Research Scholars Workshop – TRACI
Organized by
Theological Research and Communication Institute, New Delhi.
25-26 March, 2023
Call For Papers
The University has historically been a place of discovery, experiment, and dialogue. As scholars, we are trained to think, engage, and articulate our thoughts on the contemporary world and its multiple aspects in the University. It forces us to challenge our patterns of thinking and confront other modes of understanding and conceptualizing the world. Being students and scholars who follow Jesus, our faith shapes our dialogue with spaces around us including our work and engagement in the University. While we are privileged to be part of this dialogue, we often find ourselves experiencing everything from awestruck wonder to absolute confusion during the process of our research in our disciplines, our universities, and our countries. As we individually and collectively grapple with our disciplines, we often find ourselves navigating the various challenges and perspectives that arise from the interaction of our work with our faith and with historical Christianity at large. Our work can make us more aware and hopeful about God’s work in the world and make us reflect on how our disciplinary perspectives could inform and enable us to be better Christians and churches. On the other hand, we can also find ourselves struggling to reconcile worldviews, contradictions, and direct confrontations between our faith convictions and our disciplinary tenets.
The Research Scholars Workshop is a platform for research scholars both young and old to give voice to the questions, concerns, and perspectives produced by the encounters between their faith and their own fields/disciplines/subjects. The Workshop is designed to be a space for nuanced discussion and detailed feedback from fellow participants and seniors associated with TRACI, essentially enabling us to further shape our academic vocation by talking about and thinking through our work. The workshop is being planned and organized by the Pandita Ramabai Study Group, a university research scholars initiative within TRACI, which comprises of young scholars who meet regularly to discuss their work, their faith, and the interactions between the two.
TRACI invites papers of 3500 words that articulate concerns surrounding the intersections of faith and scholarly practices through personal reflections and academic insights. Papers can be from any discipline – social sciences or sciences. The topics can range from issues within disciplines that faith speaks to or vice versa, the challenges that Christians face in the university, reflections on entire disciplines or on specific theories, research questions, or methods of research. The papers submitted will be presented at the workshop. Participants will need to provide full length papers by 25th February, 2023 so that discussants can prepare responses as well.
We welcome rigorous engagements informed by a Christian perspective from any discipline on areas such as the ones given below. Please note that this list of potential topics is suggestive in nature and not exhaustive:
- Ethics of Research and Biblical Understandings
- The Church and its Role in National Politics
- Research Methodologies and Processes
- Gender, Feminism, and the Biblical Worldview
- Christian Perspective Towards Caste and Minority Rights
- Theories of Origin of Life/Universe
- Universities as Sites of Religious Expression
- Development, Welfare, Policy and Financing Models
- Christian Responses to the Crises In Education
- Debates on Genetics, Body and the Bible
- Journalism and Polity in Contemporary Times
- The Age of Information, Internet, and Technology
- Law, Governance, and Biblical Frameworks
- Ecologies, Environments, and Conservation
- Histories of Social Justice Movements
- Engaging the Arts, Cinema, and Media as Christians
- Christianity, Colonialism, and Empire
- Philosophical Traditions and Biblical Worldviews
- Medicine, Health, and Christian Intervention
Submission of Paper Topics: Participants are requested to fill out this google form https://forms.gle/FZQMbJfm7ZvNE8Nc6 before December 15 and clearly state the tentative theme/idea/concept they are planning to work on.
Submission of Paper: Full length papers along with abstracts not exceeding 250-300 words on any of the concerned themes and a brief biographical statement in a doc format should be sent to traciptramabai@gmail.com by 25th February, 2023.
Phone No: +91 9289642711
The workshop will be held offline. Participants are encouraged to travel to make full use of the opportunity to learn in community and be present for all formal and informal conversations that follow on both days. They can also access books and resources from TRACI for the duration of their stay. Food and accommodation will be provided. Minimum travel expenses for participants traveling from outside Delhi (sleeper-class fare for train) will be met. However, if a participant is unable to travel but willing to present in the workshop, please write to us at traciptramabai@gmail.com so that we can consider making an alternate arrangement.
Important Dates and Information:
- Workshop Dates: 25-26 March, 2023
- Last Date for Submission of Google Forms: 15 December, 2022
- Last Date for Full Length Paper Submission: 25th February, 2023
- There will be no registration or presentation fee.
- Venue: E-537, TRACI (Theological Research and Communication Institute), Greater Kailash, New Delhi.
Submission Guidelines:
- Papers for the workshop must conform to the word limit of approximately 3500 words along with an abstract of 250-300 words.
- Provide 3-6 key-words at the end of the abstract.
- Do not quote from Wikipedia.
- Authors are requested to follow Chicago Manual style for the purpose of referencing. Use footnotes instead of endnotes.
- Authors are requested to use TIMES NEW ROMAN font throughout the text.
- Line spacing should be “1.5”.
- Paper should be submitted only in MS-Word format.
- Plagiarised materials or articles submitted or published elsewhere will not be accepted.
- Selected papers will be published as a book with ISBN number.
- Editors of the conference may edit the manuscripts for clarity and reduce the length of the paper if it exceeds the word limit.
Please ensure that your paper adheres to these guidelines. Further intimations will be made at a later stage. Please write to us at traciptramabai@gmail.com for any further clarifications.