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Call for paper (P056) Cyberpilgrimage: theory, practice and future Deadline: 09/01/2014 The Future with/of Anthropologies The Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology (JASCA) Conference & IUAES Inter-Congress 2014 Chiba City, Tokyo. 15th-18th May 2014. Today cyberspace is a reason for concern in most religious communities. In the last few years, both orthodox and less orthodox religious groups and communities seem to have acknowledged that the development of the Internet cannot be ignored, trivialized or kept away from religious communities. The discussion has therefore moved to more general questions on the degree to which true believers are allowed to get involved with the Internet and cyber space and on how to make it more relevant to their religious beliefs and duties. In this panel we tackle with new phenomenon of cyberpilgrimage (pilgrimage mediated by digital media) in contemporary religions. The field of cyberpilgrimage, primarily from the viewpoint of religious and theology studies, is new topic in digital anthropology and anthropological pilgrimage studies. However, the new phenomenon seems to be a key to deconstruct and rethink former concept of pilgrimage in various reasons; lack of physical journey, general availability of access to sacred area and so on. Thus, the presenters in this panel explore dynamics of cyberpilgrimage in terms of pilgrimage studies. We are interested in receiving proposals which present new and unpublished researches on topics such as (but not limited to): -What can the study of cyberpilgrimage add to the previous theories regarding the anthropology of pilgrimage? -What can cyberpilgrimage entail, to survey the input to-date of contemporary scholars to the anthropological study of religion? - Authenticity of computer-based cyberpilgrimage experience as a real pilgrimage. - Can computer-mediated experiences of cyberpilgrimage help pilgrims to attain higher spiritual levels? - What are the benefits of cyberpilgrimage to the pilgrims? -What is the influence of cyberpilgrimage on the religion, spirituality and religious cyberspace? -Should faith be considered as a prerequisite for cyberpilgrimage? -Can cyberpilgrimage help people, especially geographically dispersed ones, to nurture their connections to the communal landscapes or their traditions? -Should cyberpilgrimage be viewed in a complimentary relationship to terrestrial pilgrimage or be considered as an introduction to it? -Can cyberpilgrimage play a role as a mediated pathway to link the physical and metaphysical? -Potential relationships between cyberpilgrimage and illusion. -Does cyberpilgrimage constitutes a meaningful and authentic contemporary manifestations of the pilgrimage tradition? - What are the religious and political benefits of cyberpilgrimage for those who run and host such digital pilgrimage programes? - Cyberpilgrimage and diaspora? All submission should be made oline on the official websire of conference http://www.nomadit.co.uk/iuaes/iuaes2014/panels.php5?PanelID=2843 For further information and enquiries, please contact conveners Dr. P. Khosronejad ([log in to unmask]) Dr. K. Kuroda ([log in to unmask])