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 ...