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First ISA Forum of Sociology
Sociological Research and Public Debate
Barcelona, Spain
September 5 - 8, 2008


Research Committee on
Sociology of Religion RC22

Main theme
Religious Actors and Public Debates


Programme Coordinators
Roberto Blancarte, El Colegio de México, Mexico, blancart@colmex.mx
Olga Odgers, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico, odgers@colef.mx

Venue of RC22 sessions:

Faculty of Philosophy, Geography and History
University of Barcelona
Montalegre, 6
08001 Barcelona, Spain, map

Session 1: Secular states, civil and religious freedoms

Part I
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00

Part II
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Roberto Blancarte, El Colegio de México, Mexico, blancart@colmex.mx
In many regions of the world there is an increasing debate around the relation between Religious Freedoms and the Secular or Lay State. This session will focus in different examples in the world concerning the different conceptions of Religious Freedom and Secularity or “Laicity”, and how they affect civil liberties.

En muchas regiones del mundo hay un debate creciente acerca de la relación entre Libertades Religiosas y el estado Secular o Laico. Esta sesión se enfocará en distintos ejemplos en el mundo concernientes a las diferentes concepciones de Libertades Religiosas y la secularizad o la laicidad y cómo éstas afectan a las libertades civiles.

Session 2: Migrants, believers as new socioreligious actors

Part I
Friday, September 5, 2008, 15:30-17:30

Part II
Friday, September 5, 2008, 18:00-20:00
Chair: Olga Odgers, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico, odgers@colef.mx
La literatura reciente muestra que la intensificación de flujos migratorios ha transformado la forma en que, quienes se desplazan, construyen su relación con el espacio. En este contexto, los migrantes creyentes modifican de manera creativa los sentidos asociados a creencias y practicas religiosas tradicionales, llegando a formar comunidades transnacionales estructuradas en torno a referencias religiosas. En esta sesión se discutirá la formación de nuevos actores sociorreligiosos a partir de esta particular forma de vivir y construir el espacio a partir del movimiento.

Recent literature shows that the intensification of migratory flows has transformed the way in which those who move construct their relationship with space. Within this context, migrant believers creatively modify the meanings associated with traditional religious beliefs and practices, forming transnational communities structured around religious references During this session, the formation of new socio-religious actors founded on this particular way of living and constructing space on the basis of movement will be discussed.

Session 3: Ethnicity, religiosity and beliefs in contemporary world

Part I
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00

Part II
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Daniel Gutierrez-Martinez, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico, dgutierrezcolmex@yahoo.fr
En las última décadas las nociones de etnicidad religiosidad y creencias han sido reiteradamente cuestionadas no únicamente por el aspecto eurocentrista de la tradición de pensamiento de donde surgieron y se alimentaron, sino también por su creciente dificultad para dar cuenta de las nuevas eventualidades que se han venido presentando tanto en los contextos occidentales de los llamados países desarrollados como de aquellos provenientes de otros contextos geo-históricos. Esta sesión tratará de dar cuenta de los emergentes enfoques tanto teóricos, metodológicos como empíricos alrededor de las implicaciones sociológicas que se esbozan en la relación de los sentimientos de pertenencia a un grupo de manera individual o colectiva (etnicidad), con el sentido de la acción que ofrece dicha pertenencia (religiosidad) y el motivo, justificación, legitimidad, simbolismo del que da cuenta dicha relación (creencias). Lo anterior vinculará tanto a los grupos llamados étnicos originarios, indígenas o autóctonos, como a nuevas tribus contemporáneas que manifiestan de una u otra manera una religiosidad específica de su grupo de pertenencia.

For the last few decades the concepts of ethnicity, religiosity and beliefs have often been questioned not only by the eurocentrist aspect of the thought tradition from where they arose and they were enriched, but also for its increasing difficulty to report of the new eventualities that have been shown, both in the western contexts in the called developed countries and in those which come from another geo-historical contexts. This session will try to report of contemporary theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches around the sociological implications in the relation between the belonging-feelings into a group in an individual or collective way (etnicidad), the sense of the action that offers this membership belonging (religiosity) and the reason, justification, legitimacy, symbolism which this relation can prove (beliefs). All this will be to connect both the original, indigenous or native ethnic groups, but also those new contemporary tribes who show of in a certain way a specific religiosity of their primary group.

Session 4: Alternative religious movements and public space

Friday, September 5, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Daniel Gutierrez-Martinez, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico, dgutierrezcolmex@yahoo.fr
El debate sociológico en torno al sentido y significado del espacio público ha sido intenso, extenso y diverso a lo largo de la tradición sociológica. En él se han esbozado las reflexiones alrededor de la necesidad de hacer del espacio público un lugar de interacción y comunicación entre grupos diferenciados. Asimismo la noción de Nuevos Movimientos religiosos se ha visto superada por otra serie de movimientos espirituales que no tienen referencia con nuevas formas de expresar la religiosidad, sino con formas variadas y alternativas de expresar religiosidades ya existentes. En la actualidad podríamos hablar de Movimientos Religiosos Alternativos (MAR) que dan cuenta de formas de expresión religiosa vinculadas con la llamada religión implícita (religiosidad en el fútbol y deportes, en la tecnología, en el desarrollo, etc.), la llamada multirreligiosidad (creyentes pertenecientes a una Iglesia particular y que practican o creen al mismo tiempo religiosidades provenientes de otras tradiciones), así como los ya mencionados Nuevos Movimientos Religiosos y las creencias que no son consideradas como institucionales. Todas estas dinámicas dan cuenta de formas alternativas o complementarias de vincularse con lo sagrado y lo simbólico y que esbozan formas diferenciadas de analizar lo religioso, de considerarlo, de percibirlo: alternativo ha como se había venido haciendo en la sociología de las religiones o incluso en las teorías de la secularización. El objetivo de esta sesión es el de abrir un espacio de reflexión a estas formas alternativas de acercarse a lo religioso en nuestras sociedades contemporáneas.

The sociological debate around the sense and meaning of the public space has been intense, extensive and diverse throughout the sociological tradition. In it the reflections turned around the necessity to make of the public space a place of interaction and communication between differentiated groups. Also the notion of New Religious Movements has been surpassed by another series of spiritual movements that do not have for sure reference with new forms to express the religiosity, but with varied and alternative forms to express religiosities already existing. At the present time we could speak of Alternative Religious Movements (ARM) that give to account of forms implicated with the religious expression called Implicit religion (religiosity in soccer and sports, in technology, in development, etc.), with the religiosity called multirreligiosity (believers belonging to a particular Church and which they at the same time practice or believe in other religiosities originated from other traditions), as well as already mentioned linked with the New Religious Movements and the beliefs that are not considered as institutional ones. These dynamics give account of alternative or complementary forms implicated with the sacred and symbolic thing and that outlines differentiated forms to analyze the religious, to consider it, to perceive it, that means alternative form to analyze that had been doing in the sociology of the religions or even in the theories of the secularization. The objective of this session is to open a reflection space to these alternative forms to approach the religious in our contemporary societies.

Session 5: Popular religion and the new media

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Adam Possamai, University of Western Sydney, Australia, a.possamai@uws.edu.au
Popular religion reflects the lived and unstructured religion of subordinated groups and is a term which has mainly developed in contrast to institutionalized, established, and/or official religion which has a rationalized, codified, and written down theology. The Traditional literature often points out people from a rural setting, working class people and/or dominated ethnic groups as the main practitioners of popular religion. However, with the growth of mass education and new forms of media (especially the Internet), new religious actors who do not belong to these subordinate groups are active in popular religiosity. This session will thus aim at exploring the impact that new media have on popular religiosity and will call for a revision of the traditional sociological literature.

Session 6: Religious conversion

Part I
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30

Part II
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 18:00-20:00
Chair: Esmeralda Sanchez, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines, emysanchez2001@yahoo.com

Session 7: Religious publics, social capital and diasporas

Part I
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 18:00-20:00

Part II
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Afe Adogame, University of Edinburgh, UK, a.adogame@ed.ac.uk
Religion serves as an important source of ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ capital among various religious publics in diaspora. The host public perception, critique and/or reception of religious communities play a significant role in their negotiation of identities; their self-(re-)positioning and representations but also in the various strategies they chart towards networking. These and their capacity towards renewal, innovation and change indicate how they constitute a significant resource in associational life; generating new forms of community that provide a means of empowerment and social mobility. For such religious systems to function effectively within diasporic contexts they often draw on social and cultural resources, with focus on religious issues, but also on problems that some may consider inherently extra-religious. Papers in this session will seek to explore how and to what extent religious communities, as both strategic and non-strategic actors in diaspora are involved in the processes of social and cultural capital formation.

Session 8: Transformation of church-state relations in Europe

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Sinisa Zrinscak, University of Zagreb, Croatia, sinisa.zrinscak@zg.t-com.hr
Different European countries developed different models of Church-state relations. Three models are usually distinguished and analyzed: model of state (or national) Church, co-operation model, and strict separation model. However, these deeply historically and culturally rooted models have recently become very much debated. While the collapse of communism brought into attention other and very particular experiences of Church-state relations two other factors influenced crucially public debates. The first one is the concept of human and religious rights, and the second one is the growth of non-traditional religions. Both factors have questioned the public position of traditional Churches, but frequently from opposite positions and different reasons. This session welcomes papers which analyze transformation of Church-state relations in different European countries from the point of view of different public actors and different public discourses. Papers about the national situation are very acceptable but priority will be given to comparative analyzes.

Session 9: Islamism: The rise of a new enemy?

Part I
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11:30-13:30

Part II
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Riaz Hassan, Flinders University, Australia, riaz.hassan@flinders.edu.au
Following the momentous events of September 11, Islamism has emerged as a new enemy seeking to destroy the defining values of the West. Leading western scholars attribute the ideology of Islamism to the primordial cultural impulses of Islam firmly grounded in Islamic theology. The underlying rational behind the America's 'war on terror' is that since September 11 attacks were carried out by its agents, Islamism must be destroyed to prevent the recurrence of such attacks. The wars now raging in Iraq and Afghanistan along with several others conflicts around the world can be directly related to 'war on terror'. Yet Islamism remains an ill defined ideology with numerous characteristics assigned to it including: a call to global jihad, visions of hegemonic Islamic utopia, totalitarism, patriarchal, anti-modern, anti-democratic, anti-West and anti-semitic. This session invites papers which address these and related issues. The papers should critically address whether ideology of Islamism is grounded in the impulses of Islamic theology or in the historical, social, economic, political and conditions of Muslim countries, and in the imperialistic policies of Western countries.

Session 10: Religious pluralism in the public debate and in the public area: Similarities or tensions?

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Claude Proeschel, GSRL, France, claude.proeschel@wanadoo.fr
Many societies today are societies of religious pluralism, and the management of this pluralism is a regular topic in the public debate. We would like here to study these official texts, political and juridical texts about the acknowledgement of the other.
Is there, moreover, a difference between the declared norms and values and the concrete functioning of the public area, which has to respect both religious freedom and principles of neutrality of the State? Differences or similarities between these two levels will help us to understand the conceptions of religious freedom concerned.

La gestion du pluralisme religieux, caractéristique fondamentale de la plupart de sociétés modernes, est une question qui est présente de manière récurrente dans le débat public. Nous souhaitons ici nous attacher à l’étude des discours en ce sens, politiques et juridiques, discours sur la reconnaissance de l’autre, mais aussi aux modalités pratiques de régulation mises en oeuvre dans l’espace public, qui se doivent de concilier liberté religieuse et respect des valeurs de neutralité et autonomie de l’Etat. Les tensions et congruences entre discours et pratiques doivent en particulier nous permettent de réfléchir plus avant sur les conceptions de la liberté religieuse déployées.

Session 11: Challenges of the public in old and new forms of popular religion

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 18:00-20:00
Chair: Eloisa Martin, eloisamartin@hotmail.com
Popular culture, as a terrain where different social subjects are constituted, is submitted to several interpellations that create different interpretations and symbolization practices. Everyday performances happen in a context which is linked to cultural and social conditions that are never static. And, within this frame, the study of the religious or the sacred gains a fundamental importance. The forum’s aim is to analyze the challenges that the public propose/impose to old and new forms of popular religion, considering the role of mass media, market and consumption, star systems and fandom, and the presence of the sacred within the urban geography, among others. From this scope, contemporary forms of popular religion propose another challenge, but this time, for those who make the analysis. It is necessary, then, to consider the validity of our research tools in order to analyze efficiently these phenomena.

Desafíos de lo público en las nuevas y viejas formas de religiosidad popular.
La cultura popular, como terreno de constitución de diversos sujetos sociales, está sometido a interpelaciones de diversa índole y origina interpretaciones y prácticas de simbolización no menos diferentes. Las performances cotidianas se tramitan en el contexto de un proceso vinculado a condiciones culturales y sociales que nunca son estáticas. Y en este marco, el estudio de las prácticas de lo sagrado adquiere una importancia fundamental. El objetivo de este foro es analizar los desafíos que lo público propone/impone a las nuevas y viejas formas de religiosidad popular, considerando el papel de los medios de comunicación, el mercado y el consumo, el star system y el fanatismo, la presencia de lo sagrado en la geografía urbana, entre otros. Las formas contemporáneas de religiosidad popular, vistas desde esta perspectiva, además, dirigen otro desafío, esta vez para el analista: es necesario, así, considerar la validez de nuestras herramientas de investigación para analizar eficazmente estos fenómenos.

Session 12: Leisure, religion and spirituality

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Joint Session Research Committee Sociology of Leisure RC13 and Research Committee Sociology of Religion RC22
Chair: Ishwar Modi, India Institute of Social Sciences, India, iiiss2005modi@yahoo.co.in