2014
Islamism and Post-Islamism: Religious and Political Transformations in Muslim Societies; Call for Papers
Islamism and Post-Islamism: Religious and Political Transformations in Muslim Societies; Call for Papers, Interdisciplinary International Conference, 13-14 March 2015, Queens University, School of Religion, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Paper proposals should be e-mailed to Professor Mehmet Karabela (mehmet.karabela@queensu.ca) no later than January 25, 2015.
2014
IAHR African Trust Fund Research & Publication Grant Applications for 2015
The IAHR African Trust Fund seeks to facilitate and promote the advancement of research and the development of scholarship on religion in the African continent (and nearby islands) by encouraging scholarly and contextual research initiatives and practices, as well as publications. The IAHR African Trust Fund aims to encourage and acknowledge the generation of scholars whose research is deemed to hold significant future promise to increase knowledge and contribute to the historical, social and comparative study of religion in the African continent (and nearby islands). Thus, the IAHR African Trust Fund herewith invites young scholars in particular of any ethnic/national origin, working and/or studying in any higher academic or research institution on the African continent (and nearby islands), whose research project needs financial support or whose publication in an African publishing house (scientific journal) requires a subsidy.
Applications are open till 30th March 2015. Grant-winning applicants will be announced on 30th April 2015. Note that all grants will be awarded to the successful applicants in May 2015.
For further information, see: IAHR African Trust Fund Application 2015
2014
Associate Professor in Race, Religion and the African Diaspora
The Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies invite applications for a joint professorship in Race, Religion and the African Diaspora at the rank of associate professor. We seek candidates whose teaching and research explore the role of religion within black communities in the United States or the wider African Diaspora, and whose work considers the intersection of religion and race on any number of levels—cultural, historical, philosophical, or theological. Responsibilities include teaching half-time in Religious Studies and half-time in African American and African Studies, as well as proportional service to both units. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. In a relevant field. They should integrate interdisciplinary approaches in their scholarship and teaching, and possess a proven record of scholarly engagement and publication.
Review of applications will begin on November 3, 2014. The search will remain open until filled.
To apply, go to: https://jobs.virginia.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1417618490546
2014
CfP or the panel Refugees’ and Asylum Seekers’ Experience: Terror of Witchcraft, Cultural Memories, and Bureaucratic Violence, at the 6th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) to be held in Paris, 8-10 July 2015
The panel aims to explore the place of witchcraft anxieties in the trajectories and narratives of refugees and asylum seekers. More particularly: how does the fear of witchcraft mark their everyday lives and gives voice to the conflicts and suspicions within families and communities? How can asylum seekers make their anxieties “credible” to Territorial Commissions and provide proof of the “mystical weapons” that threaten them? Often, these issues are reported as the experience of being haunted by neighbors or relatives, or as dreams in which they are “eaten” and possessed by invisible animals living in their bodies. For the asylum seekers, translating the idea of being persecuted by witches into humanitarian language is an “impossible task”, just a further complication in the effort to meet the eligibility criteria for International Protection. The concepts of “plausibility” and “coherence”, two of the main pillars for considering their narratives as credible, disregard the cultural forms of traumatic experience and personhood. They assume a “rational man,” with no room for other imaginaries and moralities. Focusing on various fieldworks (African and European), the panel would like to investigate the destiny of these experiences and discourses, as well as the role of neoliberal policies in forging new political subjectivities. In the background of the discussion of these issues is a more general question: how do refugees remember?
If you are interested in our panel, please submit an abstract of maximum 1500 characters (in English or in French) via the link
http://www.ecas2015.fr/refugees-and-asylum-seekers-experience-terror-of-witchcraft-cultural-memories-and-bureaucratic-violence/
Andrea Ceriana Mayneri (IMAF, Institut des mondes africains)
Roberto Beneduce (University of Turin)
2014
CfP for panel on “Islamic Education in Africa: Reform and (Re-)Configuration”, 6th European Conference on African Studies, Paris, 8-10 July 2015
Anneke Newman and Clothilde Hugon invite paper proposals for their panel on Islamic Education in Africa:Reform and (Re-)Configuration
In African countries with significant Muslim populations, Islamic schools often exist in opposition to state education, and enjoy much local popularity. However, Islamic schools have been subjected to reform, as older models are adapted to include Western pedagogies and secular subjects. In recent decades the push for reform has intensified and internationalised, including through funding from Arab Muslim countries, international Islamic NGOs, and Western development donors to deliver Education For All. This panel invites papers on the (re)configuration of African Islamic education, at international, national and local levels. Currently, reformed Islamic schools sit alongside secular state institutions and older forms of Qur’anic education. What are the relationships between the State and actors supplying these different school types? How do their agendas converge or diverge? What contrasting models of identity are promoted within schools? How is reform challenging older patterns of authority, while creating new bases for legitimacy? This panel will also consider education demand by exploring factors informing students’ and parents’ school choices. Possible questions include how identity constructions play into decision-making, and how these identities are reconfigured in the context of reform. Finally, how might people’s understandings of the moral value and material utility of Islamic education be shifting with the new opportunities available.
