Call For Papers JCREOR Volume 4 Issue 1

2022-09-12

What Does the United Nations Represent? Reflecting on 75 years of Conflict Resolution and the Promotion of Equity and Human Rights

The editors of McGill’s JCREOR: The Journal of the Council for Research on Religion are pleased to announce a call for papers for our forthcoming volume (Vol. 4, Issue 1). This issue takes its inspiration from the United Nations’ 75th anniversary celebrations, which took place from 2020–2021. With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN ushered in a new era – for the first time a truly global consciousness developed around the idea that all people are entitled to a set of fundamental rights, simply because of their humanity. Although the UN maintains that these rights are inalienable, human rights violations and other forms of intolerance and discrimination have continued to proliferate over the past 75 years.

This issue is dedicated to probing such transgressions upon human dignity and critically examining the measures put forth by various individuals and groups to mitigate intolerance, discrimination, and human rights abuses – papers do not need to discuss the UN specifically, although such submissions are of course welcome.

JCREOR is thus interested in submissions which explore some of the following questions:

  • What happens when issues of religious freedom come up against other rights and freedoms in secular democracies or religious states? How has the issue of religious freedom been pursued by various groups and institutions?
  • How has the tension between religious freedom, liberal democratic discourse, and varying state interests been exacerbated, problematized, addressed, and/or mitigated by the UN, States, and other national and international institutions?
  • Religious disputes have often been characterized as “ethnic” or “cultural” disputes – Does it matter how a dispute is categorized? What interests are at play in different categorizations?
  • The Holocaust was an impetus for the formation of the UN, but, since its formation, a number of genocides have occurred (Rwandan, Uyghur, etc.). How has religion figured into genocide? What has the impact of UN discourse/action on genocide been? What are the repercussions of the UN labelling something as genocide? Has this label proven to be an effective means of mobilizing international action?
  • What are some of the structural problems with the UN and/or other groups and institutions advocating for human rights and the end of various forms of systemic discrimination? What are some success stories?

This list is by no means exhaustive, and we welcome submissions that broadly address human rights and systemic discrimination in relation to ethnic/cultural/religious identities, communities, and/or beliefs. We welcome papers from all subfields in the study of religion, including: Theology; Comparative Religions; Theory and Method; Philosophy of Religion; History of Religions; Sociology of Religion; Anthropology of Religion; Psychology of Religion; Religious Ethics; Religion and Politics; Critical Race Theory; Religion and Literature; Religion and Art; Religion and Linguistics; Religion and Health; Textual Studies We welcome submissions that focus on traditions from any period or geographic area.

The submission deadline for Vol. 4 Issue 1 is May 15th, 2023. Submissions received after this date may be considered for subsequent volumes or issues. Articles should fall between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length, including footnotes. Longer items may be considered but should be discussed with the journal editors prior to submission. For detailed submission guidelines, please consult the Guidelines for Contributors on our website (https://creor-ejournal.library.mcgill.ca/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions All electronic correspondence should be sent to the editors at the following email address: amanda.rosini@mcgill.ca

JCREOR is an interdisciplinary, refereed journal published semi-annually by the McGill University Library. The journal combines the talents of professors and graduate students in offering space for scholarly discussions on various aspects of the academic study of religion (https://creor-ejournal.library.mcgill.ca/index).