Assessing the study of religious change in Central-Eastern Europe

The project aims at strengthening cooperation between scholars of religion of the V4, to provide more visibility for topical research in this area of studies and to foster social dialogue on religious change in the region. Social scientific research networks are weak and are mostly initiated by funding sources located beyond the region. By empowering local institutions, enriching scholarly knowledge and its dissemination to non-academic publics, the project aims at reversing the hierarchies of knowledge transmission and contributing to the better understanding religious processes in the V4.

University of Pardubice, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy 

MTA-SZTE Convivence Religious Pluralism Research Group 

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences 

Slovak Association of Social Anthropology 

A one-day online research meeting bringing the partners together. It is conceived as a research meeting on the topic of religious change in the V4 countries and Central-Eastern Europe. The Polish partners will oversee the organization of the online event.

A hybrid two-day workshop in Bratislava with the involvement of students and a student-run NGO (Slovenská asociácia sociálnej antropólogie, ASA), enabling an encounter between senior and junior researchers. By doing so we will offer the young generation of future scholars a possibility to present fresh data from their research. At the same time students will gain an access to the expert knowledge, establish their own connections that may secure their future interest in their field of study and institutional as well as individual networks.

Assessing the study of religious change in Central-Eastern Europe Conference of the eponymous Visegrad Fund project hosted by Charles University in Prague

Prague – September 21-23, 2023
Hotel Olšanka, Táboritská 23/1000,
Praha 3, 13000

This conference aims at understanding the conditions and the implications of the differences in knowledge production in the social scientific study of religious change in Central-Eastern Europe, arising from the socio-historical specificities of the region. It attempts to assess the hierarchies of knowledge involved in this field of research from two perspectives. On the one hand, we wish to examine the epistemological, conceptual, and methodological factors underlying the divergent
approaches to and understandings of recent religious phenomena in Central-Eastern European and in Western academic institutions. On the other hand, we wish to explore the intellectual trajectories that guide scholars of religion in their conceptual and methodological choices.

We cordially invite students to listen to our distinguished speakers!

* Presentation of Michal Buchowski

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Title: Persistent Hierarchies and Unavoidable Dilemmas in Anthropological Practices

Description: Michał Buchowski, a distingushed scholar from Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Europe-University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, talks about hierarchies of knowledge in social scientific research in Central- Eastern Europe.Keynote speech for the conference "Assessing the study of religious change in Central- Eastern Europe", conference of the eponymous Visegrad Fund project hosted by Institute of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague.What are the conditions and the implications of the differences in knowledge production in social sciences in Central-Eastern Europe? Is a multi-directional flow of ideas between East and West possible?

Název: Přetrvávající hierarchie a nevyhnutelná dilemata v antropologické praxi

Popis: Antropologická témata a jejich dopady v antropologii: Michał Buchowski, uznávaný vědecký pracovník Ústavu antropologie a etnologie Univerzity Adama Mickiewicze v Poznani a Evropské univerzity Viadrina ve Frankfurtu nad Odrou, hovoří o hierarchiíchvědění ve společenskovědním výzkumu ve středovýchodní Evropě.

Hlavní přednáška na konferenci "Assessing the study of religious change in Central-Eastern Europe", konferenci stejnojmenného projektu Visegrádského fondu, kterou pořádá Institut sociálních studií Fakulty sociálních věd Univerzity Karlovy v Praze.

Jaké jsou podmínky a důsledky rozdílů v produkci znalostí ve společenských vědách ve středovýchodní Evropě? Je možný vícesměrný myšlenkový tok mezi Východem a Západem?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTgbuas2Gok&t=92s

* Podcast from the conference

(for Czech scroll down)

Michał Buchowski, a distingushed scholar from Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Europe-University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, discusses the issue of hierarchies of knowledge in social scientific research in Central-Eastern Europe with Zuzana Bártová, Agata Ładykowska and Viola Teisenhoffer (ISS/FSS, Charles University). 

A podcast produced in the frame of the Visegrad Fund project "Assessing the study of religious change in Central-Eastern Europe" hosted by Institute of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague.

Michał Buchowski, uznávaný vědecký pracovník z Ústavu antropologie a etnologie Univerzity Adama Mickiewicze v Poznani a Evropské univerzity Viadrina ve Frankfurtu nad Odrou, diskutuje se Zuzanou Bártovou, Agatou Ładykowskou a Violou Teisenhoffer (ISS/FSS, Univerzita Karlova) o problematice hierarchie znalostí ve společenskovědním výzkumu ve středovýchodní Evropě. 

Podcast vzniklý v rámci projektu Visegrádského fondu "Assessing the study of religious change in Central-Eastern Europe", jehož hostitelem je Institut sociálních studií Fakulty sociálních věd Univerzity Karlovy v Praze.

Reference texts/Bibliografické odkazy:

Buchowski, Michał. 2004. "Hierarchies of Knowledge in Central-Eastern European Anthropology." Anthropology of East Europe Review 22 (2): 5–14.

Buchowski, Michał. 2012. "Intricate Relations between Western Anthropologists and Eastern Ethnologists." Focaal 2012 (63): 20–38.

Chari, Sharad and Verdery, Katherine. 2009. "Thinking between the posts: Postcolonialism, postsocialism, and ethnography after the Cold War." Comparative studies in society and history, 2009, 51 (1): 6-34.

Hann, Chris. 2005. “Correspondence: Reply to Michał Buchowski.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 23(1): 194–197.

Pasieka, Agnieszka. 2014. ‘Local Scholars, Global Experts: from a Native’s Point of View.’ Cargo Journal 12(1-2): 51-62.

Transkription of the podcast EN version

Transkription of the podcast CZ version

Transkription of the podcast POLISH version

Transkription of the podcast HU version