New Zealand Geographical Society Conference (2010) with the Institute of
Australian Geographers (IAG), Christchurch, New Zealand, 5-8th July 2010.
Spirituality and place: everyday encounters
Peter Hopkins (Newcastle University, UK) and Rachel Pain (Durham University,
UK)
From major global conflicts and crises, to mundane aspects of everyday lives,
practices and places, spirituality plays an important and underestimated role in
shaping geographies in the twenty first century. While concerns are voiced by
some about the secularisation of western societies, at the same time
spiritualities are multiplying and changing, with new relationships between
spirituality and place emerging and indigenous spiritualities gaining wider
attention. As a result, spirituality, religion and faith are gaining increasing
currency as topics for human geography. As the study of formal religions and
religious practices – focused on the main world faiths, with Islam in particular
the recent subject of research – reaches a critical mass within the discipline,
the aim of this session is to focus upon the under-explored intersections of
spirituality and place as negotiated and encountered during everyday life.
Here, we understand spirituality both as being associated with practices and
beliefs associated with formal religions, and the many other engagements with
the spiritual that sit outside of formal religion. We are particularly interested in
papers that explore experiences of spiritual places or events, spiritual journeys
or encounters and engagements that are emotional, moving or that change
everyday lives. Papers may focus upon topics that examine, but are not limited
to:
• Spiritual environments
• Spirituality and wider processes of social change
• Scale and the geopolitics of everyday spiritualities
• Conflicts between and within spirituality and place
• New and alternative spiritualities
• Indigenous spiritualities and contested places
• The intersections of spirituality, place and social identities
• Migration, mobility and spirituality
• New and innovative methodological approaches to researching spirituality
Please submit a title, 250 word (max) abstract, and five keywords to Peter
Hopkins ([log in to unmask]) by 12th March 2010. If you have any
questions, please feel free to contact me.
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