4th international STCS conference

COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES: ISLAM, CONFUCIANISM AND BUDDHISM
organized by the Department of Asian and African Studies, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana University
Date: December 11th – 13th 2015
Venue: Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana


CALL FOR PAPERS


The aim of the STCS (Specific Topics in Chinese Studies) conferences, organized by the Department of Asian studies at Ljubljana University, is to encourage and advance the study of specific topics related to China and Asia through knowledge and information flow across disciplinary lines, and to strive to create and maintain a multidisciplinary platform for a fruitful exchange of ideas on different types, images, and categories of Chinese and Asian cultures.
The 2015 conference is dedicated to comparisons and dialogues between three major Asian religions and/or philosophies, namely Islam, Confucianism and Buddhism. Our main motives for organizing this event are:

• The growing international relevance of these three discourses, which is linked to the raise of new superpowers and to the global redistribution of political and economic power in contemporary societies;
• The importance of various revivals of Asian traditions, connected with the emergence of new forms of spirituality;
• The significance of Islam, Confucianism and Buddhism for cultural and ideational flows, borrowings and exchanges in contemporary societies;
• The urgent need for historical reflections and reinterpretations of these ideational systems in the light of contemporary concerns;
• The importance of exchanges and mutual influences between different religious practices (ceremonies, rituals, contemplative techniques, etc.).

In the last few years, scholars involved in Asian studies have paid increasing attention to different developmental patterns and the underlying causes in these research fields. Therefore, the main goals of the conference are:

• to initiate a dialog between scholars from different disciplines and offer a platform for the presentation and discussion of recent academic contributions to, and elaborations of, the theory and practice of these important religious and philosophical traditions;
• to highlight the significance of Islam, Confucianism and Buddhism in the making of contemporary Asian cultures and ideologies;
• to revise recent historical approaches in related topics that have been prevalent in the study and research of these fields;
• to improve and elaborate the existing theories, interpretation patterns and methods of investigation regarding classical religious discourses;
• to create new common methodological grounds for researching Islam, Confucianism, Buddhism and related cultures;
• to form new research approaches and joint methodologies in contemporary and future Asian studies.

In order to facilitate a fruitful academic dialogue between scholars and students of different research fields, we particularly (but not exclusively) welcome papers with a focus on the following aspects of one or more of the three traditions:

• Philosophical concepts and issues
• Political and ideological applications/appropriations
• Moral–ethical systems of human as well as human – non-human relationships
• Gender ideologies and practices
• Conceptions of social justice
• Religious practices and techniques
• Rituality
• Comparative religious studies
• Relations between philosophy, religion and ideology

We invite proposals for panels, round table discussions, and papers addressing the outlined conference theme. Submissions from all disciplines within Asian studies are welcome.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to maja.veselic@ff.uni-lj.si by 25 August 25 2015. They should include the author's name, academic qualification, institutional affiliation, position, contact information – address, telephone number, e-mail.
Scholars who will submit their proposals by this deadline will be notified of their acceptance before 1 October 2015. The official language of the conference is English.
The organizers of the conference will publish a selection of the conference papers in a special issue of our academic journal Asian Studies.
The conference fee which includes materials for the conference, a welcome reception, the banquet dinner and coffee break refreshments is 60 Euro (30 Euro for PhD Students). This fee is to be paid on the day of registration.
If you have any further questions please write to tea.sernelj@ff.uni-lj.si
Organizational committee:
Prof. Dr. Jana S. Rošker
Dr. Maja Veselič
Assit. Prof. Dr. Sebastjan Vörös
Téa Sernelj