Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism
in collaboration with:
Russian Christian Academy for Humanities (Saint-Petersburg),
H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Ukrainian Association of Religion Researchers
Research Center for Mysticism and Esotericism (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Fifth International Conference
Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice
HISTORY AND DISCOURSE
Historical and Philosophical Aspects of
the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism
December 2 – 5, 2011 - St Petersburg (Russia)
Keynote lecture:
Dr. Prof. Wouter J. Hanegraaff
(University of Amsterdam)
in collaboration with:
Russian Christian Academy for Humanities (Saint-Petersburg),
H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Ukrainian Association of Religion Researchers
Research Center for Mysticism and Esotericism (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Fifth International Conference
Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice
HISTORY AND DISCOURSE
Historical and Philosophical Aspects of
the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism
December 2 – 5, 2011 - St Petersburg (Russia)
Keynote lecture:
Dr. Prof. Wouter J. Hanegraaff
(University of Amsterdam)
The historical approach plays a highly important role in the study of
mystical and esoteric movements as all other approaches are to an extent
reliant on it. The extraordinary importance of historical analyses
requires, however, special attention. It is well-known that over the
course of the history of western culture mystical and esoteric phenomena
have been to a great extent excluded from the cultural mainstream and
have often been oppressed by dominant ‘exoteric’ discourses. This is
because historians of esotericism and mysticism are often confronted
with the discursive nature of historical witnesses and descriptions and
are called for "not confusing our constructs with historical reality”
(W. J. Hanegraaff). Could a supposedly realistic description of some
esoteric phenomenon merely be a result of polemical discourse? Do
clichés or even pure inventions appear in place of expected historical
analysis? How do discursive formations influence the way mystical and
esoteric aspects of religious culture have been perceived and
represented during a particular period of time in history? How can a
historian ‘separate the wheat from the chaff’ in (self)descriptions of
mystical and esoteric phenomena? These and other related issues still
call for more awareness and conceptualization within historical and
philosophical research of deviant religious and cultural phenomena.
The conference organizers hope that this conference will contribute significantly to the awareness of the problem. The critical historical research of esotericism and mysticism may lay the ground for further developments in the field of study in Russia and other post-Soviet countries.
We invite suggestions for panels as well as paper proposals dealing with the study of this phenomenon through various academic disciplines. Papers can be submitted on, but are not limited to the following sub-themes:
The conference organizers hope that this conference will contribute significantly to the awareness of the problem. The critical historical research of esotericism and mysticism may lay the ground for further developments in the field of study in Russia and other post-Soviet countries.
We invite suggestions for panels as well as paper proposals dealing with the study of this phenomenon through various academic disciplines. Papers can be submitted on, but are not limited to the following sub-themes:
- general methodological issues in the study of esotericism and mysticism;
- peculiarity of the historical approach to the study of esotericism and mysticism;
- the problem of a historical reconstruction of esoteric movements;
- esoteric scholars as an object of the study of esotericism;
- constructing of the ‘own’ history in esoteric circles;
- current developments of mystical and esoteric movements;
- mystical experience and its ‘historical’ representations by mystics;
- influence of discursive formations on the study in esotericism.
Conference Languages
Russian & English
Application Form
Applications for the conference are to be sent to the address of the
organizing committee esot.conference2011@gmail.com by 25 October 2011.
We kindly request to fill in the forms in the following manner:
Sending an application and text does not mean an automatic inclusion into the conference program. The decision on the applications will be communicated within a week after the deadline via e-mail.
- Full name:
- Date of birth:
- Academic degree:
- Home address:
- Place of work:
- Current position:
- Contact phone:
- E-Mail:
- Need of an official invitation to receive a private (humanitarian) visa for the entry into Russian Federation (yes/no):
- Need of technical equipment for your report presentation (yes (please, specify which equipment you need)/no):
- Paper title:
- Short paper abstract (approx. 200 words):
- The language of the paper presentation:
Sending an application and text does not mean an automatic inclusion into the conference program. The decision on the applications will be communicated within a week after the deadline via e-mail.
Style sheet
The organizing committee plans to publish selected papers in the
conference proceedings (minimum editing in cooperation with authors will
take place where required). The papers of authors who do not present
their papers during the conference cannot be published.
The size of the full paper text including footnotes and bibliography should be between 15.000 and 20.000 characters including spaces (calculated e.g. by the MS Word feature). The text is to be sent to the organizing committee in electronic form (accepted formats are *.doc or *.rtf), and is to be formatted after the model text. The model text can also be sent per e mail upon request.
The size of the full paper text including footnotes and bibliography should be between 15.000 and 20.000 characters including spaces (calculated e.g. by the MS Word feature). The text is to be sent to the organizing committee in electronic form (accepted formats are *.doc or *.rtf), and is to be formatted after the model text. The model text can also be sent per e mail upon request.
Conference Fee
The conference fee is 40 Euro (for participants who are not from
countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States). The fee for
non-CIS citizens who plan to arrive in Russia by opening a tourist visa
is 30 Euro. The fee is to be paid upon registration.
Addresses of the Conference
191023 Saint-Petersburg, 15 Fontanka Naberezhnaya.
Phone: +7 812 3143521 and +7 921 3843029
Phone: +7 812 3143521 and +7 921 3843029
Conference E-mail and Homepage
For additional information about the conference, please send an e-mail
to the conference organizers (esot.conference2011@gmail.com).
The latest information about the conference will be published at the homepage of the Association for the study of Esotericism and Mysticism (ASEM) http://asem.ucoz.org.
The latest information about the conference will be published at the homepage of the Association for the study of Esotericism and Mysticism (ASEM) http://asem.ucoz.org.
The Organizing Committee
Chair: Dr. Sergey Pakhomov (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), Prof. Dr. Roman Svetlov (Saint-Petersburg).
Members: Prof. Dr. Andrey Zabiyako (Blagoveshchensk, Russia); Prof. Dr. Ludmila Filipovich (Kyiv, Ukraine), Prof. Dr. Julia Shabanova (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine); Prof. Dr. Dmitri Shmonin (Saint-Petersburg); Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel (Mainz, Germany); Dr. Vadim Zhdanov (Erlangen, Germany); Dr. Vitaly Vovchenko (Orel, Russia); Dr. Yuriy Zavhorodniy (Kyiv, Ukraine); Dr. Sergey Kapranov (Kyiv, Ukraine).
Members: Prof. Dr. Andrey Zabiyako (Blagoveshchensk, Russia); Prof. Dr. Ludmila Filipovich (Kyiv, Ukraine), Prof. Dr. Julia Shabanova (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine); Prof. Dr. Dmitri Shmonin (Saint-Petersburg); Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel (Mainz, Germany); Dr. Vadim Zhdanov (Erlangen, Germany); Dr. Vitaly Vovchenko (Orel, Russia); Dr. Yuriy Zavhorodniy (Kyiv, Ukraine); Dr. Sergey Kapranov (Kyiv, Ukraine).
Sponsorship
The organizational committee will carefully consider any offers by
interested persons for material and/or informational support of the
conference.