[Dancecult-l] Religion, Media, Culture conference (April 2007) - call for papers

[Gordon Lynch]

Apologies for any cross-posting. Please note the call for papers below
and forward on to anyone who you think might be interested, Best wishes,
Gordon

 

 

Call for Papers

 

Religion, Media and Culture: Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a
Media Age

 

A conference co-organised by the British Sociological Association
Sociology of Religion study group and the UK Research Network for
Theology, Religion and Popular Culture.

 

St Catherine's College, Oxford, UK 2-4 April 2007

 

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness across a range of
academic disciplines of the value of exploring issues of religion and
the sacred in relation to cultures of everyday life. This is evident in
the growth of interest in the study of religion and 'popular culture',
including the inter-sections between religion and consumer culture,
leisure cultures and lifestyles, changing forms of household space,
technology and emerging forms of social network. There has also been
growing attention paid to the relationships between religion and media,
such as the use of new media and communication technologies by religious
groups, the representation and exploration of religion and spirituality
in the media, the religious significance and content of media texts and
rituals, and the popular consumption of religious and spiritual media. 

 

This conference will be a major event in consolidating the research
already being conducted in this area, as well as stimulating further
reflection on religion, media and popular culture amongst scholars from
a wide range of academic disciplines. It will also be an opportunity to
engage with researchers working in different parts of the world and to
strengthen research networks amongst those with an interest in this
field.

 

Short papers are invited for this conference, in particular on subjects
such as:

 

*	the religious significance of technology, media and cultures of
everyday life
*	the representation of religion and spirituality in media and
popular culture 
*	the uses of media and other communication technologies by
religious organizations and networks
*	the role of media and popular culture in transforming
contemporary religious organizations, identities and practices
*	the consumption of media and popular culture with a religious or
spiritual content
*	the role of media and popular culture in shaping secular or
'spiritual but not religious' identities, values and beliefs in
contemporary society
*	the significance of media and popular culture in the formation
of trans-national religious movements, identities and ideologies, and in
developing community and identity amongst diasporan religious groups
*	the significance of debates and protests relating to the use of
religious symbols and traditions in media, arts and popular culture
*	the nature of religion and the sacred in a media age

 

Any paper exploring issues of religion, spirituality, media and cultures
of everyday life will be welcome. As with other BSA Sociology of
Religion conferences, papers which explore other issues relating to the
sociological, anthropological and cultural study of religion may also be
accepted, though priority may be given to accepting papers which are
closer to the conference theme.

 

To submit a paper proposal for this conference, please send an abstract
for the paper (around 250-400 words) to:

 

Dr Gordon Lynch

Department of Theology and Religion

University of Birmingham

Birmingham

B15 2TT

UK

 

Email: G.A.Lynch at bham.ac.uk 

 

The deadline for paper proposals will be 15th December 2006, and
confirmation will be given of whether a proposal has been accepted or
not for the conference by 17th January 2007.

 

 

Dr Gordon Lynch

Department of Theology and Religion

University of Birmingham

Birmingham, B15 2TT

United Kingdom

 

Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5501 (direct line)

Fax: +44 (0)121 414 4381

Website: www.theology.bham.ac.uk/gordonlynch

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/dancecult-l_listcultures.org/attachments/20061018/980d8eaa/attachment.html