International Conference
“Religion and Nation(alism):
Entanglements, Tensions, Conflicts
University of Tartu, Estonia, 10-11 November 2016
Program
Conference abstract book
10 November
Venue: University of Tartu main building (Ülikooli 18)
| 10.00 – 11.30 Session I Opening and plenary lecture (Assembly Hall) Frank Korom (Boston University) “Religious Nationalisms: India and Serbia Compared” |
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| 11.30 – 12.00 Coffee break | |
| 12.00 – 13.30 Session II: Relationships between Churches and Nationalisms (Room 128) Anna Haapalainen (University of Turku) “An Institutionalised Religion Making or Breaking National Identities” Aušra Pazeraite (Vilnius University) “Modern Reception of the Bible as Testimony of the Birth of National Consciousness: Transformation of Religious Collective Identities into National Identities” Borja W. González Fernández (Autonomous University of Madrid) “Building Lebanon Up: the Maronite Church and the Construction of Lebanese Identity” |
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| 13.30 – 14.30 Lunch (University Café restaurant, Ülikooli 20) | |
| 14.30 – 16.30 Session III: Entanglements with Secularity (Room 128) Katharina Neef (Technical University Chemnitz, Leipzig) “The National Limitations of the International Community of Freethought in the Early 20th Century” Kati Mikkola (University of Helsinki/Finnish Literature Society) “Popular Perspectives on Nation-Building, Secularisation and Transformations of Religiosity in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Finland” Nerija Putinaitė (Vilnius University) “Nationalism contra Catholicism in Soviet Lithuania’s Atheization Politics” Atko Remmel (University of Tartu) “‘Estonians, the Atheist Nation’: On the Origin of the Idea and Its Development” |
14.30 – 16.30 Session IV: Ethnic Boundaries and Religious Symbols (Room 232) Eszter Győrfy (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca/University of Pécs) “Religion, Identity and the Construction of Ethnic Boundaries in Coşnea, Romania” Maija Grizāne (Daugavpils University) “Russian Old Believers in the Republic of Latvian during the 1920s and 1930s: Forming a New National Identity” Evy Johanne Håland (Independent researcher, Norway) “A Gendered National Festival at a Greek Island Shrine” Bea Vidacs (University of Pécs) “Religion and Nationalism: The Holy Crown of Hungary” |
| 16.30 – 17.00 Coffee break | |
| 17.00 – 19.00 Session V: Secularism and Civil Religion (Room 128) Alar Kilp (University of Tartu) “Religious and Political Leaders Constructing a National Civil Religion in Estonia: President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (2006–2016), Prime Minister Andrus Ansip (2005–2014) and Archbishop Andres Põder (2005–2014)” Christiane Königstedt (University of Lepizig) “State Neutrality, Opportunity Structures and Implicit Definitions – The Problem of Political Agendas Re-Defining Religion(s)” José Leitão (Independent researcher, Netherlands) “God, Fatherland, Family – On the Existence of Civil Religion in the Portuguese Estado Novo” Ian Fry (University of Divinity, Melbourne/Victorian Council of Churches Dialogue Commission) “Alternative paths. Via Creeds and Doctrine to Conflict, or via Covenant to Peace” |
17.00 – 19.00 Session VI: Islam and Ideologies (Room 232) Vladimir Sazonov (University of Tartu, Baltic Defence College) “Religious Narratives and Elements of Arab Nationalism in the Ideology and Information Warfare of so-called Islamic State (ISIS)” Anita Stasulane (Daugavpils University) “Current Religious Tensions: Islamophobia in Latvia” Mirjam Aeschbach (University of Zurich) “#WhatBritishMuslimsReallyThink: Negotiating Religious and National Identity on Twitter” |
| 19.30 – 21.30 Reception (University of Tartu Museum, Lossi 25) | |
11 November
Venue: University of Tartu von Bock building (Ülikooli 16)
| 9.00 – 11.00 Session VII: Religion and National Narratives (room 212) Ain Riistan (University of Tartu) “The European Migration Crisis, Religion and Nationalism in Estonia” Michael Strmiska (Orange County Community College) “Modern American Gun Culture as a New Religious Movement” Igor Mikeshin (University of Helsinki) “How Russian is Russian Evangelicalism?” Marco Giardini (University of Milan) ““Sons of Ephraim”: The Vitality of an Eschatological Image between Christian British Israelism and Religious Zionism” (text & slides) |
9.00 – 11.00 Session VIII: Religious and National Identities in Asia (room 214) Per Kvaerne (University of Oslo) “The Tibetan Bön Religion and the Construction of an Alternative National Identity” Alevtina Solovyeva (University of Tartu) “Reconstruction of National Identity and the Revival of Religious Life in Post-Socialist Mongolia” Kikee Doma Bhutia (University of Tartu) “Beyul Demojong and Divine Prophecies: The Dawn of Buddhism, Bhutia Kingship and Nationalism in Sikkim” Baburam Saikia (University of Tartu) “The Role of the Vaishnava Religion in the Construction of Assamese Identity” |
| 11.00 – 11.30 Coffee break | |
| 11.30 – 13.00 Session IX: Dynamics of Russian Orthodox Tradition (room 212) Elena Stepanova (Institute of Philosophy and Law, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg) “Traditional Values between Universality and Particularism: the Case of Russia” Alison R. Kolosova (Durham University) “The Relationship of Orthodox Missionary Work and the Awakening of National Identity among the Chuvash of the Volga-Kama Region at the Turn of the 20th Century” Tuomas Green (University of Eastern Finland) “The Role of Russian Orthodox Traditions in the Contemporary Interpretation of the Assassination of Alexander II of Russia (1818-1881)” |
11.30 – 13.30 Session X: Native Faith and Paganism (room 214) Ergo-Hart Västrik (University of Tartu) “Nationalist Discourse in the Rhetoric of the Estonian Native Faith (maausulised) Movement” Agita Misāne (University of Latvia) “How to Invent a Tradition? Some Lessons from Latvia” Julia von Boguslawski (University of Helsinki) “Ethnicity, Culture, and Tradition in Finnish Native Faith” Eglė Aleknaitė (Vytautas Magnus University) “From Books to the Andes: Changing Sources and Authorities in the Field of Lithuanian Neoshamanism” |
| 13.30 – 14.30 Lunch (University Café restaurant, Ülikooli 20) | |
| 14.30 – 16.30 Session XI: Confessional Dynamics in Eastern Europe (room 212) Christoffer Stoerup (University of Copenhagen) “Moldovan Ethnopolitics in Orthodox Geopolitics” Kirill Markin, Anna Zueva (St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University, Moscow) “Features of the Process of Religious Revival in Countries that Have Undergone Forced Secularisation” Larysa Vladychenko (Ministry of Culture of Ukraine) & Eugene Kharkovschenko (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv) “Ukrainian Policy in the Sphere of Interethnic Relations and Religious Minorities’ Rights Protection” Tetiana Kalenychenko (National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Kiev) “The Religious Factor in Changes in Ukrainian Identity: Focus on Chaplaincy” |
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| 16.30 – 17.00 Coffee break | |
| 17.00 – 18.30 Session XII: Plenary lecture and closing of the conference (room 212) Milda Ališauskienė (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas) “Religions and Nations in Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe: Is There a Place for Minority Religions?” |
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| 19.00 Conference dinner (University Café restaurant, Ülikooli 20) | |
The conference is organised by the Estonian Society for the Study of Religions in cooperation with the University of Tartu (Institute of Culture Research and Arts, School of Theology and Religious Studies, Asian Centre) and the Estonian Literary Museum.