Call for Papers

Guest Editor: Dr. Svetlana Sharonova and Dr. Marta Soler

Publisher: MDPI – Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Manuscript Submission Deadline: January 15, 2021

Society is constantly transforming, but there are historical periods when the transformation is so intense that it becomes explosive. Such a concentration of changes taking place at the same time allows us to say that society is passing through a bifurcation point, acquiring a new quality of evolution of a dynamic system, society is moving into a new format for its development. Today’s transformation of society is the imposition (or bifurcation point) of the rapid development of smart technologies, leading to the transition to a smart society; globalization processes and increased resistance to national identity; secularization and post-secularization processes. The focus of our issue is religion, its state in this transformational pressure.

Modern studies of the last ten years are more focused on specific problems that arise “here and now”: religion and migration processes, religion and gender, secularization and new religions, etc. We propose to summarize these topics and try to build a unified view of the significance of religion in this whirlpool of transformations and threats to religion and society, lurking in the consequences of unpredictable results. Special attention will be paid to contributions that offer evidence of potential or real social impact that guarantees the improving of people’s lives.

More information on: www.mdpi.com

Venue: Stellenbosch, South Africa

Organized by: The International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society (INSBS) in association with the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

We invite expressions of interest to participate in the fully-funded, STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts Early Career Researcher (ECR) Workshop.

The workshop, which will take place immediately prior to the conference STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts: Publics, Praxis, Policy and Pluralism (1-3 July), is aimed at any early career researcher whose work explores any social or cultural aspect of Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths or Medicine (STEMM) in relation to any religious, spiritual or non-religious tradition, position or worldview, including unbelief.

The workshop is open to any researcher who holds a PhD in a relevant subject area, but does not yet have a permanent position in academia, and is no more than 10 years post PhD. The workshop and network is open to researchers from a range of disciplines across the social sciences and humanities, including (but not limited to) sociology of religion, psychology of religion, science and technology studies, sociology of health/medicine, media and cultural studies, social anthropology, politics, the history and philosophy of science/religion and religious studies.

More information on: https://scienceandbeliefinsociety.org/

Call for Papers

Date: November 9-10, 2017

Venue: Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Abstract Submission Deadline: June 30, 2017

Conference Theme

Historically, the relationship between strong, conservative religion and modern society has been a complex one. Various means of inclusion and exclusion have been employed by mainstream society, and the religious groups themselves have applied both world-fleeing and world-mastering strategies. In contemporary Europe, the liberal multicultural society is being challenged by polarized religious fundamentalism of both Christian and Islamic foundation. This conference wants to highlight the past and present encounters between strong religion and mainstream society in general, but preferably with respect to youth, education and technology. Special interest will be paid to young people and their ways of relating to both strong religion and the ideologies and attributes of modernity.

The organizers invite papers that address the theme in various ways. Papers can focus on either general aspects of the main theme or any of the subthemes, and develop both internal and external perspectives on religious communities, in history as well as contemporary culture. Possible aspects include approaches to and use of technology at individual and group levels; ideas and mechanisms of upbringing, socialization and education; sites of separation and integration such as schools, including attempts at interreligious education and religious dialogue, etc. Empirical cases are encouraged, but theoretical contributions are also welcome.

Keynotes

• Dr Wolfram Weisse, Professor of Religious Education at University of Hamburg, Germany
• Dr Pauline Cheong, Professor of Communication at Arizona State University, USA

Abstracts

Proposals for papers to be presented at the conference must be submitted no later than 30 June 2017. The requested information includes name, title and institutional affiliation of presenter(s), title of paper, and an abstract of the proposed paper of maximum 300 words.

Important Dates

– 30 June 2017 Deadline for submission of abstracts

– 31 July 2017 Notification of acceptance

– 30 September 2017 Deadline for registration and payment of conference fee

Organizers

The conference is an activity of the European Bible Belt project, funded by the Dutch research council NWO and directed by Professor Fred van Lieburg, Free University, Amsterdam. It will be co-hosted by the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, and Humlab, Umeå University.

Conference Website: www.trippus.net/Strongreligion2017