Call for Papers: Religion and Memory

To honour the life and work of two distinguished Australian historians of religion, Patrick O'Farrell (1933 - 2003) and Tony Cahill (1933 - 2004), the Religious History Society is inviting papers for a memorial colloquium on the theme: Religion and Memory. Submissions will make up the contribution of the Religious History Society to the meeting of the International Committee of Historical Sciences (Comité Internationale des Sciences Historiques) www.cish.org, and the 2005 national conference of the Australian Historical Association to be held concurrently in Sydney from 3 - 9 July 2005. The Religious History Society has been invited to organise one of the half-day sessions allocated by CISH at Sydney to CIHEC (Commission Internationale d'Histoire Ecclésiastique Comparée). The convenors reserve the right to allocate papers either to CISH or the AHA.

Tony Cahill was editor of the Journal of Religious History from 1986-1995 and Patrick O'Farrell was the major historian of Catholicism in Australia as well as the history of Ireland and Irish migration.

Papers which address the theme, and also those which reflect on different aspects of the work of these two very significant forces in the writing of religious history in Australia, are warmly invited. Religion and Memory is powerfully evoked by O'Farrell's book Vanished Kingdoms (1990), an exploration of his family's history of migration and religious adjustment between Ireland and New Zealand over the last two hundred years. But it would be good to hear from historians working in other fields, who can contribute to a wider discussion of the ways in which the forces of religion and memory have served to bind and dismember communities, landscapes and nations. We would also welcome contributions from those who knew, studied with and benefitted from the scholarly lives of Tony and Patrick in other ways.

The deadline for submissions is 14 May 2004. Please note that this is very soon, for which we apologise. This is a firm deadline as we need to have a submission ready in time for the meeting of the CIHEC Bureau on 22 May. We would appreciate friends of Tony and Patrick giving this notice wide circulation so that we can create a distinguished colloquium and festschrift in their memory. Selected papers from both conferences will contribute to a special memorial issue of the Journal of Religious History or other scholarly publication.

Please send abstracts (c. 200 words) and a one-page CV to the colloquium organisers, Dr Anne O'Brien and A/Prof. Hilary M. Carey at the address below.

Addresses for submissions: provided below.

Hilary Carey
President, Religious History Society