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Call for Papers: Geographies of Religion and Spirituality

RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2016: Nexus Thinking
London, 30th August – 2nd September 2016

RGS CFPs

CFP: Geographies of Religion and Spirituality: Beyond the ‘officially’ sacred

Session Convenor(s):
Jaeyeon Choe (Bournemouth University, UK)
Michael Di Giovine (West Chester University, US)
Michael Hitchcock (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)
Michael O’ Regan (Bournemouth University, UK)

Religious spaces facilitate not only historical and traditional rituals and practices, but also social activities such as festivals, games, feasts, travel, sports as well as weddings and funerals (Chick, 1991). In greater and complex societies, religion has become secularized as religious options, personal choice and quests outweigh religious obligation (Graburn, 1983; Possamai, 2000; Turner & Turner, 1978). There has, for example, been increased participation in spiritual activities among tourists at pilgrimage sites (Timothy & Olsen, 2006). Whilst many of people at the sites are motivated by devotion, a large number of sites are shared by tourists and touristic processes. Indeed, many pilgrimage sites have often themselves become secularized (Di Giovine & Picard, 2015). Thus, the distinction between pilgrims and secular tourists has been diminishing, and “not only pilgrims not be easily separated out from secular tourists in this (post-) modern and ‘post-traditional’ age wherein sacrality is often divorced from pure religion” (D’Agostino & Vespasiano, 2000, p. 5). Pilgrims often “share many of the physical infrastructures and service providers as secular travelers…pilgrimage trails and destinations have been given new life through modern, secular tourism” (Di Giovine, 2011, p. 249). As such, pilgrims and tourists exist on a continuum of sacredness and secularity (Smith, 1992), and the distinction between tourism/pilgrimage, tourist/pilgrim, and secular/sacred is rather complex.

While there have been ongoing discussions about categorizing ‘pilgrims’ and/or ‘tourists,’ it is still challenging despite frequent attempts (Afferni, Ferrario & Mangano, 2011; Collins-Kreiner & Gatrell, 2006; Di Giovine, 2011; Poira, Butler & Airey, 2003; Sharpley, 2009). This panel session aims to recognize how religious spaces are central to the lives of pilgrims, and how these religious spaces have meanings to tourists. This panel also seeks to explore discourses on how the two groups experience, interpret, co-exist and perform religious space. Beyond the ‘officially sacred,’ this panel will explore the meanings of religious space to pilgrims and tourists so as to provide a blueprint for how work in the geography of religion and the field of religious tourism may move forward (Brace et al, 2006). We are inviting contributors with papers in the following areas (but not limited to):

– Pilgrim culture
– Pilgrimage and ritual
– Intersection of pilgrimage and heritage
– Pilgrimage and nationalism
– Popular vs. authorized pilgrimage movements
– Religious (space) tourism management
– Pilgrimage trails and destinations
– Trends/Motivations of spiritual tourists
– Conflicts between pilgrims and tourists at pilgrimage sites
– Religious/spiritual tourism and sustainability
– Religious tourism and regional development
– Future directions

Di Giovine, M., & Picard, D. (2015). The Seductions of Pilgrimage: Sacred Journeys Afar and Astray in the Western Religious Tradition, Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

Please submit abstracts to Jaeyeon Choe (jchoe@bournemouth.ac.uk) by 15th February 2016. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words and include your contact details.

Please see the following link for more details on the CFP, conference and registration details:

http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Annual+international+conference.htm

British Science Association’s Media Fellowship scheme

Applications are now open for the British Science Association’s Media Fellowship scheme.

To apply for 2016’s placements, please fill out the online application form by the 18th March at www.britishscienceassociation.org/media-fellows-applications

The Media Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for practising scientists, clinicians and engineers to spend two to six weeks working at the heart of a media outlet such as the Guardian, BBC Breakfast or the Londonist.

Every year up to ten Media Fellows are mentored by professional journalists and learn how the media operates and reports on science, how to communicate with the media and to engage the wider public with science through the media.

After their media placement Fellows attend the British Science Festival in September, which provides an opportunity to gain valuable experience working alongside a range of media organisations from all over the UK in our dedicated Press Centre. The Festival also offers opportunities to learn from a wide range of public engagement activities and network with academics, journalists and science communicators

Any queries, please e-mail mediafellows@britishscienceassociation.org

Research Publication Clinic – Face your fear!

BU Challenges, Publishing, writing

write

Does the thought of writing a research publication make you feel queasy?

Do publication targets bring you out in a cold sweat?

Are you sick of journal editors and referees?

Maybe our publication clinic can help! This event, facilitated by Professor Adrian Newton, is provided for anyone who has experienced difficulty in producing research publications or getting their manuscripts published. The idea is to provide a forum for discussing such challenges, in an informal and supportive environment. Please bring along your symptoms for diagnosis, or relevant case histories, so that we can explore potential remedies!

Title Date Time Location
Research Publication Clinic Wednesday 17 Feb 2016 12:00-13:30 Lansdowne Campus

To secure a place at this publication clinic, please email OD@bournemouth.ac.uk.

For more info, please refer to – Research Publication Clinic

Creative England – Interest free business loans now open for applications

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

creativeengland1_0

Creative England would  like to hear from creative digital companies who need anything from £50k – £200k in order to grow their business.

Eligible companies include those across content creation, games, tech and digital based in any of the English regions outside of Greater London. The interest-free loan is repaid over 3 years, and must be matched 50:50 with an alternative source of finance.

For more information please read the  FAQ’s and application guidelines.

You can also get in touch with kate.adam@creativeengland.co.uk for any further questions.

If you’re not sure if a Business Loan is quite right for the stage your company is at, then take a look at the  Equity Investment Programme, offering £40k – £100k of equity investment for digital SME’s.

FMC Cross-Departmental Seminar Series Wednesday 10 February 2016

FMC Cross-Departmental Seminar Series 2015-16

The Faculty of Media and Communication at BU  

Venue: CG17, Christchurch House, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB  

Wednesday 10 February 2016, 3pm-4pm, CG17 

Pollyanna Ruiz, University of Sussex 

Twitter, Transparency and Surveillance

Transparency is central to an understanding of the public sphere as a universally accessible arena characterised by reason, inclusivity and sincerity (Habermas, 1974). Consequently, the refusal to be seen is invariably interpreted as a threat to the principles that underpin the democratic process (Engles, 2007). However, if one experiences the public sphere not as a utopia of transparency (Johnson, 2001), but as a nightmare of surveillance and coercion then the desire to evade surveillance can be read very differently (Foucault, 1995). These dynamics are especially fraught in socio political environments in which the power relations that usually construct the relationship between the individual and the nation state are being blurred and eroded by criminal forces.

These complexities will be illustrated by a case study from Mexico in which a citizen journalist used a pseudonymous Twitter account to crowd source information about the movements of the drugs cartels in the state of Tamaulipas. Within this context Twitter can be read as a technological mask concealing the identity of multiple dissenting voices whilst also seeking recognition for the injustices being suffered by a people left unprotected by their state. As such ‘Felina’, who used a masked cat woman as her avatar, drew upon of long history of semi-folkloric figures who have used the protective qualities of the mask to speak to power (Ruiz, 2013).

However in January of this year ‘Felina’ was publically unmasked. Her Twitter account was commandeered by the cartel, her cat woman avatar was replaced by an image of her dead body and her followers were warned of retributions to follow. The brutal murder of Felina and the dissemination of threats through her social network is part of a cartel led counter offensive, which uses the fear of transparency to repress an emerging culture of sousveillance in cartel held territories. Consequently this paper will conclude by arguing that the optimism that characterised the rise of citizen journalism in oppressive regimes is being modified by the realisation that while online dynamics can be socially and politically productive, they can never disembody acts of dissent.

Bibliography

Engle, K. (2007) The face of a terrorist. Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies. Vol. 7 p.397-424.

Foucault, M. (1995) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York Vintage Books.

Habermas, J. (1974) ‘The public sphere: an encyclopaedia article’, New German Critique, Vol. 3, pp.49-55.

Johnson, J.H. (2001) Versailles, meet les Halles: masks, carnival and the French revolution. Representations, Vol. 73 pp. 89-116.

Ruiz, P. (2013) ‘Revealing Power: Masked Protest and the Blank Figure.’ The Journal of Cultural Politics. Dukes Journals.

Pollyanna Ruiz is interested in the media’s role in the construction of social and political change. Her research focuses on the ways in which protest movements bridge the gap between their own familiar but marginal spaces, and a mainstream which is suspicious at best and downright hostile at worst. In doing so, she looks at the communicative strategies of contemporary political movements, such as the anti-globalisation movement, the anti-war movement and coalitions against the cuts. Her new project Protest, Technology and the Dynamics of Intergenerational Memory extends these dynamics over time.

Pollyanna is a Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Sussex. Her recently published book Articulating Dissent; Protest and the Public Sphere examines the ways in which coalition movements access the mainstream media. 

Wednesday 10 February 2016, 4pm-5pm, CG17 

Dr Lincoln Geraghty, University of Portsmouth 

Constructing Childhood Memories: Nostalgia, Fandom and the World of LEGO Collecting

LEGO’s shift to producing product tie-ins has been supported by a very popular range of video games (eg. LEGO Star Wars) and the creation of online fan clubs aimed at both children and adults. One of them, the VIP Program, boasts a members’ only website, special offers and a point rewards system, specifically targeting grown-ups and encouraging them to collect LEGO rather than play with it, display it rather than pack it away. This convergence of popular fandom, new media, nostalgia and contemporary toy culture suggests that the lines between past and present, technology and culture, childhood and adulthood are increasingly porous. Memory is an important component of being a fan and the remediation of childhood toys like LEGO through video games, animated television shows and online communities helps to reconstruct memories of youth that are subsequently used to negotiate digital collaborative spaces shared by other fans. These spaces also serve as the means to add to and promote the often vast collections of adult collectors. In these web spaces personal memories and official histories of children’s culture are constantly negotiated and reshaped, taking on new meanings, as collections grow and collectors determine the subcultural and economic value of old and new LEGO sets. LEGO, a children’s toy originally based on the physicality of construction, has taken on new significance in contemporary media culture as it allows adult collectors/fans to reconnect with their past and define a fan identity through more ephemeral and digital interaction. Now that the LEGO “system” incorporates global franchises like Star Wars it means collectors/fans of one brand crossover to become collectors/fans of the other. The LEGO Star Wars universe develops a fandom of its own with the minifigure versions of Han Solo and Darth Vader (animated with comic effect in the video games and TV episodes) becoming just as iconic and desirable amongst collectors as the “real” toy originals. Therefore, I argue in this presentation that LEGO’s shift from educational children’s toy to transmedia adult collectible is characteristic of contemporary convergence culture. It highlights the importance of nostalgia in the influencing of what childhood media and commodities get collected but also how nostalgia acts to limit the original potentials of those remediated texts and commodities. There is an inherent conflict between how childhood texts are rebranded by producers and how fans choose to remember and negotiate those texts online. As a consequence, this presentation will also consider the reconstruction of personal and public memories of childhood in the digital sphere and assess the difficulties associated with the archiving and collecting of children’s media. 

Lincoln Geraghty is Reader in Popular Media Cultures in the School of Media and Performing Arts at the University of Portsmouth. He serves as editorial advisor for The Journal of Popular Culture, Reconstruction, Journal of Fandom Studies and Journal of Popular Television with interests in science fiction film and television, fandom, and collecting in popular culture. He was recently appointed as a Senior Editor for the new online open access journal from Taylor Francis, Cogent Arts and Humanities. He is author of Living with Star Trek: American Culture and the Star Trek Universe (IB Tauris, 2007), American Science Fiction Film and Television (Berg, 2009) and Cult Collectors: Nostalgia, Fandom and Collecting Popular Culture (Routledge, 2014). He has edited The Influence of Star Trek on Television, Film and Culture (McFarland, 2008), Channeling the Future: Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy Television (Scarecrow, 2009), The Smallville Chronicles: Critical Essays on the Television Series (Scarecrow, 2011), and, with Mark Jancovich, The Shifting Definitions of Genre: Essays on Labeling Film, Television Shows and Media (McFarland, 2008). He is currently serving as Editor for multi-volume Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood from Intellect Books (2011 & 2015), and his most recent collection, entitled Popular Media Cultures: Fans, Audiences and Paratexts, was published by Palgrave in 2015. 

About the series

This new seminar series showcases current research across different disciplines and approaches within the Faculty of Media and Communication at BU. The research seminars include invited speakers in the fields of journalism, politics, narrative studies, media, communication and marketing studies.  The aim is to celebrate the diversity of research across departments in the faculty and also generate dialogue and discussion between those areas of research. 

Contributions include speakers on behalf of 

The Centre for Politics and Media Research

The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community

Promotional Cultures & Communication Centre

Public Relations Research Centre

Narrative Research Group 

Journalism Research Group

Advances in Media Management Research Group

Working with start-ups and small businesses?

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

Technology in the hands

Innovate UK’s 5 tips to secure funding for start-ups and small businesses

Innovate UK have just launched their essential advice and tips on securing funding. Whether a start-up, small business or SME this video is worth watching. This can be found on you tube and worth bookmarking this for further advice on funding coming soon. Stay tuned, more essential selections videos will be published soon including networking, grants, pitching, business planning and more.

Click here for the video.

Check out the Innovate UK website for competitons and funding calls listed by sector.

14:live – ‘Clone Wars’: The Rise of 3D Printing and 3D Scanning and its Implications for Intellectual Property Law

Hello!

14:live will be returning on the 9th of February 14:00-14:45 at Poole House Refectory, next to Papa Johns. This is open to all staff and students and I am pleased to welcome Dinusha Mendis.

3D Printing and 3D scanning allows for replication of physical objects – which in turn raises questions relating to intellectual property (IP) laws. For example, what are the implications of modifying someone else’s Computer Aided Design (CAD) file or scanning an existing object to create a new product, thereby replicating it? What IP rights of the creator would it infringe? How much ‘modification’ is needed to create a new and non-infringing product? For businesses, IP issues could arise when replacement parts are 3D printed, perhaps through a third-party supplier. These questions demonstrate that whilst the technology has significant potential for the future it raises some very important questions relating to IP law.

This talk will explore such issues whilst also considering new business models for the protection and exploitation of IP. The talk will be based on the research carried out for a Commissioned Project for the UK Government (UK Intellectual Property Office) which was led by the Speaker and published in April 2015.

It would be great to see you all there to listen to what’s going to be a very interesting talk with Dinusha, and just to give you that little bit more incentive to come along, there will be 30 x tokens for the first 30 audience members to be exchanged for a FREE individual Papa John’s Pizza at the end of the talk, plus lots of free tea & coffee, don’t miss out! If you have any questions about this event or would like to hear about any other upcoming student engagement with research events, contact me on ocooke@bournemouth.ac.uk

Supporting you to support students: a survey

Centre for Excellence in Learning

As part of the Fair Access Research project we would like academic staff to complete this survey to help us understand how students are supported at BU. The area we are focusing on is support for students’ health and wellbeing, as this is becoming increasingly important for students and staff in universities. Your responses to the survey will help us find ways to support you in supporting students to succeed at BU.

hands

Questions of access to higher education do not end (or start) at the university gates. Widening participation involves an engagement with long and complex cycles of learning.

The Fair Access Research project seeks to understand the experiences of students from different backgrounds in order to develop practical solutions to enhance outcomes and maximise opportunities. This includes understanding how students are supported at BU.

In the words of Vincent Tinto: “Access without support is not opportunity”. If we are committed to opening up higher education, we must be committed to supporting all students to succeed across the university learning journey.

A recent survey by the NUS found that 78 per cent of students said they experienced mental health issues over the last year. More than half of the students said that they sought no support.

In a report to HEFCE by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Researching Equity, Access and Partnership (REAP) it was found that students with mental health and social/communicative impairments (such as autism) have doubled since 2008-09. These significant increases are impacting the structures of support that institutions have in place, including academic support

Living with challenging health and wellbeing needs, and not always seeking support, shapes whether or not you stay and impacts upon attainment. It re-orients (or, perhaps, disorients) your whole student experience. And that includes your interactions with academic staff.

With all this in mind, we are surveying academic staff to find out more about how they understand their role in supporting students’ health and wellbeing.

We have developed a short survey for you all to complete. It should take no more than 10 minutes to complete and we hope that it will lead us to develop ways to support you with your students:

To complete the survey click here

Please complete the survey and share with your colleagues from across the university. Your responses will help us to find ways to support you to better support your students, particularly those most in need.

If you want any more information about the survey please email Alex on awardrop@bournemouth.ac.uk

For more information about the Fair Access Research project please email the Principal Investigators, Dr Vanessa Heaslip (vheaslip@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Dr Clive Hunt (chunt@bournemouth.ac.uk)

The Research Lifecycle

If you haven’t checked out the BU Research Lifecycle yet then you most definitely should! Our Research Lifecycle diagram is a jazzy interactive part of the BU Research Blog that shows the support and initiatives that are available to staff and students at each stage of the research lifecycle. The information is general enough so as to apply to all disciplines and you can use it to organize and identify the many activities involved in your research. You can explore the Research Lifecycle to find information on how to get started with:

1. Developing your research strategy

2. Developing your proposal

3. The research process

4. Publication and dissemination

5. Impact

RKEO will be adding to the Research Lifecycle to ensure it always contains the most up to date information to support you with planning, organising and undertaking your research.

You can access the diagram from the links in this post or from the menu bar that appears on all screens in the Research Blog.

Committee inquiries: open calls for evidence

Below is a list of committee inquiries with current open calls for evidence. Please contact Emma Bambury-Whitton if you would like to discuss submitting evidence.

Commons Select Committee inquiries

Lords Select Committee inquiries

Joint Committee inquiries

Public Bill Committees

Policy Update

Monday

Transparency duty

David Cameron has announced plans to require universities to publish statistical data on admissions by gender, class and ethnic background.  

Pay gap

Data analysis by the Trades Union Congress, has shown that black graduates earn on average £14.33 an hour, compared with £18.63 earned by white graduates. Black workers ‘earning less than white colleagues’ (BBC News).

Tuesday

EU

The Telegraph has reported that Britain is heading for a June referendum on membership of the EU as it emerged that David Cameron will be offered a deal allowing the UK Parliament to block unwanted Brussels laws. Britain heading for June EU referendum as David Cameron is offered ‘red card’ to block EU laws (The Telegraph).

Wednesday

Postgraduate funding

A survey of 1,226 taught postgraduates who enrolled on science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses at 11 UK universities last year found that 41.2 per cent of students from the most affluent families said that their parents would be their main source of funding. Poorer students ‘disadvantaged’ in postgraduate funding struggle (THE).

Thursday

EU students

A number of English universities have increased their recruitment of European Union students by more than 40 per cent after the removal of controls on undergraduate places. EU students up by over 40 per cent at some English universities (THE).

Oxbridge

The Sutton Trust has said that the way students are admitted to Oxford and Cambridge universities is complex and intimidating. It is argued that Oxbridge should simplify the process to help those from schools and homes not familiar with it. Oxbridge college admissions ‘complex and intimidating’ (BBC News).

Friday

Home Office

The London School of Business and Finance that has tried to enrol international students whose visa applications were subsequently refused, has had its licence revoked.  Foreign students must leave UK as college loses licence (BBC News).

Undergraduate Research Assistantships – Summer Round – Academic Applications now live

Funding opportunities, Fusion Investment Fund

Academics are now invited to submit applications for the summer round of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) programme.

The programme is funded by the Fusion Investment Fund and aims to support undergraduates to undertake paid work under the guidance of an experienced academic in a research position that is directly related to their career path and/or academic discipline.

The summer programme is for students to work full-time (37.5 hours per week) for six weeks over the summer. This programme will have the capacity for approximately 20 placements.

Further information of the URA programme as a whole can be found here.

To apply for a URA over the summer, please complete the following application form.  Please note the closing date for applications is midnight Sunday 21st February.

If you have any questions relating to the programme, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser (KTP) on 01202 961347 or email clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN) Demonstration 23rd March 2016

CHAIN – Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online mutual support network for people working in health and social care. It gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

The online Directory can be used to identify and communicate with other members. You might wish to do this to draw from their experience, or to elicit an opinion on an issue or something you are doing. Or you might wish to find collaborators or liaise with fellow-travellers or people with specific skills or interests for a wide range of purposes. You can do this quickly and easily with CHAIN, and part of the advantage is that the people you find will usually be happy to help you if they can.

A representative from CHAIN will be visiting BU on 23rd March at 2:30pm in Wollstone Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth House (BG10) to demonstrate how to make the most of being part of the network. All staff are welcome to attend, and please pass the invitation on to your final year students who may be interested in learning more about what CHAIN has to offer.

Contact Lisa Gale-Andrews at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk to book your place.

International Women’s Day

Women's Academic Network

Please see below a programme of activity to mark International Women’s Day. The events are being undertaken in partnership with the Women’s Academic Network at BU.

Friday 4 March

lauraserrantTitle: Standing on the shoulders of giants: A career and life in health Speaker: Professor Laura Serrant PhD MA BA RGN PGCE QN Venue: BG10, Bournemouth House, Lansdowne Campus Time: 13:00-14:00

Tuesday 8 March

Title: Rising to the top: the reflections of a female chief constable Speaker: Chief Constable Debbie Simpson, Dorset Police Venue: Lees Lecture Theatre, Talbot Campus Time: 11:30-12:30 debbie simpson

All events will be held at the Talbot and Lansdowne Campuses and are open to BU students, staff and the wider community.

RKEO first drop-in session of the year

Guidance

research lifecycleAs previously posted, RKEO will be holding monthly drop-in sessions throughout 2016.  The full schedule of sessions can be found here.

The first session will be held on 24 February 2016 between 2-4pm in Bournemouth House Cafe.  Anyone can attend with any queries for RKEO. The following RKEO staff will be available for the session:

You don’t need to be from these faculties as staff will help with any queries they have and if they’re not able to answer your query then and there, they’ll ensure you receive a timely response from RKEO.  Basically, come along and have a chat. These are also great opportunities for us to gather feedback from you on the service that we deliver to you.

RKEO look forward to seeing you.