Comparative Approaches to Religion and Violence Unit
Future/s and Religious Nationalism: Creating Collective Sacred Identities
In keeping with the 2026 presidential theme FUTURE/S, CARV invites submissions for a session exploring the global rise of religious nationalist movements. Recent news headlines attest to the growing influence of religion on national policies and electoral campaigns in various countries, something confirmed by surveys from the PEW Research Center and other bodies. Clearly, “religious nationalism” (the view that a country’s historically dominant religion should be central to its identity and policymaking) is a driving force in our world, encouraging civil unrest as well as armed conflict with neighboring nations. Such developments presage a future few of us could have imagined at the beginning of the 21st century.
CARV encourages submissions that explore the phenomenon of religious nationalism from various perspectives. Submissions may examine specific examples of “religious nationalism,” compare populist movements led by charismatic figures, or highlight effects of climate change, mass immigration, etc. on such movements. Other possible themes include the place of violence in group formation, the role of narratives of grievance, the function of “race” in such narratives, and the technological mediation of religious nationalisms along with new social imaginaries.
Since the end of the Cold War, acts of religiously motivated violence have all too often become part of our quotidian existence. Scholars from various disciplines have attempted to account for these incidents, noting such issues as a resurgence of anti-colonialism, poverty and economic injustice, the failures of secular nationalism, uprooted-ness, and the loss of a homeland, and the pervasive features of globalization in its economic, political, social, and cultural forms. What are the religious narratives that help animate these violent actors? This Unit contends that the theories, methodologies, and frameworks for studying the expanding field of religion and violence remain under-explored and require interdisciplinary work and collaboration to provide greater insights into the complex issues involved. The sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, economics, and political science of religion all have provided great insights into the nature of religion and violence over the last few decades and all are arguably interdisciplinary by nature. This Unit provides a venue devoted specifically to interdisciplinary discussions of the subject. We hope to channel and enhance contributions from the historically delineated (albeit constructed) humanities, social sciences, and physical sciences. In that vein, we hope to hear papers presenting cross-disciplinary dialogue and research on the topic of religion and violence.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Flagg Miller | fmiller@ucdavis.edu | - | View |
| Ulrike Ernst-Auga, Humboldt University of… | ulrike.auga@staff.hu… | - | View |
| Steering Member | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Murphy | murphyan@umich.edu | - | View |
| Deina Abdelkader | deina_abdelkader@uml.edu | - | View |
| John M. Thompson | john.thompson@cnu.edu | - | View |
| Wendy Wiseman | wiseman@ucsb.edu | - | View |