Category: Conference Announcements

Society for the Scientific Study of Religion 2014 Annual Meeting, October 31-November 2, 2014, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Call for Papers

Society for the Scientific Study of Religion 2014 Annual Meeting: Building Bridges
October 31-November 2, 2014, JW Marriott, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

SSSR’s current web site notes:
The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion was founded in 1949 by scholars in religion and social science. Its purpose is to stimulate and communicate significant scientific research on religious institutions and religious experience. Scholars from all fields of study who are interested in the scientific exploration of religion are invited to join the Society. Membership in the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion gives scholars the opportunity to share their research and ideas with other scholars.

Our theme for the 2014 conference is “Building Bridges” between all those interested in the study of religion. This includes any disciplines that focus on the study of religion as well as scholars from various geographical and cultural areas. Our intent is to build bridges between disciplines and cultures that have become isolated and communicate mainly among themselves. Suggestions for contributions include:
• the study of religion in diverse cultures and regions (Eastern, Central Europe, Asia, South America, etc.)
• the study of religion within diverse faith traditions (Islam, Christianity, Paganism, NRMs, etc.)
• inter-disciplinary studies of religion (religious studies & the social and behavioral sciences, etc.)
• new disciplines that study religion (cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, etc.)
• methodology interaction in the study of religion (quantitative, qualitative, creative, etc.)
• the study of non-belief and atheism

All session and paper proposals must be submitted via the on-line submission system that will be available on the SSSR’s web site, http://www.sssrweb.org. In addition to the session proposer’s full contact information, a session proposal requires a session title and an abstract of not more than 150 words describing the goal of the session and how the proposer expects the session to contribute to scientific knowledge about religion. Individual paper proposals require the name(s) of the author(s), first author’s full contact information, an abstract of not more than 150 words that succinctly describes the question(s) motivating the research, the data and methods used, and what the paper contributes or expects to contribute to the knowledge or understanding of religion. NOTE NEW POLICY ON MANDATORY PREREGISTRATION OUTLINED BELOW.

Submissions Open: February 03, 2014 (see http://www.sssrweb.org)
Submissions Close: March 31, 2014
Decision Notification: April 30, 2014

In 2014, the SSSR/RRA Annual Meeting will require all program participants to preregister for the meeting, and to pay the non-refundable fees, by May 31, 2014. For submitted papers, the presenting author must pre-register, although co-authors not attending the meeting are not required to do so. For submitted sessions, the organizer and all presenters must pre-register and pre-pay. Online registration will open immediately after decision notifications are emailed. Those presenters and organizers who do not preregister will be dropped from the program.

Please direct questions to:
Ralph Hood (UTC), Program Chair (Ralph-Hood@utc.edu)
Co-chair for Asia-Pacific region: Alphia Possamai-Inesedy (Alphia.Possamai@uws.edu.au)
Co-Chair for Western, Central, and Eastern Europe: Elisabeth Arweck (Elisabeth.arweck@warwick.ac.uk)
Special assistant for developing sessions on Islam: Besheer Mohamed (BMohamed@PewResearch.org)
Graduate Student Representative: Christopher F. Silver (Christopher-Silver@utc.edu)

IAHR 21st World Congress, 23-29 August 2015, Erfurt, Germany: Call for Panel Proposals

Dynamics of Religion: Past and Present

Call for Panels

The XXI World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) will take place August 23 to 29, 2015 in Erfurt, Germany. The Congress will address Dynamics of Religion: Past and Present.

We now invite contributors to submit Panel Proposals addressing the topic in any of the areas outlined below.

Religion is a human, historical, social and cultural phenomenon. As such, religious ideas, practices, discourses, institutions, and social expressions are constantly in processes of change. The Congress will address the processes of change, the dynamics of religions past, present, and future, on several interconnected levels of analysis and theory, namely that of the individual, community and society, practices and discourses, beliefs, and narrations.

These will be addressed within four areas:

• Religious communities in society: Adaptation and transformation
• Practices and discourses: Innovation and tradition
• The individual: Religiosity, spiritualities and individualization
• Methodology: Representations and interpretations

We invite contributions from all disciplines of religious studies and related fields of research to allow for broad, interdisciplinary discussion of the Congress topic to register their panels for the XXI World Congress of the IAHR.
Each panel lasts two hours. Panel papers should be limited to 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of panel participants. Panel conveners are asked to approach possible participants from different nations to reflect the scope and internationality of the IAHR Congress.

To propose a panel, please submit a general proposal of the panel as well as individual proposals of all papers included in the panel. Both panel and papers of a proposed panel will be evaluated by the Academic Program Committee to ensure a high academic standard of the Congress program. We therefore ask panel conveners to submit the proposals of all prospective panel participants of a proposed panel as indicated by the submission form. Proposals of panels and of papers should not exceed 150 words.

The deadline for submission of proposals is Sunday, September 14, 2014. All proposals must be submitted electronically via the IAHR 2015 website (www.iahr2015.org). This site will be available for submissions from Sunday, September 1, 2013 through Sunday, September 14, 2014. As part of the submission process, you will be asked to indicate the area in which you would like your proposal considered. Your proposal will then be forwarded to the appropriate member of the Academic Program Committee.

You will receive notice concerning the status of your proposal as soon as possible and certainly before March 1, 2015. If your panel or paper has been accepted by the Academic Program Committee, please note that you will have to register as Congress participant before May 15, 2015 to be included in the Congress program.