[H-verkko] CFP: Protestantism and Negotiating Identities 24–26 August 2017

[agricola at utu.fi]

Agricolan artikkelipyyntöihin on lähetetty uusi ilmoitus:
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Protestantism and Negotiating Identities 24–26 August 2017
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Protestantism and Negotiating Identities
24–26 August 2017
https://blogs.helsinki.fi/negotiatingidentities/

The year 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence, but also
500 years since the beginning of the Reformation at Wittenberg. Historically
Protestantism and national identity have been closely intertwined in Finland,
first as a part of the Lutheran Swedish sphere until 1809 and then as a
religious frontier under Orthodox Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries
and next to the atheistic Soviet Union since the independence until the 1990s.
While the majority of Finns are members of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran
Church, contemporary Finnish society is largely secular and increasingly
pluralist both culturally and religiously.

But how is national identity negotiated in a contemporary secular and pluralist
society such as Finland or in other North European countries? Or is national
identity – in the singular – a misleading construct that should give way to
understanding how different ethnic, religious and other minorities experience,
understand and negotiate national identity from their perspectives?

Nationalism, on the other hand, has been on the rise in Northern Europe in the
recent decade. But if nationalism is to be understood as a secularizing process,
which goes hand in hand with privatization of religion and increasing pluralism
in society, it is somewhat puzzling why nationalistic sentiments have been on
the rise in secular pluralist societies. Is religiosity newly on the rise or
does secularism breed new religious frontiers between traditional religion (e.g.
Islam) and non-religious people? Since religion and nationalism have been
researched largely in different scholarly domains, there is a new need for a
more integrating and interdisciplinary approach to understand how national
identity is negotiated in the context of religious pluralism, on the one hand,
and in the context of the rising role of religion in public discussion, on the
other.

We envision the conference as a forum for encouraging academic research on how
religion, especially Protestant Lutheran faith, and national identities may be
intertwined and how their relationship may be negotiated in contemporary secular
societies beyond mere historical accounts. To achieve these ends we convene
together scientists from the social sciences, humanities, law, education,
theology, and arts to discuss Protestantism and the negotiation of identities in
21st century North European countries.

Possible questions may be related but not confined to the following:
- How has national identity been negotiated (and is being renegotiated) in
Protestant Lutheranism context in Finland and in North Europe?
- How has national identity influenced and kept on influencing Protestantism in
Finland and in North Europe?
- What are and have been the main channels and agents that have tied together
religion and national identity in North Europe?
- What rhetorical, linguistic and other means are used to build national
identity in the 2010s?
- What role do scientific institutions play in the negotiation of national
identity?
- Minorities and national identity: who is allowed to and on which conditions to
participate in building national identity? For instance, the Sami, Roma,
Orthodox and Swedish-speaking people in Finland?
- Integration of asylum seekers and immigrants: what are they integrating to and
what role (subtle or overt) does religion play in the demands? How are (secular)
Lutheranism and Muslims being brought together?
- New perspectives on the role of the arts in bridging (secular) Lutheranism and
national identities.

Confirmed keynote speakers
• Peter A. Kraus, University of Augsburg
• Philip W. Barker, Keene State College
• Katja Valaskivi, University of Tampere
• Jarkko Hautamäki, University of Helsinki

Organizers

The conference is co-organized by The Finnish Society of Church History, The
Finnish Psychological Society, The Westermarck Society, the Turku Centre for
Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Tucemems), and members of the ProFini 2017
-research network. The ProFini 2017 network (Protestant Roots of Finnish
National Identities) is a multidisciplinary network of about 40 scholars who are
interested in surveying and critically evaluating the societal effects of the
Reformation, especially that of Lutheranism, as a way of honoring academically
the first centennial of Finland’s independence and the fifth centennial since
the beginning of the Reformation in 2017. The network is in cooperation with
Finland 100 Together - the Project on the centenary of Finland's independence
administered by the Prime Minister's Office and the Reformation 500 project of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

Conference Venue

The conference takes place at the House of Sciences (Tieteiden talo), a short
walking distance from the Centre Campus of the University of Helsinki.

Proposals

We call for three types of proposals: 1. oral presentations, 2. poster
presentations, and 3. workshops. Oral presentations will be for 30 minutes: 20
minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. A separate poster
session will be arranged during the second day of the conference. Please
indicate in your abstract whether you would like to have your abstract reviewed
primarily as an oral or as a poster presentation. Papers not accepted as oral
presentations will be automatically evaluated as poster presentations. Workshops
will be allotted one or more 90 minute sessions. The language of the conference
is English, but a few sessions or a workshop can be in Finnish and/or Swedish.

Anonymous proposals of maximum 500 words should be submitted by 20 February 2017
through EasyChair  (see instructions below). Abstracts will be evaluated by the
organizing committee. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 20 March 2017.

Correspondence

For all correspondence concerning the symposium, please contact the conference
organizers through the conference’s email address
negotiatingidentities[at]gmail.com.

With best regards,
The Organizing Committee

Jarkko Hautamäki
Andreas Häger
Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman
Anneli Portman
Kirsi Salonen
Kaius Sinnemäki
Sanna Supponen
Jouni Tilli

Submitting through EasyChair

All the abstracts should be submitted through EasyChair. The deadline is
February 20th, 2017.

Step 1. Existing users may login to EasyChair with their existing account (user
name and password). New users must register an account on the EasyChair website.
The system will send you instructions through email on how to finish the
registration of the account. Sometimes university spam filters block emails from
EasyChair. Please make sure to check your spam folder and change your email
setting to avoid EasyChair emails from being blocked.
Step 2. Go to the NEGID 2017 EasyChair submission page.
Step 3. Login with your username and password.
Step 4. Click NEW SUBMISSION (at the top of the page).
Step 5. Fill in the form and upload your anonymous abstract, following the
instructions. Then submit.
Step 6. EasyChair sends a confirmation e-mail to you. Please check that
everything is as it should be.

If you wish to revise your abstract or other information later, you can save
that information in the system and return later, until the submission deadline.

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Ilmoituksen lähetti: Agricola <agricola at utu.fi>
Ilmoitus vanhentuu: 21.2.2017
Lisätietoja WWW-osoitteesta: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/negotiatingidentities/