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EASR plenary panel

The future of the EASR in and out of Europe: 25th anniversary panel discussion

How should the European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR) engage with Europe’s past, present and future relationship with global issues in and beyond its borders, and with scholars and scholarship ‘out of Europe’?

Affiliated to the IAHR, the EASR is a regional association which brings together European national associations for the study of religions, their members and like-minded individuals. Its objective is simple: ‘to promote the academic study of religions through the international collaboration of scholars normally resident in Europe whose research has a bearing on the subject’ (EASR). Organised around this pragmatic and demographic objective, the EASR has stipulated neither the study of religions in Europe nor a European perspective on methodological or theoretical questions, leaving the field open to the widest possible range of interests and approaches. Nevertheless, it is beholden on the EASR and its member bodies to reflect critically upon their own geopolitical location, scholarly history, and wider relationships. This panel discussion provides an opportunity to discuss the following questions.

  • How can European scholars engage effectively with global issues related to the study of religions, and what challenges do they face in doing so?
  • In a Europe shaped by histories of empire, colonialism and other entanglements, is it possible for scholars of religion to rethink the conceptualisation of ‘Europe’ and the categorisation and study of religions and religious phenomena within it?
  • In what ways can the EASR play a role in promoting greater diversity and representation in the study of religions?
  • How can the EASR be enriched by engagement with scholars and scholarship in Europe’s regions and beyond Europe’s borders, and what are the consequences and benefits of such engagements?

Speakers:

Milda Ališauskienė (Vytautas Magnus University)

Rosalind Hackett (University of Tennessee)

Joram Tarusarira (University of Groningen)