Religion and Locality Conference

Abstract

A two-day (September 8-10, 1998) international conference, “Religion and Locality,” took place at Leeds University, organized by the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. The conference participants addressed various emerging issues related to the relationship between religion and locality, religious mapping of a locality, and the effects of globalization on local manifestations of religious practices, ideas, and movements. The first day of the conference was opened by a lengthy discussion in an agenda-setting session led by Kim Knott and Haddon Willmer (both of University of Leeds, UK). Knott and Willmer raised important theoretical questions in the study of religion and locality. They argued that locality cannot always be confined to a physically identified place, for a shared culture also constitutes a form of locality. Addressing methodological issues, Knott and Willmer stated that anthropology, sociology, geography, history, as well as religious studies can provide insightful approaches and useful theoretical perspectives to explore different aspects of religion and locality. Conference participants contributed to the agenda-setting session with a number of suggestions. For example, it was suggested that the study of concepts such as diaspora, state, and citizenship might refme approaches to minority religions, which are often seen as monolithic and as fixing belief systems. It was also suggested that new religious movements, contextual and situational factors, and sacred on the cyberspace should also be taken into consideration, as well as global and international developments, for no locality is isolated from external encounters in the information age. Following the closure of agenda setting, Michael Pye (University of Marburg, Germany) gave a paper, “Religious localization in Sacred and Secular Space.” Pye argued that religious focus and pathways are intertwined with social realities. Religious focusing takes place within a secular/ general space. Drawing upon his observations on Indian, Japanese, and ancient Egyptian religions, he drew attention to the influence of secular and ...