The Religion Network of the Social Science History Association has announced a call for papers, panels, and book sessions for the 40th annual meeting of the Social Science History Association in Baltimore, Maryland, November 12-15, 2015. The deadline for submissions is February 14th, 2015.

We welcome and encourage papers and panel proposals on a wide array of issues related to the historical study of religion and society. While complete panel proposals (consisting of 4-5 individual papers, a chair, and a discussant) are preferred, we also seek out high-quality individual paper submissions. Panels and papers may address the topics below, or any other relevant and related topic examining religion in a historical context:

Religious Pluralism and Community

Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

Empire, Missions, and Global Religious Encounters

Religious Minorities and the Public Sphere

Religion, Education, and Diversity

Secularization and Secularism

Religious Identities

Religion, Science, and Medicine

Religion and Law

Religion and Genocide

For more information, including contacts and requirements, read more here.

Two full-time Ph.D. research fellowship positions are also available at The Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. Tentative starting date is April 15, 2015.

1. One research fellowship positions is specifically related to the project The Ambigous Memory of Nordic Protestantism (MEMORY)

The MEMORY project shall take advantage of a comparative Nordic approach, ready at hand, but too seldom applied when studying Nordic religious history. In the project, priority is given to a spatial perspective for analysing and interpreting the specific character of Nordic Protestant tradition, with a focus on three Nordic countries: Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Theories from Cultural studies on “lieux de mémoire” (Erinnerungsorte) will serve as a point of departure for analysing a) the reformation of religious topography in the 16th and 17th centuries, and b) elite and popular uses of Medieval and Reformation holy places especially in the 19th and 20th centuries in a Nordic context.

The sub-project of a PhD fellowship applicant has to be related to the overall comparative MEMORY research aims, and should have a main research focus on the reformation of religious topography in the Nordic Countries in the 16th and 17th centuries.

For further information, see the project homepage (http://www.tf.uio.no/english/research/projects/memory/) and contact the project manager Tarald Rasmussen

2. One research fellowship positions is specifically related to the project “Good Protestants, bad religion?” (GOBA)

Norwegian debates on religion are often characterized by simple dichotomies. On the one hand, there is a well-established majority Protestant religion which has dominated culture and society for centuries and contributed to the general values of society. On the other hand, Norway (and especially the Oslo region) now also is a society more and more characterized by religious diversity, and in an international media-transmitted perspective religion very often is presented as a negative force, contributing to conflict and challenging common social and political values.

Taking observations like these as a point of departure, the research project “Good protestants, bad religion?” shall take a closer look at ways in which religion is formatted in Norwegian society, and also compare the Norwegian situation to the situation in some other (mainly Protestant) countries in order to better understanding the Norwegian case, but also in order to contributing to the general discussion of religion in modern Protestant societies.

The sub-project of a PhD fellowship applicant is expected to be explicitly related to these overall GOBA research aims and contribute to a better understanding of the specific dynamics of formatting of religion in a Norwegian/North European context. At the same time, the sub-project of an applicant is expected to contribute to the specific research aims of GOBA-Project 1: “Private Religion, Public Affairs“ or GOBA-Project 2: “Formatting Religion beyond the State“.

For more information, including contacts and requirements, read more here.