Calls
Call for Proposals | For an interdisciplinary study of kindness
We report the opening of a Call for Proposals for the international seminar “Towards a Religious History of Kindness - In Memory of Luca Bossi”, which will be held on 26 September 2025 at the Università Roma Tre and online.
There is widespread verbal consensus on the positivity of kind attitudes, and today we are witnessing a broad promotion of the concept and practices related to kindness, also in response to the widely recognized aggressiveness in virtual interactions. However, what kindness actually is, whether a “code of kindness” exists, and what its interpretations and epistemologies have been, remains unclear and far from universal.
To what extent and in what ways have religious cultures reflected on and proposed kindness as a value?Is there an anthropological sense to the concept and practices of kindness? What is its transformative potential with respect to social life?
It is therefore proposed to reconstruct an interdisciplinary reflection on the concept and the terms related to the semantic field of kindness in the study of religious culture.
Some possible approaches:
Send your proposal (20 minutes), title, and abstract in Italian and English to mariachiara.giorda@uniroma3.it by Monday 30 June 2025.
There is widespread verbal consensus on the positivity of kind attitudes, and today we are witnessing a broad promotion of the concept and practices related to kindness, also in response to the widely recognized aggressiveness in virtual interactions. However, what kindness actually is, whether a “code of kindness” exists, and what its interpretations and epistemologies have been, remains unclear and far from universal.
To what extent and in what ways have religious cultures reflected on and proposed kindness as a value?Is there an anthropological sense to the concept and practices of kindness? What is its transformative potential with respect to social life?
It is therefore proposed to reconstruct an interdisciplinary reflection on the concept and the terms related to the semantic field of kindness in the study of religious culture.
Some possible approaches:
- Meanings of the concept and distinguishing features
- Moral value of kindness
- Political and public use of kindness
- Kindness and social relations between ceremoniality and reflexivity
- Kindness and theories of gift giving
- Kindness and verbal and nonverbal communication
- Kindness, space and atmosphere
- Kindness and theories of gender
- Kindness and interdisciplinary approaches
- Religious practices of kindness
- Religious terms, ideas, and narratives
Send your proposal (20 minutes), title, and abstract in Italian and English to mariachiara.giorda@uniroma3.it by Monday 30 June 2025.