Religion and Gender:
Online Journal for the Systematic Study of Religion and Gender in an
Interdisciplinary Perspective http://www.religionandgender.org
Call for Papers
Forthcoming Issue: Gender and Religiosity in Multicultural Societies
Editors: Chia Longman (Ghent University), Eva Midden (Utrecht
University)
Guest Editor: Anne Sofie Roald (Chr. Michelsen Institute)
For a forthcoming issue of the newly launched journal Religion and
Gender we invite contributions, either theoretically or empirically
oriented, and from various disciplinary perspectives that address the
complex and dynamic relationship between religion and gender in
contexts of increased cultural diversity that characterize contemporary
societies throughout the world today. We wish to bring together
articles offering insights from recent developments and new research at
the intersection of gender, religion and ‘multiculturalism’ or
‘multiculturality’ of which the results are hereto often published
quite independently due to disciplinary divides.
Whereas the term ‘multiculturalism’ can denote many meanings, here it
is envisaged in a general and descriptive sense for the empirical
reality of ethnical, cultural and religious diversity of individual
identities, groups and communities within and across locations and
geographical and political boundaries such as urban/rural,
nation-state, North-South/East-West, etc. We wish to question what
impact the fact of culturally diverse people either living together in
close proximity or in interaction with each other through transnational
mobility and virtual communication has on constructions, expressions
and experiences of religion from a gendered perspective. Which are the
tensions, yet also the forms of agency and creativity, that can be
ascertained and imagined in the relationship between gender differences
and (in)equalities and religious orthodoxies and their
reinterpretation? And, can new modes of religiosity and spirituality
arise from the meeting of people from different cultural
backgrounds?
We propose that contributions may wish to address the following
questions but are by no means limited to them:
• How does migration, cultural and/or geographic dislocation and/or
majority/minority experience differentially impact the religious lives
of women and men? What are the conditions under which patterns of
gender traditionalism and conservatism arise and how can these be
assessed from a non-racist gender critical perspective? Where is there
space for reinterpretations of religious tradition in more gender
progressive modes, or how can religious ‘agency’ for women, men, and
other gender and sexual identities be identified and theorized?
• How are religious and spiritual ideologies and imaginaries
sustained, challenged or transformed in the face of globalization and
increased intercultural and transcultural interaction and exchange?
• How do both authoritative and alternative forms of religious
practice and expression that emanate from ‘global flows’ and
cross-cultural travelling influence the power relations between women
and men in relation to non-religious dominant and alternative
ideologies of gender?
• What is the role of gender in contemporary theories and practices
of interreligious dialogue and communication, including secular voices,
at both local grassroots levels and at representative institutional
fora?
• How does diversity within the gendered individual impact religious
experience and identity, such as in new forms of hybrid identity and
transreligiosity?
• What are the consequences and challenges of the new ‘postsecular
turn in feminism’ for reconceptualizing the relationship between gender
and religion in multicultural contexts?
Papers are welcome of 6-8000 words (excluding footnotes and
references) and shorter papers of 3-4000 words in which the authors
present their views on one specific issue.
Papers should be submitted by 1st February 2011 and emailed in
Word attachment to:
Nella van den Brandt: [log in to unmask]
and Eva
Midden: [log in to unmask]
The Scope and Focus of Religion and Gender
Religion and Gender is the first online international journal for the
systematic study of gender and religion in an interdisciplinary
perspective. The journal explores the relation, confrontation and
intersection of gender and religion, taking into account the multiple
and changing manifestations of religion in diverse social and cultural
contexts. It analyses and reflects critically on gender in its
interpretative and imaginative dimensions and as a fundamental
principle of social ordering. It seeks to investigate gender at the
intersection of feminist, sexuality, queer, masculinity and diversity
studies. As an academic journal, Religion and Gender aims to publish
high level contributions from the humanities and from qualitative and
conceptual studies in the social sciences. It wants to focus in
particular on contemporary debates and topics of emerging interest.
Albeit international in scope, the journal takes seriously that it is
situated in contemporary Europe. It seeks to reflect on this position,
particularly from postmodern, postcolonial, and post secular
perspectives.
See http://www.religionandgender.org