Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney UNI

*You are all very welcome to the next Religion and Society Research Cluster's online seminar!*

Details:

Title: “The Abject and Ecological Enchantment: Disgust, Discomfort and Disappointment in Urban Environmental Initiatives” presented by Rosemary Hancock (University of Notre Dame Australia)

Date: Wed, 18th June 2025
Time: 12pm - 1pm AEST
Venue: Online Zoom
RSVP: Before COB 16th June 2025
https://events.humanitix.com/the-abject-and-ecological-enchantment-disgust-discomfort-and-disappointment-in-urban-environmental-initiatives

The Abject and Ecological Enchantment: Disgust, Discomfort and Disappointment in Urban Environmental Initiatives

Much existing research on the significance of environmental politics on the one hand, and nature on the other, for spiritual and/or nonreligious meaning-making has emphasised the positive aesthetic and affective value of both experiences of nature and of being-in-community with others in political action. However, scholars such as Jane Bennett and Franklin Ginn have argued that negative aesthetic and affective experiences – in nature, and in political action – also deserve attention. This paper is based on a 12-month ethnography with community gardens and bush regeneration groups in inner Sydney, Australia. It explores the role of disgust and discomfort in the cultivation of meaning and environmental commitments, focusing upon the gardening and micropolitical practices undertaken in decidedly unpleasant, non-aesthetic urban spaces. The groups are religiously diverse – with some participants who are affiliated with a range of conventional religious groups, some who identify with a variety of spiritual beliefs, and many who are either atheists or show no interest in religion. I argue that through careful, ongoing engagements with nature – including experiences of abjection recounted in this paper – the participants cultivate a political culture that both transcends their religious diversity and nurtures the development of environmental subjectivities amongst the gardeners. The paper explores the importance of less-than-enchanting relationships for ethics: considering how negative experiences with un-aesthetic or unwanted non-human nature shape political ecologies.

Rosemary Hancock is a sociologist of religion at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where she is convener of the Religion, Culture and Society research focus area in the Institute for Ethics and Society, and Academic Lead for Graduate Research. She is the Co-Editor of the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, Co-Area Editor for Oceania for the Religious Studies Review, and Co-host of the sociology podcast Uncommon Sense. In April 2026 she will begin a 12-month Humboldt Research Fellowship at the University of Leipzig.

Hope to see you there!

Dear Colleagues,

The next seminar in our Religion and Society online seminar series is on the 24th of July at 12pm (Sydney time).

Prof Doug Ezzy (UTAS) will present the paper "Christians and LGBTQ+: discrimination and discourses of religious freedoms.". More details are in the flyer attached.

Please register ASAP. I hope you can make it!

https://events.humanitix.com/christians-and-lgbtq-discrimination-and-discourses-of-religious-freedom-doug-ezzy-utas

The next Religion and Society online seminar is by Dr Michael Edwards (Anthropology, Sydney University). Register online by the 13th of June to get your zoom link. 👇👩‍💻🧑‍💻
https://events.humanitix.com/wheels-turning-engaged-buddhism-anthropological-solidarity-and-a-return-to-the-1990s-michael-edwards-usyd

If you missed Prof Cristina Rocha and Dr Kathleen Openshaw's talk about the complicated nature of Christianity and trust among African Diasporas in Australia check out recording below 👇

2024 Upcoming Events - Religion and Society Research Cluster | Western Sydney University

The School of Social Sciences, Religion and Society Research proudly presents:

Public Lecture Presented by Professor James L. Cox
Indigenous Religions as Minority Religions: Power, Adaptation and Agency
DATE: 21st March 2024
TIME: 10am - 12pm
VENUE: Western Sydney University - Liverpool Campus
Level 9, Conference Room 1 (LP-03.9.01)
100 Macquarie Street, Liverpool NSW 2170

Please register your attendance by clicking on the link below:
https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/western/public-lecture-presented-by-james-l-cox

We have a new website for our ARC Discovery Project on the African diaspora in Australia and Christianity! 🥳 Learn more about the project and find out about our events, publications, and more. 👇

The African Diaspora and Christianity in Australia: - Religion and Society Research Cluster | Western Sydney University In the past two decades, Australia has received a growing number of people from the African continent. Funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (2019-2023), this project explores the role of Christianity in the lives of African migrants and refugees in Australia. It seeks to unders...

Our webinar 'Religion, Crisis and Disaster,' with talks by Birgit Meyer, Simon Coleman, Ramon Sarro, David Gellner, Katrien Pype, Martijn Oosterbaan, and our own is now live! 🥳 🎬🎥 Just scroll down this page to find recordings. 👇

Events and Publications - Religion and Society Research Cluster | Western Sydney University Convened by Richard Vokes and Cristina Rocha, February 24 – April 28. World-renowned academics invited to present on the role of religion during crises and disasters. Supported by the University of Western Australia & Western Sydney University.  (Programme below)

Our webinar 'Religion, Crisis and Disaster,' with talks by Birgit Meyer, Simon Coleman, Ramon Sarro, David Gellner, Katrien Pype, Martijn Oosterbaan, and our own is now live! 🥳 🎬🎥 You can find all recordings on our website for our ARC project on the African diaspora in Australia and Christianity. Just scroll down this page to the end. 👇 Please share widely.

Events and Publications - Religion and Society Research Cluster | Western Sydney University Convened by Richard Vokes and Cristina Rocha, February 24 – April 28. World-renowned academics invited to present on the role of religion during crises and disasters. Supported by the University of Western Australia & Western Sydney University.  (Programme below)

📌Call for Abstracts

Cristina Rocha and Kathleen Openshaw are convening the panel “Faith in Times of Crisis: Religion, Spirituality and Faith-Based Organisations as Life Supports” @ ( Deakin Uni 23-26 Nov). This panel explores the how religion, spirituality and faith-based organisations may provide spiritual, social and material life supports during crises and disasters.

Long abstract Vita01 👇🏼 https://aasconf.org/2022/programme #11813

Join Prof Cristina Rocha, Dr Kathleen Openshaw and their colleague Dr Emily Perini as they chat about their work in the special issue "New Perspectives on the Globalization of the Brazilian Religious Field" edited by Cristina Rocha and Cristina Maria De Castro https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/scpa/68/2

Webinar Special Issue – Social Compass
Date: 03/12/2021
Hour: *8pm Sydney time*
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYodu-vpj0oGtVOPwIHXPhx3mZi8k7c6GM-

Introduction: Cristina Rocha (Western Sydney University)

Participating Authors:
Emily Perini (Sapienza University of Rome)
- Transnational mediumship and the development of a transhistorical self in the Vale do Amanhecer https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211010685

Kathleen Openshaw (Western Sydney University)
- The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Australia: A church of non-Brazilian migrants https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211001028

Abstract:
In the past decade there has been a burgeoning scholarship on the global circulation of Brazilian religions. To a lesser extent, researchers have focussed on the arrival of religions in Brazil. Here we build on this previous scholarship that decentres Europe and the US as the places from where flows of religion and culture depart toward the rest of the world. We focus on Brazil as a gateway from which religions have arrived, originated and departed. In other words, we are interested in the global circulation of religions taking Brazil as a setting for the reception and sprouting of new religious shoots, noting that these twin processes are in constant flux and are interrelated. Importantly, the articles in this issue place the study of flows in conversation with the agency of those who adopt and recreate religious rituals, practices, cosmologies and materialities to create a sense of belonging locally and elsewhere. Furthermore, it is important to bear in mind that no culture is pure, pristine or atomised. What we call ‘Brazilian religions’ are the product of previous cultural encounters, and as they travel, they become something else yet again. As such, this special issue aims to further two important scholarly literatures. First, it focuses on the ways in which Brazilian religions travel and settle globally, and also on how the Brazilian religious field has been enriched and made more complex by the arrival of new religious cultures. Second, it aims to analyse the impact of digital media on these twin processes. We pay special attention to the circulation of religion via new waves of human mobility, materialities, images, imaginaries and media.

Social Compass - Volume 68, Number 2, Jun 01, 2021 Table of contents for Social Compass, 68, 2, Jun 01, 2021

School of Social Sciences Summer Scholarship Research Program 2021

Ramadan: Devotion, Compassion, and Purification

Ramadan which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar is one of the five pillars of Islam, and seen as an obligation upon all Muslims who are in good health. Considered as the holiest month of the year, during which time many Muslims across the world fast from sunrise to sunset – no food or drink for the whole day- Ramadan should be considered as a time for self-examination, increased religious devotion and a chance to broaden one’s compassion for the less fortunate. Through this temporary deprivation, Muslims renew their awareness of and gratitude for everything God has provided in their lives.

Project Aims

• To better understand the Interplay between the faith (Islam / Ramadan) and food culture
• To understand the role of Islam / Ramadan in the creation of culinary arts and crafts
• The importance of Immigrant family stories about Ramadan (oral history & Ramadan in Diaspora)
• To determine the role that digital devices and related apps play in practicing Ramadan (smartphones & Ramadan)

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