NTNU Globalization Programme and The Norwegian Air Force AcademyInvitation and Call for Papers to the Conference:
Global Communication of Fundamentalist Knowledge
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
December 14–16 2006, Trondheim, Norway
Conference website:
<www.hf.ntnu.no/cofu>
Fundamentalism and globalisation are two widely contested concepts. While some analysts claim that both terms refer to increasingly powerful political forces, others argue that neither refers to anything empirically real. This conference seeks to address the following questions: What distinguishes modern fundamentalism from other forms of religious revivalism and political activism? How do global media communicate “fundamentalist knowledge”?
Participants are invited to address these wider questions within the three thematic areas outlined below:
1. Community, people and state
Since religious communities are constituted in contexts of peoples, states and territories, their aims and ambitions are necessarily worked out in relation to these entities. What is specific to fundamentalism in its relation to these entities? We solicit proposals addressing this question in relation to the following issues:
* Concepts of power, religion and law in formations of communities and states.
* Concepts of power, religion and law in territorial disputes and international relations.
2. Fundamentalism and exegesis
The fundamentalist principle of “return to scripture” is usually associated with literal readings, but it also means bypassing literal readings in order to acquire scripture’s hidden (esoteric) knowledge and to empower “true believers” in relation to their “others”. Proposals are solicited which analyse fundamentalist hermeneutics in relation to the following themes:
* Principles of epistemic and communal authority in exegesis.
* Esotericism, aestheticism and linguistics in exegesis.
* Exegeses and changes in communities, societies, states, and international relations.
3. Media and fundamentalist knowledge
Through global media, individuals can avail themselves of a wide range of sources, including religious websites and scriptures. Is this development changing the way religion serves ethnic and national interests? Or is it challenging ethnic and national interests and creating new forms of religious and political activism? Proposals are solicited which seek to define fundamentalism from the following perspectives:
* The ways in which religious actors (whether states or trans-national networks) use global media to serve ethnic and national interests.
* The ways in which non-religious actors (whether states or trans-national networks) use global media to defend ethnic and national interests against religion
Keynote Speakers
Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago.
Professor Pape is author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide
Terrorism (2005); "Soft Balancing against the United States," International
Security (2005); "Explaining Costly International Moral Action" (with Chaim
Kaufmann), International Organization (1999); Bombing to Win: Air Power and
Coercion in War (1996).
David S. Katz, Professor of History, Tel-Aviv University.
Professor Katz is founder of the Global Security Group and author of The
Occult Tradition from the European Renaissance to American Fundamentalism
(2005), God’s Last Words: Reading the English Bible from the Reformation to
Fundamentalism (2004) and Messianic Revolution: Radical Religious Politics
to the End of the Second Millennium (1999)
Stewart M. Hoover, Professor of Journalism and Adjunct Professor of
Religious Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder.
Professor Hoover is author of The Electronic Giant (1979), Mass Media
Religion: The Social Sources of the Electronic Church (1988) and Religion in
the News: Faith and Journalism in American Public Discourse (1998), and is
co-editor of Religious Television: Controversies and Conclusions (1990) and
Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture (1997).
Deadlines
September 15, 2006: Deadline for abstracts (300-400 words). Abstract proposals should include a provisional title, full name of author(s), institutional affiliation, correspondence details and should be sent to global@hf.ntnu.no <mailto:global@hf.ntnu.no>
Paper presentations must not exceed 20 minutes.
September 30, 2006: Replies to proposals
November 20, 2006: Deadline for registration for all participants (with and
without papers) to global@hf.ntnu.no <mailto:global@hf.ntnu.no> Please use
the registration form on the conference website <www.hf.ntnu.no/cofu>.
Practical information
There is no conference fee.
The conference will cover the cost of coffees and lunches but participants are expected to cover the costs of all other meals. Dinner reservations will be organized by the conference committee.
Conference hotels: Quality Hotel Augustin, Kongensgt 26, NO-7011 Trondheim
Tel.:(+47) 73547000, Fax: (+47) 73547001, nok 800 (single)
900 (double)
hotel-augustin@hotel-augustin.no
<mailto:hotel-augustin@hotel-augustin.no>
www.hotel-augustin.no
P-hotels, Nordregate 24, NO-7010 Trondheim, Tlf.:(+47) 73 80 23 50
Fax (+47) 73 80 23 51, nok 585 (single) 700 (double)
post@p-hotels.no <mailto:post@p-hotels.no>
Accomodation should be booked and paid for by participants. Special rates
for this conference have been agreed with the two hotels above, where
participants are encouraged to stay.
Venues
The conference will be held at the following locations:
Thursday 14th December: The Norwegian Air Force Academy, Persaunetveien 61.
Bus number 20 from Dronningens gate.
Friday 15th and Saturday 16th December: NTNU, Dragvoll Campus.
Bus numbers 5, 9 and 66 depart from Trondheim city centre (Munkegate Street)
to Dragvoll every 15 minutes
Contact
Website: www.hf.ntnu.no/cofu <http://www.hf.ntnu.no/cofu>
Postal Address: NTNU Globalization Programme
NTNU Dragvoll, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway
E-mail: global@hf.ntnu.no <mailto:global@hf.ntnu.no>
Trondheim Sites
About NTNU:
http://www.ntnu.no/indexe.php <http://www.ntnu.no/indexe.php>
About Trondheim:
http://www.trondheim.com/engelsk/ <http://www.trondheim.com/engelsk/>
http://www.trondheim.no/content.ap?thisId=1117612882
<http://www.trondheim.no/content.ap?thisId=1117612882>
Global Communication of Fundamentalist Knowledge
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
December 14–16 2006, Trondheim, Norway
Preliminary program - may be reviewed on the conference website,
<www.hf.ntnu.no/cofu>
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