FEMINISMS IN A TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Spirituality, religiosity and secular lives. Feminist challenges for theory and practice. Postgraduate course. Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, Croatia

25-29 May 2009.

The Zagreb Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, the Centre for Women’s Studies - Zagreb, and the Dept. of Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of Tampere, Finland  are pleased to announce the third postgraduate course with the overall theme of FEMINISMS IN A TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE. This is the third course of a three-year co-operation between the three institutions, in offering joint graduate courses, each year focusing on a different issue.

The topic for the 2009 course is

Spirituality, religiosity and secular lives. Feminist challenges for theory and practice.

Course co-directors:

Ulla M. Vuorela, University of Tampere, Finland (Ulla.M.Vuorela@uta.fi) (contact person)

Renata Jambresic Kirin, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Croatia (renata@ief.hr)

Rada Boric, Centre for Women’s Studies, Croatia (zenstud@zamir.net)

This year we are looking for papers and presentations that address the ways in which we as feminists and scholars reflect on the significance of spirituality, religiosity and secular thinking in our lives.

What appears as “pure” secularity may in fact carry traces of religious heritage or manifest a spiritual dimension that does not meet the eye immediately. How do our strivings for empowerment converse with our transcendental aspirations? Are there spiritual dimensions to our pursuit of knowledge?  How do we draw the line between knowledge and faith? Do we see spirituality and religious experiences as incompatible with feminist politics? 

What about knowing the Other across religious and ideological differences? Are religious boundaries insurmountable in our meeting with the Other? How do we relate to the Other across religious and spiritual boundaries? What is the meaning of silence or of speaking out in our secular encounters? Has modernity become a straightjacket for excluding spiritual and religious dimensions of understanding? How do we address the multiplicity of New-Age spiritual and bodily quests for vital connections to force/power/energy?

How do we know the “Other” when s/he belongs to a different denomination, faith, or subscribes to a different ontology? What about categorical exclusions, for instance when dealing with theoretical frameworks that are not immediately our own? Can we talk of “categorical Occidentalism/orientalisms” in our relationship to competing theories? Do we have inspiring experiences from crossing categorical/spiritual/religious boundaries?

Our questions are particularly inspired by Durre Ahmed, one of our guest speakers, who challenges our “received wisdoms” about modernity, fundamentalism and Islam. Ahmed brings in the importance of Jungian readings of myth that provide us with a multi-layered sense of self and argues against the literal in our interpretations of religion(s). Apart from the literalities of our religions we call upon critical thinking in science and modernity as faith or as dogma, our adherence to “facts”.

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We welcome creative readings of the topic that relate to your ongoing work. The summer school is directed in particular to students working or beginning to work on their doctoral theses that, broadly speaking, reflect on transnational feminisms and feminisms that cross boundaries between various kinds of feminisms.

Eligibility:

IUC courses are conducted at the postgraduate level. All postgraduate students interested in the topic may apply to participate, although the course targets young scholars and postgraduate students with special interests in women’s studies, transnational studies, postcolonialism and anthropology. The course will be limited to 25 participants (15 students) in order to provide sufficient space for discussion, seminar work and student presentations during the course. Participants should seek funds from their own institutions to cover travel and accommodation costs. Limited financial support is available for participants from Central and Eastern Europe.

Application Procedure:

A short narrative explaining your interest in the topic and your CV (please be sure to include all your current contact information at the top of your CV) should be submitted by e-mail to

Ulla.m.vuorela@uta.fi, renata@ief.hr or zenstud@zamir.net, subject: IUC Dubrovnik 2009. The deadline for paper proposals is December 15^th, 2008. We hope to have selected the participants by  the end of 2008.