The Central and Eastern European
Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS) is pleased to invite you to the
conference
Green pastures? Human Mobility and
Christian Communities in Central and Eastern Europe
After the fall of the Communist system,
migration experiences in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) intensified and
diversified. During Communist times emigration existed in forms of political
asylum-seeking or through creative ways to reach the so-called West. Also
exchange studentships to befriended countries were some of the variations of
migration. While the opening of the political borders after the “changes” in
1989/1990 did generate migration from CEE to mainly Western Europe and North
America, migration to CEE through people such as missionaries, international
investors, tourists, small entrepreneurs, labor migration, students,
professionals had a significant impact on community formation. Typical to these
migrations was that it included people from all over the world, from west and
north and east and south. Since most of the post-communist countries did not
have well-developed migration policies, CEE became an intently diverse field
where people of all sorts with a variety of aspirations arrived and left. The
“Yugoslav Wars” challenged some of the Balkan countries to experiment with
asylum-seeking and refugee services.
Another significant event regarding
migration experiences in CEE was the enlargement of the European Union with
new, former communist member states. This resulted in substantial labor
migration from CEE to Western Europe, especially from Poland, Romania, and
Bulgaria, but now also from Hungary and other countries. The consequences of
the “Arab Spring”, especially the complex wars in Syria, intensified the refugee
question. Next to the cross-border migrations, domestic migration further
complicates the processes of transformations in CEE societies. Also the
fragility of the internal political situation in a number of CEE countries -
with growing right wing tendencies targeting the “foreigner” (read e.g. Roma
people, Muslims, and Arab) in their rhetoric -
add to these complexities. Discussions about and responses with
immediate action programs (like e.g. building fences etc.) to certain phenomena
generated by migration, became part of the daily life at all levels of
societies.
Christian communities, churches and other
faith communities are part of the above described societies and migration
experiences. In their daily service they encounter situations which demand
grounded theological-missiological answers, because after all, migration
experiences are about human lives and changes in human lives and societies.
Missiologists, theologians, and reflective practitioners are challenged to
theologicallymissiologically reflect on questions about human mobility in this
region and their relation to the larger worldwide processes, in order to
adequately assist the work of churches, ministers, pastors, and above all
church members to find contextually relevant answers. In order to address the issue of human
mobility, one needs to dig deeper: it is not sufficient to create Christian
discourses about migration by collecting proof verses from the Bible which talk
about people on the move, and about the position of strangers. Digging deeper
asks for self-reflection: what is going on in Christian communities in terms of
migration? What do Christians in this part of the world believe about different
aspects of migration and why do they do so? What are the most striking aspects
of migration which need theological attention?
Call for papers:
While intently taking
their point of departure in an open attitude of enquiry and invitation for
in-depth discussions, the organizers of the conference call for papers related
to, but not limited to, the following issues:
- Case studies which contextually explore
the relationship between mission praxis and migration
- Churches involvement in
issues of human mobility
- Missionary presence and migration
- Missiological
assessments of missionary work among people labeled as (“illegal”) migrants,
refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, labor migrants, entrepreneurs,
international students and professionals
- Case studies of churches emerged in
strong relationship with migration: e.g. Romanian speaking churches in Western
Europe or/and Vietnamese speaking churches in CEE.
- Missionaries as migrants - Communities left
behind: case studies related to communities from which large number of people
left or temporarily work abroad.
- The
issue of diaspora
- Exclusion, inclusion, racism, xenophobia, politics of the
fear and image-formation
- Human
mobility and new communities/ community formation
- Inter-faith dynamics
influenced by migration
- Exploring fresh ways of theologizing on migration
-
When more is less and less might become more: in search for a better life and
the issue of human relationships
For submitting a paper proposal, please
send an abstract of no more than 300 words to ceeams@gmail.com by 20th of March
2016. Abstracts should provide a brief description of the work, clearly
outlining the theoretical perspectives and methodology to be applied in the
paper.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by
27th of March, 2016.
Selected papers may be published in ACTA
MISSIOLOGIAE, the journal of the Central and Eastern European Association for
Mission Studies.
Conference papers should be restricted to
20 minutes of presentation time.
Date of the conference:
Arrivals 10 May 2016, conference starts in
the afternoon. Departure 13 May after
lunch.
Conference Venue:
Evangelical Theological Seminary Cvjetkova
32, PO Box 370, Osijek, Croatia, HR-31103
Tel: 385-31-494-200 // Fax: 385-31-494-201
// Email: info@evtos.hr
Language of the conference:
English
Registration fee:
EUR 25
Registration deadline:
15 April 2016
Accommodation:
Accommodation in one-person
bedroom, meals, and coffee break drinks and snack: EUR 155 Accommodation in shared (two persons)
bedroom, meals, and coffee break drinks and snack: EUR 115
Scholarships:
Participants, especially
those whose abstract will be accepted, may apply for partial or full coverage
of the conference costs. Travel expenses cannot be reimbursed. Exceptions to
the rules will be considered.
Please register as soon as possible using
the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mUPrOcyP6zH0NOphUbvKe9I6AIfwAI9Qv8IPyP0HUU/viewform?usp=send_form
Organizers:
Pavol Bargár
Scott Klingsmith
Anne-Marie Kool
Valentin Kozhuharov
Dorottya Nagy
Peter Penner
Ivan Rusyn
Vladimir Ubeivolc
Ruslan Zagidulin
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