<html dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style type="text/css" id="owaParaStyle"></style>
</head>
<body fpstyle="1" ocsi="0">
<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Call for Papers<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Sorcery & Witchcraft-Related Killings in Melanesia: Culture, Law &Human Rights Perspectives</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br>
</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Conference & Workshop<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">5-7 June 2013 (TBC), Australian National University, Canberra.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br>
</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2">It has been widely believed that sorcery and witchcraft declines with modernity, but evidence from Melanesia, where a sharp increase in accusations of sorcery and witchcraft have resulted in horrendous attacks
on alleged practitioners, shows that this is not true. In Papua New Guinea, for example, a pervasive culture of insecurity and fear is developing. The negative effects of such beliefs impinge upon issues as diverse as economic development, elections, civil
unrest and criminal activity. Very little of the voluminous, largely anthropological, literature on sorcery and witchcraft in Melanesia considers how this issue can be addressed in policy and practical terms. This interdisciplinary conference and workshop
will bring together academics (with backgrounds of law, anthropology, gender and human rights), policy-makers, human rights activists and other practitioners from the region for a constructive dialogue to develop practical and workable solutions to the issue
of sorcery and witchcraft, and particularly the problem of sorcery and witchcraft-related killings.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><br>
</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2">The Melanesian countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu will be the focus of the conference, which will examine similarities and differences across the region through comparative case studies.
Although belief in sorcery and witchcraft is widespread in these countries, how their people and governments respond to them varies widely. The two–day conference will be followed by a half-day workshop to devise a research agenda and plan research collaborations
in consultation with researchers, policy makers and practitioners from the region.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><br>
</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The conference and workshop is being organised by the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program and the Regulatory Institutions Network, with funding support from the</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;">Research
School of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University and the ANU Gender Institute. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The organisers invite papers on the following topics:</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="2">· case studies from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu</font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="2">· sorcery and witchcraft-related killings as a catalyst for civil unrest</font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="2">· the gender dimensions of sorcery and witchcraft-related killings</font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="2">· sorcery and witchcraft as a negative force on economic and social development</font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="2">· the regulation of sorcery and witchcraft (by churches, state and customary authorities)</font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="2">· case studies of interventions to address sorcery and witchcraft-related killings</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><br>
</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2">The focus of the conference is on Melanesia, but presentations concerning other regions are also welcome as long as they are focussed on discussing how sorcery has been responded to or regulated and draw out
lessons from those experiences.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><br>
</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2">Several scholarships are available to sponsor speakers from Melanesia. This will cover full economy class travel costs to and from Canberra, plus accommodation. Limited funding is also available to sponsor
speakers from within Australia and New Zealand.</font></p>
<p class="Default"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><br>
</font></p>
<p class="Default"><font face="Calibri" size="2">Please send an abstract (less than 250 words) on your intended presentation and include a brief biographical description of yourself and any institutional affiliations you may have. Successful applicants will
be notified by mid-March <b>2013</b>. The scholarships will be awarded when the abstracts have been received and evaluated. The papers presented will be considered for publication as a journal special edition or as an edited collection. Registration will open
closer to the conference. For more information: Richard.Eves@anu.edu.au</font></p>
<p class="Default"><font face="Calibri" size="2"> </font></p>
<p class="Default"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><b>Application Deadline: 5pm: 15 February</b></font></p>
<p class="Default"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><b>Submit to: </b>ssgm.admin@anu.edu.au </font></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>