2018
Job Posting: U. Pennsylvania, Ass’t Prof in World Christianity (Premodern Focus)
The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor in the field of Global Christianity in the Premodern World focused on any period between the onset of Islam through the Christianization of the New World. We are especially interested in applicants whose work pursues connections across the Indian or Atlantic Oceans into continents beyond Europe or examines Christianity within a multi-religious environment like the Iberian Peninsula, but the position is open to applications from any sub-field and time period within the parameters described above. The successful candidate for this new faculty position should have a compelling and original research agenda and a commitment to pursue it within the interdisciplinary framework offered by the Department of Religious Studies, the School of Arts and Sciences, and the wider University. In addition, we are seeking an excellent and enthusiastic teacher to participate in the department’s undergraduate and graduate programs. PhD is expected at the time of appointment.
Interested candidates should apply at http://facultysearches.provost.upenn.edu/postings/1440 and submit a letter of application, CV, statement of research, writing sample, and the names of three individuals who will be contacted by the University with instructions for submitting letters of recommendation. The Department will begin reviewing applications on October 16th, 2018. Applications will continue to be considered until the position is filled.
The Department of Religious Studies is strongly committed to Penn’s Action Plan for Faculty Diversity and Excellence and to creating a more diverse faculty (for more information see: http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v58/n02/diversityplan.html). The University of Pennsylvania is an EOE. Minorities/Women/Individuals with disabilities/Protected veterans are encouraged to apply.
2018
CfP: Magic, Spirits & Power (Nov 15–16, 2018, University of Copenhagen)
Call for Papers – PhD Course and Research Workshop
Magic, Spirits and Power: Transgressing the Religious / Secular Divide
Centre of African Studies and the PhD school at the Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen
Since the early pioneering studies by Evans-Pritchard in the 1930s, the study of witchcraft has been
a prominent theme in anthropological and African studies. The classical legacy has been challenged
and developed by later generations of scholars such as Peter Geschiere, Harry West, Isaak Niehaus,
Adam Ashforth. Others, such as Florence Bernault have discussed witchcraft and the fetish from a
historical perspective, looking particularly into the how witchcraft was part of the colonial lexicon.
From a different context, Nils Bubandt has argued against perceiving witchcraft as a system of
belief that people draw on in order to explain the world. On the contrary, in the context of an
Indonesian island, Bubandt argues that witchcraft is more about doubt and confusions than about
explanation.
In this Ph.D. course / workshop, we will address the question of how to approach and understand
magic and spirits and their relationship to power. It is widely recognised (in anthropology, religious
studies and African studies) that in African societies for instance there is a strong linkage between
the political and the spiritual spheres. Spirits are part of the world people inhabit and they have
agency. This course addresses both methodological and theoretical questions of how to understand
magic and spirits. How do we on the one hand avoid using pejorative and exotisising terms
(implying that we are studying something irrational) and on the other hand move beyond a
particular culturally informed analysis? The analysis of magic and spirits has for long been closely
related to analytical categories of belief and specific religious ideas. In this course, we wish to open
up such debates and examine other ways of analysing and understanding spirits. Moreover, we seek
to question the underlying oppositional categories of the religious and the secular by indicating that
magic and spirits in a broad sense is part of how people perceive and act in the world.
The course will be organized as a one-day course (lunch-to-lunch), with presentations from invited
key notes speakers and workshops with paper presentation from Ph.D. students and other interested
scholars.
The themes of the course include (but are not limited to):
witchcraft and the categories of religion and secularity
witchcraft and rationality
withcraft, belief and doubt
witchcraft, insecurity and uncertainty
witchcraft as practice and discourse
social science on and as witchcraft
Date and time: 15 November (Lunch) – 16 November (Lunch) 2018
Keynote speakers: Florence Bernault, Professor of African history, Sciences Po, Paris.
Nils Bubandt, Professor of Anthropology, University of Aarhus.
ECTS: 2.25 ECTS
Registration: You apply by sending an e-mail to Niels Kastfelt (nk@teol.ku.dk) AND
Karen Lauterbach (kjl@teol.ku.dk). The registration deadline is 20
September 2018. The e-mail should include: Name, position,
institutional affiliation, paper title and a paper abstract of maximum 200
words.
Course preparation: Participants must submit a paper of maximum 6,000 words by 1
November 2018. It is expected that all participants read all papers.
Moreover, there will be required reading as preparation for the course.
Course capacity: Maximum 15 participants
Format:The course will consist of a combination of keynote lectures and
workshops with paper presentations.
Venue: Faculty of Theology, South Campus, University of Copenhagen, Karen
Blixens Plads 16, Room 6B.1.62
Organizers: Associate Professor Niels Kastfelt (Department of Church History,
Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen)
Associate Professor Karen Lauterbach (Centre of African Studies,
University of Copenhagen)
2018
Call for Applications: Leiden ASA Visiting Research Fellowship January-February-March 2019
Call for Applications:
Leiden ASA Visiting Research Fellowship January-February-March 2019
The Leiden African Studies Assembly calls for applications for a three-month (90 days) visiting fellowship at Leiden University (African Studies Centre) from September up to and including November 2018. Applications from all academic disciplines are welcome. An application must include an element of collaboration with a researcher of the African Studies Centre Leiden and a researcher of another faculty/department of Leiden University. The output of that collaboration can be a joint seminar or workshop, a joint research proposal, or a joint publication.
Requirements for a visiting fellowship
In order to be eligible for a LeidenASA 90-days Visiting Research Fellowship, the applicant has to fulfil all of the following criteria. He or she must:
1. Hold a PhD degree, by the time of applying;
2. Have conducted research, as part of the PhD and/or in later projects; with a focus on Africa;
3. Be actively pursuing an academic/research career;
4. Have published books, book chapters and/or journal articles in recent years that meet international standards;
5. Propose a research project for the fellowship that is likely to contribute to interfaculty collaboration at Leiden University; as shown in statements of collaboration (enclosed with the application) from one African Studies Centre Leiden scholar and (at least) one other Leiden University scholar. Overview of scholars to be found here: http://www.ascleiden.nl/sites/default/files/leidenasaresearchmembersmay2018.pdf
6. In accordance with visa regulations, be ready to return to the country of which he/she is a citizen and/or a current resident upon completion of the fellowship.
In the assessment of applications that meet these requirements,
A. Preference will be given to applicants based in Africa. ‘Africa’ here refers to the member states of the African Union. ‘Based in’ Africa is understood to have lived in Africa during at least two of the last four years; and
B. Emphasis will be placed on the quality, intended outputs and feasibility of the research project proposed for the fellowship.
A fellowship includes
– A return ticket (economy class).
– A daily stipend to cover living expenses.
– Single accommodation in Leiden with shared facilities.
– The use of (shared) office facilities and of library facilities.
How to apply?
Please complete application form below and send it, together with all required additional documents, to:
LeidenASA@asc.leidenuniv.nl
Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
Applications must be submitted in English or French.
However, Visiting Research Fellows may pursue their research in any language(s) of their choice, in agreement with their ASCL/Leiden University counterparts.
The deadline for applications is 25 August 2018.
2018
CfP: 2018 Fela Anikulapo Kuti Int’l Conference on African Homelands and Social Theory (10-11th Oct)
CENTRE FOR BLACK ORIENTATION AND AFRICAN CONSCIOUSNESS, CEBOAC, IBADAN, NIGERIA
AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN.
In collaboration with DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY, SAMONDA, IBADAN.
Presents
2018 FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFRICAN HOMELANDS AND SOCIAL THEORY
(A 2-Day International Conference in Honour of Fela Anikulapo Kuti)
CONFERENCE THEME:
Religion-State Relationship in Postcolonial Africa: Issues, Contexts and Perspectives
VENUE: UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN.
DATE: 10 -11TH OCTOBER, 2018
TIME: 10:00AM DAILY
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW: Fela Anikulapo Kuti International Conference on African Homelands and Social Theory is an annual international conference that brings together academicians and research scholars in African and Diaspora Studies and importantly researchers in the Fela phenomenon. The international conference provides the medium and opportunity to exchange ideas, share knowledge, and develop academic researches done in the gear of decolonizing knowledge in the African educational system and with the sole aim of adding values to knowledge production in its Africanity. The conference seek to promote intellectualism in its Africaness, Culture education and traditions of African homelands and the diaspora. In fulfilling this, while the international conference provides an environment for cross- fertilization of ideas to produce knowledge and new thoughts and philosophies, the conference as well accommodates political education for the decolonization of African homelands as a step to rescue the westernization of education in Africa.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The 2018 FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFRICAN HOMELANDS AND SOCIAL THEORY is planned to feature paper presentations on some selected thematic issues relating to the concept note. Participants are invited from different fields and practices including: religious studies, music, theatre and film, literary and cultural studies, political science, sociology, history, philosophy and other related areas. The paper abstract must not be more than 300 words.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE OPENING CEREMONY
Professor Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin, USA
LEAD PAPER PRESENTERS:
Prof. J.K Ayantayo, Prof. of Christian theology, Head, Department of Religious Studies, U.I
Prof. Anthony Akinwale, Vice- Chancellor, Dominican University, Samonda, Ibadan
CONFERENCE CHAIR
Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan, University of Ibadan.
THEMATIC ISSUES: Conference papers will cover the under listed thematic issues:
a. Religion, International political system and Africa
b. Religion, Ideology and Nationalism
c. Religion and Philosophy
d. Religion and Music in the African Context
e. Religion and Language in the African Perspective
f. Religion and Conventional Thoughts
g. Religion, Education and Law
h. Historiography of Religion within the African Context
i. Comparative Approach to Non-African and African Belief Systems
j. Religion and Emerging Gender Issues
k. Religion, Terrorism, Peace and Strategic studies
l. The Foreign in African Traditional Religions
m. Religion and Humanity in the African Context
n. Political economy of religion
o. Comparative Study on Religion, Spirituality and Culture
p. Religion and African mystery system
q. Religion and Secret societies
r. Religion, methodology and politics of knowledge production
s. Religion, Postcolonial Africanities and human development
t. Religion, Secularism and globalization
u. Religion and Environmental issues
v. Religion, Archaeology and social Anthropology
w. Religion and classical studies
Prospective paper presenters are to adhere strictly to the APA Format for writing research papers.
Abstracts and full papers can be submitted by email to the Conference Convener, Olusegun Michael Ogundele at mcmikewrights@gmail.com or to the official conference email address: felaconference@gmail.com
IMPORTANT DATES
Publicity: 15th May, 2018
Deadline for submission: 5th August, 2018
Notification of acceptance: 19th August, 2018
Deadline for final paper submission: 5th September, 2018
Conference date: 10- 11 October, 2018
The international conference will have as part of its special features A FRENCH PANEL. This French panel is being sponsored by IFRA- NIGERIA and Alliance Francais, Ibadan. Papers to be presented at this French panel will be submitted in French Language, especially to encourage participation from African research scholars in Francophone countries. Presentation at the panel will be in French language. There is as well a possibility for a French translator to English Language so that the parallel session will not close its door against other participants in the conference.
CONTACT PERSONS FOR THE ORGANISATION OF THE FRENCH PANEL:
Dr. Nicolas Michelland, Director, Alliance Francaise, Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr. Elodie Apard, Director, French Institute for Research in Africa, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Prof. Tunde Ayeleru, Head, Department of European Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Prof. Anthony Akinwale, Vice Chancellor, Dominican University, Samonda, Ibadan.
OLUSEGUN MICHAEL OGUNDELE
Conference Convener
07066249160
2018
Call for Papers: Religion/Spirituality and Wellbeing in Africa, in ALTERNATION 2019
ALTERNATION CALL FOR PAPERS
THEME: Religion/Spirituality and Wellbeing in Africa
Summary
Internationally, numerous scholars of religion and spirituality argue that religion/spirituality has direct implications for human wellbeing. Research has shown, that the same is true with regard to Africa. Across Africa, religion/ spirituality remains a factor that influences and shapes the wellbeing of many Africans. But the role of religion in Africa has not always been constructive and clear-cut. Affirmatively, religion has contributed to the struggle against colonialism, for national independence, the fostering and support of modern democracies, and the establishing of independent nation states. Negatively, religion(s) has, at times, and in some contexts, also contributed to endorsing and perpetuating postcolonial autocratic life-denying tendencies among politicians, patrimonial autocratic and oligarchic systems, and the denial of human rights, for a wide variety of minority groups, not aligned with the hegemonic power structures. The question is whether, and how religions and religious formations in Africa have intentionally positioned themselves as forces for wellbeing, safety and security, or, for ill. How have they engaged the individual, as well as social challenges that African people face? How do they function for the continuous improvement of the quality of life and wellbeing of people? OR: if they do not function in this way, what roles do they play in society in general, but also specifically, and practically. Acknowledging that there have been some valuable research focusing on particular contexts, there is inadequate scholarly literature which specifically explores the interplay between religion spirituality and wellbeing, or its opposites.
Description
Scholars have argued that in Africa, religion/spirituality in all its various manifestations is a seminal, ingrained, aspect of life, identity construction, social practice and reality construction and interpretation. They argue that religion/spirituality should not be regarded as separate from the totality of human life in Africa. For all intents and purposes, it saturates the lives and cultures of African people. Concomitantly, religion/spirituality and its related practices, are perceived as a social and humanistic resource for African cultural, moral-ethical, political and economic functioning, but also development and advancement. This perception of religion/spirituality, is usually endorsed by views from John Mbiti, who, in his African Religions and Philosophy (1969) described Africans as “notoriously religious”; Fabien Boulaga (1984), who embedded all of African life – “self-transcendence, nature, earth, sex, anything that moves” – in religion; Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar (2004), who argued that “it is largely through religious ideas that Africans think about the world today, and that religious ideas provide them with a means of becoming social and political actors”; and, more recently, Trinitapoli and Weinreb (2012), that Africa is “the world’s most religious continent”. This form of the essentializing, if not erroneous idealisation, of the importance of religion/ spirituality, or of a broad-based religious world view, for Africans, is obviously contentious.
Given the myriad of challenges and struggles Africans face on a daily basis in all spheres of life, in all the sociocultural, -political, and -economic dimensions, and societal levels of a rapidly – if also very unequally – modernising continent, we need to move beyond the simplistic and idealistic understandings of the significance of religion/ spirituality in Africa.
Moreover, the scholarly homogenising assumptions, common generalisations, and generic intellectual simplifications about African life and culture, not only obfuscate and befuddle very complex issues, as these differ from context to context, and country to country. They al-so mask a lack of the equal recognition of the wide diversity of people, as well as religions and spiritualities on the continent, and their fluid functioning, and impacts.
Against the background of these primary misconceptions, African social life should rather be fully recognised and studied with regard to its complexities, its fluid and experimental practices, and the inherent, and often tacit contestations of power and privilege, as these are present in its numerous sociocultural contradictions embedded in the articulations of the person and community; religion and the secular; health and disease; and democracy and undemocratic hegemony; as these grow, and at times collide. This means there is a need to ask about Africa’s experiential questions. In this context, it is important to better delineate the significance of religion and spirituality for African life and culture, and if not, how this is the case. Finally, can one distinguish between the nature and impact of religion and spirituality that add to the wellbeing of people, in specific contexts, and that which is to their disadvantage, and detriment. And, what do African people regard as the religion or spirituality that serve them and their wellbeing, and what not.
Amongst others, this Special Issue of Alternation seeks to clarify these key issues, as briefly outlined above, with a primary focus on the ways in which religion/spirituality contribute to wellbeing as understood by Africans themselves in various contexts – local, national and continental or, cosmically/environmentally. By explicating the concepts and researching the nuances of the wide variety of relationships between religion/ spirituality and wellbeing in Africa, from indigenous African perspectives, this issue will hopefully add to our discourse and knowledge production in this very important interdisciplinary area. It is also hoped that it will open up more possibilities and directions for future research, and research-led teaching and learning.
Proposed Themes Alphabetically Organized
Religion/Spirituality, the Ancestors and Wellbeing
Religion/Spirituality and Children
Religion/Spirituality, Conflict and Peacebuilding
Religion/Spirituality Consumerism and Materialism
Religion/Spirituality, Corruption and Politics
Religion/Spirituality, Death and Dying
Religion/Spirituality, Democratisation, Autocracy and Patrimonialism
Religion/Spirituality, Dialogue, Meaning, Identity, and Integration
Religion/Spirituality and Economics (Capitalism)
Religion/Spirituality and Employment
Religion/Spirituality and/ in Education
Religion/Spirituality and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Religion/Spirituality and Health Systems
Religion/Spirituality, Human Dignity and the Integrity of Creation
Religion/Spirituality, HIV Testing and Condoms
Religion/Spirituality, the Holy Spirit and Wellbeing
Religion/Spirituality and Masculinities
Religion/Spirituality and Marriage (e.g. abortion, childlessness/barrenness, pregnancy and birth)
Religion/Spirituality, Moya and Wellbeing
Religion/Spirituality and Natural Disasters (e.g. drought, famine, earthquake, etc.)
Religion/Spirituality and Old Age
Religion/Spirituality and Public Policy
Religion/Spirituality and Poverty
Religion/Spirituality, Public Health and Epidemics (e.g. HIV and AIDS, ebola, malaria, cholera)
Religion/Spirituality, Sexuality and Gender
Religion/Spirituality and Squatter Camp Life
Religion/Spirituality and Urban Life
Religion/Spirituality and Village Life
Religion/Spirituality and Wealth Creation
Religion/Spirituality and Youth
Academic Research in Religion/Spirituality/Theology and Policy Intervention
Research Grants and the Study of Religion/Spirituality/Theology (How are research grants in-forming the study of religions/spirituality and theology in Africa, and how could they ad-vance such research?)
Timeframe
Title and Abstract Friday 01 June 2018
Article Submission Friday 31 August 2018
Review Feedback Friday 14 September 2018
Final article Friday 12 October 2018
Final Editing Friday 11 January 2019
Submission to Press Friday 11 January 2019
Please submit the proposed titles of your articles, as well as a brief abstract of about 150 words, to the guest editors: Dr. Chammah J. Kaunda (ckaunda@hsrc.ac.za) and Prof Roderick Hewitt (hewitt@ukzn.ac.za). Please do so by 01 June 2018.
Please use the Alternation Guidelines for Contributors, and style format for submissions. Cf. below, and Guidelines for Contributors at: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/submissions.aspx
We request the submission of full articles, for the review process, by 31 August 2018.
Alternation is a fully accredited, peer-reviewed South African Department of Higher Education and Training journal. It is edited by Prof J.A. Smit, former Dean and Head of School, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, and published at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, on an Open Access platform. All articles are subject to peer-review by at least two independent peer reviewers. All articles that pass the review process, and that are accepted for publication, will be published online, at: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/archive.aspx
The Alternation homepage is available at: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Homepage.aspx
References
Eboussi Boulaga, F. 1984. Christianity without Fetishes: An African Critique and Recapture of Christianity. Barr, R.r. (trans.). Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Ellis, S. & G. ter Haar. 2004. Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa. London: C. Hurst and Co.
Mbiti, J. 1969. African Religions and Philosophy. London, Ibadan, Nairobi: Heinemann.
Trinitapoli, J. & A. Weinreb 2012. Religion and AIDS in Africa. New York: Oxford University Press.
Alternation
Guidelines for Contributors, and Alternation Style
Manuscripts must be submitted in English (UK). If quotations from other languages appear in the manuscript, place the original in a footnote and a dynamic-equivalent translation in the body of the text or both in the text.
Contributors must submit one computer-generated copy of the manuscript to the editor(s). The computer-generated copy must be in Word for Windows, and must have an Abstract and Keywords. It must also be submitted in the Alternation style.
Manuscripts should range between 5000-10000 and book reviews between 800-1200 words. How¬ever, longer articles may be considered for publication.
Attach a cover page containing the following information: The corresponding author’s full name, address, e-mail address, position, department, university/ institution, and telephone/ fax numbers. A brief summary of the biodate of all authors must be attached too.
Maps, diagrams and posters must be presented in print-ready form. Clear black and white or colour digitised photos (postcard size) or diagrams in pdf or jpeg may also be submitted.
Use footnotes sparingly. In order to enhance the value of the interaction between notes and text, we use footnotes and not endnotes.
Authors may use their own numbering systems in the manuscript.
Except for bibliographical references, abbreviations must include full-stops. The abbreviations (e.a.) = ’emphasis added’; (e.i.o.) = ’emphasis in original’; (i.a.) or […] = ‘insertion added’ may be used.
The full bibliographical details of sources are provided only once at the end of the manuscript under References. References in the body of the manuscript should follow the following convention: Mkhize (2017:14) argues …. or, at the end of a reference/quotation: …. (Ngwenya 2017:20f).
The surname and initials of authors as they appear in the source must be used in the References section.
Review articles and book reviews must include a title as well as the following information concerning the book reviewed: title, author, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, number of pages and the ISBN number.
In the text as well as the References, all book, journal, newspaper and magazine titles must be in italics.
The format for the References section is as follows:
Journal article by one author
Fulela, B. 2008. Checking the Post: Derrida and the Apartheid Debate. Alternation 15,2: 11 – 37. Available at: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/15.2/02%20Fulela.pdf. (Accessed on 08 May 2017.)
Journal article by two authors
Mkhize, N. & N. Ndimande-Hlongwa 2014. African Languages, Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), and the Transformation of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Higher Education. Alternation 21,2: 10 – 37. Available at: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/21.2/02%20Mkh.pdf. (Accessed on 08 May 2017.)
Book by one author
Moran, S. 2009. Representing Bushmen: South Africa and the Origin of Language. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora, Book 38.)
Book by one editor
Smit, J.A. (ed.) 1999. Body, Identity, Sub-cultures and Repression in Texts from Africa. Durban: CSSALL.
Book by two editors
Dhunpath, R. & R. Vithal (eds.) 2012. Alternative Access to Higher Education: Underprepared Students or Underprepared Institutions? Cape Town: Pearson Publishers.
Chapter in an edited book
Smit, J.A. & J. van Wyk 2001. Literary Studies in Post-apartheid South Africa. In Zegeye, A. & R. Kriger (eds.): Culture in the New South Africa after Apartheid. Volume 2. Cape Town: Kwela Books & History on Line.
Translated book
Foucault, M. 1977. Discipline and Punish. Sheridan, A. (trans.). New York: Pantheon.
Online resource
Jansen, J. & P. Vale (Co-chairs.) 2011. Consensus Study on the State of the Humanities in South Africa. Status, Prospects and Strategies. Pretoria: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). Available at: https://www.assaf.org.za/files/2011/09/2011-Humanity-final-proof-11-August-2011.pdf. (Accessed on 08 May 2017.)
