4^th Annual Birmingham Spring Islam Conference

Call for Papers

Date: April 20-22, 2020

Venue: University of Birmingham, UK

Abstract Submission Deadline: January 17, 2020

A three-day international conference funded and organized by the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, in partnership with the Muslims in Britain Research Network

The conference will explore the opportunities and challenges created by the emergence of bridges and permeable membranes between confessional and non-confessional Islamic educational contexts. It will bring together scholars from across Europe working in different policy and educational settings to look at how Islamic education operates, and the implications of this for the transmission and representation of the Islamic tradition, as well as the teaching of Islam in universities. The conference’s remit will be any arena where Islam is included as a part of higher-level study, from the confessional teaching of Islam, to theology and religious studies, history, politics and the social sciences.

Abstracts are now invited for papers that address any of the conference themes:

• How students and staff navigate between confessional and non-confessional Islamic educational contexts
• How policy contexts affect the development of linkages between seminaries and mainstream higher education institutions;
• Teaching about Islam beyond Islamic and religious studies (for example, in history, politics and the social sciences);
• ‘Insider’ and ‘outsider’ dynamics in the teaching of Islam in European contexts
• Complementarities and tensions between confessional and non-confessional approaches to the study of Muslims and Islam
• Securing the study of Islam within and beyond higher education institutions

Main Speakers:

– Prof. Bekim Agai, Dept. of Islamic Studies, University of Frankfurt
– Prof. Ednan Aslan, Depts. of Teacher Education and Islamic Theology, University of Vienna
– Prof. Sophie Gilliat-Ray, Professor in Religious and Theological Studies, Director for the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Cardiff University
– Prof. Birgitte Schepelern Johansen, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen
– Dr Walaa Quisay, Teaching Fellow, University of Birmingham
– Prof. Alison Scott-Baumann, Professor of Society & Belief, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Abstract submissions and any general questions should be sent to the conference organizers at MuslimsinBritainRN@gmail.com. Abstracts should be less than 250 words along with a biographical note of no more than 50 words.

More information on: Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN)