Communicating Religion
Charles Hirschkind (University of California-Berkeley)
Mia Lövheim (Uppsala University)
Jolyon Mitchell (University of Edinburgh)
As scholars of religion, we are all tasked with communicating religion in one way or another – to students, to the public, and to our research community. Moreover, what we study is itself a message: participants in our studies and creators of the documents we analyse are communicating religion, and what we receive as data is what Giddens referred to as the ‘double hermeneutic,’ or ideas and experiences that have already been mediated. What is the religion communicated to us? How do we communicate religion, and what is it that we communicate when we’re doing it?
Our focus is on “communicating” as a verb-like gerund rather than “communication” as a static, abstract noun. Scholars from different strands of the sociology of religion can imagine their work in it, and our topic engages the interests of colleagues in journalism, media and cultural studies; geography; music; English, communications and philosophy; social psychology; and law and politics.
The substance of communication can include evangelistic and apologistic discourse, education, media, and public policy interventions. We welcome diverse methodological approaches, including multi-modal and multi-sensory approaches to communicating religion. We understand communicating in multiple contexts, including academia, politics, education, social media and mass media. We imagine multiple frameworks that contour how we imagine communicating religion, encompassing the secular and the digital, the individual and the collective, the implicit and the explicit, the theoretical and the empirical.
To deliver a paper, please send an abstract of no more than 250 words, alongside a biographical note of no more than 50 words. We will also be accepting a limited number of panel proposals. To deliver a panel, please send an abstract of no more than 500 words alongside a biographical note of no more than 50 words for each contributor.
Please submit your abstracts online, before midnight Friday 1 February 2019, at:
https://portal.britsoc.co.uk/public/abstract/Abstracts.aspx
Conference Bursaries:
A limited number of bursaries are available to support postgraduate, early career, low income or unwaged SocRel members to present at the conference. Please visit https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/24891/socrel-2019-bursary-application-form.docx for instructions, and to download an application form, and submit your bursary application along with your abstract by 1 February 2019.
Socrel is mindful of the various sensitivities people carry concerning content. If you feel that the presentation you give may include material that may be upsetting, please consider including a note about this content in your abstract. We will not restrict or censor presentations that include sensitive or alarming content, but by flagging it in the abstract, those who attend the conference can make informed decisions on which panel they might choose to attend.
Abstract submission: Open now
Abstract submission closes: 1 February 2019
Decision notification: 15 February 2019
Presenter registration closes: 29 March 2019
Early bird registration closes: 7 June 2019
Registration closes: 28 June 2019
Please note that after 7 June 2019, a £50 late registration fee will apply to all bookings.
Should you have other questions about the conference please also contact the conference organisers, Dr Michael Munnik (Cardiff University) or Dr Peter Hemming (Cardiff University) socrel19@cardiff.ac.uk
For further details, visit the SocRel website: www.britsoc.co.uk/groups/study-groups/sociology-of-religion-study-group/ For further details about the BSA visit www.britsoc.co.uk