Donner Symposium on Religion and Food, 25-27 June 2014 in Åbo/Turku, Finland

Posted October 19, 2013

Religion and Food

Conference website: www.abo.fi/donnersymposium/

The relationship between food and religion is a lived activity formed by the dynamics of both tradition and adaption. Religious commitments to food are influenced by several different factors, ranging from personal spirituality and experiences to social patterns of belonging as well as ethical, political and doctrinal convictions related to food and eating.

Today, this topic is receiving increasing scholarly attention and has become a relevant focus to a broad spectrum of researchers working with different religious traditions and contemporary spiritualities. The conference seeks to address the question of why and how persons of various religious and spiritual liaisons seem to engage in food and eating with a growing zeal today from a variety of different theoretical and methodological angles. Proposals are welcome on the interconnectedness of religion, food, and the following themes:

· Folkways/foodways and vernacular practices;
· Tradition, memory, and nostalgia;
· Boundaries, identity, and control;
· Symbolism, authenticity, and fluidity;
· Consumption and abstention;
· Ethics and environmentalism;
· The global, local, and glocal.

Keynote speakers:
Dr. Benjamin Zeller, Lake Forest College, Chicago
Prof. Gunnar af Hällström, Åbo Akademi University
Prof. Patricia Lysaght, University College London
Additional keynote speakers to be announced shortly, please follow our website!

Application:
Please send an abstract of approximately 200 words to the Donner Institute no later than January 31, 2014. At the conference, 20 minutes will be reserved for your lecture followed by 10 minutes for discussion.

Publication:
Selected papers from the conference will be published in volume 26 of the Donner Institute series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis. We hope that you will keep this publication option in mind while preparing your paper for the conference and kindly invite you to submit your article for peer-review after the conference.

Detailed guidelines for submitting papers will be sent to all participants upon acceptance of their papers for the conference. The publication series Scripta, initiated in 1967, is peer-reviewed and will be available as an open access publication in the Internet as well as in printed form.

Further information about the publication series:
http://www.abo.fi/forskning/scripta

Registration:
The registration fee is 200 €. The fee should be paid by April 30, 2014.
Account number: Nordea FI12 2057 1800 0200 55; BIC CODE: NDEAFIHH

Name of the account holder: Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi (Foundation of
Åbo Akademi University).

The registration fee includes lunches and coffee during the conference
as well as an excursion and a banquet organised in connection with the
symposium. Please indicate in your registration whether you wish to
participate in the excursion and the banquet. Please also indicate if
you have special dietary needs. The registration fee does not include
accommodation.

Conference Venue:
Åbo Akademi University
Asa Building
Fänriksgatan 3 / Vänrikinkatu 3
Åbo / Turku
Finland

Schedule:
31.1 2014: Submission of abstracts
14.2 2014: Letters of acceptance
30.4 2014: Payment of conference fee
25-27.6 2014: Conference
30.9 2014: Submission of articles for the conference proceedings
28.11 2014: Responses from the peer-review process
31.1 2015: Final submission
29.5 2015: Publication of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis.

Address:
Donner Institute
PO Box 70
FIN-20501 Åbo / Turku
Finland
E-mail: donner.institute@abo.fi
Tel.: +358 20 786 1450

WELCOME
Joakim Alander, Björn Dahla, Ruth Illman and Anna Nyman