CALL FOR PAPERS

Handbook of Religions and Migration


Editors:

İhsan Çapcıoğlu, Ankara University
Fadime Apaydın, University of California, Riverside
Nevfel Akyar, Manisa Celal Bayar University

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IMPORTANT NOTE: As the portal does not support attachments, and as this project uses different proposal forms for different types of submissions, kindly contact Fadime Apaydın at fapay002@ucr.edu to request the submission forms.


Invitation for PART Editors: Expressions of interest for PART editorship are also welcome. PART editors will play an important role in ensuring thematic coherence and a well-integrated editorial structure across the handbook. Further details are provided in Section 1, “Part Editors.”

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Important Dates & Submission Information

Deadline for proposal submission: May 8, 2026.

Projected date for submission of the book proposal to the publisher: May 22, 2026

A) Chapter Proposal Submission (Themes 2–7)

Please send your submission materials to fapay002@ucr.edu

Submissions should include the following:

Most recent academic CV (in English)
Completed Proposal Form (in English)

B) Expression of Interest for Themes 1 and 8

Prospective contributors to Theme 1 (Conceptual and Methodological Framework) and Theme 8 (Comparative Synthesis and Future Directions) are invited to submit the following materials to fapay002@ucr.edu

Most recent academic CV (in English)
Completed Expression of Interest Form for Themes 1 and 8 (in English)

Because of their integrative role within the handbook, contributions to these themes will be developed through a more curated and closely coordinated editorial process.

C) Expressions of Interest for Part Editorship

Prospective Part Editors are invited to submit the following materials to fapay002@ucr.edu

Most recent academic CV (in English)
Completed Part Editor Statement of Interest Form (in English)

D) Submission of the Book Proposal to the Publisher (Projected date: May 22, 2026)

Publisher’s note: From proposal evaluation to publication, the process typically takes approximately 12 months, including editorial review, chapter development, peer review, and production.

Editors’ note: Given the nature of the publication process, minor adjustments to the projected timeline may arise. At the full-manuscript stage, the editors plan to allow contributors approximately 5–6 months to submit their full manuscripts.

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Dear colleagues,

Following preliminary discussions with Springer, the Handbook of Religions and Migration is currently being prepared for submission and aims to examine the relationship between religion and migration across both historical and contemporary contexts, through a wide range of religious traditions and from a comparative and analytical perspective.

The primary goal of the volume is not merely to assemble a collection of case studies, but to produce a coherent reference work in which each chapter offers a strong analysis of its own context while remaining structured in a way that enables meaningful comparison with other contributions.

In this regard, proposals are expected to:

- articulate a clear and strong analytical argument
- address at least two contemporary migration contexts alongside a brief but meaningful - historical trace
- make visible the roles of institutions, practices, and forms of belonging
- establish a direct and explicit engagement with the relevant literature
- The project framework and editorial guidance are presented under the following headings:

1. Part Editors
2. Evaluation Criteria
3. The Structure of the Handbook: Contribution Types and Themes
- Contribution Types: CORE and CLUSTER Chapters
- Themes

1. PART EDITORS

For this handbook project, each main theme is expected to be supported by two part editors. Working in close coordination with the handbook editors, part editors will help ensure that their respective themes develop in a coherent, readable manner and remain aligned with the volume’s broader comparative structure.

Part editorship is not intended as a role of extensive rewriting or language editing. Rather, it is designed as a collaborative framework that strengthens contributors’ work, supports coherence across chapters, and helps sustain the editorial process in a professional and constructive manner.

Final decisions regarding the acceptance, placement, and overall structural organization of chapters will be made by the handbook editors in close consultation with the relevant Part editor.

1.1. Expressions of Interest for Part Editorship

Colleagues who wish to serve as part editors are invited to submit the following materials to Fadime Apaydın at fapay002@ucr.edu

Most recent academic CV (in English)
Completed Part Editor Statement of Interest Form (in English)

1.2. Expected Contributions of Part Editors

a) Editorial coordination: Working in alignment with the handbook editors to help ensure that the overall editorial approach, timeline, and quality standards are implemented effectively within the relevant theme.

b) Thematic coherence and overlap management: Clarifying how proposals submitted under the relevant theme relate to the religion–migration focus of the handbook; reducing unnecessary overlap within the theme; and helping to build a complementary and coherent structure across contributions.

c) Comparability and shared standards: Helping ensure that contributions are positioned in ways that support the handbook’s broader comparative approach, and guiding authors accordingly when needed.

d) Process tracking: Following the proposal, draft, revision, and final submission stages within the relevant theme, and providing authors with timely and clear communication throughout the process.

e) Editorial feedback: Offering clear, constructive, and practically useful editorial feedback aimed at strengthening the analytical quality of contributions, rather than undertaking extensive rewriting.

f) Thematic synthesis and reading guidance: Part editors will also be expected to prepare a short editorial text (approximately 3–5 pages) to appear at the end of their respective themes. This text is not intended merely to summarize the chapters. Rather, it should identify the key questions and analytical patterns emerging across the theme, offer readers a brief framework for comparison across contributions, and support meaningful connections between chapters by taking into account the cross-reading suggestions provided by authors at the proposal stage. In this sense, these texts are conceived as an important editorial element designed to strengthen the handbook’s overall comparative architecture.

2. EVALUATION CRITERIA

a) Proposals will be evaluated holistically in accordance with the following criteria:

b) Analytical framing of the religion–migration relationship: The proposal is expected to address the relationship between religious life and processes of migration and mobility through a clear and coherent analytical framework.

c) Clarity and manageability of the case or context: The proposal is expected to define its case or context clearly and to remain sufficiently focused to allow for analytical depth.

d) Integration of historical and contemporary dimensions: Where relevant, the proposal is expected to establish a meaningful connection between historical background and contemporary dynamics.

e) Clarity of contribution to the literature: The proposal is expected to articulate clearly how it contributes to the existing literature.

f) Fit with the overall structure of the handbook: The proposal is expected to establish a meaningful relationship with the relevant theme and to contribute to the handbook’s broader comparative design.

g) Quality of analytical approach (CORE / CLUSTER alignment): The proposal is expected to position itself clearly either as a focused and in-depth contribution (CORE) or as a comparative and analytically integrative mapping of a broader field (CLUSTER).

h) Language and presentation: The text is expected to be clear, accessible, and suitable for an interdisciplinary readership.

3. THE STRUCTURE OF THE HANDBOOK: Contribution Types (Chapters) and Themes

3.1. Contribution Types (Chapters)

This handbook aims to diversify contributions not only in terms of subject matter, but also in terms of analytical approaches. Accordingly, proposals will be considered within two broad contribution types: CORE and CLUSTER.

This distinction is intended to help position contributions within an editorially balanced and comparably structured framework.

3.1.1. CORE Chapters: CORE chapters are in-depth and focused studies that examine a particular religious tradition, community, institution, or domain of practice.

Such contributions are expected to:

- articulate a clear and well-defined central argument
- ground this argument in a concrete context (e.g., a specific institution, site, or community)
- demonstrate religious life through at least one practice, ritual, or form of everyday experience
- where possible, offer comparative insight across different migration and mobility contexts

By engaging closely with a specific case, these chapters are expected to generate analytically robust examples that contribute to comparison across the volume.

3.1.2. CLUSTER Chapters: CLUSTER chapters are analytically oriented contributions that bring together multiple sub-contexts, cases, or closely related religious practices in order to offer a form of analytical mapping.

Such contributions are expected to:

- present a clear analytical framework rather than a descriptive listing or encyclopedic overview
- develop a comparative reading across multiple examples (e.g., 2–4 selected cases)
- provide a conceptual structure that enables readers to relate different contexts to one another
- where possible, establish connections across different migration and mobility contexts

Rather than focusing on a single case, CLUSTER contributions are intended to enable a broader, comparative engagement with a given field.

3.2. Themes

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Special Note on Themes 1 and 8

Contributions to Theme 1 (Conceptual and Methodological Framework) and Theme 8 (Comparative Synthesis and Future Directions) will be developed through a more curated and closely coordinated editorial process.

Given their integrative role within the handbook, these contributions are not conceived as standard chapter submissions. Instead, prospective contributors are invited to express their interest by outlining their proposed analytical approach.

Selected contributors will be invited to develop their chapters in consultation with the editors at later stages of the project. Because these chapters are intended to emerge in close relation to the volume as a whole, they may be substantially refined in dialogue with the editors as the handbook’s structure and contributions take fuller shape.

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This handbook is structured around major themes and the sub-themes situated within them, with the aim of guiding contributions while also preserving intellectual flexibility.

In their submissions, authors are:

a) required to indicate a primary theme
b) encouraged to indicate a secondary theme, where relevant.

THEME 1: Conceptual and Methodological Framework

(Developed through a curated and coordinated editorial process; see Special Note above.)

This theme aims to establish a shared language and a set of common expectations that enable the rest of the volume to genuinely speak to one another. Contributions in this section are not intended to present a theoretical “tour de force,” but rather to offer clear and practicable ways of understanding how the handbook should be read and how individual contributions may be positioned within it. The goal is to enable authors working across different fields to address comparable questions and to engage within a shared analytical framework.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to clarify the overall aims of the volume, define key concepts in a shared and accessible manner, and provide a framework that supports the handbook’s comparative structure. The aim here is not to offer an exhaustive theoretical discussion, but to establish a common ground that serves the volume as a whole.

For this reason, proposals are encouraged to be conceived not as standalone introductory texts, but as structural components that enhance the readability and comparability of the handbook as a whole.

Sub-themes:

Theme 1.1: Frameworks that clearly articulate the handbook’s multi-tradition and comparative aims
Theme 1.2: Clear and consistent definitions of recurring key concepts in migration and religion studies
Theme 1.3: Shared sets of questions that enable comparison across chapters
Theme 1.4: Practical guidelines for reading, cross-referencing, and generating synthesis

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; original contributions that fulfill a similar function are also very welcome.

THEME 2: Historical Religious Mobilities

This theme offers a longer historical perspective that does not limit the relationship between religion and migration to modern diaspora contexts. Its aim, however, is not merely to provide background. Rather, it seeks to make analytically visible the forms of religious mobility that have emerged across different periods and to show how these patterns can be meaningfully related to contemporary contexts.

In this sense, the theme is designed not simply to supply historical background, but to establish a reference framework that enables contributors to situate contemporary religion–migration dynamics within longer-term patterns of religious mobility.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to engage the long history of religious mobility in a selective and analytical manner, particularly in ways that illuminate contemporary patterns of migration, diaspora, and circulation.

Rather than offering a purely chronological narrative, proposals are encouraged to develop a strong analytical framework by identifying recurring patterns, moments of rupture, and forms of continuity. Contributions should prioritize clear and carefully selected patterns that can also be mobilized by subsequent chapters, rather than attempting to cover broad historical narratives in their entirety.

Sub-themes:

Theme 2.1: Exile, trade, scholarly mobility, and the formation of religious networks in the ancient and medieval worlds
Theme 2.2: How empires, missions, translation, and educational networks structured religious mobility in the early modern period
Theme 2.3: Forced displacement (e.g., slavery, exile, partition) and processes of religious reconfiguration
Theme 2.4: Pilgrimage, sacred travel, and classical and contemporary forms of religious circulation
Theme 2.5: The relocation and reconfiguration of sacred space, and new spatial arrangements in diaspora contexts
Theme 2.6: The relationship between historical patterns and contemporary migration, asylum, urbanization, and transnational networks

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.

THEME 3: Abrahamic Traditions across Regions and Contexts

This theme seeks to strengthen the handbook’s comparative structure by rethinking widely recognized religious traditions within the context of migration and mobility. Its aim is not merely to represent these traditions, but to make visible—within a comparative framework—how religious life is constituted across different contexts.

At the same time, the theme deepens the volume’s global scope by engaging diverse regional formations and key migration corridors within an analytical framework.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to offer analyses that do not simply repeat across traditions, but instead engage shared questions in ways that allow for meaningful comparison across different Abrahamic traditions and related contexts.

It is particularly important that contributions render religious life visible not only at the level of belief, but also through institutions, everyday practices, forms of belonging, and modes of public presence.

Proposals are encouraged to move beyond introducing a particular tradition and to establish meaningful comparisons across different migration and mobility contexts.

Sub-themes:

Theme 3.1: Historical and contemporary forms of exile, diaspora, and mobility across different Abrahamic traditions (including the Jewish diasporic experience)
Theme 3.2: The formation of communal institutions, educational networks, worship practices, and social support mechanisms in migration contexts
Theme 3.3: Forms of community-making, belonging, and public presence across diverse Christian contexts (e.g., Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and charismatic movements)
Theme 3.4: Institutionalization, authority, and everyday religious practices across diverse Islamic contexts (e.g., MENA, South and Southeast Asia, and African connections)
Theme 3.5: The reproduction and transformation of Latin American Christian traditions along migration corridors
Theme 3.6: Vulnerability, recognition, and processes of reconstitution among minority communities originating in West Asia
Theme 3.7: The impact of belonging, ethnicity, denomination/sect, generation, and citizenship status on religious life

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.

THEME 4: South Asian and Himalayan Traditions

This theme aims to render comparable the diverse institutional and social forms of organization that emerge in relation to migration across South Asian and Himalayan contexts. In these settings, religious life is sustained through a wide range of structures, including temples, gurdwaras, monasteries, family networks, charitable/philanthropic channels, and educational lineages. The aim is to bring this diversity into view without reducing it to a single narrative, and to establish a clear and comparable framework organized around shared questions.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to examine a range of religious traditions situated in South Asian and Himalayan contexts—such as Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian/Parsi communities, as well as popular and healing practices—within processes of migration and mobility.

It is particularly important that contributions render religious life visible not only at the level of identity, but also through institutions, rituals, everyday practices, forms of community organization, and intergenerational transmission.

Proposals are encouraged to move beyond broad civilizational narratives and instead adopt a limited but analytically deep focus, while, where possible, establishing comparisons across different contexts.

Sub-themes:

Theme 4.1: The role of temples, gurdwaras, monasteries, and associations as institutional centers for migrant communities
Theme 4.2: The adaptation and maintenance of rituals in new settings; the functioning of donation, care, and educational networks
Theme 4.3: Intergenerational transmission, language, domestic practices, and youth participation
Theme 4.4: Processes of minoritization, internal boundary-making, and experiences of visibility and exclusion
Theme 4.5: The reconfiguration of religious life across different migration contexts (e.g., labor, education, asylum, urbanization)
Theme 4.6: Monastic–lay relations, educational lineages, and transformations of ritual order in Buddhist contexts
Theme 4.7: Exile, authority, and processes of institutionalization in Himalayan/Vajrayāna contexts
Theme 4.8: The role of popular religious and healing practices (e.g., pilgrimage, votive offerings, ritual expertise) in migration, and their relationship to formal institutions

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.

THEME 5: Religious Ecologies in East and Southeast Asia

This theme aims to examine the often multi-layered and “ecological” character of religion in East and Southeast Asian contexts—where it cannot easily be captured under a single category—in relation to processes of migration and mobility. In these settings, religious life takes shape through the interweaving of multiple elements, including family, temples, lineage systems, ritual economies, monastic institutions, new religious movements, and everyday practices. The aim is to present this plurality without flattening it, while offering a concrete and comparable analytical framework.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to engage the religious worlds of East and Southeast Asia—such as Chinese religious contexts, diverse Buddhist traditions, the religious fields of Japan and Korea, Southeast Asian Islams, and syncretic practices—within the context of migration and mobility.

Proposals are encouraged to render religious life visible not through abstract cultural narratives, but through institutions, rituals, forms of community organization, structures of authority, and everyday practices.

Sub-themes:

Theme 5.1: The reconfiguration of folk religion, Taoist practices, lineage systems, and temple networks in Chinese religious contexts under conditions of migration
Theme 5.2: Community formation, educational lineages, monastic–lay relations, and processes of cultural adaptation in Buddhist contexts (e.g., Pure Land, Chan/Zen)
Theme 5.3: New religious movements, shamanic practices, institutional religions, and transnational networks in the religious fields of Japan and Korea
Theme 5.4: Local interpretations, educational networks, community structures, and multi-layered forms of belonging in Southeast Asian Islams
Theme 5.5: Ritual expertise, healing practices, legitimacy, and urban religious life in syncretic and local contexts
Theme 5.6: The transformation of ritual economies, festival orders, donation networks, and community organization under conditions of migration
Theme 5.7: Intergenerational transmission, language, modes of participation, and the transformation of everyday religious practices across contexts

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.

THEME 6: African, Afro-Diasporic, and Indigenous Traditions

This theme examines how, in the context of migration, religious life is not simply “transported,” but is at times disrupted, reconfigured, and renegotiated across shifting balances of visibility and concealment. African local traditions, Afro-diasporic practices, and the experiences of Indigenous communities constitute a critical domain through which the handbook’s global and comparative ambitions are made concrete.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to engage diverse contexts—such as African local religions, Afro-diasporic practices, and Indigenous traditions—within an analytical framework that foregrounds processes of migration and mobility.

It is particularly important that contributions render religious life visible not through abstract narratives, but through ritual practices, structures of authority, processes of community formation, the production of space, and dynamics of recognition.

Proposals are encouraged to proceed through concrete cases and strong analysis, avoiding both stereotyping and romanticization.

Sub-themes:

Theme 6.1: Continuities and transformations of African local/Indigenous religious practices in contexts of urbanization and diaspora
Theme 6.2: Community formation, leadership, healing practices, and social support networks in African-initiated independent churches
Theme 6.3: Ritual economies, authority, and transmission processes in Afro-diasporic contexts (e.g., Orisa/Ifa, Vodou, Santería, Candomblé)
Theme 6.4: The shaping of visibility, stigma, recognition, and legitimacy across different legal and media regimes
Theme 6.5: Transnational networks, diasporic spaces, and forms of community organization
Theme 6.6: The intersection of religion, race, and politics, and the cultural and political dimensions of mobility (e.g., Rastafari)
Theme 6.7: Land, sacred space, sovereignty, and displacement in Indigenous contexts
Theme 6.8: The reconfiguration of ritual spaces (home, centers, community sites) and everyday practices in new contexts

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.

THEME 7: New Religious Forms and Digital Environments

This theme examines emerging religious forms and transforming modes of belonging in the context of contemporary mobility. It highlights that migration is not limited to classical diaspora experiences, but also gives rise to an expanded religious field shaped by new religious movements, wellness ecologies, digital communities, and multiple forms of affiliation. The aim is to engage this field within an analytically clear and comparable framework, without reducing it to a “trend narrative.”

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to examine areas such as new religious movements, therapeutic spiritualities, digital platforms, and hybrid forms of belonging in relation to processes of migration and mobility.

Proposals are encouraged to render these domains visible not through abstract discussion, but through forms of organization, structures of authority, modes of practice transmission, processes of community formation, and everyday religious experience.

Sub-themes:

Theme 7.1: The expansion, organization, and production of legitimacy of new religious movements in contexts of migration and circulation
Theme 7.2: The relationship between wellness, therapeutic spirituality, and “lifestyle” practices, and urban ecologies, markets, and digital platforms
Theme 7.3: Institutionalization, certification, and the circulation of authority in global circuits of yoga, meditation, and spirituality
Theme 7.4: Digital networks, community formation, and boundaries of belonging in contemporary paganism and related revival movements
Theme 7.5: The formation and transformation of religious practices on digital platforms, and the redistribution of authority
Theme 7.6: The emergence of multiple affiliations, SBNR (spiritual but not religious), and cultural forms of religion in migration and generational contexts
Theme 7.7: Processes of hybridization: how different practices come together, transform, and are “translated” in everyday life

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.

THEME 8: Comparative Synthesis and Future Directions

(Developed through a curated and coordinated editorial process; see Special Note above.)

This theme brings into view what the contributions collectively reveal and offers a comparative closing to the volume. Its aim, however, is not merely to summarize, but to reconsider the patterns that emerge across the handbook within an analytical framework and to extend them into broader fields of inquiry.

In this sense, the theme is conceived not simply as a “final section,” but as a space that synthesizes, deepens, and opens up the knowledge produced across the volume to new questions.

What kinds of contributions are expected?:

Contributions under this theme are expected to engage the shared patterns emerging across different traditions and contexts in a clear, organized, and analytically robust manner.

Rather than offering a general summary or broad evaluation, proposals are expected to develop a comparative and conceptual argument organized around a specific analytical axis, and, where possible, to open up forward-looking lines of discussion.

Sub-themes:

Theme 8.1: Comparative mappings of religion–migration dynamics across different contexts (e.g., institutions, generations, space, belonging)
Theme 8.2: Analyses of how belonging, identity, and boundary-making are constituted through different mechanisms across traditions
Theme 8.3: Comparative studies of how religious institutions and infrastructures (e.g., places of worship, education, care and aid networks, digital communities) operate in migration contexts
Theme 8.4: Analyses of how gender, family, and intergenerational transmission processes are shaped across different contexts
Theme 8.5: Synthetic approaches to spatial production, sacred geographies, and processes of “place-making” in diaspora contexts
Theme 8.6: Comparative assessments of how public life, legal frameworks, recognition, and regulation shape religious life
Theme 8.7: Contributions that connect the findings of the volume to broader research agendas (e.g., climate mobility, border technologies, digital/AI-mediated religion)

These sub-themes are intended as guiding orientations; alternative contributions that expand this framework are also very welcome.