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Call for Papers Theme: The Religious Body Imagined Subtitle: On the Edge Type: Bi-annual Symposium Institution: Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society (CSRCS), Elon University Location: Elon, NC (USA) Date: 7.–9.2.2019 Deadline: 15.9.2018 __________________________________________________ “On the Edge” is a bi-annual symposium at Elon University that brings together scholars working at the theoretical and methodological boundaries of those fields that have a stake in the critical analysis of religion — law, history, psychology, anthropology, literature/textual studies, philosophy, art history, political science, classics, and gender studies. “On the Edge” aims to exercise a self-conscious attention to methodological advances that can be made through interdisciplinary. Its proceedings contribute to a richly contextualized and multi-layered understanding of the role of religion in societies past, present, and future. Elon University’s “On the Edge” symposium, hosted by the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society (CSRCS), explores new directions in the interdisciplinary study of religion. This year the CSRCS invites proposals for our February 7-9, 2019 symposium focused on “The Religious Body Imagined.” Topic This symposium will probe the porous edges of the religious body and examines the ways in which it has been imagined, imaged, and discursively produced in particular places, times, and religious traditions. It seeks to theorize the religious body’s various functions, roles, and transformative effects through a range of disciplinary and theoretical lenses. It asks, “How does our experience of the body shape our conceptions of the sacred (however defined), and conversely, how do the invisible contours of the sacred re-instantiate or re-embody themselves in concrete physical form? The symposium explicitly seeks to engage theories of the body, materiality, performance, and visual culture, as well as cultural studies, space / place, ritual, postcolonial theory and / or social justice as it pertains to embodiment. Submissions Papers should ideally be oriented around a specific textual, visual, or material representation of the “religious body” in context while also drawing theoretical conclusions from the specificity of its geo-historical location and particular religious tradition. In this way, the symposium represents a project in particularism that nevertheless draws upon our shared understanding and experience of embodiment. Papers will be selected for their theoretical sophistication, scholarly quality, and thematic coherence with other papers in the symposium. Proposals should include a 150-word abstract, a 750-word description of the proposed paper’s argument and development, and a current CV. Inquiries should be addressed to CSRCS Director Brian K. Pennington at: [email protected] Authors should submit abstracts by Sept. 15, 2018 using the form here: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/csrcs/on-the-edge/call-for-papers/ Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by Oct. 15, 2018. Completed papers will be due no later than Dec. 31, 2018. Accommodation Lodging and some meals during the symposium will be covered. Accommodation will be provided at the Acorn Inn, 2 blocks from the Elon University campus. Travel funds Limited travel subventions may be available for some presenters upon application. Publication Presenters must commit to circulating papers in advance of the conference with the understanding that select papers will be revised and submitted for publication as an edited volume or special issues of an appropriate journal. Conference co-conveners Pamela D. Winfield, Associate Professor of Religious Studies (Elon University) Mina Garcia Associate Professor of Spanish (Elon University) Direct all inquiries to Dr. Brian K. Pennington, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society, at: [email protected] Website of the symposium: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/csrcs/on-the-edge/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ __________________________________________________
