Confronting Gender Polarity and Nationalism

We have to announce that the conference will be online only. The one day digital conference will take place on August 26. The information will be updated soon.

Interdisciplinary conference on Feminist Theologies, Religion and Sustainable Democracy in the  Nordic countries and Europe. 

August 25 - 28, 2022  Oslo, Norway

Conference theme

Europe and the Nordic countries are experiencing a reemergence of polarizing discourses. As this conference will critically discuss, the ideologies that fuel these discourses often reference conservative Christian or Neopagan faith traditions for legitimation, thus linking religion with the growing far-right movements. Central to the movements is a new acceptance for polarized and racialized gender discourse. Male supremacy and the patriarchal family are reclaimed as foundational to both church and nation, thus putting the rights of women, queer and non-white people under new pressure. New analytics have evolved where climate change is denied, populist conspiracy theories accepted, civic polarities endorsed, and Anti-Islam and Anti-Semitism are revived. The reentry of these 'new-old' discourses was made visible to the Norwegian and Nordic publics with the brutal July 22 terrorist attacks on Oslo and Utøya in 2011, which still represent a main case for comparative analysis. The desire for a new cultural war reaches from the US to Eastern Europe, and the war on Ukraine warns of its dangers. When core understandings and respect of human rights are challenged, so is sustainable democracy. 

The conference is hosted by the research group "Lived Religion" at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo and the European Society of Women in Theological Research (ESWTR). ESWTR is a network of women involved in academic research in the areas of theology and religious studies. The Society hosts a European conference every two years to discuss relevant feminist topics in these fields. 

Program

Detailed information on the conference program for each day of the conference. 

You can also read about the conference sessions and design.

See the full program

Online registration

The conference is now open for registration. 
 

Early bird deadline: May 10, 2022

Final deadline: July 28, 2022 

Go to registration and payment

Call for paper and workshop proposals

We call on paper and workshop proposals to address the conference topics from scholars, researchers, phd and graduate level students, ministers, artists, practitioners and activist.

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