Contemplative Studies Unit
This year, the Contemplative Studies Unit especially invites proposals addressing the role of different epistemologies relative to Contemplative Studies, comparative or otherwise. Particularly we are looking for papers on:
- a panel on epistemologies for contemplative studies.
- connected to this, a cross-cultural revisitation of concepts of contemplative studies as a perennialist project.
- a co-sponsored panel with Cognitive Science of Religion Unit addressing new scholarship focusing on the intersections of cognitive science and contemplative research. Paper or panel proposals could include applied CSR to contemplative traditions, methodological analyses of how CSR and contemplative studies might be mutually informative, or any other work that topically concerns CSR and contemplative studies.
- a panel of indigenous practices
- a co-sponsored panel specifically addressing Indigenous traditions through the book Flourishing Kin
- a panel addressing psychedelic spaces and usage in relation to contemplative studies
Contact Loriliai Biernacki, loriliai.biernacki@colorado.edu or Michael Sheehy, ms4qm@virginia.edu
This program unit aims to strengthen and develop contemplative studies as an academic field of inquiry, especially in the context of religious studies and the AAR. Our Unit provides a forum for: • The investigation of contemplative practice and experience, considered inclusively and comprehensively • Critical discussions on the field itself, including theoretical and interpretive issues • The application of contemplative practice to academic life and university culture, including the possible contribution of “contemplative pedagogy” to teaching and learning The Unit thus aims to gather together currently diffused groups as well as dislocated, marginalized, and underrepresented individuals in the academy. To this end, we encourage research that is topical, tradition-specific, comparative, and cross-cultural. We also invite scholars to investigate contemplative practice and experience in ways that traverse and transcend the boundaries of traditions, disciplines, and research methodologies.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Loriliai Biernacki | loriliai.biernacki… | - | View |
| Michael Sheehy | ms4qm@virginia.edu | - | View |