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Dear friends and colleagues,

Today the month of March begins and with it – at least meteorologically – spring also arrives. We don't hold colloquia in March, but there are other events we would like to draw your attention to, such as two workshops this and next week. You still have the opportunity to register for participation.

We also have recommendations for a conference, a Call for Papers and several Calls for Applications for you today.

Take care and have a good week!

Anja & Lucy

REMINDER I: Workshop “Nourishing Values, Feeding Differences: (Religious) Foodways Compared”, 2–4 March at Leipzig University

This workshop, organized by the Institute for the Study of Religion at Leipzig University, seeks to explore how religion is related to human nutrition in a transregional and cross-cultural historical perspective.

If you would like to attend, please contact Jörg Albrecht. The public evening lecture can be attended without prior registration.

Workshop Dates: 2–4 March

Hybrid Event: Leipzig University | KFG “Multiple Secularities”, Strohsackpassage, Room 4.55, Nikolaistraße 8-10, 04109 Leipzig AND online via zoom

REMINDER II: KFG-Workshop “Who is ‘Us’: Our Culture, our Values, our Heritage and the Reconfiguration of Religion”, 9–10 March

Building on previous discussions of culturalization by the Multiple Secularities research group, this workshop focuses on the transubstantiation of religion to culture in countries characterized by an historical Christian majority (in some cases a consequence of colonialism) and a contemporary decline in religious affiliation. Conveners are our associate member Lori Beaman and our directors Christoph Kleine and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr.

The Workshop will take place as a hybrid event. You are welcome to attend. Please send a short inquiry.

Workshop Dates: 9–10 March

Hybrid Event: Leipzig University | KFG “Multiple Secularities”, Strohsackpassage, Room 4.55, Nikolaistraße 8-10, 04109 Leipzig AND online via zoom

Conference of DFG network “Religion in the Plural” on “The Relationship between Christianity, Judaism and the State in the 19th Century. Manifestations in Arts, Theologies and Society”, 13–15 March in Mainz and Frankfurt/Main

We would like to draw your attention to the 3rd conference (in German) of the DGF network “Religion in the Plural”, which will take place in Mainz and Frankfurt/Main on 13–15 March. The network investigates in an interdisciplinary perspective how the increasing religious differentiation in the long 19th century was shaped, articulated and interpreted in visual art, music, architecture, theologies, religious practice and social institutions. The conference is dedicated to the tense relationship between Christianity, Judaism and the state in the 19th century and its manifestations.

Registration is possible via e-mail.

Conference Dates: 13–15 March

Venues: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz | Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Call for Papers: “Political Theology. Genealogies, Constellations, Figures” / Workshop in the framework of the Research Forum “Literature and Religion” for young scholars, 27–28 July at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

This meeting of the research forum “Literature and Religion” for young scholars at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg is dedicated to the topic of political theology. It negotiates the fundamental assumptions about the relationship between political legitimacy and normative order and, in doing so, also examines the persistence and after-effects of religious figures of thought, discourses, and practices.

This workshop will discuss questions such as: What role does political theology actually play in theology today? What are the religious or denominational differences? Where is it discussed in political theory and how do national or cultural traditions differ here? What role does it play in art history and visual studies? How does a religious studies informed by cultural studies and a cultural and literary studies interested in the topic of religion relate to it? What help does it provide in thinking about our postcolonial situation?

Please send your exposé or abstract as well as a CV to Robert Buch.  

Submission of abstracts/exposés: 15 April

Workshop Dates: 27–28 July

Venue: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

Call for Applications I: KADOC Fellowships “Religion, Culture and Society” at KU Leuven

KADOC, the Interfaculty Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society at KU Leuven/Belgium, yearly awards one fellowship for a period of 2 to max. 3 months to a young international scholar working on topics such as gender, transnationalism and regionalism, imagination and practices, popular religion, intercultural exchanges, religion and science, religious entrepreneurship, subalternity, religious conflict and tolerance. It offers the selected candidate the opportunity to work in the centre’s collections, to establish new scholarly links, and to broaden their expertise in close interaction with Leuven scholars and heritage professionals. The 2023 call expresses a particular interest in candidates researching topics connected to the overall theme “Religion, globalization and international solidarity”.

If you would like to apply and/or have further questions, please contact Peter Heyrman.  

Submission of applications: 28 April

Notification of acceptance: 16 June

Call for Applications II: Summer Course in Zoroastrian Studies at Norwegian Institute in Rome, 26–30 June

Courses on Zoroastrianism are few and far between. The University of Bergen/Norway and the Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS, University of London have joined forces to offer international students a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the study of this religion with its rich history. For the third time, they offer a summer course in Zoroastrianism at the Norwegian Institute in Rome in late June. The topic of the course this year is “Zoroastrianism as a religious minority in modern and contemporary Iran”.

In order to apply, please fill in the application form and send it via e-mail.  

Application deadline: 19 March

If you have any content that you think suits the purpose of the weekly, please feel free to send it to us at multiple-secularities@uni-leipzig.de.