The 2008 International Conference
Twenty Years and More: Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and 'the New Spirituality'
An International Conference organized by
INFORM and CESNUR
in association with ISORECEA
at the London School of Economics, 16-19th April 2008
CALL FOR PAPERS
On 1st January 1988, Inform (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements, www.inform.ac) opened its doors to the public for the purpose of providing information that is as objective, reliable and up-to-date as possible about minority religions. Later that same year, CESNUR (the Center for Studies on New Religions, www.cesnur.org) was established by a group of European and North American scholars with the similar aim of contributing to our knowledge and understanding of minority religions. Five years later, following the collapse of communism, scholars studying religion in post-socialist Europe founded ISORECEA (The International Study of Religion in Eastern and Central Europe Association), which has held regular meetings resulting in a number of publications concerning religion in the region.
As part of their twentieth anniversary celebrations, these networks are jointly organising this conference in order to assess the changes that have taken place over the past two decades, survey the current situation, and consider the fate of religious and spiritual groups in an increasingly multi-cultural world.
Those who would like to offer a paper are invited to submit a 200-word abstract of their paper and a 200-word curriculum vitae both to Inform@LSE.ac.uk and to cesnur_to@virgilio.it before Friday 30 November 2007. Speakers will be allocated 20 minutes for their talks (but they can bring longer papers to give to interested participants or email these later). Those who would like to arrange a full session should assume that they will have 2 hours, allowing time for 5 speakers or, if they prefer, 4 speakers and more time for discussion. The session organiser should, in turn, submit a 200-word synopsis of the whole session and 200-word cvs and abstracts for each speaker to both Inform@LSE.ac.uk and cesnur_to@virgilio.it by 30th November 2007. The selection panel will be looking for empirical and theoretical contributions to the scholarly understanding of minority religions and to the variety of societal and individual responses to them. Authors of papers that have been accepted will be notified before the end of January 2008.
The conference will begin in the late afternoon of Wednesday 16th April (a field visit will be arranged for those who wish to go on it earlier in the day) and it will officially end on the evening of Saturday 19th (with further field visits being arranged for Sunday 20th). Participants will be responsible for arranging their own accommodation. Further details about the conference will be available on both the CESNUR (www.cesnur.org) and the Inform (www.inform.ac) websites.
Unfortunately no scholarship will be available for participants. Each participant, including speakers, will be expected both to pay his or her travel and accommodation expenses, and to register before being included in the final programme
