 |
 |
****************************************************** * http://www.anthropologymatters.com * * A postgraduate project comprising online journal, * * online discussions, teaching and research resources * * and international contacts directory. * ****************************************************** Faith in Civil Society – Religious Actors as Drivers of Change April 24-25, 2012 Uppsala, Sweden Deadline for abstracts: February 10, 2012 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS Religious associations and communities are increasingly recognized as important social actors across the world. This belies common European assumptions of a universal development path of modernisation and secularisation, wherein religion becomes a privatised matter separate from the realms of politics and public civic culture. Instead, religious faith continues to be a force by which people mobilise around shared identities with spiritual as well as political objectives, sometimes creating vast networks that extend beyond and contest nation-state borders. The relations between religious organisations and states are complex and varied, from close alliances to open antagonism, where religious actors have different claims to political influence and governance. Sometimes, religious affiliations merge with counter-hegemonic movements for radical social change, whether among marginalised and poor liberation theological Catholics in Latin America, Buddhist monks as the vanguards of the social movement in Burma, or among urban middle-class Muslims during the Arab Spring. In other cases, religious faith motivates fundamentalist projects to re-establish or strengthen conservative social orders. States have also taken on an increased interest in religious associations, whether as a means to enforce shared values and objectives, to counter terrorism, or to shoulder the task as service providers. This interest is reflected as well in renewed attention within international development cooperation for religious associations, particularly visible in for example Norway, Holland and the UK. In this conference, we will discuss how to understand these diverse faith-inspired actors, who not always fit neatly within liberal notions of civil society. Parallel sessions inviting presentations: -- Gendering the Arab Spring: Religion, citizenship and democracy Chair and introduction: Liv Tønnessen, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway -- Religion and grassroots politics in Africa Chair and introduction: Päivi Hasu, Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland -- Religious agency and concerns for spiritual and material change: Liberation theology and other responses Chair and introduction: Olle Kristensson, Christian Council of Sweden -- Socially engaged Buddhism Chair and introduction: Monica Lindberg Falk, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden For further information on the sessions see http://www.csduppsala.uu.se/devnet/CivilSociety/konferens2012/Faith%20in%20Civil%20Society%202012,%20Paper%20sessions.pdf Abstracts (summaries) of your intended presentation should be ½-1 page and include: title of presentation, your name and affiliation, name of the session the presentation would fall under, and text describing the presentation. Deadline for submitting abstracts is February 10, 2012. Send your abstract to: [log in to unmask] Authors will be notified of abstract acceptance by March 8, 2012. Deadline for general conference registration is March 26, 2012. Register to [log in to unmask] The conference, including lunches and coffees, is free of charge. Conference website: http://www.csduppsala.uu.se/civsoc (click on ‘Read more here’ at the end of the second paragraph). Travel grants. We provide travel grants for 2-4 delegates from Latin America, Africa, Asia or the Middle East to present their papers at our conference, provided their abstracts are accepted. The grant will cover travel costs (airplane ticket and bus/train to and from airports) plus 2-3 hotel nights in Uppsala. Meals during actual conference time are included without costs for all participants. NB. Per diems will NOT be paid, due to university regulations that prohibit such payment. We therefore recommend that you apply for funds elsewhere to cover such costs during your stay in Sweden. NB! Delegates applying for a grant need to send in not only an abstract but the complete paper by February 10. (This is to ensure the quality of the presentation.) The paper does not have to be longer 5 pages: each presenter has no more than 15 minutes to her/his disposal. Be sure to state when you send in your paper whether you apply for our travel grant. You will be notified by March 8 whether your abstract has been accepted for presentation, and whether you will receive a travel grant. ************************************************************* * Anthropology-Matters Mailing List * * To join this list or to look at the archived previous * * messages visit: * * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML * * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all * * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: * * [log in to unmask] * * * * Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new * * CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com * * an international directory of anthropology researchers * ***************************************************************