Book Announcements: Secularisms in a Postsecular Age? Religiosities and Subjectivities in Comparative Perspective

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Secularisms in a Postsecular Age? Religiosities and Subjectivities in Comparative Perspective
Mapril, José; Blanes, Ruy; Giumbelli, Emerson; Wilson, Erin K.. (Eds.).
New York: Palgrave, 2017.
This volume ethnographically explores the relation between secularities and religious subjectivities.As a consequence of the demise of secularization theory, we live in an interesting intellectual moment where the so-called ‘post-secular’ coexists with the secular, which in turn has become pluralized and historicized. This cohabitation of the secular and post-secular is revealed mainly through political dialectical processes that overshadow the subjective and inter-subjective dimensions of secularity, making it difficult to pinpoint concrete sites, agents, and objects of expression.
Drawing on cases from South America, Africa, and Europe, contributors apply key insights from religious studies debates on the genealogies and formations of both religion and secularism. They explore the spaces, persons, and places in which these categories emerge and mutually constitute one another.
Table of Contents:

Gender and Muslim Spaces

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Gender and Muslim Spaces – One Day Seminar
University of Leeds – Wed 29 March 2017
Register now via: https://gender-and-muslim-spaces.eventbrite.co.uk

The question of gender inclusion among British Muslims is currently a high profile debate. This conference aims to unpack the many facets of this debate from a range of methodological, theoretical and community perspectives. There are three main strands to the theme:

– Academic Research and Gender Inclusion:
What theoretical work needs to be done to highlight gender exclusion or inclusion more concretely? What impact can gender inclusion or exclusion have upon research methodologies, ethical issues, questions of access and questions of academic representation?

– Politics of Gender Inclusion and Exclusion:
What role does the issue of gender inclusion now play in questions of state policies regarding Muslims? How far is it tied to questions of securitisation and extremism? How central an issue is it in terms of discourses of Islamic reform or notions of personal authenticity in terms of new Islamic gender theology and everyday Muslim practices?

– Gender Inclusion in British Muslim Institutions, Networks and Movements:
How extensive is the drive towards gender inclusion? What enhances and retards gender inclusion? What modalities of inclusion are being undertaken? How is gender exclusion being defended or problematised?

Schedule:
10.30-11.00 Arrival and Networking (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)

11.00-11.15 Welcome and Introduction (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)
Dr Seán McLoughlin (University of Leeds) and Dr Carl Morris (MBRN)

11.15-12.15 Plenary Session 1:
Community perspectives: How can Muslim institutions and networks become more gender inclusive? (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)
Chair: Yahya Birt (University of Leeds)
– Bana Gora (Muslim Women’s Council, Bradford)
– Imam Qari Asim (Makkah Mosque, Leeds)
– Dr Siema Iqbal (MEND, Muslim Engagement and Development)
Followed by Q&A

12.15-13.30 Lunch / Prayer / Networking
MBRN AGM (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)
– New Team Announcement/Future Events

13.30-14.30 Plenary Session 2:
Academic perspectives: how can research on British Muslims become more gender sensitive? (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)
Chair: Dr Seán McLoughlin (University of Leeds)
– Poles Apart: Reflections on Fieldwork with Salafi Women and Tablighi Men – Dr Anabel Inge (King’s College London) and Riyaz Timol (University of Cardiff)
Followed by Q&A

14.30 – 16.00 Parallel Panels
Panel 1: Negotiating Gendered Muslim Spaces: Theoretical Approaches (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)
– Muslim Women in Britain c. 1890 to 1948: Historical Grounding for Contemporary Debate – Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (University of Coventry)
– Dual-gendered Ethnography in Segregated Spaces – Chris Moses (University of Cambridge) and Alyaa Ebbiary (SOAS)
– Experiences of First and Second Generation Pakistani Women in Areas of High Muslim and Co-Ethnic Density – Asma Khan (University of Cardiff)
– British Muslim Woman, Building British Muslim Lives – Saleema Farah Burney (SOAS)

Panel 2: Gender, Securitization and Representation (Michael Sadler SR LG.16)
– The Transformation of British Islamic Institutions and Its Consequences for Muslim Women’s Representation in Public Life – Dr Stephen H. Jones (Newman University)
– The Securitization of British Muslim Women – Shahnaz Akhtar (University of Warwick)
– The Prevent Duty and the Securitization of the Muslim Girl and the Muslim Boy – Natalie James (University of Leeds)

Panel 3: Negotiating Access in Public and Private Spaces (Michael Sadler SR LG.17)
– Uncertain Futures? Perspectives of Female Muslim Students on Life in Britain – Dr Naomi Thompson (Goldsmiths) and Dr Stephen Pihlaja (Newman University)
– Gender, Inclusivity and UK Mosque Experiences – Dervla Shannahan (Inclusive Mosque Initiative)
– Ethnic’ Space as ‘Religious’ Space in Queens, New York: Questioning the Meaning of Secular Space – Muntasir Sattar (Independent Researcher)
– No More A Shadow: Making Space for Muslim Mothers’ Narratives – Suma Din (Independent Researcher)

16.00 – 16.30 Conclusion (Michael Sadler SR LG.10)
– Summary of day and Q&A

16.30 End of Day Seminar

16.30 – 18.00 (Informal) Networking Time

18.00 – 20.00 Film Showing and Discussion
Blessed are the Strangers (2016) – documentary screening. (University of Leeds, venue TBC)
“Over thirty years, two very different groups of British people become Muslim and come together to form one of Britain’s oldest and most diverse communities of Muslim converts.”
Followed by discussion and Q&A – Yahya Birt speaks with Ahmed Peerbux, Abdalhaqq Bewley.
Watch the trailer here: http://www.thestrangers.co.uk/

20.00 Depart

Register now via: https://gender-and-muslim-spaces.eventbrite.co.uk

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Call for Papers: Displaced Narratives: Story-telling in studying war and displacement

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PACSA Meeting 2017 – Amsterdam
The Making of Peace, Conflict and Security
Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion
6th Bi-annual Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology meeting (PACSA)
28-30 August 2017, Amsterdam
 
Call for Papers for a Panel:
Displaced Narratives: Story-telling in studying war and displacement
Convenors:
Katarzyna Grabska, Senior Research Fellow, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, katarzyna.grabska@graduateinstitute.ch
Cindy Horst, Research Professor and Research Director, Peace Research Institute Oslo, cindy@prio.org
There is increasing attention to the power of individual and collective stories in academia and beyond. Stories inform the actions of human beings and impact where they are moving, individually and as a society. Individuals – including researchers and their informants – activate new stories that transport others to new points of view and can change meaning, action and thus the future. As bell hooks argues, theorizing about personal experience not only posits the personal as critical to understanding socio-political social boundaries; but makes it possible to consider how the personal provides room to create alternative narratives. To what extend can storytelling be used as a method to study war, peace and displacement? We invite contributions that use different story-telling methods to unravel the complexities of inclusion and exclusion that accompany the trajectories of refugees and displaced people, including, but not limited to, innovative use of graphic design, literature and poetry, film and therapeutic performance, and the traditional life history method. In what ways do these methods reveal different understandings of the temporal and spatial aspects of displacement? What are the challenges in designing such research, and what type of insights can we develop as researchers? What are the limits in using a story-telling approach? How is this approach a way of excavating both hidden agency and power hierarchies in displacement?
To submit your paper proposals, please follow the instructions on the PACSA conference website:
The deadline for paper submissions is Sunday 2 April, 2017.
A pdf-version of the call for papers is available on PACSA’s website.

Book Announcement:Islam and Modernity

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Please find a description in the links below to a new four volume edited collection entitled:Islam and Modernity. 
 
Published in the Routledge Critical Concepts in Sociology Series, the volumes is designed for library and other large educational collections:
 
 

Call for Applications

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Call for Applications 
reference number 11/2017 
 
The Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt invites applications for two full-time positions with the research project “Cities in the History of Religion”, directed by Prof. Dr. Jörg Rüpke, to be filled at the earliest possible date: 
Research Fellow 
Pay category E 13 TV-L (100 %) 
Area of Responsibility 
• Taking part in the ongoing work of the research 
• conducting monographic research highly relevant to the topic of “Cities in the History of Religion in the Roman imperial period”, with a focus on Religious Studies 
• organizing academic conferences 
• teaching load according to the Thuringian Guidelines (Thüringer Lehrverpflichtungs-ordnung), about 120 hours per year 
• habilitation 
 
Further information about the Max Weber Center and the Research Group is available at http://www.uni-erfurt.de/max-weber-kolleg/projekte/. 
Requirements 
• Outstanding PhD degree in Religious Studies, Classical Philology, Ancient History, Archaeology, History of Christianity or related fields 
• Active participation in the research project “Cities in the History of Religion” with a monographic research project 
• Advanced English language skills (English is the working language of the project) 
• Basic German language skills and willingness to teach in German 
• Knowledge of the relevant source languages 
 
To conduct research relevant for writing a habilitation thesis or other comparable qualification at the University of Erfurt in cooperation with the Max Weber Center, it is obligatory to be affiliated with the Max Weber Center as a full member (“Kollegiat”) and to participate in the Center’s interdisciplinary programme (in German and English). 
Comments/Remarks 
As positions for academic qualifications, these are fixed-term positions that may be filled for a duration of up to five years depending on the legal and personal requirements according to the Law on Temporary Employment in Higher Education (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz). The minimum criteria for appointment are set out in § 84 paragraph 4 of the Thuringian Higher Education Act. For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Jörg Rüpke (joerg.ruepke@uni-erfurt.de). 
The University of Erfurt is an equal opportunity employer in compliance with the Thuringian Equal Opportunities Act (Thüringer Gleichstellungsgesetz). Handicapped applicants are given preference in case of equal qualification. 
Application Deadline 
Please submit your application stating reference number 11/2017 (incl. your CV, copies of your final high school and university degrees, a copy of your PhD thesis and up to three further publications) as well as an outline of the research project you would like to pursue (5-10 pages) as pdf-files by 30 March 2017 to: 
Notice 
The University of Erfurt does not refund any application expenses. 

Muslims in the UK and Europe Postgraduate Symposium, University of Cambridge

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Muslims in the UK and Europe
Postgraduate Symposium, University of Cambridge, 12-13 May 2017
Organised by the Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge Centre of Islamic Studies invites applications from current Masters and PhD candidates to present their research on issues pertaining to Muslims in the UK and Europe, from any discipline. The postgraduate symposium, taking place from 12-13 May 2017, will be a platform for students to present and exchange current research on any topic in this field in a dynamic forum. While historical or theoretical context is valuable, we invite papers also to present, analyse or interpret research findings, data or material. The symposium will take place at The Moller Centre, Cambridge.
Accommodation will be covered by the Centre of Islamic Studies and bursaries will be available for travel within the UK.
To apply please submit a 500-word abstract, with curriculum vitae outlining current research interests, to cis@cis.cam.ac.uk by 13 March 2017.
Successful candidates will be notified by 20March 2017 and invited to submit draft papers of no more than 3000 words by 5 May 2017.
Click here to read about the Annual Muslims in the UK and Europe Postgraduate Symposium.

Call for Papers: Refugees Welcome? The politics of hospitality and care in Turkey and Europe

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Refugees Welcome? The politics of hospitality and care in Turkey and Europe
Convenors: Dr. Hilal Alkan (EUME Fellow, Forum Transregionale Studien/ZMO, Berlin) and Dr. H. Pınar Şenoğuz (Philipp Schwartz Fellow, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen)
This panel aims to critically explore the welcoming responses refugees, fleeing from violent conflicts in their own countries, receive from the members of the host societies upon immigration to Europe, including Turkey. These responses are not solely determined by government policies regarding migration, border control and inclusion; yet they are always in dialogue with them. However, it is still possible to identify grassroots efforts to smoothen the transition of refugees and provide them with vital assistance and aid; as well as tensions in local communities while receiving the refugees.
Drawing on Derrida’s notion of hospitality as an inherently conflictual relation, we argue against an understanding of hospitality as an ethical comparative tool (i.e. more welcoming vs. less welcoming), and rather want to emphasize a conflicted politics of gift and exchange, solidarity and hostility, beyond the binary nature of guest-host relationship. This approach provides tools that allow us to situate the refugees and the locals at the same level, and reveal the workings of power, inequality, indebtedness and patronage as well as care and discipline in every encounter. All these intricate and intimate aspects of welcoming refugees have unforeseeably drastic effects on the questions of inclusion and exclusion, both in the present and in the future of the host countries.
We particularly welcome submissions of papers based on ethnographic research and deal with the questions of hospitality/hostility, care and compassion in the context of the refugee influx with a critical eye. Please send abstracts to hilal.alkan.zeybek@zmo.de and/or hsenogu@uni-goettingen.de or alternatively use the link: http://www.pacsa-web.eu/pasca-meeting-2017-amsterdam/
Deadline is 2 April 2017

Call for Papers: Migration and the (Inter-)National Order of Things- Law, State Practices and Resistance

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‘Migration and the (Inter-)National Order of Things. Law, state practices and resistance’, Bergen Summer Research School from June 12-22 2017.

This interdisciplinary PhD course aims to deepen the understanding of the politics of protection and control of contemporary migration. It asks: How are migrants given different bureaucratic and legal identities (e.g. refugees, stateless persons, irregular migrants) and what are the consequences of such distinctions and labels? What protection does international law and humanitarian institutions offer to different categories of people? What are the spatial, temporal and gendered implications of the protection and control practices aimed at migrants? And, how are the legal and bureaucratic identities, and institutions of migration control, challenged by migrants themselves?

The course include a number of lectures by distinguished researchers, including Alison Mountz, Professor of Geography and Canada Research Chair in Global Migration, Sine Plambech, Danish Institute for International Studies and Christine Jacobsen, Director of Centre for Women’s and Gender Research at the University of Bergen. For more detail see:
http://www.uib.no/en/rs/bsrs/104290/migration-and-inter-national-order-things

This course is one of six parallel courses in 2017, spanning disciplines within health, humanities, and social sciences. In addition to the courses, there will be a series of joint sessions about research tools for PhD candidates, but also plenary sessions with keynotes, debates, and an excursion.

This annual multidisciplinary research school has been running for ten years, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary approaches to tackle Global Challenges. It attracts PhD candidates and junior researchers from all over the world, working on some of the greatest challenges of our time.

We would appreciate if you could share this invitation with PhD candidates in your network.

Please visit our website (www.uib.no/en/rs/bsrs) to check our course and to submit your online application.

Application deadline: March 1, 2017

The call for papers: Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological

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The call for papers for the Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological society.

The conference will take place in the University of Jyväskylä between the 22th and the 23rd of May.

I invite you to submit a paper to the panel Neoliberal employment policies and the production of difference.

If you are interested send your name, affiliation, contact information, the title of your paper, the abstract (max. 200 words), and the name of the panel to the two following emails:

Mobilityconference2017@gmail.com
Francisco.arqueros@nuim.ie
Neoliberal employment policies and the production of difference
Organizer: Francisco Arqueros-Fernandez, National University of Ireland

The Welfare State, contrary to common belief in most anthropological literature, has not been dismantled nor has significantly shrunk in the EU; rather, it has changed its character. Some of the aspects of this change have been a process of privatisation by a progressive handing of management to the third sector of State welfare programs and the adoption of the ideology of Neoliberalism.

This shift has affected state employment policies. The state has delegated to the private sector and the “free market” the creation of employment, and has progressively reduced employment polices to the implementation of Active Employment Policies (AEPs). These processes have contributed to the “production of boundaries”, and therefore the “production and reproduction of difference” between different groups of workers, rather than to the closing of them.

Embodied social phenomena such as ethnicity, gender and class constitute grounds for the social production of difference among workers, and the construction of a segmented labour market.

This panel intends to explore how Active Employment Policies contribute to the reproduction of social stereotypes between groups of immigrant and local workers, particularly at the lower end of the labour market; how different groups of workers are categorized as fit for certain types of jobs while excluded from others; how these policies determine their incomes and social status; how despite their intentions these policies do not produce equal individuals before the market; what has been the role of the voluntary and the private sectors in the implementation of AEPs; who are the beneficiaries of these policies; etc. This panel calls for papers dealing with the topics described above, mainly located in EU countries.

Call for Papers: New Perspectives on Science and Religion in Society

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Call for Papers: New Perspectives on Science and Religion in Society
Please note: bursary supported places available.
Thursday 29th June – Saturday 1st July 2017
Chancellors Hotel and Conference Centre, Manchester, UK.
 
Organised in partnership between by Newman University, UK, University of Kent, UK, York University, Canada, and Kent State University, USA.
 
In the last decade there has been significant growth in social scientific scholarship on science and religion, complementing the more established historical research into the subject. Greater attention is being paid to the varied ways in which perceptions of science are influenced by religious and non-religious belief, identity, community and conflict in different geographical, cultural and historical contexts. The purpose of this international conference is to bring together researchers with backgrounds in history, anthropology, sociology, STS, psychology, political science and related humanities and social science disciplines to discuss perspectives on the overarching topic of science and religion in society.
 
Abstracts are invited for the conference relating to the following themes:
 
  • The social scientific and historical study of the relationship between science and religious and/or non-religious belief and identity;
  • Public perceptions of the relationship between science, religion and non-religion and their respective roles in society;
  • National and international comparative perspectives on the study of science, religion and belief in society;
  • Past and present media or popular representations of science and religion;
  • The past or present roles of science, rationalism, religion and belief in national, social or cultural identity and related geopolitical narratives;
  • Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of science, religion and non-religion in society;
  • Methodological approaches to, and issues in, the study of science and religion in society;
  • Avenues for future research and developments within the social scientific and historical study of science and religion.
We are interested in papers that relate to any aspect of STEMM in society (science, technology, engineering, medicine, and mathematics) and that discuss any religious tradition or non-religious belief system, including unbelief.
 
Individual Paper submissions:
To submit a paper proposal, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words, alongside a biographical note of no more than 100 words including name, institutional affiliation and email address.
 
Panel session proposals:
We will also be accepting a limited number of panel proposals with a maximum of four speakers. To submit  a panel proposal, please send a session summary of no more than 250 words alongside abstracts of no more than 300 words for each paper and biographical note of no more than 100 words for each contributor.
 
Individual or panel session submissions may cross over several of the themes listed above and those intending to submit papers are encouraged to consider the relevance of their work to other academic disciplines.
 
Please send all individual paper and session proposals to events.sres@newman.ac.uk for the attention of the conference organizers, Dr Stephen Jones, Dr Emma Preece and Dr James Thompson.
 
All abstracts must be submitted by 3rd March 2017.
 
Conference Bursaries:
A limited number of bursaries are available to support postgraduate, early career, retired, low income or unwaged presenters. These will cover conference transport costs (to a maximum of £150 for UK participants and £800 for international participants), registration, catering and accommodation for up to 3 nights. Please complete the bursary form, including your contact details, a short biography (including a clear statement regarding your career stage), your abstract and a statement of interest to be considered for one of the bursaries. The deadline for submission of bursary applications is 3rdMarch 2017.
 
The bursary application form can be found at the following address:
 
 
Key Dates:
Abstract submission: Open now
Deadline for abstracts and conference bursary applications: 3rd March 2017
Decision notification: 17th March 2017
Registration opens: 20th March 2017
Registration deadline for presenters: 14th April 2017
Registration closes: 30th April 2017
 
Should you have other questions about the conference please contact the conference organisers at events.sres@newman.ac.uk.
 
For further details, visit the conference webpage at:
 
 
The conference is being held as part of the project ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum’ based at Newman University, UK, University of Kent, UK, York University, Canada, and Kent State University, USA. For more information visit:
 

http://sciencereligionspectrum.org/about-2/