Religion and Politics

Dear Dr. Iza Hussin,

It is with great pleasure that
I write to inform you of an upcoming workshop, jointly convened by the American
Political Science Association (APSA) and the Institute for Governance and Development
(IGD) in Burkina Faso. APSA is accepting applications for participation through
March 15, 2013 and would appreciate your help in sharing news of this opportunity.

The 2013 Africa Workshop, entitled “Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective”
will be held from July 1 to 12 at the IGD’s Center for Democratic Governance.
Led by a joint team of US and African scholars, this event is a unique professional
opportunity for early-to-mid career faculty with an interest in social science
research. Since this year’s workshop will be a dual-language program, both French-speaking
and English-speaking scholars are welcome to apply.

Visit the APSA Africa Workshop website to find program information,
eligibility requirements, and a link to the online 2013 Application Form (also available in French). The application deadline
is March 15, 2013.  

The 2013 workshop is the sixth
in APSA’s annual Africa Workshop program; previous workshops have been held
in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and Tanzania. By bringing together up to 22
Africa-based scholars, as well as four advanced PhD students from US-based universities,
the program aims to support political science research and teaching in Sub-Saharan
Africa and strengthen research networks linking US scholars with their colleagues
overseas. While the event primarily caters to political scientists, it is also
open to scholars from any social science discipline with research relevant to
the workshop theme. Since 2008, approximately 140 African and US-based scholars
have taken part in the workshop series. APSA, with support from the Mellon Foundation,
covers all costs associated with participation.

Participants at this year’s
workshop will explore a series of interrelated theoretical and methodological
themes in the study of religion as a political factor. The primary goal of the
workshop is to support participants in publishing their research.

If you
meet the eligibility requirements and are engaged in work related to this workshop’s
theme, I welcome you to submit an application. Please also feel free to forward
this information and share news of this opportunity as appropriate. APSA is continuously
seeking to attract promising scholars to the Workshops. We would particularly
like to increase the number of applications submitted by women.

If you
have any questions or comments, please contact africaworkshops@apsanet.org.
PDF copies of the Call for Applications are also available: Download
the call in French or Download the call in English. 

Sincerely,

Dr Elizabeth H. Super

APSA
Fellow and Associate Director for International Programs

Message forwarded by the Chair:

Dear professor Hussin,

My name is Ali Kadivar, a PhD candidate at UNC-CH sociology. A colleague of mine and I are organizing a Panel in the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting 2013 in New Orleans. We thought some of the members of the religion and politics section in APSA would be interested in this panel. I would greatly appreciate it if you forward this call for paper to the APSA religion and politics listserve. Thanks very much.
Sincerely,

Ali

Greetings everyone,
We Are seeking participants for a panel for the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, MESA 2013: "Religious Authorities and Political Transitions in the Middle East".
Different socio-political actors have taken various positions with regards to the recent political upheavals in the Middle East. Several actors joined the opposition against the authoritarian governments; some sided with the regimes; few preferred silence anxiously observing the developments while others preferred to remain impartial. Religious establishments which have been one of the oldest social institutions in Middle Eastern societies are still are a key player. Their complicated relationship with the political authorities have taken different forms in different periods, ranging from opposition and repression to cooptation, withdrawal, and measured autonomy among others. In the last episode of contention in the Middle East, we also observe such variation, which gives rise to questions of interest include but are not limited to:
– How could we describe the political position of the religious authorities in each country? And what factors have been influential in shaping such positions?
– In cases when the religious actors supported or joined pro-democracy movements, what can we infer about the broader topic of religion and democratization?
– How the political positions of religious actors facilitated or constrained the process of mobilization?
– What role did the religious vocabularies play in the political rhetoric of contention as well as the repository of emotions and affects?

At least, one paper, is already in place explaining different political positions that Grand Ayatollahs took about Iran’s Green Movement in 2009.
We are looking to recruit up to three further papers.  If you are interested in being involved in this panel, please send a 400-word
abstract to Ali Kadivar (kadivar@unc.edu) or Ali Reza Eshraghi (eshraghi@email.unc.edu) no later than 9 February, and be prepared to register with and submit to MESA no later than 15 February.

Ali Kadivar
Associate Editor at Social Forces
PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill