4 July - 7 July 2023
Taipei (Taiwan)
37th ISSR Conference – Taipei (Taiwan), 4-7 July 2023.
Religions in dialogue: Transformations, Diversity, and Materiality
In contemporary times, religion is undergoing critical change as part of processes of individualization, deinstitutionalization, and mediatization. The “classical” elements of religion, such as beliefs and rituals, are increasingly differentiated from one another, and the mobilization of religious identities takes different shapes in the global context. The responses of people’s religious, spiritual and nonreligious lives to these changes are broader, more complex, and more rapid than those of religious organizations. The transformation of people´s diverse worldviews also intersects with global challenges occurring in ecology, health, inequality, and diversity. These developments have resulted in a scholarly need to move away from simple, binary Northern/Western perspectives towards a more decentered scholarship. This is SISR/ISSR´s first conference in Asia and we welcome scholars who study the complex interrelations and dialogue of religious, spiritual and nonreligious worldviews, materiality, aesthetics, and diversity in light of global changes.
Call for sessions: 4 July – 1 September 2022.
Call for papers: 15 October – 9 December 2022.
Religions in dialogue: Transformations, Diversity, and Materiality
In contemporary times, religion is undergoing critical change as part of processes of individualization, deinstitutionalization, and mediatization. The “classical” elements of religion, such as beliefs and rituals, are increasingly differentiated from one another, and the mobilization of religious identities takes different shapes in the global context. The responses of people’s religious, spiritual and nonreligious lives to these changes are broader, more complex, and more rapid than those of religious organizations. The transformation of people´s diverse worldviews also intersects with global challenges occurring in ecology, health, inequality, and diversity. These developments have resulted in a scholarly need to move away from simple, binary Northern/Western perspectives towards a more decentered scholarship. This is SISR/ISSR´s first conference in Asia and we welcome scholars who study the complex interrelations and dialogue of religious, spiritual and nonreligious worldviews, materiality, aesthetics, and diversity in light of global changes.
Humanities and Social Sciences Building, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
The following cultural tours are planned by the ISSR Conference 2023 Taipei Local Committee and will be held during the conference.
Detailed information and registration information will be provided by February 2023, please don’t forget to have a look at it!
Route 1
Temple Route in Taipei: Visit representative temples in Taipei and experience traditional music performances
Route 2
Monastery Route: Visit the Buddhist monastery ‘Dharma Drum Mountain’ and experiencing the Buddhist modernity
Route 3
Route of Postcolonial Landscape Bai-tou: Visit the hot spring bathing area developed during the colonial period
Route 4
Cultural Route of an Old Town Tam-tsui: Historical Relics & la Beauté du mer
Route 5
Route of Pottery Culture: Meet Fine Traditional Craftsmanship of Tenmoku
Route 6
Religious Tour in National Palace Museum
Route 7
Experiencing Buddhist Daily Life & Visiting Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Hall, the largest religious sacred ground for Buddhism in Taiwan
Tour Information (download all as a pdf file)
Call for working groups’ online sessions at the 2023 ISSR conference
We invite ISSR members to submit proposals for online working groups as part of the ISSR 2023 conference. These working groups are dedicated to those who are unable to travel to Taiwan for the conference and wish to participate in an alternative manner. ISSR members can organise an ISSR working group session on a specific topic with a limited number of colleagues. These sessions will be included in the ISSR conference program alongside the physical event in Taipei. The ISSR will publicise these sessions as part of the conference on social media and can host recordings, links etc. on its website, if requested. The sessions will be held via zoom or other programs according to the conveners’ choice.
This is the first time the ISSR combines the physical conference with online components. For this reason, the ISSR will select a limited number of online working groups to be part of its event – up to five. We will see for the future conferences if this system will be proposed again.
We expect these workshops to take place between 3 and 8 July 2022, parallel to the on-site conference in Taipei. Each workshop should last up to two hours in order to allow conference participants in Taipei to attend, although we expect the working groups’ organisers to choose a time according to their own location and time zone.
The working group sessions will be selected by a committee composed of two ISSR Council members and a member from the Executive board, using the following criteria:
The working groups can be closed for contributors only or opened. If they are open, conveners need to consider the need for potential technical support and enhanced professional licence for the platform (Zoom, MS Teams, etc.) due to a large number of participants. An alternative to open working groups is to record the session, which can be posted on the ISSR website. Remember that this might require authorisation in writing from the participants, due to GDPR.
Please submit proposals by email (general_secretary@sisr-issr.org) to the executive committee by no later than 15 December 2022.
Selected working groups’ will be notified by 1 February 2023.