Religion & Gender Seminar

International Seminar – Religion and Gender: Beliefs, Practices, and Beyond

Organized By

Centre for Study and Research (CSR) is a registered not-for-profit research centre and think tank. It is registered in Hyderabad (TS00AA 78017927 No: 646 0f 2016), and currently its Head office is in New Delhi. CSR is an independent endeavor. It’s been formed by leading academicians and research scholars. Its vision is to evolve purposeful holistic and value-based knowledge. Please visit www.csrindia.in for more details.

and

Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) is a Central University established by an Act of Parliament in 1998. The headquarters and the main campus of MANUU are located in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana State, on over 200 acres. The Department of Women’s Education was established in 2004. The Department has offered Post-Graduate, and Ph.D. programs in Women’s Studies since its inception. A multi-pronged approach is called for at all levels in developing, strengthening, and harnessing the female resource of the country.

Concept Note

Gender and gender role is one of the important themes discussed by all the major religions of the world. The study of gender and religion stems from a broader interest in profound epistemological, methodological, and substantive changes that contemporary gender studies and studies in religion have produced over the last thirty years. This seminar tries to explore the ways that religious belief and practices influences both male and female behavior as well as their respective roles in society. New or expanding scholarly interest in these issues has emerged within scientific domains from the last quarter of the 20th century that primarily belong to theology and religious studies. Religion(s) have become the object of study in a variety of academic disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. This Seminar attests to this growing common interest to (re)connect the study of religion to current Indian social and political questions, moral concerns and lived spirituality.

Concurrently the rise of feminist movements alongside the human right movements have challenged the classical narratives pertaining to biological sexuality, gender, gender identity gender-based rights, gender roles etc.

While patriarchal relations are central to many global religions, this is not a universal principle. Some religious orders emphasize cooperation and respect for women over hierarchy. Others may prioritize male leadership but at the same time provide women with types of ethical identities and spiritual positions that create spaces for women to practice their own agency and forms of power. A broad literature exists exploring female submission and agency within patriarchal religious spaces, much of which challenges liberal assumptions that what individuals need is freedom. Thus, diverse religions display a variety of gendered systems.

We find the discourse on religion and gender as an initiator for opening up new debates because of their destabilizing nature. Both ‘religion’ and ‘gender’ are not static phenomena but are involved in ongoing and complex processes of evolution. As a consequence, the study of religion and gender has a high heuristic value.

To summarize, we would like to explore in this seminar the relation, confrontation, and intersection of gender and religion, taking into account the multiple and changing manifestations of religion in Indian social and cultural contexts. We also aim to explore the current major challenges for the study of religion and gender so as to address them with the alternative paradigm of purposeful, holistic, and value-based knowledge in the complex dynamics of religion and gender in our contemporary world.

The seminar will also seek healthy and civil discussion and debate on the theme essentially respecting the diverse religious beliefs, cultural practices, and narratives.

Themes

Gender roles and different religions
Gender-based discrimination and religious narratives
Gender Identity: Looking through a religious lens
Religious perspectives on Gender Justice
Lived spirituality, Unstructured Religions, and Gender discourse
Intersectionality, Gender, and Religion
Men, Masculinity, and Religion
Religion and Embodiment

Objectives of seminar

To initiate a constructive discussion among academia with respect to gender and various religions.
To critically analyze the status of religion in contemporary literature and discourse of Gender studies.
To assess principal positions of religion on contemporary narratives of Gender, gender roles, gender identity, etc.

Call for papers

Original and well researched papers are invited from the Academicians, Research Scholars and policy makers & practitioners in the field of Gender studies and other allied disciplines on the main theme and sub themes for the seminar, in Urdu and English language.

Selected Papers will be published by a reputed publisher in the form of proceeding and/or book.

Guidelines for Paper Submission

The paper must focus on the central theme and the sub-themes. The abstract for the presentation should be approximately 250 words.
It should include the title of the presentation, name of the author(s), keywords, university, cell number & mail Id. The full-length paper should not exceed 5000 words typed in MS Word, with 12 font sizes in Times New Roman(English) and 14 in Noori Nastaleeq (Urdu).