"The
Re-enchantment of the World?"
Spring
Meeting
of the
Society
for the Anthropology of Religion,
Wyndham Phoenix, Arizona, April 13-16
2007
Borrowing a
phrase from the philosopher Friedrich Schiller, Max Weber wrote in 1918
that “The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and
intellectualization and, above all, by the ‘disenchantment of the
world’” (Science as a Vocation). For much of the twentieth century, it
was taken as axiomatic by many scholars in the social sciences that the
decline of religion and its replacement by secular paradigms were
inevitable, constitutive, facets of modernization. Despite the
popularity of the secularization thesis, grassroots evidence --
especially that provided by anthropologists -- has always tended to
suggest a much more complex picture of what might be meant by religious
belief, practice, and the apparent loss of faith. Furthermore, religion
has (re-)gained a high profile in the public sphere in many contexts
over the past few years. To cite only a few examples: the florescence
of New Religious Movements in Europe, North America and Japan since the
1960s; the ongoing influence of the Christian Right in US politics; the
transnational explosion of Pentecostalist and Charismatic
Christianities; the power of Hindu nationalisms and diasporas; and the
increasing global significance of Islam in the twenty-first century;
all indicate that religion remains a key component of both group and
individual identities. It may be, as Latour suggests, that “we have
never been modern”, and that what we should actually study are the
purifying practices and ideologies that have come misleadingly to
define modernity and aspects of the social sciences.
At the
2007
meeting of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion, we seek to
critically evaluate the notions of disenchantment and religious
re-enchantment, asking questions such as:
•
Are we witnessing a renewal of religious worldviews, or did they
ever decline?
•
What are the contours of contemporary religious landscapes, in
the West and elsewhere?
•
What do current developments tell us about the relationship
between religion, science and nature in the contemporary world?
•
How can we conceptualize emergent relations between the religious
and the political that do not fit the paradigm of secularization?
•
Does the high profile of religion in many parts of the world
present particular opportunities and/or dilemmas for anthropologists of
religion?
Both
individual papers (15 minutes) and full panels (1 hour and forty-five
minutes) on these and related topics are welcome. Please also send
suggestions you may have for less formal sessions involving workshops,
roundtable discussions, film screenings, or other events. Younger
scholars are particularly encouraged to suggest papers. The deadline
for submitting papers and panel suggestions is Friday December 22,
2006, but earlier submissions are helpful.
The
format
for abstracts and panels is based on that of the AAA meetings, and no
more than 250 words are permitted for individual paper or overall
session abstracts. We suggest that session organizers provide their
panelists with a list of questions to address in order to encourage
integrated discussion. All paper and panel abstracts should provide
three keywords. Please send abstracts and panel proposals to:
Professor Simon Coleman
Program Chair, SAR Spring 2007 Meetings
Department of Anthropology
Arts C
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9SJ
UK
Tel.: +44-(0)1273-678371
s.m.coleman@sussex.ac.uk
Electronic
submissions are strongly encouraged!
