----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Maaker, Erik de" <MAAKER@FSW
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----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Maaker, Erik de" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 12:17:41 PM
Subject: [Sar] Call for papers Interpreting Religious Diversity
We are inviting papers for the panel Interpreting Religious Diversity: Conversion, Syncretism and Religious Practice (EASA conference, Ljubljana, August 26th till 29th 2008). The panel intends to explore the relationship between religious practice and religious doctrines. By what processes and discourses are religious beliefs and practices classified as belonging to a particular religion, even if they also draw heavily on other religious inspirations? How does such labelling relate to and influence people's beliefs and religious practices?
We invite theoretically grounded papers that are strongly rooted in ethnographic research. In particular, we would like contributors to proceed from the varying and changing significances attributed to religious material objects, as well as ritual performances in which such objects play a role. We intend to publish the papers presented as a special issue of an academic journal, and subsequently as an edited volume.
Note that it is not obligatory for paper presenters to be members of EASA. Paper submissions close on March 31st 2008. You can submit a proposal for a paper via the EASA website (panel WO64).
http://www.easa2008.eu/en/informacija.asp?id_meta_type=13
Convenors:
Dr. Vibha Joshi (University of Oxford) ([log in to unmask])
Dr. Erik de Maaker (Leiden University) ([log in to unmask])
Abstract: Contemporary anthropological studies of religion consider syncretism a universal phenomenon, and regard all religions as syncretic (Steward and Shaw, 1994). However, if 'neighbouring' religious traditions share common ground, how does religious diversity emerge? And how is it sustained and reinforced? Radical approaches to the study of religion, such as Asad (1993, 2003), indicate that conceptualizing religions as diverse and distinct cannot be separated from objectifying discourses involving agents or groups claiming religious authority. So, how are religious ideologies defined and objectified and by what agents? And perhaps more importantly, in what manner are people who engage in religious practices influenced by the ideologies voiced or formulated by people who (claim to) represent religious authority?
In the proposed panel we intend to develop these issues in relation to processes of proselytizing and conversion, as these tend to trigger the (re)formulation of religious ideologies. In our perception, such processes are not limited to the activities of e.g. 'Western' missionaries in the formerly colonialised world. It also encompasses sub-national efforts, such as when Christian Nagas attempt to convert Naga animists. Moreover, proselytizing and conversion are not limited to so-called world religions, but can involve the reformulation of animist religious traditions as well.
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