University of Göttingen-Postdocs

Posted on by

University of Goettingen-Transregional Research Network

Two Postdoctoral Fellows-Secularity and New Religiosities

The University of Göttingen is launching a transregional research network (CETREN) under the broad thematic rubric “The Politics of the New”, funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). For its pilot project, “Secularism and New Religiosities”, CETREN seeks to fill two Postdoctoral Research Positions.
The two positions, to begin in October 2013, will be offered as two-year fixed-term contracts on a full-time basis (currently 39,8 hours per week) and will be remunerated at the TV-L E13 level (in accordance with the German public sector pay scale).
The pilot project “Secularism and New Religiosities” examines new forms of religiosity that emerge under various regional or national regimes of secularism, and how these are shaped in transnational arenas of cultural, political and legal interaction (see project description at http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/422555.html). Within this wider context, we invite post-doctoral research proposals that theoretically and empirically analyze new religiosities in comparative perspective; cross-religious as well as cross-regional comparisons are welcome. While the overall project’s main focus is on South Asia, East Asia, and Europe, proposals may broaden the comparative scope by including other regions.
Successful applicants must have a PhD in a relevant field, such as history, anthropology, sociology, political science, religious studies, or area studies. Researchers will be based at the University of Göttingen, but will be permitted to conduct fully-funded field research for part of the two-year period, upon consultation with the principal investigators.
Applicants from all countries are encouraged to apply. Fluency in English is expected. A complete application will consist of a cover letter, a CV, a writing sample, a 1000-word proposal for a postdoctoral research project, and two confidential letters of reference sent separately by the referees. Any queries regarding the positions may be addressed to Prof. Rupa Viswanath at rviswan@uni-goettingen.de.
Materials should be sent, preferably by email, to holk.stobbe@cemis.uni-goettingen.de no later than April 1, 2013.Alternatively you can send your application by post to: Georg-August-Universität GöttingenCentre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) Prof. Rupa ViswanathWaldweg 26D-37073 GöttingenGermany The University of Göttingen is an equal opportunity employer and places particular emphasis on fostering career opportunities for women. Qualified women are therefore strongly encouraged to apply. Disabled persons with equivalent aptitude will be favored.

Religion and Global Migrations, Palgrave Macmillan’s new series

Posted on by

Announcing Palgrave Macmillan’s new series:Religion and Global Migrations

As the first series of its kind, Religion and Global Migrations will examine the phenomenon of religion and migration from multiple disciplinary perspectives (for example, historical, anthropological, sociological, ethical and theological), from various global locations (including the Americas, Europe and Asia), and from a range of religious traditions. The Series Editors are interested in monographs and edited volumes that explore the intersections of religion and migration from a variety of approaches, including studies of:
– Shifting Religious Practices and Ideas in sending and receiving communities, among migrants and also among those who interact with migrants in places of origin and destination;
– Public Responses to migration such as religiously informed debates, policies and activism among migrants and nonmigrants alike;
– Gender Dynamics including shifts in gender roles and access to power in sending and receiving sites;
– Identity in relation to religion and migration that may include constructive, as well as descriptive, scholarship;
– Empire, from the ancient Mediterranean through the height of European colonization to contemporary relationships between the developing and developed world, and the way it has profoundly affected the movement of people and development of religions;
– Other topics connecting to the theme of religion and global migrations.

Series Editors

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh is Departmental Lecturer in Forced Migration at the Refugee
Studies Centre, and Junior Research Fellow in Refugees Studies at Lady Margaret Hall
elena.fiddian-qasmiyeh@qeh.ox.ac.uk

Jennifer B. Saunders is an independent researcher who has published on transnational Hinduism
jbsaund1@yahoo.com

Susanna Snyder is Assistant Professor in Contemporary Society and Christian Ethics at Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA
ssnyder@eds.edu

Editorial Board
Peggy Levitt (Wellesley College, USA)
Kim Knott (Lancaster University, UK)
Zain Abdullah (Temple University, USA)

Proposals
If you are interested in submitting a proposal to be considered for the series, please contact one of the Series Editors or:
Burke Gerstenschlager, Palgrave Macmillan
Burke.Gerstenschlager@palgrave-usa.com

Grace Davie: The Sociology of Religion: A Critical Agenda (2nd edition)

Posted on by

The Sociology of Religion: A Critical Agenda Second Edition

Grace Davie
University of Exeter

February 2013
328 pages
SAGE Publications Ltd

Why is religion still important? Can we be fully modern and fully religious?  In this new edition, Davie follows up her discussion of the meaning of religion in modern society and considers how best to research and understand this relationship. Exploring the rapid movements within the sociology of religion today, this revised and updated book:

  • • Describes the origins of the sociology of religion
  • • Demystifies secularization as a process and a theory
  • • Relates religion to modern social theory
  • • Unpacks the meaning of religion in relation to modernity and globalization
  • • Grasps the methodological challenges in the field
  • • Provides a comparative perspective for religions in the west
  • • Introduces questions of minorities and margins
  • • Sets out a critical agenda for debate and research

The Sociology of Religion has already proved itself as one of the most important titles within the field; this edition will ensure that it remains an indispensable resource for students and researchers alike.

Instructors’ copies are available from SAGE: http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book234630?siteId=sage-us&prodTypes=any&q=davie+sociology+of+religion&fs=1

For 25% off the purchase price, use the following discount code and order online:  UK13SM007

 

Call for Papers for a Panel on Census and Surveys

Posted on by

Census and surveys: issues in religious self-identification

Panel at the 12th EASR conference at Liverpool Hope Organised by Dr Abby Day, Chair of SOCREL (Sociology of Religion study group, British Sociological Association) and Dr Bettina Schmidt, Honorary Secretary of the BASR (British Association for Study of Religions)

Self-identification on instruments such as surveys and censuses presents unique challenges and opportunities. The 2011 census for the UK revealed some interesting developments concerning the religious self-identification within the UK, particularly with the continuing increase of people who declare to have no religion. How does the utility of a census compare with, for example, larger surveys, from British Social Attitudes to the World Values Survey and how accurately can such data from any of those instruments represent changing religious landscapes? How does a faith in surveys and censuses manifest itself by discipline, and what impact does this have on our understanding of research methodology and outcomes? We invite to this panel papers discussing this and other issues concerning national census and survey design and data from the UK or any other country.

Please send abstracts (app. 150 words) to Dr Abby Day a.f.day@kent.ac.uk and Dr Bettina Schmidt b.schmidt@tsd.ac.uk by 1 May 2013.

CFP: IS THE POST-COLONIAL POST-SECULAR?

Posted on by

A Call for Papers
Conference in Syracuse, NY
September 20-21, 2013

Across the humanities, critical scholarship on the secular / secularism / secularization has recently ballooned. Scholars of history, anthropology, political theory, and religion have begun revisiting questions of enchantment and disenchantment, political theology, blasphemy, religious freedom, and much more. Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age in particular has garnered wide attention, but Taylor’s narrative focuses on the disenchantment of modern Christian Europe. Before and after A Secular Age, scholars have probed the boundaries of the secular beyond Christian Europe, and beyond the confines of intellectual history.

Some have asserted that the ideologies of secularism and colonialism are deeply intertwined. Others have asserted that post-colonial religiosity remains a symptom of colonial control of reason and affect. Still others have pointed to neo-liberalism as the shared basis of contemporary racial, religious, and post-colonial regimes.

We invite proposals that probe the question, “Is the Post-Colonial Post-Secular?” Projects may employ methods of history, literary criticism, theoretical reflection, ethnography, or cultural studies. We are interested in projects from a variety of regions and periods, for example contemporary Africa, the early U.S., or nineteenth century Haiti.

Please send 300 word abstracts, or questions, to: Owais Khan (mokhan01@syr.edu) and Vincent Lloyd (vwlloyd@syr.edu).

CFP: *Vision, Visuality and Visual Culture: Islamic Contexts and Publics*

Posted on by

*Call for Papers*
*AAA, Nov. 20-24 2013, Chicago*
*Vision, Visuality and Visual Culture: Islamic Contexts and Publics*
* *
This panel recuperates an understanding of visuality beyond Western histories by ethnographically exploring visual culture as a key site for thinking out the different trajectories of religion in contemporary Muslim societies. With Christianity usually posited as a* *”visual” religion and Islam as an “auditory”; one, most scholarly works looking at the intersections of visuality and religion have done so in a (Western) Christian context. In keeping with the AAA’s interdisciplinary emphasis this year, this panel puts into conversation anthropological studies of how the materiality of different media contributes to religious formations at particular historical moments with the interest of other scholars of visual culture in everyday, socially-grounded practices of seeing. We hope that attending more closely to visual fields in Muslim societies will contribute theoretically to long-standing disciplinary concerns with ritual, personhood, performance and the sacred.

What modes of (not) seeing are privileged or denounced within historically authoritative Islamic frames? How are different notions of visuality negotiated and/or contested in the age of rapid transnational television imports and exports? What do jurisprudential and popular debates over the production of dramatic serials visually depicting Qur’anic prophets tell us about the politics and ethics of sight? What visual analogies and metaphors do Islamic preachers and activists draw upon to connect with their imagined audiences? What new scopic regimes arise at the interface of new media technologies and Islamic exhortatory traditions? How is the faculty of seeing a site of ethical cultivation, affective pleasure or sensory excess? We invite papers addressing these questions through ethnographies and analyses of the production, circulation, consumption and framing of the
visual in Muslim societies.

Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words and CVs to Yasmin Moll (yasmin.moll@nyu.edu Yasmin.moll@nyu.edu>) and Wazhmah Osman (wazhmah@gmail.com) by March 12.

Call for Papers – "International Conference on Education, Culture and Identity" (ICECI 2013).

Posted on by

The International Conference on Education, Culture and Identity (ICECI 2013) is organised by the International University of Sarajevo in partnership with Deakin University, Australia and Erciyes University, Turkey. The conference will be held at the  International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 6-8 July 2013. For more information please visit the conference website: www.ius.edu.ba/iceci

Abstracts must be submitted online via the conference website:
www.ius.edu.ba/iceci

Conference Deadlines:
Submission of Abstracts April 1, 2013
Notification of Abstract Acceptance April 19, 2013
Registration Ends May 17, 2013
Conference Date July 6-8, 2013

Contact information:
Gulsen Devre +387 33 957 116
iceci@ius.edu.ba

New book: “Doble mirada”, Miquel Barbarà

Posted on by

Miguel Barbarà Anglès, Doble mirada. Sobre el fet religiòs i l’Església, Editorial Claret, Barcelona 2012, pp. 110.

Aquest llibre és una senzilla introducciò al coneixement del fet religiòs des de la perspectiva de la sociologia i de la creença.Aquesta “doble mirada” suposa un diàleg interior entre creença i ciència, entre fe i raò. Un diàleg molt ùtil i que l’autor ofereix als lectors amb la disposiciò mi el desig que també els ajudi a fer aquest diàleg en la seva vida.
Fe i ciència no estan renyides. Al contrari, poden ser ben complementàires i poden donar un bon resultat, tant en l’ordre persnal com en el social.
El fet religiòs i l’Església han fet i estan fent un molt bon servei al bé comù de la societat, de Catalunya. Si es porta bé, en el futur, encara el poden fer millor.

Call for Papers – Censuses and Surveys: Issues in Religious Self-identification

Posted on by

Panel at the 12th EASR conference, 3-6 September, Liverpool Hope University

Organised by Dr Abby Day, Chair of SOCREL (Sociology of Religion study group, British Sociological Association) and Dr Bettina Schmidt, Honorary Secretary of the BASR (British Association for Study of Religions)

Visit http://www.socrel.org.uk for more information on forthcoming Socrel events

Self-identification on instruments such as surveys and censuses presents unique challenges and opportunities. The 2011 census for the UK revealed some interesting developments concerning the religious self-identification within the UK, particularly with the continuing increase of people who declare to have no religion. How does the utility of a census compare with, for example, larger surveys, from British Social Attitudes to the World Values Survey and how accurately can such data from any of those instruments represent changing religious landscapes? How does a faith in surveys and censuses manifest itself by discipline, and what impact does this have on our understanding of research methodology and outcomes? We invite to this panel papers discussing this and other issues concerning national census and survey design and data from the UK or any other country. Please send abstracts (app. 150 words) to Dr Abby Day a.f.day@kent.ac.uk and Dr Bettina Schmidt b.schmidt@tsd.ac.uk by 1 May 2013.

Social relations and Human Security Conference

Posted on by

Registration is now open for the:

Social relations and Human Security Conference
Friday 22nd – Saturday 23rd March
Centre for Social Relations, Coventry University

We live in an interconnected world that transports social issues across and between people, sectors, communities and societies. Tackling some of the drivers and misconceptions that underpin the most pressing problems for societies today -ethnicity, the environment, or socio-economics – requires continued multi-disciplinary dialogue between, governments, practitioners and publics.
The context of contemporary people-to-people relationships and the consequences of differences are both an opportunity and challenge for human security agendas. The question of how we interact, whether at work or at home, with people who we perceive as different to us is central to our sense of stability and security, not just for ourselves, but also for our families and communities. How do we challenge polarising narratives and negative representations through new models of engagement or dialogue? How can we develop communities where people interact in a meaningful way and experience true equality of opportunity? How can we help to equip people in the UK and globally to live engaged and peaceful lives in pluralistic societies? In learning to understand how our social relations play out in communities both locally and globally, we can begin to address how to live together in peaceful relationships in a world of difference.
Our conference will explore the importance of multi-disciplinary work under the broad banner of social relations in policymaking, international inter-cultural dialogue/cross-community dialogue and academic research.

Keynote speakers are:
Professor Dr. Din Syamsuddin, President of Muhammadiyah, Chairman of the Centre for Dialogue and Co-operation among Civilisations (CDCC) Indonesia
Professor Linda Woodhead, Professor in the Sociology of Religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion at Lancaster University
Prof. Salman Hameed, Director Centre for the study of Science in Muslim Societies, Hampshire College, US.

Early bird registration fee available before 28tH February:
Registration (including conference Dinner on Friday 22nd) = £56
Reduced rate registration for PhD/Early career scholars not in full time employment/retired scholars(inc. conference Dinner on Friday 22nd) = £32
Accommodation at IBIS hotel Friday 22nd = £35 per night
Extra nights’ accommodation (Thursday 21st or Saturday 23rd) = £55 per night

Registration rates after 28th February:
Registration (including conference Dinner on Friday 22nd) = £70
Reduced rate registration for PhD/Early career scholars not in full time employment/retired scholars(inc conference Dinner on Friday 22nd) = £40

Further details and current programme can be found here: http://www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/NewsEvents/SocialRelationsAndHumanSecurity