2016
Call for Papers – Globalisation of African Pentecostalism: The Changing face of World Christianity
THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN BIBLE COLLEGE (RCBC) IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN ORGANISES
AN
International Conference on African Pentecostalism
Theme:
Globalisation of African Pentecostalism: The Changing face of World Christianity
Venue:
Redeemed Christian Bible College, KM 46 Lagos Ibadan Expressway, Redemption Camp, Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Conference dates:
Arrival: 19th of July 2016 (from 2pm). Programme commences with the welcome address by 5pm. Conference days: 20th & 21st of July 2016. Departure: 23rd of July 2016.
For more information, see: Conference Information
CALL FOR PAPERS
The twenty-first century has heralded a new dawn in the political map of Christianity with the proliferation of Pentecostalism across the globe. The shift in the centre of gravity of Christianity from the Global North to the Global South is predicated on the dynamic growth of Pentecostalism in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Consequentially, Pentecostalism has been described as the fastest growing Christian tradition in the world. The portable practices and transposable messages of the movement contributes to its appeal to its adherents across various cultural frontiers which often times resonates within the socio-cultural contexts where it is situated.
In the light of the forces of globalisation, migration and technological advancements, African Pentecostalism is no longer geographically delineated. The moral economy of corruption of African leaders, poverty, socio-economic and forced migration have paved the way for many African Pentecostal adherents to travel with their religious idiosyncrasies to various parts of the world. The declining fortunes of Christianity in the West and North America coupled with the fact that religion is consigned to the private space. This provides the missional motivation for the reconversion of former Christian heartlands to the Christian faith by African Pentecostal denominations. In the light of the associated challenges of migration and acculturation in a new cultural frontier, African Pentecostalism provides various opportunities for recreation of Africaness in Diaspora as well as identity negotiation in the host communities.
Attention has been drawn to the social, economic, political dimensions of African Pentecostalism generally. However, the urbanisation of African Pentecostalism across the globe necessitates critical engagement with respect to the changes that has taken place with the redrawing of the Political map of World Christianity. Therefore, the Redeemed Christian Bible College in collaboration with the Religious Studies Department of the University of Ibadan, have jointly organised the 2016 International Conference titled “ Globalisation of African Pentecostalism: The Changing face of World Christianity.”
2016
Call for Papers: ACLARS conference in Addis Ababa
The organizing committee of the African Consortium of Law and Relgion Studies (ACLARS) is pleased to announce the fourth conference on Law and Religion in Africa which will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hosted by the University of Addis Ababa and held at the African Union from Sunday, May 22, 2016 to Tuesday, May 24, 2016.
NOTE: Professor Rosalind Hackett has informed us that papers do not need to be law and religion as such, but research on religious groups or practices that has legal or rights implications.
For more information, see: http://www.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/ACLARS%20Call%20for%20papers%202016.pdf
2016
CfP: Religious Pluralism, Heritage, and Social Development in Africa, 4th ACLARS Conference, at the African Union, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, 22-24 May 2016
The African Consortium of Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) invites scholars interested in the study of Law and Religion in Africa to submit electronically to diane@aloc.co.za paper proposalson of no more than 250 words on the topic of religious pluralism in Africa, particularly in relation to contemporary questions of heritage and social development. “Heritage” is to be understood broadly as including religious, cultural, legal, and historical traditions, and the way these shape religious identities and societies in Africa today by 1 February 2016. Travel support may be available for those whose papers are selected. Persons with matching funds from their institutions will receive preference in being invited to the conference.
2015
Christianity in Diaspora: CfP EASR 2016 Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 28 June-1 July
There is an the opportunity to present ethnographic research on Christianity in diaspora at the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) 2016 Conference ‘Relocating Religion’, 28 June – 1 July 2016, Helsinki, Finland, in the Open Session on:
CHRISTIANITY IN DIASPORA: ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS PRACTICE AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION
The session will use the concept of diaspora – broadly defined both in relation to the transnational and in-country movement of groups of people – in order to explore the practice and experience of Christianity in different socio-cultural settings as communities of people relocate to areas outside their ‘homelands’. The session invites ethnographic papers discussing, but not exclusively, questions such as: What role does Christianity and its institutions play in community-building, community empowerment and community welfare in diaspora settings? How are churches constituted and organised in diaspora? How do churches mediate relations and negotiate cultural differences with (non-Christian) host populations? To what extent are Christian churches involved in facilitating integration with/separation from host societies? What relations do diasporic Christians maintain with their ‘homelands’? How does Christianity shape diasporic identities? How is Christian practice/theology (re)shaped by the diasporic experience? By exploring diasporic forms of Christianity across the world, the session will open up understanding of the diversity of Christian identities, practices, theologies and ways of engaging with and explaining the world among diasporic communities, and the theoretical potentiality inherent in this.
In order to submit an abstract for this open session, please follow the link https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/65198/lomake.html and the submission instructions.
Submission deadline: 31 December 2015
Session conveners:
Iliyana Angelova (University of Oxford; iliyana.angelova@anthro.ox.ac.uk)
Ksenia Medvedeva (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia)
2015
CfP: African Lived Christianity: Faith Ritual and Power, Lund, Sweden, 16-18 March 2016
The thematic focus of this conference at Lund University, 16-18 Martch 2016, is on the lived experiences of African Christianity, on how religion and religious experience are part of the understanding and explanation of social reality in Africa. By taking this thematic focus, we wish to overcome the dividing lines in the study of African Christianity between theology and the social sciences. We seek to engage with an emerging literature that combines the analysis of religious experience and faith with an analysis of how African Christianity feeds into constellations of power hierarchies and social relationships of dependency, reciprocity and mutuality. One of the aims is to build interpretative bridges between African enchanted worldviews and Western academic interpretations and to add to an emerging dialogue between anthropology and theology.
We welcome paper proposals within the following themes, but are not limited to these:
* Enchantment as resistance
* Writing and orality as religious experience
* Wealth, reciprocity and well-being in African Christianity
* Gender and healing
* Ritual and the search of good life
* Christianity in Africa or African Christianity?
* Theology, African cosmologies and church life
* Popular culture and rituals of performance
* Transnationalism, migration and mission in African Christianities
* Faith in African public life
Paper abstracts (of maximum 250 words) should be uploaded on the conference webpage by the 15th February 2016 at the latest. By 25 February 2016 information on paper acceptance will be send out. Full written papers (of maximum 8,000 words) are expected to be circulated at the conference.
The conference is free of charge but the participants must cover for their travel, accommodation and meals.
