Dear Colleagues,

Religion in prison could be considered a mature and well-established research area, especially for sociological and anthropological academic literature. A branch of these studies has paved the way to analysing how institutions are facing the pluralist challenge of growing religious diversity inhabiting prison (Beckford, Gilliat 1998). This promising line of research becomes increasingly important in a social and political context in which a balanced and forward-looking management of cultural and religious plurality in public institutions appears to be threatened by a temptation to rely on securitarian policies that, with Ragazzi (2016), we could call “policed multiculturalism”. Moreover, a ground-breaking approach should be developed which, moving on from a more “objective”-descriptive approach, could explore sense-making processes about subjective religious experience (Khosrokhavar 2004) and everyday life in prison, taking into account the viewpoints of both prisoners and prison administration and staff.

This call for papers stems from many years of research experience conducted by the proposing authors. On the one hand, it has dealt more generally with the analysis of religious plurality in the prison context, also from a comparative perspective between different European countries (Becci 2011; Becci, Rhazzali, Schiavinato 2016, Rhazzali 2020, 2021; Zurbuchen, Lindeman, Becci 2020; Martínez-Ariño, Zwilling 2020). On the other hand, the research activity has turned to the specificity of the "Muslim case" (Rhazzali 2010; Rhazzali, Schiavinato 2016), more recently in the framework of two European projects (Rasmorad and Tra-in Training), referring to the theme of prevention and contrast to violent radicalism, conducted in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Justice and the Department of Penitentiary Administration.

This Special Issue aims to collect original and inspiring research and/or methods papers concerning religion and religious diversity in prison, based on actual situations and depicting which significant changes are underway in different countries. Qualitative research papers are preferred.

We especially welcome articles in the following topics (though other topics could be considered):

• Religious plurality and its challenges to prison management and prison life
• Social dynamics occurring between institutions and social actors (g., power dynamics, negotiation, innovative or preservative processes)
• Interaction between social actors (g., inmates, prison operators, chaplains, prisoners’ relatives and friends), inside the prison and between the prison and the outside social context
• Different spaces and time consecrated to religion (g., prayers, rituals, meditations, discussions) inside the prison walls
• Sacralisation processes, regarding time, space and relations
• Beliefs and practices related to ritual preparation and consumption of food
• Sense-making processes about the relation between religion in prison;
• Religious experience and change
• Religious care and rehabilitation processes.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (valentina.schiavinato@unipd.it) or to the Religions editorial office (religions@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

References

Becci, I. (2011). Religion’s Multiple Locations in Prison: Germany, Italy, Switzerland. Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, 153 (1), 65–84.

Becci, I., Rhazzali, M. K., Schiavinato, V. (2016). Appréhension et expérience de la pluralité religieuse dans les prisons en Suisse et en Italie : une approche par l’ethnographie. Critique internationale, 72, 73–90.

Beckford, J. A., Gilliat, S. (1998). Religion in Prison. Equal Rites in a Multi-Faith Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Khosrokhavar, F. (2004). L’islam dans les prisons. Paris: Balland.

Martinez-Arino J and Zwilling AL (eds) (2020). Religion and Prison. Cham: Springer.

Ragazzi, F. (2016). Suspect community or suspect category? The impact of counter-terrorism as ‘policed multiculturalism’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(5), 724–741.

Rhazzali M.K. (2021). The Muslims in European Prisons: Religious Instances, Management of Diversity and Prevention Policies of Radicalization in Italian Penitentiary Institutes. In S. Bonino and R. Ricucci (eds.), Islam and Security in the West. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 198–2017.

Rhazzali M. K. (2020). Les prisons de l’Italie e l’islam: formes de religiosité, gestion de la diversité et enjeux actuels. In P. Desmette, P. Martin (eds), Prison, prisonniers et spiritualité. Hémisphères Editions, p. 149–164.

Rhazzali, M. K. (2010). L’islam in carcere. L’esperienza religiosa dei giovani musulmani nelle prigioni italiane. Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Rhazzali, M. K., Schiavinato, V. (2016). Islam of the Cell. Sacralisation processes and everyday life in prison. Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, 2, 305–321.

Zurbuchen A., Lindemann A., Becci I. (2020), Switzerland: Religions and Spirituality in Prison. Institutional Analysis. In J. Martínez-Ariño, A.L. Zwilling (eds.) Religion and Prison: An Overview of Contemporary Europe. Cham: Springer, pp. 373–390.

Prof. Dr. Mohammed Khalid Rhazzali
Dr. Valentina Schiavinato
Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Pace
Prof. Dr. Irene Becci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• religious plurality in prison
• religious care
• chaplaincy
• sacralisation processes