Religion in Societies: Multidisciplinary Approaches
Le religieux dans les sociétés : approches pluridisciplinaires
Published on Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Abstract
The LLSETI (Laboratoire langages, littératures, sociétés, études transfrontalières et internationales) laboratory organizes its biennial study day dedicated to doctoral students, focusing in 2026 on “Societies and Religion.” This interdisciplinary event aims to combine approaches from literature, history, linguistics, philosophy, and social sciences to explore the multiple relationships between religion and society. Religion is considered in its diversity — institutions, beliefs, rituals, identities, relations to power, and secular forms — while also taking into account contemporary critiques of the concept itself. Proposals may address interactions between faith, society, culture, and politics, the construction of religious identities, or the ethical and moral dynamics arising from religious practice.
Announcement
Argument
The LLSETI laboratory organizes a study day every two years, inviting doctoral researchers to take part. Since 2003, the laboratory, as an interdisciplinary entity, has been dedicated to supervising research in literature, language sciences, foreign languages and civilizations, history, information and communication sciences, art, and philosophy. It thus positions itself as a plural entity, whose objective is to question the world and societies in their entirety and complexity, while taking into account all the nuances that characterize them. The aim of this study day is to bring together all these disciplines in order to address a major topic from multiple disciplinary perspectives, which lie at the heart of the laboratory’s research concerns.
For the 2026 edition, the committee has chosen to focus this reflection on societies and religion. Indeed, religions, much like language, are among the main components of social identities of the actors involved in processes of territorial appropriation and the exercise of power. Still highly relevant in today’s societal debates, religion has long been one of the most studied subjects in the humanities and social sciences, both with regard to contemporary societies and those of the past [1]. This study day, dedicated to doctoral students, aims to highlight recent research related to this theme.
The term “religion” encompasses a wide variety of phenomena. It refers both to the relationship between an individual or a group and a divinity, and to the bonds among believers through more or less structured institutions. It includes religious traditions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism, the belief systems of indigenous societies, as well as new religious movements characterized by the continuous transformation of their practices and doctrines. Moreover, it extends to the polytheistic cults of ancient — and even prehistoric — societies, highlighting the richness and diversity of religious expressions across time and space. Finally, it may also encompass forms of civic or secular religiosity that emerge in societies undergoing processes of secularization, thereby offering insights into the coexistence and interaction between the religious sphere and public life. At the same time, it is important to recall that the very concept of “religion” has been the subject of critical scrutiny, particularly within postcolonial approaches. Scholars in anthropology and the history of religions have argued that the notion of religion is rooted in a legacy profoundly shaped by Christianity, which undermines its supposed universality and biases its use in the analysis of other cultures [2]. These critical perspectives invite us to question not only religious practices and expressions themselves, but also the conceptual categories through which we apprehend them.
By examining the interactions between societies and religion, numerous avenues of inquiry can be opened. During this study day, we will address how religion can establish connections between individuals and a divine entity—or multiple deities—as well as with sacred objects, whether tangible or abstract. We will also consider the bonds uniting believers with one another, alongside more or less formal institutions such as the Church or the community. Our analysis will likewise focus on shared beliefs and dogmas, as well as on specific practices such as prayer, rituals and liturgy, or pilgrimages. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which religion contributes to the construction and expression of both individual and collective identities, sometimes in tension with other social or cultural affiliations [3]. Finally, we will explore the relationship between faith and politics—two spheres that may seem distinct yet remain central to social and cultural dynamics—while also emphasizing the essential role of freedom of expression in contemporary debates surrounding religion.
We therefore propose to open this study day to all themes related to the interactions between societies and religion. Beyond the relationship that individuals establish with one or several deities, religion also creates bonds among individuals within the very society it regulates, often intersecting or even intertwining with politics and developing its own institutions. More concretely, every belief system is accompanied by a range of objects, rituals, practices, myths, and scriptures, all of which contribute to the construction of a cultural identity. Finally, attention may also be given to systems of censorship, morality, and ethics which, derived from religious dogmas, regulate society and may ultimately evolve alongside that society.
Proposals may address societies and religious phenomena from a multidisciplinary perspective within the humanities and social sciences, including but not limited to the following topics:
- Identity and religion
- Territorial markers and religion
- New religious movements and societies
- Transformations of religious phenomena
- Civic or secular religiosity
- Religious expressions
- Religion and public life
- Bonds between individuals
- Relationships with a divine entity
- Religion and sacred objects
- The tangible or abstract nature of the sacred
- Religion and institutions
- Beliefs and dogmas
- Specific practices and liturgy
This study day may lead to a subsequent publication with the University of Savoie Mont Blanc Press.
The study day will take place at the University Savoie Mont-Blanc, Jacob-Bellecombette campus, from Thursday, April 23 to Friday, April 24, 2026.
It may lead to a subsequent publication by the University of Savoie Mont-Blanc Press (USMB Press).
Submission Guidelines
Proposals (maximum 3,000 characters including spaces), along with the speaker’s information, must be submitted by January 31, 2026 to the following address: alexandre.parent@univ-smb.fr
The study day welcomes presentations in French, Italian, English, and Spanish.
Names of Coordinators
- Apolline Troyes, doctorante en histoire médiévale
- Alexandre Parent, doctorant en histoire médiévale
Scientific Committee
- Emma Bell (Professor of English and Anglo-Saxon Languages and Literatures)
- Dominique Lagorgette (Professor of Linguistics)
- Laurent Ripart (Professor of Medieval History)
Contact
Notes
[1] O. Blin (dir.), « Pour une archéologie du fait religieux », dans Les Nouvelles de l’Archéologie, Paris : Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2020 ; R. Azria, D. Hervieu-Léger, D. Iogna-Prat (dir.), Dictionnaire des faits religieux. Paris : Presses universitaires de France, 2019 ; J.-M. Husser, Introduction à l'histoire des religions, Paris : Ellipses, 2017 ; O. Bobineau, S. Tank-Storper, Sociologie des religions. (2e édition), Paris : Armand Colin, 2012 ; C. Geertz, « La religion, sujet d'avenir », dans M. Wieviorka (ed.), Les sciences sociales en mutation, Paris : Éditions Sciences humaines, 2007 ; D. Hervieu-Léger, J.-P. Willaime, Sociologie et religions, approches classiques, Pairs : Presses Universitaires de France, 2001 ; M. Éliade, Histoire des croyances et des idées religieuses : 1. De l’âge de la pierre aux mystères d’Eleusis ; 2. De Gautama Bouddha au triomphe du christianisme ; 3. De Mahomet à l’âge des Réformes, Paris : Payot, 3 vol., 1975-1983 ; G. Le Bras, « Un programme : la géographie religieuse », dans Annales d'histoire sociale, 8, 1945.
[2] T. Asad, Genealogies of Religion, Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993 ; Id., Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2003 ; D. Dubuisson, L’Occident et la religion : Mythes, science et idéologie, Bruxelles-Paris : Éditions Complexe, 1998 ; Id., L’Invention des religions, Paris : CNRS éditions, 2020 ; P. Bourgeaud, La pensée européenne des religions, Paris : Seuil, 2021.
[3] K. Anthony Appiah, The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity: Creed, Country, Color, Class, Culture, New York: Liveright Pub Corp, 2018.
Subjects
Places
- Laboratoire LLSETI Domaine Universitaire de Jacob Bellecombette
Jacob-Bellecombette, France (73)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Saturday, January 31, 2026
Attached files
Keywords
- religion, société, identité religieuse, institution religieuse, rituel, pouvoir, politique, croyance, dogme, sécularisation, histoire des religions, nouvelle religion
Contact(s)
- Alexandre Parent
courriel : alexandre [dot] parent [at] univ-smb [dot] fr - Apolline Troyes
courriel : apolline [dot] troyes [at] univ-smb [dot] fr
Reference Urls
Information source
- Alexandre Parent
courriel : alexandre [dot] parent [at] univ-smb [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Religion in Societies: Multidisciplinary Approaches », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/14ym6
