First International and Interdisciplinary Congress on Beliefs, Esotericism and Religiosities (1st CIICER)

Mon, 15/07/2024 - 14:00

1st Communication

 

Venue and dates

San José, San Ramón and Puntarenas, Costa Rica, 06-10 October 2025.

 

Organised by University of Costa Rica

 

The First International and Interdisciplinary Congress on Beliefs, Esotericism and. Religiosities (1st CIICER) will be held in San José, San Ramón and Puntarenas from 6 to 10 October 2025, organised by the University of Costa Rica (UCR) through the academic programmes of the School of General Studies, the Postgraduate Programme in the Teaching of Spanish and Literature of the Sede de Occidente, the Sede del Pacífico, the Confucious Institute and the Centre for Studies on Asia, Africa and their Diasporas. This first edition will be devoted to the interdisciplinary study of esotericism.

 

In recent years, the UCR has promoted research on topics related to the academic field of esoteric studies. Precisely, in 2009, REHMLAC+ was founded1, a scholarly journal whose objective is the scientific dissemination of the global history of Freemasonry. Its scope has made it an anchor for analysing esoteric movements such as occultism, spiritualism and the Theosophical Society. Recently, in 2024, the research activity Programa Internacional e Interdisciplinario sobre Creencias, Esoterismos y Religiosidades (PIICER) of the University of Costa Rica has been organised.

 

These efforts gave rise to a proliferation of specialised academic publications in and from the UCR2 and amid the pandemic to the organisation together with the Centro de Estudios sobre Esoterismo Occidental UNASUR of the Congreso Internacional: El Esoterismo en y desde Latinoamérica (virtual, 2021)3.

 

For the 1st CIICER, the UCR will collaborate with the Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (HHP) of the University of Amsterdam, the East Asian Network for the Academic Study of Esotericism (EANASE), the YoLA Project of El Colegio de México, and the Anthropological Studies Programme of El Colegio de San Luis (Mexico).

 

 

The thematic lines of the 1st CIICER

 

1. Theosophical Society and Theosophical movements
2. Orientalism
3. Belief systems and esotericism
4. Esotericism and material culture
5. Symbolic systems and esotericism

 

Intending to generate a transdisciplinary environment and under the understanding of cultural and historical phenomena as a complex global framework, the 1st CIICER invites the academic population to send papers and proposals for panel sessions that invite reflection and increase knowledge on the proposed thematic lines. Scholarly studies on esotericism have been predominantly, though not exclusively, in history, religious sciences, philosophy and literature. We want to create a space in which other disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, art history, ma

 

 

Important dates of the 1st CIICER

 

 

The submission of the paper proposal should include:cia debe incluir:

 

• Name.
• Institutional affiliation.
• Title of the proposal.
• Abstract (200 words) and five keywords.
• 200-word cv summary.
• Address and email.

 

We accept papers in languages other than Spanish.

 

Paper proposals and all correspondence should be sent to the OrganisingCommittee of the 1st CIICER at the following e-mail address: congreso.ciicer@ucr.ac.cr

 

The International Scientific Council of the series Movimientos Esotéricos, Colección de Estudios sobre las Creencias y las Religiosidades of the Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica (EUCR) will take special care to ensure the fair evaluation of the papers before, during and after the event under purely academic and scientific criteria. According to the Council mentioned above, those which do not offer due scientific guarantees, deviate from the usual rules of coexistence in the academic field or are rejected during the process of opinion by specialised blind peers will not be accepted or published.

 

The organization of the 1st CIICER assumes the cost of publication and the awarding of the diploma of participation.

 

General Coordinator: Mauricio Oviedo Salazar, PhD.

 

Organising committee: Mauricio Oviedo Salazar, Alexandra Ortiz Wallner, Esteban Sánchez Solano, Francisco Rodríguez Cascante, Kuok-Wa Chao Chao and Ricardo Martínez Esquivel.