Unravelling Religion 3: Space, Place, and Affect — 3rd Annual Grad Student Conference, May 13-14 2016 Queen’s University, Kingston

Posted February 7, 2016

Unravelling Religion 3: Space, Place, and Affect
May 13-14 2016
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Donald Gordon Conference Centre

There is no fee for conference presenters. Other attendees are invited to inquire about conference registration and fees by e-mailing unravellingreligion@gmail.com.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 28, 2016

Religion, however it is defined, is entangled in aspects of daily life, popular culture, and political discourse. In this view, religious beliefs and practices constitute a common thread that runs through the fabric of human life, linking individuals to religious communities and to one another. At the same time, the term ‘religion’ is inextricably tied to other complex terms including ‘culture,’ and ‘the secular’. Far from being a discrete thread in the intricately woven fabric of human life, ‘religion,’ can become a tangled mess of meanings and associations whose strands are often twisted, knotted, and frayed.

This year’s conference seeks to explore the ways religion is entwined with certain spaces, places, and affects. Potential topics for exploration include, but are not limited to:

The Category ‘Religion’
Religion and Popular Culture
Enchantment / Disenchantment / Re-Enchantment
Religious Objects and Attachments
Critical Theories of Religion
Religious Spaces
Religious Places
Emotional / Affective Geographies
Religion and Emotion / Affect
Pilgrimage

We welcome proposals for 20 minute presentations. Abstracts should include a publication-ready, titled abstract of 200-300 words. The name, e-mail address, university affiliation and level of study of the presenter(s) should also be included, along with information concerning special needs. The deadline for proposals is March 28, 2016. Please send proposals and requests for information to: unravellingreligion@gmail.com

May 13, 2016

7:00pm Panel Discussion: Religion and Affect
8:00pm Reception

May 14, 2016

8:00-9:00 Breakfast
9:00-10:30 Panel 1
10:35-12:05 Panels 2 and 3
12:05-1:10 Lunch
1:10-2:40 Keynote Address
2:45-3:45 Panel 4
3:45-4:00 Coffee Break
4:00-6:00 Panels 5 and 6

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Dr. Hillary Kaell, Concordia University.

Hillary Kaell is author of Walking Where Jesus Walked: American Christians and Holy Land Pilgrimage (New York University Press, 2014). She sits on the executive board of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion, was Research Fellow in residence at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion (2014) and was selected as a Young Scholar in American Religion by the Centre for the Study of Religion and American Culture (2013-2015). She writes about North American Christianity, especially material culture, money and commercialization, and the role of global imaginaries. Her current projects include studies of Quebecois wayside crosses, Christians in Messianic Judaism, and international child sponsorship programs. Aspects of this work have been published in venues including Religion, Journal of Material Culture, Journal of the American Academy of Religion(forthcoming) and Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (forthcoming). She has also worked on public education tools, such as Patheos Online, the Pluralism Project, and the PBS television series, God in America(2010). Currently, she co-hosts the New Books in Religion podcast. Kaell is Assistant Professor of Religion at Concordia University in Montreal.

This conference is generously funded by Queen’s University School of Religion http://www.queensu.ca/religion

https://unravellingreligion.wordpress.com