CALL FOR PAPERS
International Workshop
Religion, Politics and Policy-making in Russia: Domestic and International Dimensions
Center for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS), University of Tartu
Tartu, Estonia
June 6-7, 2012

Organizers: Prof Jerry G. Pankhurst (Wittenberg University, USA; visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Tartu) and Alar Kilp (University of Tartu)
http://ceurus.ut.ee/conferences/international-workshop-call-for-papers/

The Center for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS) at the University of Tartu invites your participation in a workshop on Religion, Politics and Policy-making in Russia: Domestic and International Dimensions. The workshop is meant to highlight new research on the questions of religion and politics in Russia, to foster collaborative relations for future projects, and to provide an opportunity for everyone to learn about high-quality research that is being carried out in this area of inquiry.

The program organizers seek to explore the politics of religious affairs in Russia and the former Soviet countries and to assess the activities and role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and other organized religious groups in domestic and foreign policy. Issues related to religious diversity and religious tolerance in Russia and the neighboring countries are also of interest.

Confirmed keynote speakers include Irina Papkova, Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations at the Central European University, and Viacheslav Karpov, Professor of Sociology at Western Michigan University.

Workshop organizers will actively seek opportunities to publish selected papers in a special issue of a journal or in an edited volume.

Workshop Venue: University of Tartu, Estonia. Tartu is a home to one of the oldest universities in Eastern Europe. It was founded by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus in 1632. Today the University of Tartu is the only classical university in Estonia. It is a leading center of research and training, ranked among the 400 best universities of the world by Times Higher Education. The city of Tartu is a charming university town whose relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere creates a perfect environment for scholarly conversations. Tartu is well-served with bus and train connection with the city of Tallinn and its Lennart Meri Airport. There are also flights to Tartu from Tallinn (Estonian Air) and Helsinki (Flybe, in connection with Finnair). For more information, see: www.tartu.ee; www.ut.ee.

Who may participate? We invite scholars of Russian religious affairs and scholars with research focusing on the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church both in and outside of Russia. Graduate students carrying out advanced work are welcomed to submit proposals for a presentation.

The workshop sessions will be open to the public. Anyone who has a serious and informed interest in scholarly research on the topical issues is invited to attend the presentations and participate in question and answer sessions.

Cost: There will be no registration fee for this workshop. The sponsoring organizations will host a reception and a dinner but are not able to cover travel or accommodation expenses of individual participants. However, limited travel support is available to participants from the CIS countries. CEURUS will assist as much as possible with information about local accommodations and other arrangements. If you have questions, please contact Britt Ressar at britt.ressar@ut.ee

Proposing a paper: If you are interested in presenting a paper, please consider the topic preferences below and send your abstract (250-300 words) and a succinct statement of your present position and recent publications and grants (if any) to Alar Kilp (alar.kilp@ut.ee).

The deadline for receiving abstracts for consideration for the program is April 2, 2012.
Abstracts will the evaluated by the workshop organizers for quality of scholarship and appropriateness for the program structure and workshop theme. Authors of abstracts selected to be presented will be notified by April 13 via email.

Full papers by presenters will be due by 25 May, 2012. Send papers via email to Alar Kilp (alar.kilp@ut.ee)

Potential Topics for Workshop Presentations: Below are some areas of special interest, but this is not a complete list of options for the program. Within the overall guidelines of the workshop, all proposals will be given serious consideration even if their topics are not explicitly listed below.

• What is the political and social role and influence of the Russian Orthodox Church (including its role in Russian politics in general, its role in Russian foreign policy/international affairs, contributions to EU-Russia relations)?
• What is the nature of religious or church engagement in various social and political institutions in Russia (schools, marriage, military, prisons, etc.)
• Given Russia’s religious diversity, what is the state of inter-group relations on a scale of tolerance-intolerance or accommodated-alienated? Of special interest is the state of adaptation and acceptance of Muslim groups in Russia.
• What are the issues related to religion in the Russian diaspora in the EU (including the Baltic states) and the Russian “Near Abroad” – religious practices, needs; role of Orthodox churches, Eastern orthodoxy in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia?
• How well have Russian practices and policies lived up to European norms regarding religion? What are the European concerns regarding freedom of religion/religious life in Russia? What is the role of various European institutions: ECHR, Council of Europe, European Parliament, OSCE, etc.?
• To what extent have Russian religious groups been active in European governing institutions like those just named? How much do Russians see these institutions as appropriate venues for their own political or politically relevant pursuits?
• How much and in what ways have Russian religious groups expressed their concerns about problems in religious conditions in Europe, excessive secularity in Europe, and the like?
• To what extent and in what ways is the Russian Orthodox Church engaged in a “politics of family values” on the broader European stage? How are common interests with Orthodox churches of the countries of the European Union enlisted in these endeavors, and how are non-Orthodox churches (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, other Protestant churches, etc.) involved with the Russian Orthodox? Are non-Christian groups, especially Jews and Muslims, involved in these efforts?
• Explorations of additional issues in the area of politics and religion related to Russia will be considered for inclusion in the workshop program.

Additional information: Workshop participants may be interested in a conference at the University of Tartu that is scheduled to take place in the week following this workshop. It is the 2012 annual conference of CIHEC, the Commission Internationale d’Histoire et d’etudes du Christianisme. For more information on this conference, see http://www.history.ac.uk/cihec/our-conferences

Academic conveners: Prof Jerry Pankhurst (jerrygp@ut.ee), Alar Kilp (alar.kilp@ut.ee)
Administrative support: Britt Ressar (britt.ressar@ut.ee)

Biographies in Times of Crisis: Exploring Religious Narratives of AIDS in Africa and the African Diaspora
Call for papers for a conference hosted by the Religion, Identity and Memory Research Group, Faculty of Religious Studies, University of Groningen & the International Research Network on AIDS and Religion in Africa (IRNARA)

Convenors:
Brenda Bartelink, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Rijk van Dijk, African Studies Centre, the Netherlands
Marjo Buitelaar, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Kim Knibbe, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Introduction
The contemporary history of AIDS in Africa demonstrates how, over the course of a few decades, the lives of people and institutions have been drawn into the social trajectory of the disease. It has not merely reshaped the lives of those directly affected and their families, peers and friends but has also informed changes in certain institutions in African societies. Personal and institutional biographies have been reformulated as the epidemic has taken its course and personal meanings of religion have changed to cope with (the consequences of) HIV/AIDS. In addition, religious institutions have become part of the fight against the pandemic. In the programmes set up for treatment, care and awareness, new ideas concerning the disciplining of personal, social and institutional behaviour have emerged.

Focus
The role of religion in personal and institutional biographies of AIDS needs to be explored in more detail. At a personal level, more insight is required into how religion provides people with narrative models to respond to crises. Religio-biographies (Jacobson 2006) have been seen to play a role in meaning making and coping with HIV/AIDS in many African societies. However there are questions about when, how and for what reasons people use religious narrative models in shaping their responses to HIV/AIDS. How do religious narrative models play a role in coping with HIV/AIDS and how do they influence biographical choices regarding intimacy, sexuality, reproduction and relationships?
Personal and institutional biographies intersect and influence each other in responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa. For example, people living with HIV/AIDS are increasingly becoming involved in activist and institutional responses to HIV/AIDS. More insight into this interrelationship is necessary. How are religio-biographies of professionals in churches influencing organizational policies and counselling practices? And how are (religious) institutions seeking to influence or change religio-biographies on HIV and/or the epidemic? Memorial rituals and the (re-)writing of memory narratives are examples of how the histories of people dying from AIDS can be retained posthumously. Furthermore, personal and institutional biographies of religion and HIV/AIDS have become intertwined in a powerful discourse with wide ramifications for African public domains, healthcare and global/international support.

Deeper insight into the complex entanglement of discipline and agency is necessary for a better understanding of the role of religion in personal and institutional biographies of HIV/AIDS and how these influence each other. In the process, particular forms and styles of `narrative disciplining’ take place. People have `learned’ how to phrase the story of their (AIDS-affected) lives, how to formulate their behavioural choices and options, and how to respond to the requirements that a range of institutions are promoting in an attempt to curtail the epidemic. Some of these narratives and life histories are becoming well known worldwide. As these stories have become part of international fund-raising, policy-making and decision-taking, they have turned some of the people affected with AIDS into so-called `AIDS celebrities’. At the same time, biographies also signal agency on the part of individuals and institutions and provide a space to demonstrate how, in the course of engagements with AIDS, resistance can emerge under certain circumstances and for particular reasons. Narrativity can thus also be seen as a form of resistance and contestation. In the light of recent discussions on agency and its conception in a secular, liberal framework (Mahmood 2005), agency and the agentive power in religious self-narratives and life-story telling in the context of HIV/AIDS should be critically assessed.
The biographies of persons and institutions should not be perceived solely as formalized narratives highlighting the success of disciplining modes in the areas of sexuality, reproduction and relationships. Nor should agency be seen only in terms of resistance to certain forms of disciplining. As self-narratives have become a part of the personal and institutional responses to HIV/AIDS, for example in the counselling process, the agentic power in narrativity itself needs further analysis. This conference proposes exploring personal and institutional biographies in terms of their power (over individual and institutional lives), the ideologies and moralities they espouse, and the practices through which they are formulated.

The conference invites papers that address the following issues:

1. Understanding AIDS through biographies
2. Continuity and crisis in the rewriting of narratives of the self
3. Socio-religious biographies of the self and their contestation
4. Memory, voice and silence in embodied biographies
5. Diaspora, AIDS and strangerhood

Practical Information
The conference will be held at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands on 13, 14 and 15 December 2012. Abstracts (max. 300 words) should be submitted to the convenors for selection by 15 May. The selected speakers will be notified by 15 June and a conference programme, including the keynote speakers, will be announced in due course. The conference fee is € 40. For further information, go to www.irnara.org

Brenda Bartelink
Rijk van Dijk
aidsbiography@rug.nl

***Call for Papers***
1st International Conference on Contemporary Esotericism
Department of History of Religions, Stockholm University, Sweden.
August 27-29, 2012  Deadline for abstracts: March 30, 2012
Submit abstracts to: ContEso2012@gmail.com
Conference website: http://www.erg.su.se/contemporary-esotericism

Keynote speakers:
– Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of Amsterdam)
– Christopher Partridge (Religious Studies, Lancaster University)
– Kocku von Stuckrad (Study of Religion, Groningen University)
– Jay Johntson (Study of Religion, University of Sydney)

Conference organizers:
– Egil Asprem (Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of Amsterdam)
– Kennet Granholm (History of Religions, Stockholm University)

The academic study of Western esotericism has blossomed in recent years, but there is still a major gap in scholarship on esotericism: very little research exists on contemporary phenomena. While some present-day phenomena related to esotericism, such as ‘New Age
spiritualities’ and (neo)paganism, have been the focus of scholars in other fields, such developments have been largely neglected in the field of Western esotericism. While most scholarship in the field has had a focus on early modern phenomena and has been predominantly historiographical in its approach, serious attempts to develop
sociological approaches to the study of the esoteric/occult have been made in recent years.

The fundamental challenge is that the study of contemporary esotericism requires new definitions and methodologies, apart from those developed for the study of Renaissance and early modern esotericism. Studying contemporary phenomena poses intriguing
possibilities, such as the opportunity to study esotericism in lived contexts, which unavoidably also introduce new problems.

*Suggested Topics*
The conference has two primary goals: to place contemporary phenomena on the map of esotericism-research, and to explore new theory and methodology required for the study of specifically contemporary phenomena. We thus welcome papers dealing with contemporary and recent developments in “classic” esoteric currents – e.g. within Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, esoteric secret societies,
and ritual magic – as well as new esoteric developments of particular relevance today – e.g. Chaos Magick, Satanism, ‘New Age’ religion, (neo)paganism, and broader ‘occultural’ developments. We also strongly encourage papers dealing with theoretical and methodological issues that are particularly pertinent to the study of contemporary
esotericism, as well as papers dealing with the societal, cultural, political, religious etc. contexts of esotericism today. The conference should function as an interdisciplinary meeting place where scholars from a multitude of disciplines and with different approaches
and perspectives can come together to learn from each other.

The conference will function as the launching party for Contemporary Esotericism (Equinox Publishing, http://www.equinoxpub.com/equinox/books/showbook.asp?bkid=531), the first volume specifically dedicated to the study of esotericism in the
present day. In addition, The conference is arranged in conjunction with the 2012 EASR conference, also arranged in Stockholm, Sweden (at Södertörn University, August 23-26). Panels on esotericism are planned for the EASR as well, thus providing the opportunity to engage in extended discussion on these subjects, and of course lessening travel expenses.