14th Nordic Conference on Religious Education: Dialogue, cultures and religion in learning environments and beyond

SECOND call

 

14th Nordic Conference on Religious Education    

Dates: 12-15.6.2017 

Theme: Dialogue, cultures and religion in learning environments and beyond

Location: School of Theology & School of Applied Sciences of Education and Teacher Education, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu campus

 

Welcome to NCRE2017!

In a season of change and movement there is a growing demand for new ways of interpreting the past, present and future. Many global processes such as migration, pluralism and the redefinition of citizenship challenge the traditional notions of borders concerning cultures, states and nationalities, ethnicities and religions. Arguably the early 2000’s has also shown that religion is a relevant –and sometimes even a dominant – actor in the public space. In addition, today the need for dialogue and educating for dialogue skills is increasingly being recognized. At the same time dialogue concerning religions is also becoming more inclusive: dialogue in religious education is to recognize not only the dialogue between religious traditions but also dialogue that includes non-religious traditions or takes place within religious traditions. As the many borders in our world a becoming again more transparent and cultures blended, there is an increasing need to re-examine the conceptions and theories concerning the individual, religions and education through the interplay of philosophical and theological analysis, empirical evidence and scholarly interaction.

 

The theme of NCRE2017 is “Dialogue, cultures and religion in learning environments and beyond”. The learning environments refer to for instance homes, and classrooms and informal and digital learning environments along with other school and church related contexts. This includes topics such as:

  • Borders and de-borderisation in citizenship, nationality, cultures and identities
  • Religions and non-religious traditions in various learning environments
  • Dialogue, beliefs and education
  • Diverse and silenced voices in religious education
  • Church, state and school relations in education
  • Human rights and right for religion/non-religion in education
  • The individual in a pluralistic and digitalized world

 

One of the characteristics of the University of Eastern Finland is dialogue. First, the UEF is an outcome of a merger of two universities in 2010. Second, in Karelia the interaction between the relatively large Orthodox population and Lutheran population has shaped local culture, customs and history. Third, Karelia is located at the border area between Finland and Russia: it is a place where east meets west. Furthermore, the school of Theology at UEF is one of the few academic institutions that includes both Western and Orthodox theology. It is our wish that you would participate in the scientific dialogue in NCRE2017 in this distinctive context as our most welcome guests.

 

The keynotes of NCRE2017

Professor Zvi Bekerman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Professor Cok Bakker, University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Professor Mette Buchardt, University of Aalborg, Denmark

Professor Tuula Sakaranaho, University of Helsinki, Finland

 

Proposals, presentation forms and publishing

The proposals are submitted via the link on NCRE2017 homepage (http://www.uef.fi/en/web/ncre2017) The link page for submission will be open in the 1st of December 2016.

 

NCRE2017 is planning and has had discussions about several conference publications, such as special issues in refereed international journals and a book. The author(s) will be asked whether they have interest in having their full proposal being evaluated for suitability for publishing via this route in the submission of abstract (deadline 15.12.2016). The evaluation will be made on the basis of the full proposal (deadline 30.4.2017). The estimated publication will be in 2018. Full articles will be expected in October-November 2017. We will give more information about the procedure and the concrete options in due course. In principle the journal publication option applies only to manuscripts based on paper proposals and symposium (individual presentation) proposals. The final decision on publication will be made on the basis of interest and quality of proposals.

 

Similarly to the previous conference, NCRE2017 includes the following presentation formats and proposals.

 

Paper proposal

The papers may address aspects of the conference theme or other topics. The abstracts should be 250-300 words, full papers about 2000 words. The length of a paper may exceed this; however more time will not be given for its presentation.

 

Symposium proposal

We invite groups of researchers to present a theme for debate or a collection of small papers in order to shed light on a particular question. The abstract for a symposium should be 250-300 words, full contribution about 3000 words. Both should be presented for a whole symposium, and not as separate contributions. The names of presenters and discussant(s) should be included both in the abstract and the full paper.

 

Please note that if an author presenting in a symposium wishes for evaluation for publication, an additional extended summary that would match the length of a full paper (2000 words) should be sent in the April 30th deadline and the intent should be given in the December 15th 2016 deadline.

 

Open forum presentation proposal

Open forum format is a very open form of presentation. Anything fresh and working is welcome here (use of short videos, pictures, open room method, posters, round table, panels, etc). This is also a form for the works and research that are very much in progress. In case of a whole open forum proposal the proposal should consist of description of the contribution and its purpose, procedure of how the discussion will take place, what questions will be touched and possible other contributors. Also questions what were raised in keynote lectures may be further developed. However, also single posters or roundtable presentations (with one or more authors) will be grouped under this presentation form. In a nutshell an open forum proposal can be (please indicate clearly):

  • A whole open forum presentation
  • A single open forum presentation

The abstracts should be about 250 words, full contribution 500-1000 words.

NB: Currently we are in discussions of having a practice-based workshop for teachers and relevant organisations that would take place parallel to the last day of the conference (Thursday). It would include sharing of best practices and networking between different groups. A separate call for this will be issued in December, depending on the outcome of negotiations.

 

Location

School of Theology & School of Applied Sciences of Education and Teacher Education, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu campus.

 

Important dates

2016

September                                         2nd call. Details about costs.

December 1st  – December 15th       Proposal submission. Intent for publication.

2017

January 31st                                       Review results and decisions

February 28th                                    Early bird registration fee

April 30th                                            Conference registration ends

April 30th                                                                  Deadline for full papers and contributions

May 10th                                             Information of full proposals selected for publication process given to authors.

 

Schedule

The conference will last Monday 12.6.2017 from 12.00 and until Thursday 15.6.2017 about 15.00.

Contact

Email: ncre2017@uef.fi

Homepage: http://www.uef.fi/en/web/ncre2017