The Amsterdam Centre for the Study of Lived Religion invites proposals for articles for the volume Religious and Sexual Nationalism in Eastern Europe: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. One of the prominent and fiercely contested issues in Eastern European societies regards the position of religion and homosexuality. The volume will focus on the strategic and ideological assumptions, interests, and effects of present-day constructions of (homo)sexuality and religion in public arenas of Eastern Europe. In recent decades the public perception of both religion and sexual diversity has changed fundamentally in Eastern Europe. Whereas several Western societies consider the acceptance of sexual diversity the litmus test of tolerance and essential to human rights, other societies see homosexuality as a threat to their national and cultural identity. In many of Eastern European societies (e.g. the Western Balkans), religion plays a dominant role in strengthening particular cultural identities as appears for example in the problems around gay pride parades. Sexual and religious nationalisms emerge in collective identity markers in political debates and popular culture. This volume will look at the cultural discourses at work and explore the cultural differences in several contexts of Eastern Europe and the cultural and political role of religion in conflicts about sexual diversity. An integrative approach that aims to chart and evaluate the dynamics of religion, nationalism, and homosexuality in different multi-layered political and religious contexts is therefore required. The aim of this volume is to develop a theoretical and empirical framework that will allow a critical and systematic exploration of the oppositional pairing of religion and homosexuality as it is related to the public arena of different national and religious contexts of Eastern Europe.
We also invite scholars from other Western European countries to contribute to the volume.
Eligible topics
Areas of interest for this volume include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
* Religious and sexual nationalism: theoretical perspectives
* Methodological issues
* Case studies from different countries
* Media discourse analysis
* Religion and the rights of sexual minorities in post-communist Eastern Europe
* Religion, violence and homosexuality on social media
* Effects of public discourse on LGBT communities
* Contextual theological developments regarding sexual diversity
* The relationship between ethno-nationalism and religion in Eastern Europe
* Analysis of religious and sexual nationalism in popular culture.
Submission of proposals: May 15, 2014
Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2014
Completed manuscripts (7,000 words): October 15, 2014
Guidelines for submission
Please send all proposals (300 words) to [email protected].
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Amsterdam Centre for the Study of Lived Religion
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