Call for Proposals
This Group seeks papers that examine the formation and transformation of “religion” (together with other related categories) in historical context as a discursive apparatus both in social, cultural, and political practice and in relation to the scholarly study of religion. We aim to represent diverse geographical areas and historical moments. We particularly welcome proposals exploring:
- The complex dynamics at work when theories that arise in one historical and cultural matrix are used to analyze religious phenomena that arise in different historical and cultural matrices
- The use of sex and sexuality as categories of inquiry in empirical approaches to the study of religion, including such themes as reading or misreading sex and desire in representations of religion or analyzing ways in which the varied meanings of sex and sexuality have shaped classificatory categories and comparative models across “world religions” and its “others”)
- Various components of a genealogy of pluralism
- The emergence of human rights and humanitarianism as a “secular” category of “the sacred”
- In light of the Annual Meeting location in Baltimore, Catholic perspectives on the category of “religion” and its study within the academy
- For a potential cosponsored session with the Religion and the Social Sciences Section and the Religion and Sexuality Group, critical analysis and/or methodological reflection on sex and sexuality as categories of inquiry in empirical approaches to the study of religion. Possible themes include reading or misreading sex and desire in representations of religion and analyzing ways in which constructed meanings of sex and sexuality have shaped classificatory categories and comparative models across religious studies
We will use our sessions to develop new models for conference conversation. Toward that end, we ask that participants write shorter papers, which we will circulate mid-October in order to focus our discussions in a more collaborative and interactive way. We welcome further suggestions for new conversational models (please e-mail the co-Chairs with your ideas).
Mission
This Group is devoted to historical inquiry into the social and cultural contexts of the study of religion and into the constructions of “religion” as an object of scholarly inquiry.
Anonymity of Review Process
Proposer names are anonymous to Chairs and Steering Committee members until after final acceptance or rejection.
Questions?
Ann M. Burlein Hofstra University
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Randall Styers University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Method of Submission
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