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3rd International Scientific Conference of the Lithuanian Society for the Study of Religions
LIFE HERE AND HEREAFTER: BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

October 23-24, 2015
Vilnius, Lithuania

with Vilnius University and Vytautas Magnus University

Download Conference Poster | Download the Final Conference Program

3rd International Scientific Conference of the Lithuanian Society for the Study of Religions
LIFE HERE AND HEREAFTER: BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Vilnius, Lithuania
23-24 October, 2015

with Vilnius University and Vytautas Magnus University

Call for Papers

Life here and hereafter is considered to be one of the core concerns of an individual throughout the history of humanity. Quest for the meaning of life, role of death, possibilities of life after death are challenged with a broad scope of perceptions, reflections and expressions among various spiritual and religious traditions, emerging spiritualities, groups and individuals.

This conference addresses the topic of life here and hereafter and focuses on beliefs and practices of diverse origins, their formation, spread and expressions. It also focuses on the past and current representations of the phenomenon in specific regions and worldwide, discussing its diverse manifestations and changes concerning institutional and individual religiosities on (trans)national and (trans)regional levels.

The conference welcomes both empirical and theoretical contributions from various disciplines, as well as interdisciplinary approaches towards beliefs and practices within the domain of life here and hereafter. Of particular interest are those that combine perspectives and methods drawn from all social sciences and humanities on historical, present, and newly emerging approaches towards conceptions, manifestations and representations, as well as research methods, issues and problems, and new directions in studies of this phenomenon.

The 3rd Conference of the Lithuanian Society for the Study of Religions Life Here and Hereafter: Beliefs and Practices will be held on October 23-24, 2015 at Vilnius University, Vilnius. We welcome scholars from religious studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, political science, and other disciplines to contribute to historical and contemporary studies of the role and manifestations of the phenomenon of life here and hereafter, in this way enriching its academic understandings. We expect individual paper proposals as well as panel proposals with three to four presentations.

We invite papers and panels including, but not limited to the following topics:

• Methodological implications, challenges and issues;
• Life here and hereafter and their socio-cultural representations;
• Death and dying related beliefs and practices;
• Divinations, predictions and prophecies;
• The role of individuals and institutions in practices related to beliefs in life here and hereafter;
• Life here, hereafter and cultural memory;
• Life here and hereafter: religious and secular approaches;
• Life, dying and afterlife in traditional religious groups and churches in the past and in the 21st century;
• Life here and hereafter within contemporary spirituality, individual religiosity, combined forms of organized and individual religions;
• Institutional arrangements, development and changes of beliefs and practices within the domain of life here and hereafter;
• Afterlife and social imagination;
• Life here and hereafter in the public sphere;
• Life here and hereafter in the popular culture.

Please submit a 250-300 words abstract of your presentation accompanied by a short CV by e-mail to: religiousstudieslt@gmail.com by July 1, 2015. If you are interested in another topic related to the study of life here and hereafter, we encourage you to organize a session/panel. In this case, please submit a 200-300 words proposal by July 15, 2013 to the same email address.

Key dates

• Submission of paper and session/panel proposals – July 1, 2015.
• The authors of accepted proposals will be notified by July 15, 2015.
• Notification of acceptance and opening of the registration – July 15, 2015.
• The final date of the registration for the conference –September 15, 2015.
• Final program – September 20, 2015

Fees

Conference fee (50 Euro) may be paid by bank transfer or in cash (not by card) at the registration desk.

The costs of travel and lodging should be covered by the participants.

Special events

Participants of the conference will be offered excursion in Vilnius city.

Organisers: dr. Eglė Aleknaitė (Vytautas Magnus University), assoc. prof. Milda Ališauskienė (Vytautas Magnus University), prof. Audrius Beinorius (Vilnius University), assoc. prof. Aušra Pažėraitė (Vilnius University), dr. Rasa Pranskevičiūtė (Vytautas Magnus University), prof. Egdūnas Račius (Vytautas Magnus University), assoc. prof. Annika Hvithamar (Copenhagen University).

Any conference related queries are to be sent to the conference email address. More information is available at http://en.religijotyra.lt/

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Download this call for papers as a PDF file.

To see updates, see the Conference 2015 page.