Kents Hill, Milton Keynes | February 19-21, 2018
#OURS2018
Themes | Education, Media, Pilgrimage, Politics, Ritual, Spirituality
At a time when the public role of the University is under increasing scrutiny, how can we ensure that research and teaching about religions reaches new publics? What can we do to enhance religious literacy both within and beyond religious and non-religious communities? How is ritual and performance involved in communication between religious communities, the academy, policy makers and the broader public? Are there ways in which we can learn from the past in better understanding such channels of communication?
Bringing historical perspective to the contemporary role of religion in the public sphere, this conference will include contributions from practitioners and third-sector organisations, who bring their perspectives to the academy to consider the public impact of Religious Studies.
Keynote Speakers
Bettina Schmidt, (University of Wales Trinity Saint David)
The contentious field of the study of religious experience: The challenging influence of Rudolf Otto, Andrew Lang and other founding fathers
(Mon 19th, 14:00)
Stephen Sutcliffe (University of Edinburgh)
Explaining the Economy of New Spiritualities with the Help of Bourdieu
(Tues 20th, 16:30)
Philip Williamson (Durham University)
Remembrance day: the British churches and national commemoration of the war dead since 1914
(Wed 21st, 11:30)
Submissions are now closed.
For any enquiries, please contact the Conference Organisers Paul-François Tremlett and David G. Robertson on ours@open.ac.uk.
Download draft schedule in pdf
TIMETABLE
MON 19th
12:00 Registration opens
13:30 Welcome | John Wolffe (Associate Dean [Research Scholarship and Enterprise], FASS) & Paul-François Tremlett (HoD, Religious Studies)14:00 Keynote 1 | Bettina Schmidt (Chaired by Paul-François Tremlett)
15:30 Coffee break
16:00-16:30 Panels 1
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Social timeTUES 20th
9:00 Panels 2
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Panels 3
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Panels 4
16:00 Coffee
16:30-18:00 Keynote 2 | Stephen Sutcliffe
19:00 Conference dinnerWED 21st
9:00 Panels 5
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 Keynote 3 | Philip Williamson
13:00 Depart / Social Media Training Sessions (OU FASS delegates only – book your place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fass-social-media-training-day-tickets-41751399560)PANELS
Session 1 – Mon 19th, 16:00
1.1 | CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITIES
Chair: Theo Wildcroft
The charismatic turn of the long 1960s: contexts and characteristics | John Maiden, the Open University
Michel de Certeau: The Practice of Mysticism in the Writing of Everyday Life | Owen Coggins, the Open University
Post-feminist but not Post-sexist: An examination of male Anglican clergy attitudes towards women | Alex D. J. Fry, Durham University
1.2 | PILGRIMAGE AND ENGLAND’S CATHEDRALS, PAST AND PRESENT: EXPERIENCES, OUTCOMES AND IMPACT
Chair: Marion Bowman
From Archive to Digital Humanities: Modelling Canterbury and Durham Cathedrals | Dee Dyas, John Jenkins, University of York
Cathedrals as shape shifters in the 21st century | Marion Bowman, The Open University
‘Now I have a word for it!’: making an impact | Dee Dyas, University of York; Marion Bowman, The Open University
1.3 | RELOCATIONS: NRMS IN DIASPORA
Chair: Aled Thomas
Brazilian Neo-Gnostic Churches in the UK | David G. Robertson, The Open University
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Madrid: The avoidance of the media as a ritual of reinforcement | Leonardo Vasconcelos de Castro Moreira, University of Warwick
Rastafarianisms in Motion | Hilde Capparella, The Open University
Session 2 – Tues 20th, 9:00
2.1 | CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN LAW AND RELIGION
Chair: Hugh Mcfaul
Inventing Traditional Religion | Hugh Mcfaul, The Open University
Freedom of Religion in the Human Rights Act 1998: the first twenty years | Simon Lee, The Open University
Current issues in law and religion | Jessica Giles, The Open University
2.2 | UNBELIEF, MAGIC, AND MODERNITY
“A place beyond belief”: unknowing and enchantment in Orkney | Richard Irvine, The Open University
Magic and unbelief: a Cyprus case study | Theodoros Kyriakides, The Open University
Practical magic: British paganism from religious affiliation toward popular enchantment | Jonathan Woolley, University of Cambridge
2.3 | EDUCATION
Chair: Stefanie Sinclair
Why Universities Must Be Secular Institutions (But Cannot Be): Religion as Everyday Practice and Object of Study in Higher Education |Clive Marsh, University of Leicester
The Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education: promoting religious literacy in schools? | Céline Benoit, Aston University
Are We Free Yet? The Continuing Non-Realisation of the Weberian Ideal | Jonathan Tuckett, University of Stirling
2.4 | MAKING CONNECTIONS
Panel chair: Marion Bowman
Participants: Hilde Capparella, Alison Robertson, Aled Thomas, Sarah Thomas, Claire Wanless, Theo Wildcroft
Part of the value of Religious Studies is the making of connections between different ways of thinking. In this panel Open University PhD students will explore the connections across apparently disparate areas, to create new insights. Each panel member will introduce a provocative, thought-provoking or otherwise interesting strand in their research and challenge other panel members to bring their own research into a conversation around that issue.
Session 3 – Tues 20th, 11:00
3.1 | PILGRIMAGE IN THE CONTEMPORARY WEST
Chair: Marion Bowman
Celtic pilgrimage, past and present: from historical geography to contemporary embodied practices | Avril Maddrell, University of Reading, & Richard Scriven, National University of Ireland, Galway.
Journey of the Space Butterflies: CoxCon 2017 as Pilgrimage | Vivian Asimos, Durham University
Bringing the historical concept of pilgrimage as a search for spiritual healing into a contemporary space | Marlene Lorraine Martin, University of South Africa
‘Thin Places’ and Mystical Tours – Sacred Tourism in Ireland | Nadine Eckmann, University College Cork
3.2 | PRACTITIONER-ACADEMIC IDENTITIES: APPLICATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Graham Harvey, Susanne Newcombe, Alison Robertson, and Theo Wildcroft (all The Open University)
The status of researcher as insider or outsider to the communities they study has long been of debate. Within long term ethnographic research into cultural practices, a world of nuance arises in the possible relationships of researcher and researched. We are engaged in complex processes of reconciliation between the under-represented communities whose stories we aim to tell (Shaw 1999: 108; Orsi 2013: 5), and the power an academic position confers to “define reality for others” (Hufford 1999: 298).
Besides the issue of positionality, questions of communication, distinct embodied skillsets and more-than-human relationships are intimately involved in any ethnographic research endeavour. The resulting implications for the researcher are further complicated and enriched when the researcher is also a practitioner. Practitioner identities are in constant dialogue with academic identities.
This panel aims to continue that dialogue, as four diverse practitioner-academics in round-table format discuss the applications and implications of their negotiations with positionality in the study of religion.
3.3 | INFORMATION AND RELIGION
The (Un)bearable Whiteness of Informationalist Religion | Syed Mustafa Ali, The Open University
Information & religion: a three-fold taxonomy | David Chapman, The Open University
“There is no God but Kek and Pepe is His Prophet”: The Alt Right, Kekistan and the Utilization of the Islamicate | Hizer Mir, University of Leeds
Informing the sacred: an informational analysis of religious rituals | Magnus Ramage, The Open University
Session 4 – Tues 20th, 14:00
3.1 | CREATIVE METHODS AND ENGAGING PUBLICS: SPIRITUALISM, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS.
Chair: Marion Bowman
Participants: Sara Mackian; Steve Pile; Nadia Bartolini; Amy Whitehead; Marion Bowman
Spiritualism and its communities
Exhibiting Spiritualism in Stoke-on-Trent in partnership with the Gladstone Museum
Unplanned Exhibitions: what popped up.
Mobile Methods and Adaptive Exhibits.
3.2 | THIRTY YEARS OF THE STUDY OF CONTROVERSIAL RELIGIONS
Chair: Graham Harvey
Changing contexts, changing cults – reflections on 30 years of Inform | Suzanne Newcombe, Inform/The Open University
Perceptions of Paganism: 30 years from the Inform Archives | Sarah Harvey, Inform/University of Kent
Sex and British Muslims: 30 Years after the Rushdie Affair | Shanon Shah, Inform
From Ayodhya to the electoral triumph of the BJP: scholarly responses to the rise of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) | Gwilym Beckerlegge, The Open University
3.3 | “RELIGION” IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE
Chair: Claire Wanless
Then and Now: Limitations on the Right to Manifest Religion or Belief in the Public Sphere | Caroline K Roberts, University of Bristol
Holy Disobedience: Political Resistance in the London Catholic Worker Community | Anna Blackman, Durham University
An Occult Royal Wedding: Public State Ceremonies as Rituals of Civil Irreligion | Nick Toseland, Durham University
Deathscapes and religious diversity in the UK: Negotiating mortuary rites in a minority context | Avril Maddrell (University of Reading), Katie McClymont (UWE), Yasminah Beebeejaun (UCL), Danny McNally (University of Reading), Brenda Mathijssen (University of Reading)
Session 5 – Wed 21st, 9:00
5.1 | INTERFAITH
Chair: Alison Robertson
Interfaith and Intercultural Spirituality in a Faith-Based Organisation | Fiona Bowie, King’s College London
One Nation, Many Faiths: Representations of Banal Nationalism, Religious Pluralism and Public Space in Scottish Interfaith Literature | Liam Sutherland, University of Edinburgh
Spaces of Secular Faith? Shared assets and intangible values in diverse and changing communities | Katie McClymont, UWE, Bristol
Blowing the spirit. The tradition of brass band performances at funerals in Poland | Maciej Kierzkowski, The Open University
5.2 | THEORY AND METHODS IN THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS: EXAMINING PRACTITIONERS IN THE FIELD
Chair: Marion Bowman
Twenty years in Avalon: the advantages and downsides of longitudinal ethnology | Marion Bowman, The Open University
The Challenges for Scholarly Engagement with the Church of Scientology and Free Zone in the Field | Aled Thomas, The Open University
Becoming a reliable narrator: ethnography and religion | Paul-François Tremlett, The Open University
Approaches to the study of individualised spirituality – theory and practice | Claire Wanless, The Open University
