CASCA2014: CFP - Religion, Migration and Uncertainties

Call for papers, 2014 Annual Conference of the Canadian Anthropology
Society (CASCA)
April 30 - May 3

Proposed Panel: Religion, Migration and Uncertainties
While migration has never been so expansive in history, migrants, more
than others, are exposed to increasing uncertainty associated with the
politics and economy of their host countries, such as administrative
decisions about their legal status or employment insecurity. These
uncertainties might be addressed by migrants in their religious practice
or by religious communities that sometimes support migrants facing
precarious situations, for example, when challenging migration policies,
discrimination or exclusion. Uncertainty also allows for an affective
space of possibility, a creative realm of the miraculous and the ability
to ethically reflect on the past and present. An emphasis on the
uncertainty of migration provides a subtle yet important shift of
attention, from the problems that religious adherents share and resolve,
to how a religious life is experienced and actively expressed in the face
of such challenges and difficulties. This panel invites papers addressing
questions around migration, religion and uncertainties, for example: How
are uncertainties generated by migrants addressed and formulated in
religious settings? How does the creation of meaning around uncertainty
rely on religious practice and discourse? As uncertainty refers to a lack
of predictability, how are religious chronotopes, conceptions of history
or destiny relevant in providing a meaning for uncertain times? How does
uncertainty provide an impetus for critical stances towards migration
issues and the imagining of new ways of being?

Contact:
Dr. Girish Daswani, daswani@utsc.utoronto.ca
Dr. Jeanne Rey, jeanne.rey@utoronto.ca
Please confirm your interest by sending an email to
daswani@utsc.utoronto.ca or jeanne.rey@utoronto.ca by Thursday February
13.


Girish Daswani
Assistant Professor
Anthropology