[Discussion] CFP: Countering Consumerism: Religious & Secular Responses (UK) (9/30/05; 4/20/06-4/22/06)

[gpultar@cstgroup.org]

From: M.Kingston@londonmet.ac.uk

CALL FOR PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE

COUNTERING CONSUMERISM: RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR RESPONSES

20 - 22 APRIL 2006

VENUE:  GRADUATE CENTRE, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

An interdisciplinary conference linking the themes of 'Spirituality' and
'Consumerism' is being organised as the major culminating event of an ESRC/AHRB
Cultures of Consumption Phase Two research project on 'Alternative Hedonism and
the Theory and Politics of Consumption'. The project is being undertaken by
Professor Kate Soper and Dr. Lyn Thomas within the Institute for the Study of
European Transformations (ISET) at London Metropolitan University.

The conference will be of interest to academics in the following fields:
anthropology, philosophy, geography, history, religious studies, politics,
media and cultural studies, sociology of consumption and/or religion,
and/or secularity. It should also interest NGOs, charities, political parties
and pressure groups concerned with consumption, sustainability and
environmental issues; and religious and secular groups concerned with issues of
consumption and self-realisation

Jackie Ashley of The Guardian, Madeleine Bunting, author of Willing
Slaves, Colin Campbell, Professor of Sociology, York University and Professor
Ziauddin Sardar, Editor of Futures, will speak at the conference, and we are in
discussion with a number of other invited plenary speakers. We shall also
consider suitable responses to this call as potential plenary speakers.

The idea behind the Conference is to provide a forum for discussing 'alternative
hedonism' and for exploring how far resistance to
consumerism and support for sustainable development might figure as a common
ethical outlook and ground of intellectual and spiritual solidarity both across
different religious denominations and between atheists and religious believers.

In the context of the global divisions created by the 'war on terror' and the
animosities in particular that it has fuelled between Christianity and Islam,
it seems appropriate to seek for means of bridge-building.  The conference
will consider how far anti-consumerism can provide such a means, and those
submitting papers are therefore invited to explore its potential to provide a
cementing link across the secular-religious divide and within and across diverse
religious communities.  We also invite papers relating to the following themes:

· Western consumption, the puritan ethic and the growth of secular culture:
historical and contemporary perspectives
· The motivations for, and long term implications of green and ethical
consumption
· The spiritual dimensions of current forms of resistance to the consumerist
life-style
· Pleasure and the 'good life'
· Consumption, hedonism and sustainable development
· Consumption, the self and self-realisation
· Rethinking consumption:  the role of the media and cultural representation
· Critiques of consumerism and social inequalities, local, national and global

Abstracts on proposed 20 minute contributions should be no longer that 300
words, and should be sent, either by email, to us at iset@londonmet.ac.uk with
'countconsum' in the subject field, or c/o Madeleine Kingston, ISET, London
Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Rd., London N7 8DB by September 30th
2005. We plan to publish a selection of papers from the conference.

Further details are provided in the longer document attached to this email.
--
Madeleine Kingston
Administrative Manager
Institute for the Study of European Transformations (ISET)
London Metropolitan University
166-220 Holloway Road
London N7 8DB
Telephone: +44 (0)207 133 2927



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