CALL FOR PAPERS Faith in Motion: Religion in the 21st century Conveners: Debra McDougall, Farida Fozdar and Mark Jennings WHEN: Friday, August 15 2014 WHERE: University of Western Australia (UWA); WA Trustees Building Level 2, 133 St Georges Terrace Perth WA The twenty-first century is often characterized as an era of unprecedented mobility and interconnectivity, but it is also marked by efforts to reinforce national borders and curtail human movement. Paradoxes of mobility and immobility in our increasingly unequal world come into sharp focus when viewed through the lens of religion. Sociologists, anthropologists, and scholars of comparative religion have long called attention to the way that religion constitutes space and place, linking particular localities to encompassing cosmic schemes. The world’s major religious traditions emerged in the context of expanding empires and markets becoming, arguably, the first truly global social movements. In the current globalizing context, relocating individuals re-establish religious communities, or transport portable, malleable beliefs and rituals. Some ‘lose their religion’ in increasingly secular contexts; others adopt ‘foreign’ religions. What is certain is that religion mutates and accommodates with movement. With the support of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation ‘Faith and Globalisation’ Initiative, the UWA Mobilities and Belonging research cluster, and the Centre for Muslim States and Societies, we welcome contributions that explore the role of religion in understanding and negotiating the possibilities and challenges of global mobility. Topics may include: • Religion and migration • The transformation of religion in diaspora • Multiculturalism, religious pluralism, and secularization • Faith-based responses to refugee policies and other issues of global social justice • Religious cosmopolitanism • Deterritorialized or individualized spiritualities • Transnational religious art, architecture, fashion, and material culture • Social media and religion • Religious tourism • Global transformations of indigenous religiosity • The geographic re-orientation of world traditions • Missionary activities in the colonial and postcolonial era Please email your paper title, abstract (200 words or less), and brief bio (50 words) or, to attend without presenting, to [email protected] no later than Friday, 25 July 2014.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 06:42:37 +0000