o livro revela insuspeitados mecanismos sociológicos que tecem as tramas do religioso, irrigando o mundo urbano nas grandes cidades. Além disso, o livro de Flávio Sofiati oferece uma compreensão das crises da juventude, em geral, e de suas aspirações religiosas, em particular.

International Workshop: The Future of Religious Pluralism in Europe

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International Workshop: The Future of Religious Pluralism in Europe
Friday, May 17th – Saturday, May 18th 2013

Academic Direction: Volker Heins (KWI), Riem Spielhaus, (EZIRE)
Location: Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI), Gartensaal, Goethestr. 31, 45128 Essen, Germany
Organizer: Research Unit “Interculturality” at the KWI & Erlangen Centre for Islam & Law in Europe (EZIRE)

Recent surveys by the Pew Research Center indicate that globalization and migration are changing the relations between the state and religion, because the world population, with the notable exception of Europeans, is becoming more religious and devout. Through immigration, particularly from Muslim-majority countries, the ramifications of this trend are increasingly felt in Europe too. With regard to Muslims, we are witnessing new combinations of well-known forms of xenophobia and racism with a more subtle and insidious anti-religious impulse of the “enlightened” sections of the population. These new ideological combinations have found expression in recent public controversies about Muslim headscarves, halal/kosher butchering, the ritual circumcision of Jewish and Muslim boys and, more generally, on the place and visibility of religion in European society. Overall, these controversies – and the policies they inspire – have a tendency to restrict the freedom of cultural and religious minorities and to favour a shift from a “passive” or “open” to a more “coercive” or “fundamentalist” type of secularism, in line with the broader European trend away from multiculturalism.
However, this trend doesn’t go unchallenged. As forces from both ends of the political spectrum join hands to restrict the space for minorities, other unlikely coalitions are forming to reshape European societies in the light of more inclusive ideals of civil solidarity. While we acknowledge that the “backlash against multiculturalism” is real, we believe that not enough attention has been given to the meaning of the intellectual and political responses and contributions of relevant minorities themselves to the current situation.
The forthcoming conference at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) will address this gap. Focusing on Muslim and Jewish communities in Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark, the conference will explore various aspects of the triangular relationship between those two paradigmatic minorities and mainstream society. What are the available cultural strategies and spaces to express religious minority identity within late modern Western Europe? What significance does the activism of Muslims and Jews have on their mutual perception as well as on the perception of their situation within society? What strategies are available to groups that are historically perceived in terms of their stigmatized ethno-religious practices or cultural heritage? Are there structural similarities between exclusivist tendencies towards Jews and Muslims (“Islamophobia” and Antisemitism)? Do we see connections between an emergent European identity and new forms of ethno-religious hierarchization of non-European populations within Europe?

Academic Direction:
Volker Heins<http://www.kulturwissenschaften.de/en/home/profil-vheins.html>, Senior Fellow and Head of the Research Unit “Interculturality” at the KW
Riem Spielhaus<http://uni-erlangen.academia.edu/RiemSpielhaus>, Research Fellow at the Erlangen Centre for Islam & Law in Europe (EZIRE)

Contributors (et al.):
Michal Bodemann (Dept of Sociology, University of Toronto)
Gerdien Jonker (Erlangen Centre for Islam & Law in Europe, EZIRE)
Riva Kastoryano (CERI, Paris) Brian Klug (Dept of Philosophy, Oxford University)
Tariq Modood (Dept of Sociology, University of Bristol)
Yasemin Shooman (Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin)

Contact:
Volker Heins, Senior Fellow and Head of the Research Unit “Interculturality” at the KWI, volker.heins@kwi.-nrw.de
Please register (until May 10th 2013) at:
Maria Klauwer, KWI, Tel. 0201 7204-153, maria.klauwer@kwi-nrw.de

Event-Link: http://www.kulturwissenschaften.de/en/home/event-509.html

Lecturer or Senior Lecturer or Reader in the Anthropology of Religion

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Lecturer or Senior Lecturer or Reader in the Anthropology of Religion – A8/AAT/341/13-JM

Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London

The Department of Theology & Religious Studies seeks an appointment in the Anthropology of Religion, at Lecturer, Senior Lecturer or Reader level, to join King’s College London with effect from September/October 2013 (with a preferred start date of 1 September 2013). The successful candidate will teach in the field of the anthropology of religion, and will have a strong research background in the classical approaches to theory and method in the social anthropological study of religion, as well as in more recent and cutting-edge theoretical and methodological innovations. Regional and thematic focus is open.

The Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King’s is a large, thriving and highly multi-disciplinary Department, specialising in the study of both mainstream and new religions from a variety of perspectives. Areas of particular strength are the study of conviviality and conflict involving religions in contemporary societies, including issues of religious diversity and secularism, and the study of religion in the arts, literature and film.

The successful candidate will teach undergraduate courses (modules) for the new BA degree in Religion, Politics and Society, and for the MA programme Religion in Contemporary Society. S/he will be expected to attract PhD students and will participate in the intellectual life of the Department and School. Teaching experience and evidence of a strong research and publications record are required, as is the commitment to the academic and institutional development of the social scientific study of religions in the Department.

All candidates should have completed a PhD degree, and be in a position to make a strong submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF). They should be prepared to teach both specialist undergraduate and MA modules in their area of expertise.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 15 May 2013

Equality of opportunity is College policy.

The appointment will be made, dependent on relevant qualifications, within the Grade 6 to Grade 8 scale, currently £31,331 to £54,826, per annum plus £2,323 per annum London Allowance.

For an informal discussion of the post please contact Dr. Marat Shterin on 0207 848 2637, or via email at marat.shterin@kcl.ac.uk<mailto:marat.shterin@kcl.ac.uk>.

Further details and application packs are available on the College’s website at www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs. All correspondence should clearly state the job title and reference number A8/AAT/341/13-JM. If you have any queries please contact your Recruitment Co-ordinator at recruitmentteam3@kcl.ac.uk

To apply click http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/pertra/vacancy/external/pers_detail.php?jobindex=13073

The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions

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New book:
THE DIASPORA OF BRAZILIAN RELIGIONS
Cristina Rocha & Manuel A. Vásquez

http://www.brill.com/diaspora-brazilian-religions

The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions explores the global spread of religions originating in Brazil, a country that has emerged as a major pole of religious innovation and production. Through ethnographically-rich case studies throughout the world, ranging from the Americas (Canada, the U.S., Peru, and Argentina) and Europe (the U.K., Portugal, and the Netherlands) to Asia (Japan) and Oceania (Australia), the book examines the conditions, actors, and media that have made possible the worldwide construction, circulation, and consumption of Brazilian religious identities, practices, and lifestyles, including those connected with indigenized forms of Pentecostalism and Catholicism, African-based religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda, as well as diverse expressions of New Age Spiritism such as the John of God Movement, and Ayahuasca-centered neo-shamanism like Vale do Amanhecer and Santo Daime.

Table of Contents
Introduction: Brazil in the New Global Cartography of Religion Manuel A. Vásquez and Cristina Rocha
SECTION I: BRAZILIAN CHRISTIANITY: CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM
Ch 1: Edir Macedo’s Pastoral Project: A Globally Integrated Pentecostal Network Clara Mafra, Claudia Swatowiski, and Camila Sampaio
Ch 2: Brazilian Churches in London: Transnationalism of the Middle Olivia Sheringham
Ch 3: The ‘Devil’s Egg’: The Football Players as New Missionaries of the Diaspora of Brazilian Religions Carmen Rial
Ch 4: Brazilian Pentecostalism in Peru: Affinities between the Social and Cultural Conditions of Andean Migrants and the Religious Worldview of the Pentecostal Church “God is Love”Dario Paulo Barrera Rivera
Ch 5: Catholicism for Export: The Case of Canção Nova Brenda Carranza and Cecília Mariz

SECTION II: AFRO-BRAZILIAN RELIGIONS
Ch 6: Umbanda and Batuque in the Southern Cone: Transnationalization as cross-border religious flow and as social field Alejandro Frigerio
Ch 7: Pretos Velhos across the Atlantic: Afro-Brazilian Religions in Portugal Clara Saraiva
Ch 8: Transnational Authenticity: An Umbanda Temple in Montreal Deirdre Meintel and Annick Hernandez
Ch 9: Japanese Brazilians among Pretos-Velhos, Caboclos, Buddhist Monks and Samurais: An Ethnographic Study of Umbanda in Japan Ushi Arakaki
Ch 10: Mora Iemanja? Axé in Diasporic Capoeira Regional Neil Stephens and Sara Delamont

SECTION III: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Ch 11: Building a Transnational Spiritual Community: The John of God Movement in Australia Cristina Rocha
Ch 12: The Valley of Dawn in Atlanta, Georgia: Negotiating Gender Identity and Incorporation in the Diaspora José Cláudio Souza Alves and Manuel A. Vásquez
Ch 13: The Niche Globalization of Projectiology: Cosmology and Internationalization of a Brazilian Parascience Anthony Fischer D’Andrea
Ch 14: Transcultural keys: Humor, Creativity and other Relational Artifacts in the transposition of a Brazilian Ayahuasca Religion to the Netherlands Alberto Groisman

Islam in the Hinterlands: Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada

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Islam in the Hinterlands: Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada Jasmin Zine UBC Press, 2012

http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=299173665

About the Book
Muslim communities have become increasingly salient in the social, cultural, and political landscape in Canada largely due to the aftermath of 9/11 and the racial politics of the ongoing “war on terror” that have cast Muslims as the new “enemy within.”

Islam in the Hinterlands features empirical studies and critical essays by some of Canada’s top Muslim Studies scholars who examine how gender, public policy, media, and education shape the Muslim experience in Canada. Touching on much-debated issues, such as the shar’ia controversy, veiling in public schools, media portrayals of Muslims, and anti-terrorism legislation, this book takes a distinctly anti-racist, feminist standpoint in exploring the reality of the Muslim diaspora.

A timely collection addressing some of the most hotly contested issues in recent cultural history, Islam in the Hinterlands will be essential reading for academics as well as general readers interested in Islamic studies, multiculturalism, and social justice.

About the Author(s)
Jasmin Zine is an associate professor of sociology and the Muslim Studies Option at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Table of Contents
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Muslim Cultural Politics in the Canadian Hinterlands / Jasmin Zine

Part 1: Gender and Cultural Politics
1 Unsettling the Nation: Gender, Race, and Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada / Jasmin Zine
2 The Great Canadian “Shar’ia” Debate / Itrath Syed
3 Toward a Framework for Investigating Muslim Women and Political Engagement in Canada / Katherine Bullock

Part 2: Media and Representation
4 Colluding Hegemonies: Constructing the Muslim Other Post-9/11 / Yasmin Jiwani
5 Marketing Islamic Reform: Dissidence and Dissonance in a Canadian Context / Meena Sharify-Funk
6 Toward Media Reconstruction of the Muslim Imaginary in Canada: The Case of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie / Aliaa Dakroury

Part 3: Education
7 From Mosques to Madrassas: Civic Engagement and the Pedagogy of Islamic Schools / Nadeem Memon
8 Unveiled Sentiments: Gendered Islamophobia and Experiences of Veiling among Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School / Jasmin Zine

Part 4: Security
9 The Security Certificate Exception: A Media Analysis of Human Rights and Security Discourses in Canada’s Globe and Mail and National Post / Jacqueline Flatt
10 The Anti-terrorism Act and National Security: Safeguarding the Nation against Uncivilized Muslims / Shaista Patel

Contributors
Index

Reviews
“I cannot think of a religious community more in need of study than Canadian Muslims, who have, until now, received scant scholarly attention. This book examines the hybridity of Canadian Islam, and discusses the various ways in which Muslims have, and have not, adapted to their contexts. Timely and cutting-edge, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of religion, sociology, and anthropology, as well as cultural, legal, and gender studies.”
Amir Hussain, Editor, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Dissemination of Call for papers – Summer School on Democratization and Political Transitions in the Arab World: Actors, Challenges and Policy Options for

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Call for Papers
*Summer School on Democratization and Political
Transitions in the Arab World: Actors, Challenges and Policy Options** for the EU* (17-19 July 2013).

Summer School on Democratization and Political Transitions in the Arab World: Actors, Challenges and Policy Options for the EU
University of Minho – Braga, 17-19 July 2013

Course aim
By bringing together and contrasting a broad range of approaches, this Summer School intends to increase insights, find new inroads and illuminate the complexity behind the many transitions that are taking place in the Arab world.
The Arab Spring has reinvigorated discussions of democratic change. Thus the question of transitions to, and from, democracy remains a pressing issue in world politics. Understanding the meaning of democracy and the causes of transitions toward and away from democratic path is a major subject of scholarly research and policy practice. The Summer School offers participants a unique opportunity to experience a highly stimulating, intellectual environment by attending lectures, panel debates, working groups and engaging in in-depth debates. Renowned experts, academics as well as practitioners will offer their insights and analysis, and experience joint intellectual and social activities.

Course formats
The Summer School integrates various formats, alternating between panel discussions and working group sessions. As to the working group sessions, four groups will be held: the first dealing with “The Arab Spring: Revolutions or Stalemate?”, the second with “Challenges during Political Transitions and Comparative Lessons for the Middle East and North Africa”; the third with “The Fall of Authoritarianism and the New Actors in the Arab World: The Challenges of Political Inclusion” and the fourth with “A New Mediterranean Democracy Agenda for a New Mediterranean Political Setting”. Every participant is expected to deliver a presentation of 15 minutes (a paper of around 5000 words) during the working group session on one of the four thematic blocs. For the purpose of applying, the candidate should also specify a second thematic bloc that he/she would be willing to address in the presentation. We will decide on the final topic.

Call for papers for working groups
Abstract Submission:

    • All abstracts and papers need to be presented in English by 1 June
      The maximum length of abstracts is 300 words
      Email your abstract as an attachment to: nepasproject@gmail.com

    • Please include the following information in your email:
      Name
      Institutional affiliation and a short CV
      Contact information (including preferred email address)

        Authors whose full abstract has been accepted will be asked to deliver a full paper and register.

        For this purpose the following steps are envisaged:
        1 June 2013: call for papers closes
        01-08 June 2013: review of submitted abstracts and selection by the Scientific Committee
        09 June 2013: communication of results
        15 June 2013: conference registration opens
        July 2013: call for full papers closes
        15 July 2013: announcement of conference programme

          A number of selected papers (conference proceedings) will be published in an E-Book and, possibly, also in hard copy.

          Prospective participants

          We are looking for recent graduates, PhD and master students and young scholars. Applicants should have an academic background in the fields of political and/or social sciences and be interested in the topics outlined in the programme. The Summer School’s participants will be selected on the basis of their academic achievements, relevant civil and political activities, and language proficiency (working language is English). Special emphasis is placed on adequate representation of participants from Arab countries. The NEPAS Summer School will cover the costs of a limited number of students, that is, fees, accommodation, meals and materials. To apply for a scholarship, please send the following documents to Estela Vieira, EEG´s Mobility Officer ((estelav@eeg.uminho.pt):

          – The filled-in application form;
          – A one-page letter of motivation in which you express your motivation and highlight your relevant qualifications;
          – Abstract of your presentation.

          A registration form can be found at the project´s website: http://nepas-project.net/call-for-papers/.

          Course fee
          EUR 120 € – participation fee excluding travel & accommodation costs
          Accommodation
          The University can provide accommodation in the Lloyd Braga´s student residence and off-campus housing.

          Contact

          Please do not hesitate to contact Estela Vieira (estelav@eeg.uminho.pt) or nepasproject@gmail.com, should you have any further questions or concerns.

        Maria C. Pinto(University of Minho – Portugal)
        Profª Associada c/ Agregação/ (Assoc. Prof. with “Agregação”)
        Directora do Departamento de Relações Internacionais e Administração Pública – DRIAP Head of the Department of International Relations and Public Administration Gab. 119
        School of Economics and Management (EEG)
        University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar,
        Braga, 4710-057, Portugal
        Phone: +351 253 604523Fax: +351 253 601380

        IIS World Congress in Uppsala, 9-10 June, 2013

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        Dear All,
        Call for Papers to be presented in the Regular Session: Religion, Reason and Science.

        The 41st World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology (IIS) will take place in Uppsala, Sweden, on 9-10 June, 2013. The theme of the congress is Sociology in Its Global Contexts: International Institute of Sociology at 120. Both on Sunday, 9 June, and Monday, 10 June, there will be room for a large number of parallel regular sessions. Each session is 90 minutes long and consists of an oral presentation of 3 to 5 papers.

        REGULAR SESSION INFORMATION
        Title of Session: Religion, Reason and Science
        Name of Session Convener(s): Irena C. Veljanova, University of Western Sydney, Sydney Email:
        i.veljanova@uws.edu.au<mailto:i.veljanova@uws.edu.au>

        Abstract: The understanding that intrinsic intellectual conflict exists between religion and science postulates that science holds the primacy over logic and rational thinking, whereas religious knowledge is unscientific, and by extension, irrational and illogical. Stephen Fuller’s (2007) argument for scientific creationism challenges this understanding stating that creationism has ‘multiple
        meanings, … [some of which] have been historically instrumental (and perhaps even conceptually necessary) for the emergence and maintenance of rationality and science’ (Fuller 2007: 27-28). While not identical, science and religion are not mutually exclusive knowledge paradigms, nor are they irreconcilable cultural forces rather they are differently institutionalised (ibid.). Considering the above, the session convenor welcomes, but is not limited to, papers with theoretical and empirical focus that explore the notion of rational and logical thinking within the religious domain.

        My best,
        Dr. Irena C. Veljanova
        Lecturer (Sociology)
        Sociology and Criminology TAR Group
        School of Social Sciences and Psychology University of Western Sydney

        New Book on Religion in Urban Spaces. Edited by Irene Becci, Marian Burchardt, and José Casanova

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        Topographies of Faith.
        Religion in Urban Spaces

        Edited by Irene Becci, Marian Burchardt, and José Casanova

        Based on ethnographic explorations in cities across the globe, Topographies of Faith offers a unique and compelling analysis of contemporary religious dynamics in metropolitan centers. While most scholarship on religion still sidelines questions of spatiality and scale, this book creatively draws on perspectives from urban studies to study the spatiality of religion in modern cities. It shows how globalization, transnational migration and urban expansion in big cities engender new religious forms and practices and their spatial underpinnings. Space affects urban religious diversity,religious innovations, decline or vitality. But it also shapes the relationships between religion and social equalities. Spanning distances between New York, Delhi and Johannesburg, the book also engages with issues of secularity and religious vitality in genuinely new ways.

        http://www.brill.com/topographies-faith

        Religion, Migration, Settlement: Reflections on Post-1990 Immigration to Finland

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        New Book:
        Religion, Migration, Settlement: Reflections on Post-1990 Immigration to Finland
        Tuomas Martikainen Brill, 2013

        http://www.brill.com/religion-migration-settlement

        In Religion, Migration, Settlement, Tuomas Martikainen provides an account of the impact of immigration on the field of religion in Finland since the 1990s. As a historical country of emigration that has turned into one of immigration, Finland provides an illuminating case study of the complexities of post-Cold War migration. The book analyses processes of migrant settlement from the viewpoint of religious organisations by applying theoretical perspectives to immigrant integration, global-local dynamics, governance of religious diversity, processes of migrant settlement and structural adaptation. The book is of relevance to those grappling with the impact of international migration on contemporary religious

        First Issue of Critical Research on Religion

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        The first issue of Critical Research of Religion is now available for free on line at:
        http://crr.sagepub.com

        To get this free access, you will first need to register with SAGE at:
        https://online.sagepub.com/cgi/register?registration=FTCRR

        There is also a CRR Facebook page. Please “Like” the page at:
        http://www.facebook.com/CriticalResearchOnReligion

        Finally, for extended, ongoing, and archived discussions of articles, please post your comments at:
        http://www.criticaltheoryofreligion.org/blog