Discussion Lunch

The discussion lunch is a special event at EASR 2019 during which PhD students and early career scholars will have a chance to meet distinguished scholars of religion in a more private and in-depth set up than perhaps otherwise possible during large conferences. This event is intended as a unique opportunity to give young scholars a chance to discuss their research interests and academic plans with more experienced scholars in a similar field of study.

The event will take place during regular lunchtime on the third day of the conference (June 27) at a restaurant nearby the conference venue. Each well-known scholar will meet with up to 2 young scholars for an informal conversation and lunch. The event has no additional fee. See below for the list of distinguished scholars who have agreed to participate and are happy to meet young scholars.

To participate in this event, you need to be an early career scholar who has registered to the conference and paid the registration fee. All students qualify, as do early career scholars who have already completed their PhD studies. While we do not have a strict time-limit, it should be noted that, if it is has been more than 2 years since you completed your PhD, we would require a more significant reason for your participation than in the case of students.

To apply for participation, you need to send us (1) a motivation letter of 300 words max, and (2) a short academic CV. The documents need to be in .doc, .docx or .pdf format. The motivation letter should include information about: (1) who from the list of distinguished scholars do you wish to meet?, (2) why would you like to meet him/her?, (3) which topics or questions do you hope to discuss with him/her?, (4) what do you hope to gain from this meeting? All applications should be sent to the conference email – mail@easr2019.org. The application deadline is May 20.

Below you will find the distinguished scholars of religion who have agreed to participate in this event during EASR 2019. We have added a couple of keywords after each name to indicate their main fields of research or research topics. This does not mean that they are willing to discuss only these topics or fields of research, but it does indicate that these topics are likely to be the ones they are more familiar with than others.

  • Wanda Alberts            –   Religious Education
  • Gregory D. Alles          –   Indigenous Religion in South Asia, History of the Study of Religion
  • Martin Baumann         –   Indian Religions in the West, Religious Pluralism & Diaspora
  • Zvi Bekerman              –   Anthropology of Education, Religious and Ethnic Identity
  • Marion Bowman          –   Contemporary Vernacular Religion, Pilgrimage
  • Jan N. Bremmer           –   Ancient Greek Religion, Early Christianity
  • Johannes Bronkhorst   –   Indology, Religion in Ancient India, Buddhism
  • James Cox                    –   Indigenous Religion, Phenomenology of Religion
  • Armin W. Geertz           –   Evolutionary Study of Religion, Comparative Religion
  • Timothy Insoll              –   Archaeology of Islam, Archaeology of Religion in Africa
  • Tim Jensen                   –   Religious Education, Study of Religion and the Public Sphere
  • Kim Knott                     –   Contemporary Religious Developments in Europe
  • Frank Korom                –   Religion in South Asia, Anthropology of Religion
  • Sonja Luehrmann         –   Christianity and Secularism in the Soviet Union and Russia
  • Adam Possamai           –   Sociology of Religion, Contemporary Religiosity
  • Michael Pye                  –   Japanese Religions, East Asian Buddhism, Method & Theory
  • Michael Stausberg        –   Zoroastrianism, History of the Study of Religion, Method & Theory
  • Lotte Tarkka                  –   Folklore, Oral Poetry, Kalevala
  • David Thurfjell              –   Shia Islam, Pentecostalism, Romani religiosity
  • Robert Yelle                  –   Semiotics of Religion, Religion and Political Theory