The irresistible yet unexpected diffusion at a global scale and appropriation of yoga, meditation and ascetic practices are undoubtedly key features of the changing landscape of religion at the turn of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. It comes under a variety of forms, from traditional and community-based ritualized practices to individualized and secularized techniques of well-being. This special issue aims at mapping the empirical forms of yoga, meditation and introspective techniques expanding worldwide; exploring new conceptual and methodological discussions in sociologyof religions; questioning the possibility to circumscribe a specific subfield in the sociology of religions, devoted to  modern Asian-inspired ascetic practices.

Argument

The irresistible yet unexpected diffusion at a global scale and appropriation of yoga, meditation and asceticpractices are undoubtedly key features of the changinglandscape of religion at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. It comes under a variety of forms, from traditional and community-based ritualized practices to individualized and secularized techniques of well-being.These techniques have infused  alternative religiosities and mainstream religions, beyond all geographic,social and cultural boundaries, and affected them more or less deeply. The ascetic techniques defunitely lie in the heart of the “spiritual revolution” described by Heelas and Woodhead in the mid-2000s, and the “spiritual turn”operating in religious studies in parallel.For the moment, research devoted to yoga, meditation,and introspective bodily techniques have mainly been conducted in the domain of psychology and mind sciences, history and cultural areas. Sociological  approaches remain scarce and disseminated. Yet, sinceWeber’s pioneering works, asceticism is far from being unknown in sociology. This special issue aims at mapping the empirical forms of yoga, meditation and introspective techniques expanding worldwide; exploring new conceptual and methodological discussions in sociologyof religions; questioning the possibility to circumscribe a specific subfield in the sociology of religions, devoted to  modern Asian-inspired ascetic practices.

Main topics

Topics might include, but are by no means limited to:

•  the role of new technologies in the diffusion and transformation of yoga and meditation
•  the impacts of meditative and introspective techniques on representations and uses of the body in modernity
•  the role of orientalism and eastern imagination in the transformation of religious practices,beliefs, and religious systems
•  sociological variations among users (class, gender, regions, cultural backgrounds ...)
•  moral and symbolic economies of well-being and spirituality in relation to ascetic techniques
•  impacts on the conception of religion, adherence, commitment and other dimensions of religious life
•  transformations of broader sociological theories

Submission guidelines

Please send proposals (400 words) and a brief bio to Lionel Obadia (lionel.obadia@univ-lyon2.fr)

• Deadline Submission of proposals: June 30, 2021

• Deadline Notication of acceptance: September 30, 2021
• Deadline completed manuscripts (7,000 words): April 30, 2022

Issue editors

• Lionel Obadia (University of Lyon 2)
• Enzo Pace (University of Padova)

Editors

Enzo Pace, Luigi Berzano and Giuseppe Giordan

Editorial Board

Peter Beyer (University of Ottawa), Anthony Blasi (Tennessee State University), Olga Breskaya (University of Padova), Roberto Cipriani (Università di Roma Tre), Xavier Costa (Universidad de Valencia), Franco Garelli (Università di Torino) Gustavo Guizzardi (Università di Padova), Dick Houtman (Erasmus University, Rotterdam), Solange Lefebvre (Université de Montréal), Patrick Michel (CNRS, Paris), Ari Pedro Oro (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), Adam Possamai (University of Western Sydney), Ole Riis (Agder University), Susumu Shimazono (University of Tokyo), William H. Swatos, Jr. (Augustana College), Jean-Paul Willaime (EPHE, Sorbonne), Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (University of Leipzig), Linda Woodhead (Lancaster University), Fenggang Yang (Purdue University) and Sinisa Zrinscak (University of Zagreb)