Category: Conference Announcements

57th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
57th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association
RETHINKING VIOLENCE, RECONSTRUCTION, AND RECONCILIATION
November 20-23, 2014
JW Marriott Indianapolis Hotel
Indianapolis, IN

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: March 15, 2014
PROGRAM CHAIRS
Odile Cazenave, Boston University
Clifton Crais, Emory University

ABOUT THE MEETING
We are soliciting proposals for papers, panels, and roundtables. Presentations may focus on the theme of “Rethinking Violence, Reconstruction, and Reconciliation” or on broader social science, humanities, and applied themes relating to Africa. We strongly encourage the submission of formed panels. You can find more information on the theme and the guidelines for proposals at the ASA website.

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL
Instructions for submitting proposals can be found online on the ASA website.

PLEASE NOTE: If your proposal is accepted, the conference pre-registration fee must be paid by May 1, 2014 by ALL participants. Payment of the pre-registration fee will result in a final acceptance. Failure to pay the pre-registration fee by May 1, 2014, will result in an automatic rejection.

JOIN THE ASA OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP
Join the ASA or renew your membership. ASA membership can be purchased through Cambridge University Press. If you have any difficulties registering, please contact Cambridge at usmemberservices@cambridge.org.

ABOUT THE AFRICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
Established in 1957, the African Studies Association is the largest organization in the world devoted to enhancing the exchange of information about Africa. Our members include scholars, students, teachers, activists, development professionals, policy makers, donors and many others. We encourage interdisciplinary interactions with Africa. We provide access to pathbreaking research and key debates in African studies. We bring together people with scholarly and other interests in Africa through our annual meeting and seek to broaden professional opportunities in the field of African studies. The organization publishes two leading interdisciplinary journals on Africa, African Studies Review and History in Africa and promotes an informed understanding of Africa to the public and in educational institutions as well as to businesses, media, and other communities that have interests in Africa.

For general questions regarding the meeting and/or registration please contact members@africanstudies.org. For questions regarding the submission process, guidelines, or program theme please contact asameeting2014@gmail.com.

We welcome your participation in this exciting conference and in the ASA!

Africa Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK) Biennial Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton UK, 9-11 September 2014

CfP for the Panel on ‘Islamic Education in Africa’

We welcome participants for a panel titled ‘Islamic Education in Africa: Continuities, Changes and Contestations’ as part of the upcoming Africa Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK) biennial conference www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk14.shtml to be held at the University of Sussex, Brighton UK, from the 9’th -11’th September, 2014.

For any queries about the panel please contact Anneke Newman at a.newman@sussex.ac.uk, but please use the ASAUK online system via this webpage http://www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk14.shtml to submit your 250 word abstract. The deadline for abstracts is the 1st April 2014, submissions will be considered shortly thereafter. Decisions about the exact day on which the panel will be held will not be made by conference organisers until after abstracts are submitted; we apologise for any inconvenience this might cause. 15 minute presentations should be supported by a 3000 word paper, to be circulated to convenors, discussant and other participants by the 15’th August 2015. The language of the conference is English.

Please find the detailed panel description below.
We hope to hear from you soon,
Anneke Newman (University of Sussex) and Hannah Hoechner (University of
Oxford)

Panel 3988 – Islamic Education in Africa: Continuities, Changes and Contestations

Contemporary African societies are characterised by plural educational landscapes, with a variety of actors alongside the state providing schooling services and scholarships. Education has been the site of competing powers where players reflecting different world views have confronted each other. In countries with significant Muslim populations, this dynamic is reflected in a diverse landscape of educational institutions, spanning both formal and informal schools, private as well as public actors, and varying degrees of integration between religious and secular subjects.

For much of the last century this educational context has been characterised by mutual antagonism, with Islamic schools often created in an act of explicit opposition to colonial and postcolonial government education policy, and enjoying popularity among families who perceive inadequacies in the secular state school system. In turn, indigenous Islamic reformers have sought to adapt older models of Quranic schools by introducing Western pedagogies and subjects into religious education.

Furthermore, facing international donor pressure to meet ‘Education For All’ goals, in the last decade some Sahelian countries have begun ambitious state policies of educational reform including unprecedented rapprochement with the Islamic school sector. Similarly, faith-based organisations from the Arab world and Western international development actors have also begun to engage with the Islamic school sector for various ends. Under these circumstances, diverse models of Islamic education have emerged, at times in competition with each another as well as with state schooling.

Yet, despite the importance of Islamic education in people’s everyday lives, and its influence on the social, political and cultural landscape of contemporary Africa, it has suffered relative scholarly neglect. To address this deficit, participants are invited to share original research on this topic. Disciplinary approaches could include, but are by no means limited to: political economy; history; literature, film and media studies; anthropology and sociology; international development and area studies; comparative and international education. Presenters are invited to consider the relevance of their scholarship to wider current academic debates such as engagement with faith in international development; the implications of globalising forces including migration and new media on education; the intersections between axes of social difference like gender, with knowledge and authority; links (genuine or perceived) between Islamic education and Islamist radicalisation; the power struggles which arise when contrasting pedagogies and cosmologies collide; and the methodological challenges of researching such processes.

Convenors:
Anneke Newman (University of Sussex)
Hannah Hoechner (University of Oxford)

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.