Public, Political and Religious Engagement in the Study of Religion - A CRPL Research Day
8th June 2017
University of Leeds
Blenheim Terrace SR (1.16) House No. 11-14
ALL WELCOME, lunch included
To reserve a place, email Dr Caroline Starkey c.starkey@leeds.ac.uk
External Speaker:
- Professor Robert Beckford, Professor of Theology and Culture in the African Diaspora at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Traditionally, the question of engagement in religious studies and theology has been raised with regard to the personal faith commitments of the scholar of religion. In recent decades this question has been broadened under the influence of feminist, postcolonial, and queer scholarship critiquing positions of academic neutrality and objectivity in the production of knowledge. In the empirical study of religion, under the influence of anthropology, the importance of positionality and reflexivity is increasingly acknowledged. These developments have problematized and complicated the classic insider-outsider question in the study of religion, and they invite us as scholars of religion to continuously reflect upon our relationship to the faith communities, religious traditions and social, public and political issues that are central in our work. In the current UK higher education context, the need to reflect upon this is further reinforced by the impact agenda that encourages public engagement and societal impact. This CRPL research day provides a space to collaboratively and critically think about the multifaceted question of engagement in the study of religion, and about the social, public and political roles of the scholar of religion, in relation to our own research at the intersections of religion and public life in local, national and international contexts.
In addition to the external speakers, there will be a roundtable where various CRPL members will discuss the ways in which they deal with the question of engagement in their work.