Religion CFP

#CFP: Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 17 May 2013

Fri, 17 May 2013 05:43:05 -0400

#CFP: Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 17 May 2013:

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In this issue:

Journals
Call for papers
Conferences
Jobs
Funding/Fellowships

JOURNALS

Fourth issue of the Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies http://bit.ly/13rAJxj

Sociology of Religion, Advance Access http://bit.ly/11tZhuz

Journal of Religion in Japan (aims and scope, editorial board etc.) can be found here:http://bit.ly/13rAJxk

Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 4:1

SPECIAL ISSUE: New Scholarship on Contemporary Religion from Australia and New Zealand

http://bit.ly/13rAJxo

Journal of Religion and Violence

I would like to announce the publication of a new academic periodical, the Journal of Religion and Violence (ISSN: 2159-6808). The JRV is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the study of religion and violence. In addition to publishing analyses of contemporary and historical religious groups involved in violent incidents, the Journal of Religion and Violence publishes articles and book reviews on theorists of religious such as René Girard, sacrifice, terrorism, inter- and intra-religious violence, war and religion, peace and religion, and religiously-legitimated violence against women. Academic researchers with interests in these areas are encouraged to submit articles and book reviews.

For more information, consult our website:

http://bit.ly/15SkgJw

CALLS FOR PAPERS

Open access publishing in social sciences and humanities

Date: 2013-08-13

Description: We are a small, independent publisher that was founded in 2012, with the aim of bringing open access benefits to scholars in the social sciences and arts & humanities. We publish two journals, Social Sciences Directory and Humanities Directory, in which we wish to publish multi-disciplinary content …

Contact: dan.scott [at] socialsciencesdirectory.com

URL: www.socialsciencesdirectory.com

Announcement ID: 203737

http://bit.ly/15Skfp5

CFP: Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences

Date: 2013-09-18

Description: The Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences is calling for papers for its October issue. JAPSS is a peer-reviewed academic journal published both in print and online and indexed by EBSCOhost. JAPSS has a high impact factor and is published five times per year. …

Contact: journalalternative [at] hotmail.com

URL: www.japss.org

Announcement ID: 203717

http://bit.ly/15Skfp7

CFP: Sorceresses & Witches: Enchanting Women on and off the Renaissance Stage

Location: Pennsylvania

Date: 2013-09-30

Description: This panel seeks papers that explore the intersection between theatric and non-theatric representations of the early modern female witch. Exegeses of witch-characters or “witch-plays”; examinations of witchcraft debates; contemporary accounts regarding witch-encounters; analyses of contemporaneous w …

Contact: dsaliba1 [at] binghamton.edu

Announcement ID: 203739

http://bit.ly/15Skfpd

The editors of “Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet” (http://bit.ly/15SkgJB) are pleased to announce the relaunch of the journal. It will come up with a new design as well as improved navigation and search functions. By establishing a peer-review system, we will renew our mission of publishing articles of a high academic standard from a multitude of disciplines.

We herewith invite researchers of all disciplines to hand in articles on their research dealing with religions on the internet. We are currently planning to publish 2 issues a year, one of which will be a special issue addressing a certain topic. The next issue to be published in December 2013 will broach the issues of “Religion in Digital Games” (for further information see enclosed Call for Papers).

The journal is always keen to collect high quality scholarship on issues relating to religions on the Internet and welcomes submissions pertaining to all aspects of theses matters anytime to be published in a future issue!

Submissions and queries should be send to the following address: online.religion@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de

2014 Hawaii University International Conferences

On Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

January 4-6, 2014

Ala Moana Hotel

410 Atkinson Drive

Honolulu, HI 96814

Call for Papers/ Proposal /Abstracts/Submissions

Submission Deadline: July 31, 2013

http://bit.ly/15SkgJE

CFP: Prisons of Stone, Word, and Flesh: Medieval and Early Modern Captivity

A One-Day Interdisciplinary Symposium at Brown University

February 21, 2014

We invite submissions for a one-day interdisciplinary symposium to take place at Brown University on February 21, 2014, hosted by the Cogut Center for the Humanities and sponsored by the Department of French Studies, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Medieval Studies Program, and the Department of History. Our theme will be “Prisons of Stone, Word, and Flesh: Medieval and Early Modern Captivity.” Professor Adam Kosto (History, Columbia University), author of Hostages in the Middle Ages (Oxford University Press, 2012), will serve as the keynote speaker.

If, following the thought of Michel Foucault and others, the prison is an essentially modern invention, how can we best conceptualize captivity in the time beforehand? Historical records of the medieval and early modern period (roughly 400-1800 AD) offer countless examples of human bondage, including the capture and detention of prisoners of war and the voluntary submission of hostages, as well as evolving forms of punitive incarceration. During the same time, art and literature are replete with depictions of imprisonment, often employed as a master metaphor for concepts like erotic love or mankind’s enslavement to the Devil and the body. Being held against their will even seems to have been something of a rite of passage for numerous medieval and early modern authors (such as Marco Polo, François Villon, Charles d’Orléans, Thomas Malory, and Cervantes) who found in various forms of captivity the time and inspiration necessary to create some of the most enduring works of western literature.

Submissions are sought from graduate students, faculty members, and other scholars in fields including—but not limited to—history, literature, languages, philosophy, religious studies, art and architectural history, and music. Particularly welcome are submissions which offer new methodological or theoretical approaches to issues of medieval and early modern captivity, or which examine the relationship of captivity to cultural production and/or intercultural exchange. Papers should be no more than twenty minutes in length and should be in English. Please send a 250-word abstract, along with brief contact information, to John Moreau, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in French Studies and Comparative Literature, at John_Moreau@Brown.edu. The submission deadline is November 1, 2013.

CONFERENCES/ EVENTS

History of Women Religious Conference

Location: Minnesota

Date: 2013-06-23

Description: CONFERENCE REMINDER History of Women Religious Conference being held at St Catherine University from June 23-26, 2013. Scholars from the US, Canada, Australia and Europe will be presenting their latest work. Scheduled keynote speaker Sr. Florence Deacon, osf, current president of the LCWR.

Contact: emcgahan [at] nbnet.nb.ca

URL: www.chwr.org

Announcement ID: 203742

http://bit.ly/15SkfFt

Visualizing Asia in the Modern World: A Conference on Image-Driven Scholarship

Location: Connecticut

Date: 2013-08-14

Description: 4th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VISUALIZING ASIA IN THE MODERN WORLD: A CONFERENCE ON IMAGE-DRIVEN SCHOLARSHIP will be held at Yale University on May 10 & 11, 2013. The conference is jointly sponsored by the Visualizing Cultures project at M.I.T. and the Yale Center for East Asian Studies.

Contact: jessica.chin [at] yale.edu

URL: www.visualizingasia.com

Announcement ID: 203623

http://bit.ly/13rAJNM

NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND COUNSELLING

Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building,

London School of Economics, Saturday 18 May 2013

http://bit.ly/12fttd5

Registration is now open for the one day conference Risk and Rapture: Apocalyptic Ideology in Late Modernity to be held at the University of Chester, Wednesday 11th September 2013.

SECURE ONLINE REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE AT http://bit.ly/13rALVS

Please note that to ensure ‘early bird’ rate of £50 please book before 10th June.

Accommodation is available on campus at £44.35 + VAT (inc breakfast and evening meal). To book please contact conferences@chester.ac.uk.

Please use the dedicated email address for any enquiries at Riskraptureconf@chester.ac.uk

For those making travel arrangements the day is provisionally scheduled to run from 09:30-17:00hrs, though there may be minor alterations to this. Final programme schedule to be published in due course.

JOBS

The University of Melbourne – Lecturer in Chinese Studies

<http://bit.ly/13rALVW>

University of Pennsylvania – Full-Time Lecturer in Pre-Modern Chinese

Studies

<http://bit.ly/13rAJNS>

Humboldt University, Berlin – Postdoctoral position Jewish Studies /

Medieval Jewish History

<http://bit.ly/13rALW0>

Georgia State University – Visiting Instructor/Lecturer

<http://bit.ly/13rALW2>

University of Southampton – Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 20th Century

Business History/Middle Eastern History

<http://bit.ly/13rAK4a>

Program Officer: Religion and the Public Sphere – SSRC http://bit.ly/13rAMci

University of Chester: Lecturer in Religious Studies

http://bit.ly/13rAK4e

FUNDING/FELLOWSHIP

Buddhist Peace Fellowship

http://bit.ly/13rAMcn

New York, NY (May 10, 2013) – The American Council of Learned Societies is pleased to announce The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation/ACLS Program in Buddhist Studies, a new initiative supporting research and teaching in Buddhist studies funded by a $1.9

million grant from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation. Working with the Foundation, ACLS will offer an articulated set of fellowship and grant competitions that will expand the understanding and interpretation of Buddhist thought in scholarship and society,

strengthen international networks of Buddhist studies, and increase the visibility of innovative currents in those studies. ACLS will organize competitions for Dissertation Fellowships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Collaborative Research Grants, and Visiting Professorships.

These are global competitions. There are no restrictions as to the location of work proposed or the citizenship of applicants.

The application deadline for the dissertation, postdoctoral, and collaborative competitions is November 5, 2013. The deadline for the visiting professorship competition is January 15, 2014.

More information on the program may be found here:

www.acls.org/programs/buddhist-studies/

louise via The Religious Studies Project on May 17, 2013 at 04:28AM

#CFP: The Films of Robert Rodriguez

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:34:46 -0400

#CFP: The Films of Robert Rodriguez:

Call For Papers: The Films of Robert Rodriguez

POST SCRIPT: Essays in Film and the Humanities invites submissions for a special issue on the Films of Robert Rodriguez.

The issue will be guest edited by Professor Christopher González (Texas A&M University-Commerce).

Texas-based director Robert Rodriguez is arguably one of the most important Latino filmmaker of his time; his enterprising approach has now taken him into other forms of visual media, such as his El Ray television network and his latest “Project Green Screen” venture with the cell phone giant, BlackBerry. This special issue seeks to continue the exploration of this significant filmmaker first begun by Charles Ramírez Berg in his Latino Images in Film, and continued most recently by Frederick Luis Aldama’s Robert Rodriguez and the Cinema of Possibilities, to be published later this year. Submissions are open to a variety of theoretical approaches.

Post Script encourages original manuscripts of no more than 7,000 words in this area from scholars and academics as well as filmmakers. Essays will be subject to peer review. The guest editor invites submissions on the following topics or related topics:

• The impact of Rodriguez’s first feature film, El Mariachi, made for only $7,000
• Films such as The Faculty, where Rodriguez served as director only
• Directorial collaborations, such as Sin City, where he worked alongside Frank Miller
• Larger filmic canvases like the Spy Kids and Machete franchises, and the Mexico Trilogy
• Shorter films such as “Bedhead,” “The Black Mamba,” and “The Misbehavers”
• The “Ten Minute Film School” tutorials Rodriguez regularly features on his films’ DVDs
• Rodriguez’s filmmaking partnership with Quentin Tarantino, from cameos in Desperado, and Planet Terror, to more substantive collaborations in From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse
• An exploration of Rodriguez’s filmmaking philosophy and technique, the speed at which he shoots; the economy of his productions; etc.
• The formal elements of Rodriguez’s films, including visual, sound, dialogue, and so on
• The politics of films like Machete, Planet Terror, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
• Rodriguez’s penchant for using many of the same actors across his films; or example, Danny Trejo’s rise as voiceless villain in Desperado to brown superhero in Machete
• Rodriguez’s oft-criticized representation of women.
• An exploration of how Rodriguez’s films often engage in a Chuck Jones- or Tex Avery-style cartoon sensibility
• The adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City
• Rodriguez’s subversive use of stereotypes and cultural clichés
• Substantive interviews
• Book reviews (up to 1,000 words)

Please note that Post Script does not reprint previously published material.

Submit manuscripts via a virus-free attachment, with author identification on a separate page and not in the headers, by e-mail to guest editor Christopher González at the address below by November 1, 2013. Manuscripts must be in English and must conform to the MLA Style Manual, 3rd edition.

Professor Christopher González
Department of Literature and Languages
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Email: Chris.Gonzalez@tamuc.edu

For questions about Post Script not related to this special issue, contact the general editor:
Professor Gerald Duchovnay Gerald.Duchovnay@tamuc.edu

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 15, 2013 at 03:27PM

#CFP: [UPDATE] SAMLA 2013: (Con)Textual Networks and the Globalized Caribbean (due June 10)

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:26:07 -0400

#CFP: [UPDATE] SAMLA 2013: (Con)Textual Networks and the Globalized Caribbean (due June 10):

2013 SAMLA CONFERENCE, NOV 8-10, ATLANTA

SPECIAL SESSION: “(Con)Textual Networks and the Globalized Caribbean”

We often think of globalization as a contemporary phenomenon, characterized by the way high-speed technologies have changed everything from market dynamics to social relations. Many scholars, however, see the current phase of globalization as part of an historical process beginning as early as the sixteenth century. The Caribbean has, indeed, been a transnational site from the time of its original European colonization, soon followed by the importation of coerced labor from Africa, South Asia, and China. Today, the region remains populated by a wide variety of ethnic groups, highly trafficked by tourists from around the world, and economically tied to foreign currencies and markets. Additionally, high rates of migration from the Caribbean to North America and Europe have created an immense Caribbean diaspora that retains cultural and economic ties to the region, facilitated in part by new technologies and alliances.

Images of the Caribbean have thus been documented, constructed, and circulated globally from the rise of print culture to the dawn of the digital age. This panel seeks proposals engaging any aspect of the conference theme, “Cultures, Contexts, Images, Texts: Making Meaning in Print, Digital, and Networked Worlds,” in relation to literature and/or other media from any part of the Anglophone Caribbean.

Some possible topics include:

The “digital humanities” and Caribbean studies
Visual images of the Caribbean
Cartographic representations of the Caribbean
Caribbean service economies—tourism, textiles and “free trade” zones, data mining, banking, etc.
Regionalism, Nationalism, Transnationalism
Marketing the Caribbean/the Caribbean market
Intra-Caribbean exchange and migration
Local and regional grassroots activist networks in the Caribbean
Caribbean diasporas—cultural, economic, and/or social networks

Please submit an abstract of 200-300 words and a brief bio (not CV) of <100 words, in Word or PDF, to Kristine A. Wilson (wilson67@purdue.edu). DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JUNE 10, 2013.

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 15, 2013 at 02:39PM

#CFP: Apollon eJournal - Undergraduate Submissions deadline 6/15/2013

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:17:34 -0400

#CFP: Apollon eJournal - Undergraduate Submissions deadline 6/15/2013:

Check the website, apollonejournal.org, for submission details on publication, or for an application to work with us

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Apollon invites undergraduate students to get published in, review submissions for, or help edit a the third issue of our peer-reviewed eJournal, Apollon. By publishing superior examples of undergraduate academic work, Apollon highlights the importance of undergraduate research in the humanities. Apollon welcomes submissions that feature image, text, sound, and a variety of presentation platforms in the process of showcasing the many species of undergraduate research.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Apollon, an undergraduate humanities eJournal, is a peer-reviewed publication for undergraduate humanities majors. Apollon features undergraduate research developed in humanities courses, and thus emphasizes faculty-student collaborations beyond the classroom. We invite interested students to join us by contributing leadership or original work to Apollon. Our student team participates at all levels of this ongoing project (design, review, and publication) to offer their peers a real outlet for intellectual work in the humanities. For more information you can go to the program website, www.apollonejournal.org, talk to your professors, or contact the Faculty Director, Jason Cohen, at (859) 985-3765 or cohenj@berea.edu.

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 15, 2013 at 11:43AM

#CFP: SAMLA Special Session on Creating or Expanding a BA Program in English During Uncertain Times (June 20th- Abstract Deadline)

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:09:08 -0400

#CFP: SAMLA Special Session on Creating or Expanding a BA Program in English During Uncertain Times (June 20th- Abstract Deadline):

This panel invites participants from any college or university where there is an interest in building a B.A. in English or establishing a new programmatic track within the discipline. Participants need not be at any particular point in the process, and we hope to incorporate a diverse array of experiences and viewpoints. In other words, participants may only be thinking about the possibility of creating a program or they might be on the other side of the process. This panel will also consider what types of programs should/need to be created to meet the changing needs of students in the 21st century. We hope that this session will produce a vibrant dialogue that will serve as a bridge to future cooperation.

Because of the collaborative nature of this panel, we would like to create a roundtable atmosphere in which the audience plays an active role. Participants will each provide an informal 5-10 minute talk about their experiences and the advice they have about the process and then the rest of the session will be dedicated to having an open dialogue.

Instead of traditional proposals, those interested should send a brief 250 word description of their experiences and what they would like to gain from participating in the panel. Accepted descriptions will be shared with all participants to help generate a productive discussion. In order to be considered, these descriptions should be sent to SOrtolano@Edison.edu by June 20th.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Kristie Fleckenstein, Professor of English at Florida State University; co-collaborator in the creation and administration of FSU’s undergraduate program in Editing, Writing, and Media

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 14, 2013 at 09:05PM

#CFP: Translatio--Medieval and Renaissance Graduate Student Conference at The Ohio State University

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:03:00 -0400

#CFP: Translatio--Medieval and Renaissance Graduate Student Conference at The Ohio State University:

October 4-5, 2013

The Medieval and Renaissance Graduate Student Association at The Ohio State University is currently accepting abstracts for the second year of its graduate student conference, Translatio. Prospective papers will be considered on any topic that would be of interest to an audience working in the fields of Medieval or Renaissance studies. We are planning to organize a panel of professors that will discuss issues of periodization in our fields, as has been explored recently by James Simpson in Cultural Reform and Revolution, who explains that the means by which we develop “periods” are as important as the periods themselves—and thus ultimately questions the periods. Abstracts that intersect with this theme are greatly encouraged, but our aim is to make this conference open to any graduate student in Medieval and Renaissance studies, so do not hesitate to submit an abstract on any topic or from any discipline. We also encourage papers that expand the discussion beyond western scholarship.To submit an abstract or request further information, contact MRGSA via email at mrgsaosu@gmail.com by August 15, 2013.

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 13, 2013 at 01:18PM

#CFP: [UPDATE]"Past Tense, Future Tensions" SCLA Conference Oct. 18-19, 2013 (abstract deadline extended)

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:52:06 -0400

#CFP: [UPDATE]"Past Tense, Future Tensions" SCLA Conference Oct. 18-19, 2013 (abstract deadline extended):

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Abstracts due 6/1/13.

The tenuous relationship between the past, present, and future complicates the practice of creating as well as translating time in imaginary works. Grammatically, tense marks more than temporality; it also highlights degrees of being that remain unreachable or forever distant. At the 2013 SCLA conference we will examine what it means to stage the past and direct the future in our literary and artistic texts. Whether anachronistic, politicized, or asynchronous, tense marks the uneasy space where recollection and projection meet.

Keynote Speaker: Wai Chee Dimock (William Lampson Professor at Yale University, and author of Through Other Continents: American Literature Across Deep Time).

We welcome 250 word paper proposals or 500 word panel proposals sent to Prof. Heather Hayton (sclaconference@guilford.edu) by June 1, 2013. Graduate students who wish to be considered for an SCLA Travel Scholarship should indicate this in their cover letter and include a short vita (2 pages maximum). We will also hold 2 undergraduate sessions and welcome undergraduate proposals (please specify).

See website for full conference cfp: http://bit.ly/ZB5yB9

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 10, 2013 at 11:30AM

#CFP: Positively Papist: Catholic Culture and Renaissance England

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:43:24 -0400

#CFP: Positively Papist: Catholic Culture and Renaissance England:

Pamphleteers, clergymen, and political officials demonized recusant Catholics in Renaissance England, but early modern English culture is inextricable from the influences of the medieval Catholicism from which it emerged. This SAMLA session will look at the ways that Catholic culture, broadly interpreted, influences English literary and artistic endeavors between 1534 - 1660.

We are accepting papers that show the subtle ways that visual and textual representations incorporate evidence of a continuing Catholic culture in an officially Protestant England. How is English Catholicism and Anti-Catholicism complicated by artistic forms? Under what circumstances is Catholic influence viewed favorably? How do writers and artists nuance our understanding of the numerous religious conflicts in the period?

By June 14, 2013, please send abstracts of 250-300 words to Christina Romanelli, University of North Carolina Greensboro, at c_romane@uncg.edu.

SAMLA 85 will take place November 8-10 at Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center in Atlanta, GA

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 09, 2013 at 12:25PM

#CFP: Intersecting Gender - 22nd - 23rd November 2013, Queen's University Belfast

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:34:48 -0400

#CFP: Intersecting Gender - 22nd - 23rd November 2013, Queen's University Belfast:

The idea of intersectionality in the field of feminist and gender studies has increasingly been used to facilitate deeper understandings of contemporary gendered identity and experience. Intersectionality in this usage seeks to speak to the coinciding of gender with other biological, social and cultural categories of personal identity and/or oppression, but also to the intersections which can be observed between gender and other apparently “gender-neutral” areas and experiences.

The Sibéal Irish Postgraduate Feminist & Gender Studies Network will hold their annual conference in Queen’s University Belfast on 22nd and 23rd November. The conference invites engagement with the intersections of gender as they can be detected in a range of locations, spaces and manners. The conference seeks to stimulate a wide and inter-disciplinary approach to the theorisation and everyday practice of gender identity. To that end, paper, panel and performance proposals are sought on, but not limited to:

Practice-based and theoretical perspectives on gender, sexuality and LGBTQI concerns as they relate to:
• The Arts, Literature and Performance
• Law, Politics and Development
• Health and Bodies
• Community and Activism
• Conflict and Nationality
• Economy, Poverty and Welfare

We highly encourage postgraduate students at the MA and PhD level from any area or discipline with an interest in feminist or gender studies to submit proposals.

Abstracts or proposals of no more than 250 words should be submitted to sibealbelfast@gmail.com

All selected papers should be twenty minutes long.

Deadline for submission is 16th August 2013.

A number of travel bursaries and a best paper prize will be available to conference presenters, further information on these will be made available after the close of the call for papers. Further information on the conference can be found at www.intersectinggender.wordpress.com

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 09, 2013 at 05:26AM

#CFP: A Brief Re-Examination of the Concept of Belief in the Study of Religion, by Liam T. Sutherland

Wed, 15 May 2013 04:34:44 -0400

#CFP: A Brief Re-Examination of the Concept of Belief in the Study of Religion, by Liam T. Sutherland:

Belief […] can be used as a concept to bridge […] frameworks, to allow scholars to understand and appreciate the framework within which religious actors presume to act without using it themselves (or necessarily having to adopt it).

A Brief Re-Examination of the Concept of Belief in the Study of Religion

By Liam T. Sutherland

Published by the Religious Studies Project, on 15 May 2013 in response to the Religious Studies Project Interview with Martin Stringer on Situational Belief (13 May 2013)

The work of Professor Martin Stringer is a breath of fresh air for all those who reject both the simplistic belief-centred approach to religion and its attendant backlash. It makes belief an important part of the way that religions are researched and analysed, but not in a fashion recognisable to many.

The traditional belief-centred approach drags with it a raft of assumptions that have proved consistently absent in the field, most notably that religious communities are centred on a coherent body of beliefs which mediates membership and divides them sharply from outsiders. Religious beliefs are often described in ways so philosophical and abstract that they would appear to in no way relate to the everyday lives of practitioners, who may have never encountered such supposedly integral doctrines. This approach has been overturned by examinations of ritual, visual religion, ethnicity, kinship, power etc. Other assumptions have been overturned, such as the notion that adherents engage exclusively in practices sanctioned by their tradition. Stringer found in his own fieldwork in the North of England that professing Christians would seek the advice of astrologers and claim to believe in reincarnation.

The inaccuracy of such assumptions has led to a rejection of ‘belief’ as a problematic concept. However, many of these assumptions cannot be countered without re-examining the concept of belief. Arguably this is because they reflect a misrepresentation of the workings of belief, not the applicability of the concept itself. The rejection of belief is based on equally untenable assumptions, usually simple, negative or inverted versions of those mentioned above. ‘Belief’ is often described by its critics in the words of Clifford Geertz, as though it always entailed some kind of ‘abstract Baconian deduction’, always hermetically sealed, intellectual, elite systems which are removed from everyday life. Attempting to remove belief from accounts of religion is a hollow, unsatisfying and deliberately blinkered means of avoiding its pitfalls – as Geertz added it is like staging Hamlet without the prince.

Stringer has shown that people use belief in extra-empirical beings as coping mechanisms and to anticipate and deal with problems. People may seek the structure, resources and cultural resonance of a Christian church, the ability to predict and respond to future problems offered by an astrologer, and the comfort of being able to chat with dead relatives who can listen and respond. All of these examples depend on a variety of factors, one of which is surely that they are considered to reflect belief in powerful, efficacious and therefore useful realities.

This approach to belief highlights the fact that while religion may have ritual, visual and ideological functions, it is never devoid of interpretations of the cosmos. The fact that some religions are orthopraxic, emphasising the necessity of correct practice not correct belief, does not mean that such religions are devoid of belief. As Segal has argued, religion could not perform any kind of ideological or psychological function if it was not a somewhat independent factor: that is, if many did not believe in the claims being made. A deity may need to be ritually appealed to or appeased but may not be concerned with the mental state of practitioners. This fact does not mean that no one considers the deity to be a real being that requires appeasement. While there may be evidence for other motivations for the performance – cultural heritage, to legitimate the traditional power structure etc. – a practitioner’s statement is surely the best evidence we have. As Horton pointed out, it would be incredibly patronising and unsound for scholars to assume that they have the ‘correct’ interpretation of believers’ statements.

Another crucial contribution that Stringer has made in the rehabilitation of the concept of belief is his notion of ‘situational beliefs’, which serves to explain the apparent ‘contradictory’ nature of many popular religious practices in the modern west. The fact that people may appear to practice many traditions simultaneously, or engage in practices prohibited by their (orthodox) tradition, cannot necessarily be taken as clear evidence that they do not believe in the belief statements they are making. Stringer contends that beliefs are most powerful and consciously thought about in specific situations in which they are relevant, such as a ritual-communal setting like a Church service or in the context of problems or obstacles in the person’s life. While the cognitive dimensions and interpretation which attend religious practices should not be downplayed, not all believers will insist on indivisible, coherent bodies of doctrines, but rather adopt piecemeal and patchwork systems. This may be derided by its critics as a ‘pick and mix’ approach but Stringer’s evidence contributes to the evidence that it is the norm not the exception throughout the world.

However, the concept of belief itself must be examined more closely if it is to be of any value as a scholarly tool. Beliefs must be differentiable in some way from thoughts, and could generally be defined as thoughts which are considered to respond to reality with varying degrees of conviction and held over a notable length of time. The thorny question of where the division lies between belief and knowledge was broached by the interviewer, David Robertson. Stringer places the divide along the lines of how much a statement could possibly be verified, i.e. if I put my cup down it is on the table (knowledge), or whether all leopards are Christian (belief).

According to traditional epistemology, however, all knowledge contains belief. One can claim knowledge if one believes a proposition, has sound reasons to justify this, and the proposition happens to in fact be true^[1] Belief is thus a constituent part of the process of gaining knowledge, all knowledge contains belief but not all beliefs count as knowledge. Beliefs themselves can be sub-divided according to how they are justified, whether the belief is empirical and rational and thus accessible to all, or based on experiential or cultural justifications.

One of the interesting questions to come out of Stringer’s research is: how incoherent are the beliefs of the practitioners under study? It is certainly the case that they may not match the traditional expected forms of practice, but while Stringer’s model of situational belief is highly useful, it does not necessarily mean that human beings do not retain a drive for coherence^[2]. Stewart Guthrie argued that the worldwide tendency of anthropomorphism, which lies at the heart of many religions, is based on a tendency to seek coherent patterns.

Are the forms of religion in evidence here not so different from the traditional orthodoxies, which no longer have the power or legitimacy to maintain their hegemony, that we find it difficult to recognise them? Practitioners don’t feel a need to accept traditions as whole packages, as Stringer mentioned, and may not even be aware of doctrines that they are contradicting. Furthermore, their God may no longer be a jealous one. That is not to argue that Stringer did not find very palpable evidence of contradictions and a loose attitude to creating a unitary, coherent worldview, even for the individual.

Another traditional view of belief challenged by Stringer is the idea that religious beliefs are always deeply held, of ‘ultimate concern’ to use Paul Tillich’s phrase. This arguably reflects Stringer’s link to the Tylorian tradition, which describes religious belief as a pragmatic means of interpreting the cosmos and indeed to coping with it. This means that believers may not develop an intense ‘faith’ in or sacred aura around these beliefs but, instead, may be willing to adopt new beliefs and abandon old ones, according to how well they appear to offer a valid interpretive mechanism. As Fitzgerald has astutely pointed out, belief in deities or spirits may be considerably less important or sacred than values such as hierarchy, purity or democracy.

One of the main concepts employed by scholars in place of ‘belief’ is ‘experience.’ Experience is an extremely useful focus but it can be used problematically much like belief and does not perform the same role. It would certainly be implausible to deny that religious practitioners have real experiences: social, psychological and sensory but the problem is of course that experiences can never be separated out of their frameworks of interpretation. Religious believers frequently claim to have experiences of the love of God and the power of crystals, not just the warmth of their congregation or the pageantry of a festival.

By using the notion of ‘experience’ scholars can conveniently ignore the inherent tension between the naturalistic-cultural and theological frameworks of interpretation. Scholars should not ignore this tension but face it head on: religious people claim to know or experience metaphysical realities because they have interpreted experiences found among specific groups and inculcated by rituals etc. in a particular way. Scholars of religion study only these human beings and do not interpret these experiences in the same way, but cannot simply dismiss them because they lie outside the scientific framework. Belief here can be used as a concept to bridge these frameworks, to allow scholars to understand and appreciate the framework within which religious actors presume to act without using it themselves (or necessarily having to adopt it). Many would not claim to believe in metaphysical realities, but to know them or experience them, but that does not mean that it is useful for scholars to adopt these turns of phrase. They must ‘re-describe’ religious claims in a manner which does not endorse their position.

Experience here takes on the same character as the concept of ‘faith’ that Stringer critiqued, which is used to keep scholars at arm’s length. Adding the concept of belief to the analysis makes it more precise and rich by clarifying how subjects understand and interpret their experiences, how they separate perceived reality from perceived illusion and modelling the cognitive framework within which actors presume to act. Certainly if social networks can inculcate common behaviour and even common experiences, they can inculcate frameworks of interpretation which are genuinely held to correspond to reality. The point is that religious believers claim to believe in more than the emotive content of rituals, to believe in ontological realities. Social scientists may be methodologically agnostic to the existence of such phenomena, but they should not leave belief in them out of analysis, because concern with human beings means concern with the cognitive worlds they inhabit.

This material is disseminated under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. and can be distributed and utilised freely, provided full citation is given.

About the Author:

Liam Sutherland is a native of Edinburgh who has studied Religious Studies twice at Edinburgh University and is about to go back for third time in September of this year. His undergraduate work focused on Indigenous Religions, taking contemporary Indigenous Australian spirituality as his dissertation topic. His Masters by research concerned the legacy and influence of Sir E.B. Tylor on contemporary theoretical debates in the study of religion and his upcoming PhD will focus on religion and Scottish National identity. He has previously written An Evaluation of Harvey’s Approach to Animism and the Tylorian Legacy,and The Spirit of the Matter: a Neo-Tylorian Response to Timothy Fitzgerald for the Religious Studies project, and participated in roundtable recordings on What is the Future of Religious Studies? and Should Religious Studies be Multidisciplinary?

Bibliography

Fitzgerald, T. The Ideology of Religious Studies (2000) Oxford University Press
Geertz, C. “Religion as a Cultural System” in Geertz, C. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz (1973) Basic Books
Guthrie, S.E. Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion (1993) Oxford University Press
Horton, R. Patterns of Thought in Africa and the West: Essays on Magic, Religion and Science(1993) Cambridge University Press
Lévy-Bruhl, L. Primitive Mentality (1966) Clare, A.L. (trans.) Beacon Press
McCutcheon, R.T. Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion (2001) State University of New York Press
Segal, R. “Theories of Religion” in Hinnels, J. R. (ed.) Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion (2005) Routledge
Stringer, M.D. Contemporary Western Ethnography and the Definition of Religion (2008) Continuum
Tylor, E.B Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art and Custom Volumes 1 & 2 (1871) John Murray

[1] This approach may well be criticised by many but mostly due to the seemingly arbitrary third factor: that a proposition happens to be true!

[2] I would not argue that Stringer is attempting to revive the position of the early anthropologist Lucien Lévy-Bruhl who argued that many cultures could not recognise contradictions because they thought only in a ‘mystical’ and ‘pre-logical’ framework. Stringer’s account of religion is far too embedded in ordinary life for that. It is possible to speculate that religious people much like non-religious people do not think about the totality of their cognitive cosmos at any one time, rather the aspects that concern them at any one time.

Christopher Cotter via The Religious Studies Project on May 15, 2013 at 03:39AM

#CFP: Allah n'est pas obligé:The Location of Islam in Francophone Cultures | SFPS Study Day at Stirling (20 June 2013) CFP

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:26:52 -0400

#CFP: Allah n'est pas obligé:The Location of Islam in Francophone Cultures | SFPS Study Day at Stirling (20 June 2013) CFP:

CALL FOR PAPERS

Allah n’est pas obligé:The Location of Islam in Francophone Cultures

SFPS Postgraduate Study Day

University of Stirling,

20 June 2013

From France to West Africa and farther afield in the Francophone world, Islam is a dominant force in the universe that writers, filmmakers and other social and cultural actors hail from and often turn to for critical inspiration. It has played a major role in the history of this world before, during and after the colonial period. However, the study of Islam has received insufficient attention in Francophone postcolonial and cultural studies. Over a decade into the twenty-first century, Islam is still heavily studied in its disciplinary stronghold of area studies but rarely in the postcolonial zones of the arts and the humanities. When one considers its central position in many Francophone cultures and the insufficient attention it has received in postcolonial studies, Islam can thus be seen as a very promising research site for new critical perspectives on cultural production in and beyond the Francophone world.

The next postgraduate study day of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies (SFPS) will take place at the University of Stirling on 20 June 2013. It aims to bring together postgraduate researchers and attending scholars in the humanities and the social sciences to reflect on the location of Islam in Francophone cultures. Potential themes might include but are not limited to:

· Representations of pre-colonial Islam

· Islam in colonial discourse

· Islam and postcolonialism

· Islam in Francophone literature, cinema, mass media, and arts

· Diasporic and Transatlantic Islam

· Islam Francais? Islam laïque?

· Islam and immigration

· Political Islam

· Francophone responses to ‘9/11’

· Islam in West Africa, the Francophone Caribbean and the Maghreb

· Islam in French and Francophone Studies

Proposals of 250 words in English or French accompanied by a short biography to be sent to jamal.bahmad@stir.ac.uk by 15 March 2013.

#CFP: Podcast: Martin Stringer on Situational Belief

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:34:44 -0400

#CFP: Podcast: Martin Stringer on Situational Belief:

David and Martin Stringer (and Eileen Barker) in the Great Hall of Durham Castle!

“Belief” is a critical category in the study of religion. Indeed, for some scholars, it is the very essence of religion; as Clifford Geertz wrote, “To know, one must first believe.” Others, however, see the emphasis on belief as part of the Protestant bias in the development of the discipline, and have proposed various ways of avoiding talking about it at all. In this interview recorded at the recent SOCREL conference in Durham, Martin Stringer explains his model of situational belief to David, and explains how it not only better represent how beliefs actually function for individuals, but also challenges preconceived notions of what “religion” “is” in several ways.

You can also download this interview, and subscribe to receive our weekly podcast, on iTunes. And if you enjoyed it, please take a moment to rate us, or use our Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com link to support us when buying your important books etc.

Professor Martin Stringer is Professor of Liturgical and Congregational Studies and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham. He trained as a social anthropologist, and his research has focused on Christian groups in the UK and diversity among inner-city communities. His theoretical approach is to use anthropological methods of ethnography in detailed and extended studies of real life situations, where he believes religion can be most fruitfully understood.

His recent publications include Rethinking the Origins of the Eucharist (SCM, 2011) and A Sociological History of the Christian Worship (Cambridge University Press, 2005). However, of particular relevance to this interview is Contemporary Western Ethnography of the Definition of Religion (Continuum, 2008). Also of interest is his paper ‘Towards a Situational Theory of Belief’ (Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, Vol XXVII, No 3, Michaelmas 1996, pp217-234).

David Robertson via The Religious Studies Project on May 13, 2013 at 04:00AM

#CFP: Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 10 May 2013

Fri, 10 May 2013 03:26:21 -0400

#CFP: Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 10 May 2013:

In this issue:

Resources
Journals
Call for papers
Conferences
Jobs
Funding

RESOURCES

H-Buddhism, Buddhism Bibliography (Zotero). 6,800 items, maintained by 91 members

http://bit.ly/16ls3iz)

Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Cultural Studies

http://bit.ly/16ls3yN

JOURNALS

Journal of Hindu Studies http://bit.ly/16ls1XJ

Sociology of Religion, advance access http://bit.ly/11tZhuz

Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture – New Book Reviews http://jrmdc.com/

CALLS FOR PAPERS

CfP: Edited volume “Women from the Parsonage: Pastors Daughters as Writers, Salonnires, Translators, and Educators”

Date: 2013-01-01

Description: CFP: Women from the Parsonage: Pastors Daughters as Writers, Salonnires, Translators, and Educators Many prominent writers and thinkers, especially from the second half of the seventeenth into the nineteenth century, were the sons of pastors. The advantages of their upbringing and especially the edu …

Contact: cindy.renker [at] utdallas.edu

Announcement ID: 203421

http://bit.ly/16ls3yO

CFP for Ways of Knowing: Graduate Conference on Religion at Harvard Divinity School (Oct 25-6, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts). Deadline July 1, 2013 Location: Massachusetts

Date: 2013-07-01

Description: CFP for Ways of Knowing: Graduate Conference on Religion at Harvard Divinity School (Oct 25-6, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts). Deadline July 1, 2013. The Science, Religion, and Culture Program at Harvard Divinity School announces the second annual graduate student conference on religion. In our i …

Contact: gradreligionconference [at] hds.harvard.edu

URL: www.hds.harvard.edu/gradreligionconference

Announcement ID: 203423

http://bit.ly/11XmQY9

Call for Book Chapter Proposals: Negotiating Ethics

Location: Nova Scotia

Date: 2013-07-01

Description: Ensuring that sociological research complies with ethical standards requires considerable thought and attention. Not only does the researcher need to ensure safety to all participants in the process, they must also place themselves within that same continuum of harm and risk to ensure their own safe …

Contact: alan.brown [at] msvu.ca

Announcement ID: 203406

http://bit.ly/11XmP6C

CONFERENCES/ EVENTS

Sacred Topography and Cultural Tranfers in the Himalayas

Organized by Klaus-Dieter Mathes, University of Vienna

Time: May 24, 3 pm until May 25, 4 pm

Venue: Dept. of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies

1090 Vienna, Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2.7

Seminar Room 1

For further info see: http://bit.ly/11XmQYd

JOBS

Wheaton College – Postdoctoral Fellowship, Asian History

<http://bit.ly/11XmP6E>

Nanyang Technological University – Assistant Professor in Southeast Asian History

<http://bit.ly/11XmQYf>

Northwestern University – Associate or Full Professor, Islam in African Societies

<http://bit.ly/11XmP6G>

J. F. Oberlin University – Ass’t./Assoc. Professor, Premodern Japanese Literature

<http://bit.ly/11XmPmU>

German Historical Institute – Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in History

<http://bit.ly/11XmQYj>

Pennsylvania State University – Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies

<http://bit.ly/11XmPmZ>

University of Maryland – College Park – Position in Yiddish Culture

and/or Literature

<http://bit.ly/11XmRex>

FUNDING

The Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions at SOAS invites applications for one PhD bursary for new dissertation projects on Japanese Religions.

The value of the bursary is £4000, which covers the fees for the first year of MPhil/PhD study at SOAS (UK/EU fees). If the successful candidate receives a grant to cover fees from another funding body the bursary may be used towards maintenance.

Deadline for applications: 3 June 2013

Start of bursary: Fall semester 2013

Applications are invited from outstanding students of Japanese religions, regardless of nationality.

For further details on the application process and procedures, please visit our website: http://bit.ly/11XmRez

louise via The Religious Studies Project on May 10, 2013 at 03:15AM

Ways of Knowing: Graduate Conference on Religion at Harvard Divinity School (Oct 25-26, 2013)

Wed, 08 May 2013 22:56:15 -0400

“Constructions of Autonomy in Early Modern and Modern Contexts”

We are soliciting proposals for conference papers on theological and philosophical discourses about the individual, rational, and/or autonomous subject in early modern and modern contexts, spanning from the Reformation to the post-Enlightenment period. Claims about autonomous subjectivity and its emergence in this period often appear in discussions of religious modes of subjectivity. Are claims to autonomy compatible with religious subjectivity? To what extent does autonomous subjectivity entail the ability of subjects to construct their own commitments–epistemological, moral, religious–and how have conceptions of autonomy themselves been constructed? In short, we invite proposals that explore the relationship between autonomy and religious subjectivity. Panels will examine discourses and constructions of autonomy in their historical formations in the early modern and modern periods, while also allowing for consideration of how such discourses have functioned more broadly within the study of religion. We are especially concerned with the European context–given its pervasive influence in these discussions–but also welcome contributions from scholars working on similar issues of autonomy and religious subjectivity in non-European contexts and in non-Christian traditions.

Please see our website for our general and special call for papers and for submission instructions: www.hds.harvard.edu/gradreligionconference.

#CFP: Salaam Cinema: Representations and Interpretations - Celebrating 100 Years of Bombay Cinema

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:26:07 -0400

#CFP: Salaam Cinema: Representations and Interpretations - Celebrating 100 Years of Bombay Cinema:

Book Proposal

Salaam Cinema: Representations and Interpretations
Celebrating 100 Years of Bombay Cinema

Edited by Vikrant Kishore, Amit Sarwal and Parichay Patra

On 3 May 1913, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke) presented to India its first silent film, Raja Harishchandra. Phalke proved that film-making can be a lucrative business in India – expected to grow to US$ 3 billion by 2014. A century later, from its transition from silent to sound, the term ‘Bollywood’, though incorrectly, is used to refer to the whole of Indian Cinema. Indian cinema, with aesthetics of its own, is a veritable storehouse of material that can be read in as many ways as possible. As a genre that has grown and developed over a period of 100 years, it is coloured by history, politics, socio-economic conditions, culture, sensibilities, dreams, fantasies, hopes and expectations of Indian people. It is a globalized cultural industry, cinema of attractions and the most fascinating film industry of the world packaged with romance, melodrama, action, costumes, songs and dance extravaganzas.
Success of the Festival of Indian Films, the search for Bollywood’s Star on SBS ONE, the Australian Film Festival, the Australian Prime Minister’s visit to India, and Oz Fest 2012 (the biggest Australian cultural festival ever staged in India) has also demonstrated that the two great nations are coming closer in terms of understanding each other beyond clichés of curry and cricket or economics of export and marketing. It is through Indian Cinema and the journeys of our filmmakers and their representations that new adventures in cultural engagement are being charted out between the two countries.
We invite you to celebrate 100 years of Bombay Cinema and share views on the key representation, transformative moments; changing faces and phases; re-evaluate Australian-Indian film connections; and find ways to engage and build meaningful collaborative film projects between the two countries.

Please submit your papers to Parichay Patra (parichay.patra@gmail.com) by 30th July 2013.

About the Editors
Vikrant Kishore is an alumnus of prestigious institutes like RMIT University—Melbourne, AJK Mass Communication Research Centre – Jamia Millia Islamia and St. Stephens College—Delhi University, India, Dr. Vikrant Kishore is an Academician, Filmmaker, Journalist, and a Photographer. Currently based in Newcastle, Dr Kishore is working at the University of Newcastle as a Lecturer-Communication and Media Production and Course Coordinator (Music Video) in the Bachelor of Communication. Dr. Kishore completed his doctorate in “Bollywood Cinema and Dance” from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in 2011. After the completion of his PhD. he worked as a researcher on ”Australian Research Council” funded project on “Mapping Lifestyle Television in Asia” at RMIT University, Melbourne under the leadership of Dr. Tania Lewis. Dr. Kishore has more than 25 documentaries, and corporate films to his credit and his area of expertise are Bollywood Films, the folk and tribal culture of Eastern India, as well as the issues of caste politics in India. His documentaries on Chhau Dance have been screened in various international film festivals.

Amit Sarwal is Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Australia and also the Founding Convenor of Australia-India Interdisciplinary Research Network (AIIRN). He has taught as Assistant Professor in the Department of English at SGND Khalsa College and Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, India. He was an Honorary Visiting Scholar (2006-2007) at Monash University as an Endeavour Asia Award winner. His areas of interest include South Asian Diaspora Literature, Australian Literature and Popular Fiction on which he has organised and presented in many conferences and published in various journals and books. He has co-edited a number of books on Australian studies, prominent being: Creative Nation: Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader (2009); Wanderings in India: Australian Perceptions (2012); and Enriched Relations: Public Diplomacy in Australia-Indian Relations (2013).

Parichay Patra is a doctoral candidate in the department of Film and Television Studies, Monash University, Melbourne. Patra studied English literature and Film Studies at Jadavpur University, India. He has published in reputed film journals like the Journal of the Moving Image and in a number of edited volumes. Patra has presented papers in various conferences / seminars / symposia in India, Taiwan and Australia. His area of interest is the history of the Indian New Wave cinema of the 1970s. He is currently working on an article on Ritwik Ghatak’s Subarnarekha (1962) for a collection of essays to be published by Orient Blackswan.

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 07, 2013 at 11:47PM

#CFP: Secular Shakespeares - 21-27 April 2014, Paris

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:17:32 -0400

#CFP: Secular Shakespeares - 21-27 April 2014, Paris:

The last decade has seen a return to religion in early modern studies. A previous generation of scholarship had sublimated questions of theology and religious identification in favor of the cultural studies “holy trinity” of race, class, and gender. However New Historicist criticism began to embrace and understand Renaissance texts through the lens of Reformation theological disputation and the religious environment in which individual texts were created. Shakespeare, the most towering figure of English Renaissance writing is no exception. As a case in point Stephen Greenblatt’s popular biography of the author Will in the World spends ample time investigating the evidence for possible recusant sensibilities in that most English of writers. This panel invites papers that return to a more secular understanding of Shakespeare. How much of Shakespeare’s continued popularity is precisely because he largely avoids antiquated doctrinal concerns that occupied other playwrights? In what ways does Shakespeare both negotiate and negate the perilous dichotomy between Catholic and Protestant? How is the metaphysic engaged in his drama and verse materialistic, Epicurean, or even atheistic? Does Shakespeare mock religion, exult it, or largely ignore it? What can critics make of his avoidance of writing a biblical play while still mining English translations of scripture for rhetorical and thematic tropes? Is there any way in which it is fair to say that Shakespeare is the first of the moderns, the primogeniture of the secular human? The panel would also be considered in proposals that consider the opposite possibility, that even with a seeming lack of interest in theological disputation, how does Shakespeare inevitably seem to embrace particular theological positions? And perhaps more widely, how do we conceptualize secularism as a construct, category, and discourse in the early modern period? Is it possible to speak of any text as “secular,” or do even the most profane of works reflect and suggest some sort of theological commitment? Is secularism even possible in representation, literature, or culture? And how does Shakespeare enter into these particular questions? Special attention will be paid to abstracts which look at productions or interpretations of Shakespeare in the modern world, and the ways in which religion is side-stepped or embraced.

Please send 300-400 word abstracts by August 1st 2013 to Ed Simon of Lehigh University at ens310@lehigh.edu. This panel is planned for Shakespeare 450 commemorating the 450th anniversary of the author’s birth by the Société française Shakespeare and to be held in Paris 21-27 April 2014.

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 07, 2013 at 08:32PM

#CFP: Translation and Transcendence conference: 25-26 October, 2013, Toronto

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:09:56 -0400

#CFP: Translation and Transcendence conference: 25-26 October, 2013, Toronto:

Modern Horizons CFP – Translation and Transcendence

For the third annual Modern Horizons conference—to be held October 25th and 26th, 2013 in Toronto, Ontario—we invite proposals for 20 minutes presentations, in English or French, on ‘Translation and Transcendence.’
Translation is prevalent in many aspects of life, whether one works between languages or across cultural divides. If translation happens each time something different, new, or unexpected is confronted or experienced, then it is basic to almost any register of human life. While recognizing that translation is often thought of as communication between languages, we wish to expand on this concept with the aim of addressing issues of identity, tradition, relationships, responsibility, and forms of culture. This conference will re-examine these ideas by considering translation alongside transcendence.

Considering translation and transcendence together is significant; since translation is literally a carrying across of meaning, transcendence is what makes this possible as it allows translation to be distinguished from mere imitation, formal repetition, or reproduction in other media. Thought of in this way, translation involves both continuity and change, because transcendence allows for the rejuvenation of ideas and experiences across change of context. Change and continuity are essentially related: we can only recognize either one through the presence of its counterpart. Contextually present, translation denies an overemphasis of one’s own time (and place), for it necessarily conjugates past with present, and in doing so prepares for a translated future.

Along with its fundamental connection with transcendence, one may think of translation in terms of appropriation and completion. Translation as appropriation occurs when the Other (text or person) is drawn into and becomes a part of our own ethos (our being, sensibility, or ethical disposition) and yet does not lose its own proper essence, its ‘transcendent’ difference. Translation as completion occurs when we recognize that the Other (text or person) must be read or heard in order for its meaning to be complete. This is not to say that meaning is finalized, but rather that nothing stands in a vacuum, and encounter and affirmation are essential to meaning.

With these ideas in mind, we invite abstracts of 500 words or full papers (taking not more than 20 minutes). Possible topics may include but are not limited to:
- translation and justice
- translation within tradition
- translation and scripture/the sacred
- translation as appropriation
- translation as completion
- translation and threats to integrity
- translation and fragments/the fragmentary
- translation, immanence, and transcendence
- translation and hermeneutics
- translation as response
- translation as mimesis
- translation and the question of origin
- translation and authenticity
- translation as dialogue
- translation and the question of form
- translation and fundamentalism
- the question of untranslatability
- the role of the translator today
- the limits of literal translation
- translation, metaphor, symbolism

Please submit abstracts or full papers to editors@modernhorizonsjournal.ca by 15 June 2013.
Modern Horizons
modernhorizonsjournal.ca
editors@modernhorizonsjournal.ca

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 07, 2013 at 06:22PM

#CFP: The Medium, Before and After Modernism (EXTENDED: 13 May)

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:02:25 -0400

#CFP: The Medium, Before and After Modernism (EXTENDED: 13 May):

The medium and its specificity have oriented the discourse on the arts throughout various historic and historiographic periods. For modernism, for example, Clement Greenberg advocated the specificity of the medium as the legitimate drive of artistic production for the avant-garde. The critical discourse that emerged around Greenberg and his followers was oriented around the various articulations and possibilities of the medium, an investigation played out across the history of the twentieth-century’s art and its historiography. While the advent of performance, installation, and new media art challenged these particular narratives and developed new spaces of investigation, the discipline of art history as a whole still bears traces of these divisions along areas of specialization and study, given that the question of the medium emerged alongside the birth of the discipline, specifically in G. E. Lessing’s Laocoön (1766), itself a response to the work of Johann Winckelmann.

In past years, the revitalized interest in phenomenology, materiality, and object-oriented ontologies have drawn attention back to the aesthetic and material underpinnings of the arts. These trends evidence a burgeoning return to the notion of the medium and its various ontological and phenomenological specificities. However, these methods have become predominant in moments outside of modernity, such as the Ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern period. Likewise, the same questions have been brought to bear on investigations concerning the recent past in spaces normally excised from a certain history of art, such as popular culture, technology, and videogame studies. Therefore, the medium and its specificity, while a necessary investigation, can no longer be addressed in terms of flatness or opticality alone, but must rather be developed from both its historiographic tradition in modernity along with its own specificities within each area of study. Thus, this panel engages the fundamental questions that emerge in such a global project: How does one articulate a notion of the/a medium in periods outside of a Euro-American modernism, or where the term itself is wholly inexistent? Is the medium a technical, material support for art, or is it an epistemological field for artistic production? This session seizes such questions as a shared discursive space for art historians of various fields to engage with what constituted a medium for their respective areas of study and how these orienting concepts construct notions of disciplines and subfields.

For submission details:
http://bit.ly/10wxVjp

(author unknown) via category: religion on May 07, 2013 at 04:17PM

#CFP: Reflections on Teaching Religious Studies Online, by Christopher F. Silver

Wed, 08 May 2013 04:34:57 -0400

#CFP: Reflections on Teaching Religious Studies Online, by Christopher F. Silver:

As we find new and innovative ways to teach students, we as instructors are charged (sometimes without formal or proper orientation) to adopt new methods of instruction.

Reflections on Teaching Religious Studies Online

By Christopher F. Silver, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Published by the Religious Studies Project, on 8 May 2013 in response to the Religious Studies Project Interview with Doe Daughtrey on Teaching Religious Studies Online (6 May 2013)

This podcast explores the nature of learning within online learning and the benefits and disadvantages of this type of curricular design. The interview was conducted with Doe N Daughtrey an instructor at Arizona State University and at Mesa Community College. While her work falls within a wide range of topics from Mormonism to new forms of spirituality, she speaks to the student and instructor experience of teaching online courses, particularly within the field of Religious Studies. Certainly the online medium in Higher Education has grown exponentially over the past 10 years. As an instructional tool, it creates some new challenges for the instructor never before encountered within academia. An obvious example noted by Daughtrey is in relation to student interactions within discussion boards. In more traditional classrooms, students are cognizant of their behavior and their exchanges with other students. However, within the virtual world, students appear more bold and vocal in their opinions. Some students struggle not only with writing but proper projection within writing. When writing and responding to fellow students in an online forum, students may not be mindful of others perception. It is difficult for the instructor to instill in students a cultural sensitivity of others who are different from the student. Congruently, the instructor also has to deal with the permanency of such exchanges as textual exchanges. In a traditional classroom, such exchanges, if they do occur, come and go and the instructor can immediately address and correct inappropriate behavior. Another issue addressed by Daughtrey is the issue of time as related to the course. In traditional classroom exchanges, students and the instructor are in a space together for a specific time frame (McKeachie, 1999). In the online world, the exchanges can be potentially 24 hours depending on the availability of each student and instructor. As far as inappropriate exchanges are concerned, students can have heated or controversial disagreements during times when the instructor is not online to monitor the exchange. Much can happen during that period of time with the potential to spiral into a much larger situation before the instructor is able to intervene.

In addressing such issues and concerns, Daughtrey implies that the textual space of the online course creates a communicative void typically filled with body language and voice inflection in traditional classrooms. As a potential solution to such situations, Daughtrey has used voice recordings in lieu of textual responses for her students. This at least provides the students with her voice inflection in which to infer intention from her feedback. She notes that this has been helpful in her online courses. Another solution Daughtrey proposes is for students to keep a private online journal of their thoughts. This helps keep sensitive discussions and thoughts out of the online forums insuring smoother online courses. Finally one of the other telling themes of Daughtrey’s podcast is the limitation of online resources for Religious Studies courses. Daughtrey argues that there are many online resources which can assist in the construction of online courses, but that there is no content specific support for Religious Studies. Such support would help in the delivery of student education. She suggests that more should be done to address content and curricular issues in detail.

In reviewing this podcast, there are a couple of issues which arise. I think it is important to provide the reader with my own background here, as much of the conversation speaks to experience and not simply to instructional design and implementation. My own education has been a nexus of three fields of study: Psychology, Religious Studies, and Education. Much like Dr. Daughtrey, I have taught online courses in a variety of fields including Religious Studies online. Many of the concerns that she notes within the podcast are a common theme in teaching Religious Studies at a secular institution. Certainly when coupled with a largely conservative religious landscape among the student body, issues of ontology will certainly arise. Online learning provides a much more personal space in which to communicate opinions and ideas. In this regard, some students may assume that radical opinions and a lack of social mindfulness have no implications. For instructors such assumptions create issues. Certainly the formality and etiquette of the classroom may not translate into the online medium of instruction. I would propose an alternative method for addressing such issues. Many of the concerns related to behavior and content are related to the asynchronous method of online instruction. This method is called asynchronous because the content is unidirectional. For example discussion boards, YouTube videos, even this Podcast is an example of a unidirectional delivery of information. Its antithesis is called synchronous learning. It is a real time exchange of information. Examples of this might be a video conference on Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting, a live chat room in real time, or even a phone conversation. I would suggest that online instruction should be a hybrid of synchronous and asynchronous delivery models for optimal learning. Certainly if a university does not have the resources for synchronous online instruction, there are some free open source alternative programs to assist an inspiring instructor. This at least allows the interaction between student and teacher and presents information in a traditional format of instruction. Instructors can then project their personality into their instruction beyond a textual exchange. Moreover, students can interact in real time learning the social expectations of the instructor. This is important when considering the challenges of teaching a controversial topic such as religion (Carlson and Blumenstyk, 2012).

While religion is a social norm for many in the United States and beyond, certainly social norms and classroom culture are a complex issue for many instructors. Not all students ascribe to a post-modern paradigm of different yet equal among the growing multicultural and multiethnic American and Western European populations. Some regard their coexistence with those who view religion or even race differently as a necessary evil of public education. Much of the confusion noted by Daughtrey in regards to online education is that the online world may be implicitly perceived as our private space of interaction, where the rules and values we ascribe to within daily interactions do not apply in the online discussion board. We as instructors are no longer simply Teachers or Professors but a combination of Information Technology Professionals and Cultural Advocates all wrapped into one role. While I cannot speak to the religious landscape of Arizona, I can speak to the Southeastern United States. I, too, teach in secular college and university. Much of the curricular agenda is dependent on accreditation and course objectives. Still, instructors must create the perception of value for Religious Studies education and encourage students to learn more about the world in which they live. In my own courses, such discussions are heated simply because religion is equated with Christianity. The idea that other religions would be academically equal to Christianity can be offensive to some students. For many of my students, religion is a form of personal identity. It is who we are, not simply a belief or what we do. Many cannot compartmentalize it or objectify their belief. Therefore to have such discussions, academic or otherwise, requires a new paradigm of behavior and inquiry in religion’s examination by students. This type of student internalization of religious identity and perceived threat is not limited to the field of Religious Studies. For example, a colleague of mine and psychologist of religion Michael Nielsen at Georgia Southern had a similar experience. As Nielsen (2012) has noted, many students come to courses on religious topics either assuming the content will confirm their ontological position or to argue for their belief as the dominant truth. Nielsen’s perspective is but one of many examples where students do not understand the overall curricular purpose and goal of academic explorations of religion. They want to internalize it in some way.

This Podcast primarily focuses on instructional issues related to teaching Religious Studies online. These issues are certainly juxtaposed within the secular state-run institution of higher learning. It is likely that there are differences in the liberal arts and religiously affiliated styles of Higher Education. I would suggest that they likely differ in their curricular goals depending on the overall mission of the college or university. It is unclear how these differences translate in online learning and education. Certainly, it would have been interesting if Dr. Daughtrey would have addressed such differences within her podcast. Additionally, I am left with the question of curricular structure. What are some of the different ways Religious Studies are taught and the resources which may be available to a new instructor charged with online learning? It would be nice to see a conversation which goes beyond the politics of religious identity and online learning (although this is certainly an interesting topic overall). With differences in Religious Studies educational theory, there may yet be another layer to the instructional onion we call religious education. With these criticisms in mind, this is not to say that the experiential perspective is not useful in education. In fact, this is the meat of an instructional design model. As we find new and innovative ways to teach students, we as instructors are charged (sometimes without formal or proper orientation) to adopt new methods of instruction. While one may argue that a good instructor should always be learning, there is likely a point of diminishing returns in which the instructor is expending energy in acquiring new instructional skillsets such as the various Online Learning Systems (OLS) while also tracking and evaluating student performance within their course. Professors may not have the time to devote to learning all the features of OLS and therefore the overall instructional product may suffer from skillset limitations. Additionally, institutions may be tempted to increase enrollment in online classes to save money, further diverting the instructor from exploring their research areas as well as gaining additional OLS skills. So certainly the economics of online learning play a role here too.

There is no doubt that OLS models of learning have benefits and disadvantages in academia. As a former Information Technology Professional and, typically, an early adopter of new technologies, I view online learning with circumspect. If it is to be incorporated, it should be a hybrid delivery model with classroom and online time for the students. If that is not possible, then the instructional design should include synchronous and asynchronous delivery of material. Evaluation of student performance is not simply about assignment quality and test accuracy, but it is about the real-time monitoring of learning, the observation of the student as they make their academic journey. Online learning loses the thrill of watching students achieve their “Aha” moments. There needs to be a technological solution found to incorporate the human aspects of the classroom in online learning.

This material is disseminated under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. and can be distributed and utilised freely, provided full citation is given.

About the Author

Christopher F. Silver is an Ed. D. Candidate in Education and Leadership at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga USA. He has a masters degree in research psychology from the UT Chattanooga and a masters degree in Religion and Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo Ontario Canada. He is currently conducting research on American Atheism exploring the complexities of self-identity adjectives in how atheist and agnostic participants self-describe. In addition, Mr. Silver also serves as an instructor at UT Chattanooga teaching courses in psychology and currently serves as an information technology research consultant.

Mr. Silver has collaborated in the fields of religious studies, psychology and sociology of religion. His current collaboration is as a research manager for the US team of the Bielefeld (Germany) International Study of Spirituality. His email address is Christopher-Silver@utc.edu. He is also an Assistant Editor at the Religious Studies Project, and has conducted a number of interviews, and previously written the piece A Word by Any Other Name: The Emergent Field of Non-religion and the Implications for Social Meaning for the website.

References

McKeachie, W. J. (1999). Teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Nielsen, M. (2012). Teaching Psychology of Religion at a state university. Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Newsletter, 36(2), 2-5.
Carlson, S. & Blumenstyk, G. (2012). For Whom is college being reinvented? The Chronicle of Higher Education. 59(17).

Christopher Cotter via The Religious Studies Project on May 08, 2013 at 03:40AM

#CFP: Podcast: Doe Daughtrey on Teaching Religious Studies Online

Tue, 07 May 2013 19:25:59 -0400

#CFP: Podcast: Doe Daughtrey on Teaching Religious Studies Online:

As online communications technologies become more pervasive and sophisticated, this provides new opportunities and challenges for the creation of alternative learning environments which may differ in significant ways from traditional face-to-face environments. In this interview, Doe Daughtrey talks to Kevin Whitesides about the issues surrounding this increasingly important aspect of academia.

Doe Daughtrey is currently based at Arizona State University. Her field is religion in the Americas, with an emphasis on the gendered experience of religion, new religious movements, and religion and popular culture. More specifically, the intersection of Mormonism and the New Spirituality in North America, how women with backgrounds in Mormonism supplement, combine, or replace Mormonism with “New Age” and/or earth-based beliefs and practices. You can find out more about her research at her blog. She is also on Twitter – @popularreligion

David Robertson via The Religious Studies Project on May 06, 2013 at 04:06AM