Call for Papers: Religion and Movement
An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference
University of Chicago Divinity School
April 15-16, 2016
Keynote Speaker: Professor Thomas Tweed
The University of Chicago Divinity School is pleased to announce its first annual Graduate Student Conference, to be held on April 15th and 16th, 2016. This year’s theme is “Religion and Movement.” We understand the definitions of the conference’s constitutive categories—“religion” and “movement”—to be highly contingent and contestable, and therefore to be open to a multitude of varied interpretations. We invite papers that consider these topics from all disciplinary and methodological orientations. Papers may address any number of traditions, geographies, or historical time periods, but should involve sustained and self-conscious theoretical reflection on the conference themes.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to: immigration and/or migration; diaspora; pilgrimage; dance; ritual performance; spirit possession; movement within/between public and/or private spaces; embodied engagement with architecture or other material objects; the movement of capital or material culture.
Graduate students interested in applying to the conference should submit a CV and a paper abstract of 300-500 words to [uchidivinitygradconference@gmail.com] by January 15th, 2015. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by January 31st, 2016. We encourage students from all fields and all levels of graduate study with interdisciplinary interests in the study of religion to submit proposals. We are eager to support and engage the work of students who identify as members of groups typically under-represented in academia. Some financial support may be available to those students who require aid in order to attend.
We welcome any questions applicants might have and invite you to communicate directly with the organizing committee, which is made up of doctoral students from a number of the Divinity School’s subfields. Questions may be sent to us at [uchidivinitygradconference@gmail.com].
Books of Interest: Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity
Aaron W. Hughes, Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity (Equinox, 2016)
Many scholars of Islam are interested in creating a liberal, inclusive, pluralistic, feminist, and modern version of the religion that they believe to be explicit in the pages of the Qur’ān, but missed by earlier interpreters. In so doing, they create “good” Islam and, in the process, seek to define what does and does not get to count as authentic. As the purveyors of what they now believe to be veritable Islam, they subsequently claim that rival presentations are bastardizations based either on Orientalism and Islamophobia (if one is a non-Muslim) or misogyny and homophobia (if one is a Muslim that disagrees with them). Instead of engaging in critical scholarship, they engage in a constructive and theological project that they deceive themselves into thinking is both analytical and empirical. This book provides a hard-hitting examination of the spiritual motivations, rhetorical moves, and political implications associated with these apologetical discourses. It argues that what is at stake is relevance, and examines the consequences of engaging in mythopoesis as opposed to scholarship.
Call for Papers: Religious Transformation in Asian History
In April 2016, the Australian National University is holding a conference on “Religious Transformation in Asian History”:
Asian history and culture have been profoundly influenced by a number of religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Islam, Sikhism, Shamanism, and Shintō). These traditions offer spiritual guidelines but also set moral and ethical standards for the daily life of people in Asian countries. The formation of cultures of communities across the region was informed by regional religious traditions. However, their social structures were challenged by the wave of colonialism and imperialism in the modern era. Just as Western modernisation affected society, politics, law, culture, customs, and ways of thinking in Asia, it also influenced the domestic conditions of traditional religions. They became either weak and irrelevant or they transformed in order to survive. Many new religious movements also emerged as alternatives. What were the key issues in the colonial environment of Asia? How did local religious communities react against modernisation? What modes of religious existence prevailed: consistency, transformation, or compromise? The primary aim of the ANU Religion Conference is to explore the various phenomena of socio-religious transitions in Asian history. The religiosity of Asian people is used as a new perspective by which Asian modernisation can be re-interpreted in a fresh way.
For more information see this PDF.
Bloomsbury Studies in Religion, Space, and Place
SERIES EDITORS
- Paul-François Tremlett, The Open University, UK paul-francois.tremlett@open.ac.uk
- John Eade, University of Roehampton, London, UK J.Eade@roehampton.ac.uk
- Katy Soar, Royal Holloway, UK katy.soar@rhul.ac.uk
Religions, spiritualities and mysticisms are deeply implicated in processes of spatial and place-making. These include political and geopolitical spaces, local and national spaces, urban spaces, global and virtual spaces, contested spaces, spaces of performance, spaces of memory and spaces of confinement.
At the leading edge of theoretical, methodological, and interdisciplinary innovation in the study of religion, Bloomsbury Studies in Religion, Space and Place brings together and gives shape to the study of such processes and places. These places are not defined simply by the material or the physical but also by the sensual and the psychological, by the ways in which spaces are gendered, classified, stratified, moved through, seen, touched, heard, interpreted and occupied. Places are constituted through embodied practices that direct critical and analytical attention to the production of insides, outsides, bodies, landscapes, cities, sovereignties, publics and interiorities.
TOPICS OF INTEREST TO THE EDITORS
- Ritual & Place-Making (historical, ancient and/or contemporary religious practices)
- Mobility, Power and Place/Pilgrims, Tourists and the Invention of Sacred Space (religion on the move in historical, ancient and/or contemporary contexts)
- Religion, Space and Disruption (the study of religion at times of rapid socio-spatial and political change)
- The Politics of Religious Space (the study of religion, space and power)
- Religion and the City (religion in urban contexts in historical, ancient or contemporary perspectives
CONFIRMED VOLUMES SO FAR:
|
Title |
Author/Editor |
Publication Year |
|
Religion and the Global City |
David Garbin & Anna Strhan |
2017 |
|
Religion, Migration and Globalization |
David Garbin |
2017 |
|
A New Theory of Religion and Social Change |
Paul-François Tremlett |
2019 |
To visit the Bloomsbury website, click here.
Seats Still Available for the NAASR Job Workshop
NAASR’s 2015 workshop, “…But What Do You Study?”: A Workshop on Theory and Method in the Job Market, still has some seats available. Contact Mike Graziano if you’re interested—details below.
This session, to be held as a part of the NAASR program this November in Atlanta, proposes to explore the employment challenges facing early career scholars who are interested in issues of theory & method in the study of religion, through both a discussion and workshop. This session addresses issues important to junior NAASR members (notably, but not exclusively, ABDs now entering/about to enter the job market) by demonstrating how a professional organization can provide a practical and strategic forum for job-market advice.
The following activities will take place in this 90 min. workshop:
1. Open Discussion
The first half of the session will be devoted to an open discussion, led by Martha G. Newman (University of Texas at Austin) and Merinda Simmons(University of Alabama). Each will begin by providing brief introductory remarks (approx. 5 minutes each) on what they each see as constructive and strategic advice for early career scholars who are navigating the academic job market, aimed initially at how applicants can be strategic not only in trying to ascertain a Department’s needs but also in negotiating potential theoretical and political landmines in the field. A discussion (35 min.) will follow in which participants can discuss these issues in an informal atmosphere and share information. This guided discussion will therefore focus on four central questions, namely, how might early career scholars interested in theory and method:
- represent themselves strategically on the job market?
- apply to calls for general positions, fitting themselves to broad departmental needs?
- shape their cover letters and CVs to appeal to a wide range of departments?
- respond to critiques that they have no “specialty,” “content,” or “area of study”?
The discussion is designed to reflect different opinions regarding the place of theory & method in the job market, as well as in the study of religion more generally.
2. Workshop
In the second half, participants will break into small groups, each led by a more senior NAASR member. Building on the previous discussion, participants will work within their groups to workshop how they might best represent themselves, their work, and their scholarly interests on the job market. The smaller setting will allow for more “hands on” advice, taking as examples the CV and cover letters participants can bring with them to the session. Simply focusing on what one says in a cover letter’s opening paragraph, for example, or how one orders a C.V., will provide the way into larger questions of representation in these small group discussions. Participants in this section will have an opportunity to work with John E. Llewellyn(Missouri State), Russell McCutcheon (University of Alabama), Martha G. Newman (University of Texas at Austin), Steven Ramey (University of Alabama), and Merinda Simmons (University of Alabama).
Scholars of all concentrations within the field of Religious Studies are welcome to join the workshop—whether a NAASR member or not—though preference will be given to early career scholars, particularly those at the senior ABD stage (i.e., those already on or going onto the job market). Shortly before the workshop, but once the participants have been identified, each participant will be invited to share with the other members, via email or a closed social media group, their academic focus/dissertation topic, level of teaching experience, their level of experience with the job market as well as their own current position (e.g., PhD Student, Postdoc, Instructor, etc.) in order to ensure all participants come to the meeting somewhat familiar with the diversity of experience in the workshop. In addition, each participant will be invited to bring one sample cover letter and one sample CV which may be used in the small group activities. More details will follow after the participant list has been finalized.
Space is limited to 25 participants in this NAASR workshop. To register, please e-mail the organizer, Michael Graziano (mgraziano@fsu.edu). In this request to register please include your current degree or professional career stage.
NAASR News
NAASR’s executive council is pleased to announce two new partnerships that we believe will benefit our membership!
First, many of you are likely familiar with The Religious Studies Project, the excellent podcast series sponsored by the British Association for the Study of Religion (BASR). NAASR has recently joined BASR as a sponsor for the project; we will be donating funds to support a number of their endeavors, with the hope that they will continue to create content useful to—or even featuring—NAASR members.
Second, the executive council has decided to enter into a two-year agreement with Equinox Publishing (beginning in 2016), to provide an online subscription to all members for the Bulletin for the Study of Religion, which is currently published in affiliation with NAASR. Starting next year, then, membership benefits will include electronic subscriptions to both the Bulletin and Method & Theory in the Study of Religion.
NAASR Annual Reception, co-sponsored by Equinox Publishing
NAASR and Equinox Publishing are pleased to announce the details for our reception at the upcoming annual conference in Atlanta:
Date: Friday, 20 November 2015
Time: 7pm-9pm
Location: Publik Draft House, 654 Peachtree Street NE (click here for a map)
We look forward to seeing you there for food, drinks, and conversation!
Call for Papers: Religious Studies and Theology
Religious Studies and Theology—a journal for which several NAASR members serve on the editorial board—is looking for submissions. This peer-reviewed journal publishes in June and December; however manuscripts are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Religious Studies and Theology welcomes original research pertinent to the contemporary world from a range of disciplines, with a particular interest in Canadian perspectives and/or studies of Canada from abroad and in relation to global contexts.
Manuscript submission is easily completed online here. Submissions are sent by the Editor to two peer-reviewers in a double-blind process. You will be notified within one week of submission if your manuscript has been sent for review. You will be notified of the decision within approximately three months and will be provided with a copy of reviewer comments.
Books of Interest: Jacob Neusner on Religion
Aaron W. Hughes, Jacob Neusner on Religion (Routledge, 2015).
Jacob Neusner was a prolific and innovative contributor to the study of religion for over fifty years. A scholar of rabbinic Judaism, Neusner regarded Jewish texts as data to address larger questions in the academic study of religion that he helped to formulate. Jacob Neusner on Religion offers the first full critical assessment of his thought on the subject of religion. Aaron W. Hughes delineates the stages of Neusner’s career and provides an overview of Neusner’s personal biography and critical reception. This book is essential reading for students and scholars interested in Neusner specifically, or in the history of Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, and philosophy of religion more broadly.
This is the latest volume in Routledge’s Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion series, sponsored by NAASR.
Books of Interest: Claiming Identity in the Study of Religion
Monica R. Miller (ed.), Claiming Identity in the Study of Religion: Social and Rhetorical Techniques Examined (Equinox, 2015).
Focusing on the academic study of religion, Claiming Identity in the Study of Religion is the first in a series that grapples with the historicity of identity and the social and rhetorical techniques that make claims to identity possible.
In this volume, six previously published essays by scholar of religion Russell T. McCutcheon are each coupled with a new substantive commentary by North American contributors. McCutcheon’s essays highlight different identifying claims within the work of a number of leading scholars of religion. The companion contributions analyze the strategies of identification employed by the scholars whom McCutcheon discusses. Monica R. Miller provides an introduction to the volume and Steven W. Ramey provides a concluding essay. The strategies of identification highlighted and exposed in this text are further explored in the second volume in the series, The Problem of Nostalgia in the Study of Identity through a set of detailed ethnographic and historical studies that press novel ways of studying identity as an always active and ongoing process of signification.
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