#CFP: Decolonisation and the Study of Religion — Religion Special Issue
Religion invites contributions to a special issue on decolonisation and the study of religion, critically investigating methodological, theoretical and empirical decolonial perspectives within the field.
Background
In recent years, decolonial critique within the humanities has challenged the academic study of religion, arguing that colonial framings continue to exert influence. This usually takes the form of claiming that Eurocentrism and racism still shape theories, methods, and institutional infrastructures.
Postcolonial theories have already criticised the unequal power structures of our field, questioning the relevance of universalising culturally particular concepts (‘religion’), theories (‘evolution’, ‘secularisation’), categories (‘world religions’) and methods (textualization, neutrality ideals).
The decolonial turn builds on this critique but takes it a step further. Although decolonial approaches have not yet achieved the status of a coherent ‘theory’, a range of decolonial voices question the very rationale behind the scientific study of religion, advocating participatory intervention and activist engagement.
Questions for Contributors
Religion plans to dedicate a thematic issue to a critical investigation and discussion of the methodological, theoretical and empirical decolonial perspectives within the study of religion. Scholars within the field are invited to contribute articles addressing some of the following questions:
- What does decolonial critique offer to the study of religion? How does it differ from postcolonial critique?
- In what ways does its emphasis on race and identities (rather than on postcolonial notions of ‘culture’) reshape the field?
- How does a focus on racism, hegemony, privilege and identity politics contribute to new and more productive insights?
- How are the categories of ‘religion’/‘religious’ and ‘secular’/‘secularity’ used in debates on the decolonial critique of the study of religion?
- How could it be relevant to integrate religious/spiritual/post-secular approaches, considering that the distinction from religious positions has traditionally been one of the discipline’s key features of self-definition?
- To what extent can the decolonial principle of ‘nothing about us, without us’ be applied to research agendas in the field, given the traditional emphasis on etic and meta-level perspectives in the study of religion?
- How do scholars in the study of religion relate to ideas like participatory intervention, epistemological insiderism and activist scholarship as possible responses to decolonial critique?
The editors are looking for submissions with an empirical focus that seek to:
- Illustrate colonialism;
- Engage in decolonial critique; and/or
- Problematise decolonial perspectives.
Submissions and Key Dates
Send abstracts of 250 words to the guest editors by January 1, 2027.
- Abstract deadline: January 1, 2027
- Notification of acceptance: February 1, 2027
- Drafts of articles due: July 1, 2027
Guest Editors
- Jørn Borup: [email protected]
- Aaron W Hughes: [email protected]
## Nota Bene
Religion and Religions are two entirely separate journals.