Call for Papers
International conference of the PARI Project:
The Role of Religion in Roma Social Inclusion: past and present
March 13-15th, 2024, Sibiu (Romania)
The PARI project team is organizing a scientific conference on the role of religion and religious actors in the question of social inclusion of Roma. The aim of the conference is to provide a framework for discussions and critical reflections among international researchers, academics, civil society and government representatives on the topic. The language of the conference is English with simultaneous translations provided for Romanian speakers.
We encourage contributions from different disciplines in social sciences and humanities, like history, sociology, religious studies, social work, anthropology, Romani studies. The call for papers is aimed for Roma and non-Roma scholars and practitioners, junior and senior researchers, PhD students whose subjects of research and interest touches one of the following issues:
- Relations between religious denominations and Roma in the past;
- Religious actors and their (actual or lacking of) contribution to the participation of Roma in all parts of society;
- Participatory approaches in working in/with Roma communities, especially in the context of faith-based actors;
- The religiosity of Roma and the question of its empowering potential;
- The affiliation of Roma to religious institutions between exclusion and inclusion;
- Changes in the religious affiliation of Roma and its influences on social inclusion;
We particularly encourage the participation of researchers with a Roma background. For authors of accepted papers, the costs of accommodation and meals during the conference will be covered by the project. Upon request, especially in cases where the authors’ institutions do not cover travel expenses, the project can reimburse these costs. There is no participation fee for the conference.
The application for participation with a paper should be sent to the following address: conference@participatory.ro, together with an abstract of maximum 200 words. Deadline: January 31st 2024. Feedback will be given until 12th February.
The PARI project
The PARI project (2021-2024) aims to initiate, stimulate and sustain Romanian and Norwegian research on the social inclusion of the Roma with focus on the (potential) role of religion and religious actors for the in/exclusion of Roma people. The research is conducted by the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu and VID Specialized University Oslo with funding from the Norway Grants 2014-2021. The project is implemented through UEFISCDI, under Project contract no. 38/2021.
PARI is an interdisciplinary research project at the intersection of history, sociology and theology, with an overarching concern for participatory approaches, reflected in research questions and methodology:
The historical research seeks to understand how religious denominations in Romania and their institutions and religious practices contributed to the in/exclusion of Roma. It did that by examining different phases of the last three hundred years: the period of slavery and its abolition, the search for civic emancipation in the interwar period, the assimilation during the communist period and the rebirth of Roma movement after 1989.
The sociological empirical study combines qualitative research in Romania and Norway on the role of religion and different religious actors on Roma wellbeing and everyday life. In addition, a series of workshops held in Romania have aimed to develop small local initiatives that are promoting social cohesion, and to debate on the best practices of inclusion through religion.
Theological questions have inspired the study in direct conversation with the empirical data. Religious attitudes, beliefs and traditions play an important role in Romanian society, on both a structural and an individual level. These traditions can be beneficial or detrimental to the participation of Roma in the life of the churches and in society.
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