We are not responsible for any content contained herein, but have simply copied and pasted from a variety of sources. If you have any content for future digest
s, please contact us via the various options on our ‘contact’ page.
A pdf summary documentcan now be download. This can be printed and circulated to colleagues or put up on a notice board.
In this issue:
- Call for Papers
- Conferences
- Jobs
- Grants
And don’t forget, you can always get involved with the Religious Studies Project by writing one of our features essays or resources pages. Contact the editors for more information.
CALLS FOR PAPERS
CFP: Engaging Religious Experience: A Return to Ethnography and Theology
Practical Matters is now seeking submissions on the theme of Engaging Religious Experience: A Return to Ethnography and Theology. Practical Matters is an online, multimedia, transdisciplinary journal designed to ask and provoke questions about religious practice and practical theology. Practical Matters is funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and published out of the Emory University Graduate Division of Religion. The journal contains both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed content.
The sixth issue of Practical Matters will return to themes that emerged in our Spring 2010 issue, which explored why theologians are turning to ethnographic methods and how an interdisciplinary conversation among anthropologists, scholars of religion, and theologians contributes new insights into the doing and creating of both ethnography and theology. This new issue will focus on the description of religious experience as a theologically relevant and persistently elusive phenomenon. It will reflect on the possibilities and limitations of ethnography for translating communal embodied experience into different communities and contexts. Finally, this issue will continue to explore intersections and interferences of descriptive and normative modes of scholarship on religious experience. We welcome submissions from theologians, anthropologists, scholars and practitioners of religion broadly defined.
We are interested in featuring work that engages a broad spectrum of questions and themes, such as…
- How does attention to human embodiment inform our understandings of religious experience? Can ethnographic methods provide access to certain kinds of experience that other methods sometimes overlook or obscure, such as bodily experience, interiority, and experiences of suffering? In what ways do these experiences escape the ethnographic interpreter? How does ethnography provide attentiveness to practices and experiences of exclusion?
- How can scholars and practitioners move between the descriptive work of ethnography and theological or normative claims? Why are these moves sometimes experienced as problematic? Do moral, theological, scholarly, or activist commitments obscure the ethnographer’s ability to represent religious experience? Does the ethnographer need to be an “insider” to make theological claims or norm religious practice?
- How does incorporating ethnography into a theological or ethical project affect the epistemological assumptions of that project? Does ethnography bring more ambiguity? More clarity? Or does using ethnography in theological projects limit the theologian’s ability to make general or normative claims? How does ethnographic study redefine the role of a theologian or ethicist?
- How can teaching the ethnographic method in the undergraduate or seminary classrooms enrich or disrupt the study of religion and theology? How do “experiential learning” and “engaged learning” pedagogies shift students’ perspectives on religious experience? How might the use of digital media facilitate or hinder the study of religious experience in the classroom setting?
- Can the work of ethnography itself constitute a kind of “religious experience”? Should it? And for whom?
- We welcome “notes from the field” (in multiple forms including audio, video, and photos) in which those doing ethnography describe unexpected challenges in their work as well as explorations into the craft of ethnographic writing and the steps between field notes and manuscript. What is required to practice ethnography as an interpretive art and what is the role of religious or theological imagination in ethnographic practice?
Specifically, we are looking for submissions intended for peer review in Analyzing Matters, as well as for the non-peer reviewed categories of Practicing and Teaching Matters:
- Submissions for Analyzing Matters on the theme of Engaging Religious Experience: A Return to Ethnography and Theology will be submitted for peer review;
-
Submissions for Practicing and Teaching Matters on the theme of Engaging Religious Experience: A Return to Ethnography and Theology will be reviewed by the editors. We welcome reflections of practitioners, essays, pedagogical reflections, or field notes concerning religious practices, rituals, or other issues of concern for scholars, theologians, teachers and practitioners;
Practical Matters is an academic journal with a diverse audience. We encourage those considering submission to think broadly, creatively, and experimentally about form and content. Submissions in any form (i.e., film, text, audio, images) may be eligible for peer review; however, the peer review process is not mandatory for all submissions. We especially encourage non-U.S. submissions as well as multimedia and interdisciplinary pieces of original scholarship.
The submission deadline is November 1, 2012. For more specific instructions on possible forms of submissions, more information on our peer review process, or to read current and past issues of Practical Matters, visit our web site: http://www.practicalmattersjournal.org/
CFP: SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Religion, utopias and alternatives to contemporary dilemmas
Havana, July 2-5, 2013
The Department of Socio-religious Studies of the Center for Psychological and Sociological Research (CIPS) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment of Cuba calls scholars on religion, academics and religious believers to participate in the SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES, sponsored by religious institutions and non-governmental organizations, that will be held on July 2-5, at the Hotel Nacional in El Vedado, Havana.
It is well-known the role of religion as an important producer of interpretation frameworks of social reality, and as generator of social transformation practices, halting or reproducing injustice situations. Amid a turbulent international scene, marked by unresolved socioeconomic and political crises, to approach some of these processes requires complex analyses that transcend mere description to think of alternative proposals or to contribute to spread initiatives, from small religious spaces, that attempt to bring about a more equitable and just world with greater respect for nature and greater opportunities for all human beings.
From this perspective, the event aims to focus the reflections on the following topics:
· Religion, power and hegemony
· Religion and the environment
· Religion and social inequities
· Religion and diversity
· Theoretical and methodological approaches
· Religion, migration and cultural identity
· Religious actors, dialogues and transformation.
· Religion and mass media
· Institutions, spirituality and religious networks
· Religion, consumption and market
The Seventh Meeting, like the previous ones held by the Department of Socio-religious Studies, every three years since 1995, aims at creating an environment conducive to dialogue among the participants, exchange of knowledge and sharing experiences.
The official language of the event is Spanish, but translation requests by English speakers can be addressed upon previous notice by the Organizing Committee. All participants will receive documentation related to the event and information of interest about the city and the country.
Presentations can be made in lectures, workshops, panels, posters and by means of audiovisual aids.
The official travel agency is CUBATUR. Contact Person: Arlene Alvarez (eventos1 [at] cbtevent.cbt.tur.cu ).
The registration fee is 150.00 CUC (Cuban Convertible Currency Cubana) for participants; 120.00 CUC for accompanying persons; and 75.00 CUC for students (previous accreditation).
All those interested in participating must fill the data form and e-mail it to: desr_encuentro [at] cips.cu, before November 15, 2012 to be considered by the Organizing Committee:
CFP: The Graduate Committee for the Study of Religion at the University of Texas is currently accepting paper proposals for its first interdisciplinary graduate student conference.
March 23-24, 2013
The University of Texas, Austin, TX
The keynote speakers for this conference are:
Professor David Brakke
Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of Christianity at The Ohio State University
Professor Kevin Trainor
Professor of Religion at the University of Vermont
The study of religion has used a succession of binary terms to distinguish between normative, officially sanctioned practice and religion on the ground: orthodoxy vs. heterodoxy, elite vs. folk, official vs. popular, and so on. Although some of these terms have served as a useful conceptual tool, the use of binary distinctions is problematic. There is an ever-present danger of confusing example with exemplum–of privileging those individuals, institutions, and
practices most closely aligned with the sources of power or our own world-view. Binarization begets valorization. This endless parade of new terminology suggests that the drive to dichotomize is to blame. Even the recent attempts to resolve this issue under the headings
“lived religion” or “everyday religion” retain polarizing antonymns that obscure some aspects of religion. In order to problematize the cycle of successive binary oppositions, this conference aims to interrogate the middle space between these conceptual extremes. We invite participants to consider religious action and authority as a fluid continuum–a network of
overlapping spheres of religious influence. In this model, every religious actor–from the Israelite high priest to a Shinto shrine maiden, from the Dalai Lama to a streetcorner evangelist–is a potential source of religious authority, differing only in the degree
to which they can attract and channel the flow of religious power within society. Here, authority is a shifting current rather than a stagnant pool. We encourage participants to explore the possibility of mapping previous binaries onto a continuum model and retaining
these distinctions as “ideal types” in order to organize the data and focus the scholar’s attention. This conference is purposely eclectic: We welcome papers critiquing binary models as well as those treating religious actors from all time periods and cultures as situated within a continuum model. Such actors include, but are not limited to: faith healers, mediums, temple personnel, prophets, religious reformers, pilgrims, exorcists, breeders of sacrificial animals, vendors of religious paraphernalia, and mendicant preachers. Participants are encouraged to
show how evidence from their areas of specialization can inform a more general dialogue about the problem of binary categories and contribute to the development of a new theoretical approach to the study of religion.
Please send paper titles and abstracts (300 words or less) to byebyebinaries [at ] gmail.com <mailto:byebyebinaries%40gmail.com> by November 27th, 2012. Please
include your name, institutional and departmental affiliation, and email address.
We hope to publish the results of the conference in some form. Sincerely,
Megan Case (Religious Studies) Benjamin Cox (Religious Studies) Aren Wilson-Wright (Middle Eastern Studies)
Sponsors: The Graduate School, The Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins, The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The Religious Studies Department, The Department of Asian Studies
CFP: 32nd ISSR Conference
RETHINKING COMMUNITY RELIGIOUS CONTINUITIES AND MUTATIONS IN LATE MODERNITY Turku-Åbo, Finland, 27-30 June, 2013
Conference website:
http://www.sisr-issr.org/English/Conferences/Conferences.htm
Call for papers:
http://www.sisr-issr.org/English/Newsletters/Network%20%28PDF%20and%20Word%29/Network%2043.pdf
Deadlines: October 31th 2012:
-Abstracts of proposed papers for the Thematic Sessions (STS) and Working Groups (WGT), to be sent to the SESSION ORGANISER (S)
-Abstracts of proposed papers for the Thematic Sessions of the New Researchers Forum (NRF) and Miscellaneous papers (MPL) for the NRF, to be sent to the Session Organiser
-Abstracts of Miscellaneous Papers (MPL) to be sent to the GENERAL SECRETARY
Financial support available.
The conference languages are English and French.
Important notice: Organisers of Thematic Sessions (STS) and Working Groups (WGT) and Presenters of papers have to be members of the International Society for the Sociology of Religions (ISSR). Each participant may only present one paper at the conference.
Submission details available in the full call for papers:
http://www.sisr-issr.org/English/Newsletters/Network%20%28PDF%20and%20Word%29/Network%2043.pdf
CFP: Imagination and Narrative in Jewish Thought
Date: 2012-11-30
Description: The University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought
CALL FOR PAPERS: Vol. IV: Imagination and Narrative in Jewish Thought The 2013 issue of The University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought invites papers reflecting on the role of imagination and narrative in Jewish thought.
Contact: utjjt.cjs [at] gmail.com
URL: cjs.utoronto.ca/tjjt/
Announcement ID: 198043
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=198043
Call for Papers: “Pilgrimage, Travel, and Cult”
Date: 2013-05-24
Description: When an ancient communitys life involved a focus upon a specific holy place, that groups ideas about pilgrimage and travel were necessarily pivotal to its religious praxis. To understand the complex interrelations between a communitys
ideology of pilgrimage and travel and its religious activities,
Contact: hekhal.dublinia@gmail.com
URL: hekhal.wordpress.com/
Announcement ID: 198071
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=198071
CFP: The Journal of the National Association of Student Anthropologists
Call for Papers for Special Issue on African Diaspora Religion
Submission Deadline EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 31ST, 2012
Student Anthropologist is the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the National Association of Student Anthropologists (the largest organization of anthropologist students in the world). It is an annual digital publication. Students from all levels and disciplines are encouraged to contribute.
Aims and Scope
This special issue aims to explore the social, political, and cultural meanings and functions of African diaspora religions. From the beginning of anthropological study, Africana religion has been at the forefront of anthropological inquiry. Africana Religion (African and African diaspora religion, also including those religions influenced by the diversity of African cultural heritage) has provided a space in which anthropologists have been able to explore concepts about kinship (both fictive and non- fictive), ritual, embodiment, identity, transnationalism, diversity, etc. This inquiry has continued up to the present day as African diaspora religions have become transnational and are networks through which ideas about spirituality, community, authenticity, origins, body and space circulate.
In addition, this special issue will examine the latest work on African diaspora religious practice, its contribution to the field of anthropology, and a discussion of its trajectory and where scholars hope to see it go in the future. This edition will discuss and examine the different ways of viewing and analyzing the African diaspora in and through religious practice, and the accompanying complications that occur in social, political, cultural and material life. This special issue will seek to explore how African diaspora religious tradition intersects with and enhances discussions of a wide array of topics such as the environment, globalization, spatialization, urbanization, immigration, etc.
We seek to bring together a diverse range of scholars working on different aspects of African diaspora religion. We will only accept original scholarly submissions from undergraduate and graduate students worldwide. Below are a list of possible areas of inquiry, but please do not feel limited to these questions only.
Possible questions and areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to:
• The contribution of African diaspora religions to the study of anthropolog
• How do African diaspora religions intersect with music, film, performance, visual arts, media studies, history, philosophy, sociology, gender studies, political science, economics, education, geography, environmental science, legal studies, and public health?”
• How do complex concepts such as “blackness” and “Africanness” inform each other and shape individual and group/community religious identities? And what do they ultimately mean, especially given the temporal and spatial distance from the African continent?”
• How do lived and imagined experiences of religious diasporic spaces differ between individual and group?”
• How do different diaspora communities relate to each other across boundaries of time, space and historical context?
• How is “Africa” (re)imagined in different ways within these African diasporic religions?
Submission Guidelines
Any student currently enrolled in a BA, MA, or PhD program is welcome to submit original research to be considered for publication. While this is an anthropology journal, students do not need to be enrolled in an anthropology program.
All submissions should be under 6,000 words in length and are subject to a peer review process. All submissions should be sent in a single document as an attachment and saved in Microsoft Office Word (.doc or .docx) or Mac Pages (.pages) format and conform to AAA style (http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf). Submissions should be double spaced and adhere to the word limits outlined in this CFP. Rarely, we consider longer submissions or those of an irregular nature.
Please remove all identifying information from the manuscript and include a coverpage including name, institution, student status, up to five keywords describing the paper, and an 250 word abstract. Please save the document with your last name in the title.
Send submissions, as well as any questions, to the Special Issue Guest Editor, Lisanne C Norman, at lnorman918 [at] gmail.com.
Special Issue Guest Editor Bio: Lisanne C Norman is currently in the fifth year of her PhD at Harvard University. Her research focus is African Americans who practice Yoruba religion from 1959- present. Her work is an analysis of the expansion of this predominantly Afro-Cuba religious community to include the numerous African Americans who converted during the 1960s and 1970s. The work will also analyze the role that African diaspora civil rights and geopolitical movements played in the transmission and adaptation of this religious practice and how that has come to define its current practice. Through participation-observation and semi-structured interviews, Lisanne hopes to understand how global forces have come to shape this transnational religious practice and how emerging African diaspora networks have worked to change the dynamics of religious practice not only for African Americans, but for Afro-Cubans and Nigerian practitioners as well. Lisanne is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.”
CFP: Global Religious Experiences and Identities among Lesbians
The Journal of Lesbian Studies (Taylor & Francis) will devote an entire issue to the topic of global religious experiences and identities among lesbians, guest edited by S.J. Creek. The intention behind this special edition is to generate richer and more varied scholarship around the lived experiences of lesbians connected to (or alienated by) religious practices or faiths around the world. Papers from sociology, history, anthropology, political science, english, psychology, religious studies, gender and women’s studies, religious studies, communication studies, linguistics, criminology, queer studies, international studies, art history, or other fields are welcome.
Topics may include, but are not limited, to: the intersection of race/class/gender/sexuality and religion, religious movements, orthopraxy, orthodoxy, representation in media/literature/art, trends in religiosity, clergy/religious officials, resistance and activism, indigenous religions, Wicca, Santeria, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Baha’i, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, atheism, popular religions, Mujerista theology, practice, belief, religious socialization, disability, size, critiques of lesbian sexualities or spiritualities from post-colonial or transgender studies perspectives, religious individualism, secularism, celibacy, “religious nones,” nuns, intentional communities, state control of religious practice, reproduction, families, identities, cognitive dissonance, oppression, reparative therapies, migration, religious education, or emotions. Works attending to the experiences of queer, bisexual, and transgender individuals will also be considered, if these pieces strongly connect to the central theme.
Please direct inquiries or proposals of no more than 500 words to S.J. Creek at creeksj [at] hollins.edu by December 20, 2012. Invitations for full manuscripts will be issued in January 2013. Both abstracts and manuscripts will be evaluated for originality, style, and fit within the overall edition. Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to submit a full manuscript of 5,000-6,500 words, due May 15, 2013.
CONFERENCES
The Higher Education Academy’s Second Annual Arts & Humanities Conference
Storyville: Exploring narratives of learning and teaching
The HEA’s Second Annual Arts & Humanities Conference
Thistle hotel, Brighton
29–30 May 2013
At the heart of the Arts and Humanities disciplines sit stories – stories which create and recreate worlds, distant and present, stories which inspire and engage, stories which grow imaginations and expand what is thinkable.
Stories are everywhere, and our second annual conference seeks to explore the intersections between narrative and learning and teaching by considering:
- the narratives of how we teach – our stories as educators;
- the narratives of how our students learn – travelogues from the student journey;
- the narratives we teach – our subjects and (inter)disciplinarity;
- the narratives we teach by – pedagogies and methodologies, academic identities, research-based teaching and teaching-based research;
- the narratives we teach within – policy, dominant media narratives, student expectations informed by Key Information Sets and the National Student Survey;
- the narratives we (co-)create – the impact of the Arts and Humanities, the experience and memories of our students, students as partners.
As stories have the power to ‘reveal meaning without committing the error of defining it’ (Hannah Arendt) we welcome poster, paper and workshop proposals on any aspect of teaching and learning in the Arts and Humanities within the broad theme of ‘narratives of learning and teaching’. We have also introduced wildcard sessions, for you to create your own conference format – wildcards come in slices of 15 minutes, 90 minutes and 3 hours.
For more information please visit the conference website.
Call closes: 21 December 2012.
The Director, Chair and Fellows of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London invite you to;
Race, Faith & Integration; a discussion and debate with Prof. Ted Cantle, Chair of the Institute of Community Cohesion. Professor Cantle will joined by a panel of discussants including Marjorie Mayo, Professor Emeritus at Goldsmiths, Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters and Jenny Kartupelis, Director of the East of England Faiths Forum.
22nd November at 4.15 – 6pm, in the Ben Pimlott Lecture Theatre, Goldsmiths, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW
This is a free event and places are limited – please contact m.shaw [at] gold.ac.uk to book.
The 2013 CESNUR Conference co-organized by Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) International Society for the Study of New Religions (ISSNR) Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University Finyar (The Nordic Network for the Study of New Religiosity) Dalarna University
CHANGING RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN A CHANGING WORLD Dalarna University Falun (Sweden), 21-24 June 2013
Registration for the conference will open on 15 February 2013.
http://www.cesnur.org/2013/swe-cfp.htm
CALL FOR PAPERS
2013 celebrates the 25th anniversary of the first CESNUR conference, held in Southern Italy in 1988, and the opening of INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) in the UK.
How has the religious scenario evolved within the context of a changing world over the past 25 years? How are religious movements different today? How does society react differently to religious pluralism?
These will be the themes of the 2013 conference, with special attention being paid to the Nordic countries, contemporary spiritual and esoteric movements in a globalized and transnational perspective, and the reactions of the media, the mainline churches, the law and society in general to the new religious pluralism.
The conference will start on Midsummer Night’s Eve, Friday 21 June 2013, when participants will congregate in Stockholm in the morning and board a bus for a field trip that will take them to culturally significant locations throughout the Swedish region of Dalarna. Dalarna is famous for its small and picturesque villages, beautiful nature, traditional culture and handicraft. We will first visit Falun’s World Heritage Site and the 17th century part of the town. At that time, Falun was one of the most important towns in Sweden because of its copper mine. Then we will continue to the old traditional villages around Lake Siljan, stopping on our way at some other places of traditional and cultural importance. The journey will culminate with a traditional Swedish Midsummer Feast in the village of Leksand, before our arrival in Falun late that evening.
The sessions of the conference will run from the morning of Saturday 22 June to the morning of Monday 24 June. On Monday 24 June buses will leave Falun at lunchtime (box lunches will be provided), taking participants either directly to Arlanda Airport in Stockholm or to a visit to Kalle Runristare, a neo-Pagan rune-carver on an island outside Stockholm. This island, Adelsö, is a World Heritage Site with historical importance, where the king lived in the Viking era. The journey ends in Stockholm in the evening. In this package is included the field trip (including meals) on Friday, lunches from Saturday to Monday, the reception on Saturday night, and the journey back to Arlanda/Stockholm on Monday. Price: 220 euro.
An option will be offered for those who only want to participate in the conference, have the lunches on Saturday and Sunday and attend the banquet on Sunday evening as well as the reception on Saturday night.
Participants opting for this package will not be included in any of the field trips and these participants will have to make their own arrangements to reach and leave Falun by train and plan their transfers privately. Price: 120 euro.
Option 1
Full package, including transportation from Arlanda airport, Stockholm, the field trip on Friday (including meals); lunches; the reception on Saturday evening and the banquet on Sunday evening and either transportation back to Arlanda only or the field trip with arrival in Stockholm on Monday evening: Euro 220.
Option 2:
Conference attendance only, including lunch on Saturday and Sunday, the Saturday reception and the Sunday banquet (but no field trips or
transportation) at: Euro 120.
Papers and sessions proposals should be submitted by email before the close of business on 10 January 2013 to cesnur_to [at] virgilio.it, accompanied by an abstract of no more than 300 words and a CV of no more than 200 words. Proposals may be submitted either in English or in French.
Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion
http://www.derby.ac.uk/digital-methodologies-in-the-sociology-of-religion
16th November 2012, Enterprise Centre, University of Derby
Organised by the Centre for Society, Religion & Belief (SRB), University of Derby
Funded by Digital Social Research (DSR)
To book your place please visit http://unishop.derby.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?modid=1&prodid=592&deptid=76&compid=1&prodvarid=0&catid=77
This conference is generously subsidised by Digital Social Research. There is a small registration fee of £30 (+ £6 VAT)
Within an era of a growing reliance on digital technologies to instantly and effectively express our values, allegiances, and multi-faceted identities, the interest in digital research methodologies among Sociologists of Religion comes as no surprise (e.g. Bunt 2009; Cantoni and Zyga 2007; Contractor 2012 and Ostrowski 2006; Taylor 2003). However the methodological challenges associated with such research have been given significantly less attention. What are the epistemological underpinnings and rationale for the use ‘digital’ methodologies? What ethical dilemmas do sociologists face, including while protecting participants’ interests in digital contexts that are often perceived as anonymised and therefore ‘safe’? Implementing such ‘digital’ research also leads to practical challenges such as mismatched expectations of IT skills, limited access to specialized tools, project management and remote management of research processes. Hosted by the Centre for Society, Religion, and Belief at the University of Derby and funded by Digital Social Research, this conference brings together scholars to critically evaluate the uses, impacts, challenges and future of Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion.
Please forward this to your invitation to your professional networks and to your students. A few travel bursaries are available for post-graduate students in the UK. Please write to either Sariya Contractor (s.contractor [at] derby.ac.uk) or Suha Shakkour (s.shakkour [at] derby.ac.uk) for further details.
Plenary Speakers:
Prof. Heidi Campbell, Texas A&M University Methodological Challenges, Innovations and Growing Pains in Digital Religion Research
Dr. Eric Atwell, Leeds University Applying Artificial Intelligence to the Understanding of Islam
Draft Programme
09:45 – 10:15 Registration & Refreshments
10:15 – 10:40 Welcome, Introduction and Housekeeping
Dr. Sariya Contractor & Dr. Suha Shakkour
Prof. Paul Weller, Head of Research and Commercial Development, EHS
Dr. Kristin Aune, Director, Centre for Society, Religion & Belief
10:40 – 11:25 Plenary: Methodological Challenges, Innovations and Growing Pains in Digital Religion Research
Prof. Heidi Campbell, Texas A&M University
11:25 – 12:40 Social Networking Sites
Anti-Social networking: Facebook as a site and method for researching anti-Muslim and anti-Islam opposition
Dr. Chris Allen, University of Birmingham
Role of Digital Communication Technology in the Muslim Brotherhood’s Lead Revolution in Egypt
Dr. Abul Hassan & Prof. Toseef Azid, Markfield Institute of Higher Education
Ethical Challenges of researching Muslim women’s closed religious newsgroups
Dr. Anna Piela, Independent Researcher
12:40 – 13:40 Lunch
13:40 – 14:55 Digital Resources and Tools
Surveying the Religious and the Non-Religious
Dr. Tristram Hooley & Prof. Paul Weller, University of Derby
Research Approaches to the Digital Bible
Dr. Tim Hutchings, Durham University
Employing Distance Learning to Improve the Quantity and Quality of Islamic Studies
Dr Muhammad Mesbahi, Islamic College & Morteza Rezaei-Zadeh, University of Limerick
14:55 – 15:40 Plenary: Applying Artificial Intelligence to the Understanding of Islam
Eric Atwell, Leeds University
15:40 – 15:55 Refreshments
15:55 – 17:10 Communication
Prospects and Limits for Mxit and Mobi Methodologies for Religion in Sub-Saharan Africa
Dr. Federico Settler, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Researching Religious Discourses Online: Some thoughts on method
Thomas Alberts, SOAS
The Online Communication Model: A theoretical Framework to Analyse the Institutional Communication on the Internet
Juan Narbona & Dr. Daniel Arasa, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
17:10 – 17:30 Concluding Comments, Publication Plans
JOBS
RUB – CERES
Department of East Asian Studies
The Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) is one of Germany’s leading research universities. The University draws its strengths from both the diversity and the proximity of scientific and engineering disciplines on a single, coherent campus. This highly dynamic setting en-ables students and researchers to work across traditional boundaries of academic subjects and departments. The RUB is a vital institution in the Ruhr area, which has been selected as European Capital of Culture for the year 2010.
The Center of Religious Studies (CERES) and the Department of East Asian Studies of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) invite applications for the position of a
Professor (W 2 – permanent position) in Religions of Central Asia Past and Present
to start on 1 April 2013 or at the earliest possible time.
The future holder of the post will represent the subject in research and teaching. The ap-plicant should represent Central Asian religious history in full breadth within the BA and MA study programs of Religious Studies. He or she should participate in the promotion of young researchers in religious studies, should coordinate the own research with the re-search program of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg (KHK) “Dynamics of Religious History be-tween Asia and Europe” which focuses on religious contacts and transfers, and should integrate him- or herself into the Faculty of East Asian Studies.
Positively assessed junior professorships, habilitation or equivalent academic achieve-ments and evidence of special aptitude are just as much required as the willingness to in-volve in university self-administration, in particular in the coordination of the study program of Religious Studies and of cooperative research within CERES and in particular within the KHK.
We expect furthermore:
- high commitment in teaching;
-
readiness to participate in interdisciplinary academic work;
-
willingness and ability to attract external funding;
-
non academic skills (task specific) where applicable;
-
German language competence or the readiness to achieve sufficient competence within three years.
The Ruhr-Universität Bochum is an equal opportunity employer.
Complete applications with CV, list of publications, taught courses and research profile should be sent to the Dean of the Department of East Asian Studies of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum no later than 2012-11-30. Further information is available at www.ceres.rub.de /www.khk.ceres.rub.de.
Chinese University of Hong Kong – Assistant Professor
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=45634
Earlham College – Assistant or Associate Professor of Japanese Studies
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=45636
Florida International University – Lecturer/Instructor in Chinese
Language, Culture and Literature
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=45642
GRANTS
Grants of the Max van Berchem Foundation
Date: 2013-03-31
Description: The Max van Berchem Foundation, whose goal is to promote the study of Islamic and Arabic archaeology, history, geography, art history, epigraphy, religion and literature, awards grants for research carried out in these areas by scholars who have already received their doctorate.
Contact: info@maxvanberchem.org
URL: www.maxvanberchem.org
Announcement ID: 197989