Religion, Mobility & Economy

About

The UCSIA Summer School 2022 focuses on the topic of 'Religion, Mobility & Economy'. Mobility has long defined religious traditions and their vital presence in our contemporary world. This one-week summer school will focus on the diversity of religions on the move and economic transformation. We welcome papers based on original research that explore these themes from a variety of disciplines including anthropology, history, sociology, political science, and theology. The summer school will focus on, but is not limited to the following questions:

What defines a religion and its boundaries? When religions are on the move, where do we locate its forms and expressions (e.g. its theological contents or its material elements)? What characterizes religious transformations like conversions, revivals, or disavowals of religion?

What is the relationship between religious mobility and economic transformation? What institutions, secular and spiritual alike, shape the migration and circulation of religions?

How do the sacred geographies associated with traditions intersect with neoliberalism, marketization, and globalization?

What are the global, transnational, and transregional aspects of religion? How do flows of capital and labour, as well as older routes of trade, shape religious growth and decline? What influences do these flows have on religious beliefs and practices? What histories of colonialism and/or socialism impact the ways religions disseminate and relocate?

How does theology engage economic transformations? Do religious responses matter in times of economic growth? Or are they relevant only in times of crisis? What theological reflections accompany the crises of mobility in the (post-)pandemic period?

Key elements of the summer school are the discussion of theoretical frameworks through expert lectures and the mentoring of young scholars in the fields of humanities and social sciences. The programme consists of lectures and individual tutoring by the faculty, paper presentations by the students and disciplinary discussion sessions. It is the intention of the organizing committee and faculty to create an open and relaxed atmosphere in which students and faculty can freely discuss their scholarly work.

The UCSIA Summer School takes place in the last week of August in the beautiful historical building Hof van Liere at the city campus of the University of Antwerp (Antwerp, Belgium).

Course leader

Jayeel Cornelio, Associate Professor of Sociology (Ateneo de Manila University) David Henig, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology (Utrecht University) Angie Heo, Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Sociology of Religion (University of Chicago)

Target group

We aim to bring together a multidisciplinary and international group of promising PhD-students and junior postdoctoral researchers (max. 2 years after the completion of the doctoral studies) with a research interest in religion.

Course aim

The UCSIA Summer School is designed for promoting the interdisciplinary dialogue in religious studies, along with tutoring promising scholars.