Space, Place, and Religion Unit
We welcome individual papers, papers sessions, and roundtable proposals for topics exploring space and place as they relate to religion. We are always interested in papers and sessions that employ theoretically or methodologically self-conscious and innovative approaches to understanding space and place as they relate to, condition, and constitute aspects of religious life including belief, ritual, meaning, aesthetics, and experience. We welcome ethnographically-informed studies of sites and historically-informed studies of texts that shed light on the role of space and place in religious traditions. Space, Place, and Religion dedicates one of its sessions to religious spaces in Asia. Our Unit is committed to diversity and inclusivity; pre-arranged panels and sessions should reflect gender, racial, and ethnic diversity as well as the diversity of field, method, and scholarly rank.
In addition, this year we are particularly interested in the following topics:
- Remember the Struggle: Commemorating Sites of Freedom the World Over, Co-sponsored with the Religion and Memory Unit
With the conference’s theme being “Freedom,” and the conference’s location at an epicenter of the American Revolution, we invite papers that explore those spaces and places that commemorate struggles for freedom. Why have some places been preserved? Why have other spaces been forgotten? And what role has religion played in this process? Papers can consider any time, topic, and locale. - Spatial Overflow- We invite proposals that examine religious practices that spill out of their physical boundaries or spaces that foster the experience of abundant/excessive/transcendent phenomena that overflow our conceptual categories.
- Counter-hegemonic theories of religion and space- papers that consider counter-hegemonic conceptions of space and place, and we are particularly interested in submissions that focus on haunting as a counter-hegemonic narration of space.
- Religious place and health- how does access to health intersect with religious identity?
- Methods of map-making- how does the researcher visualize their field of study? Possible co-sponsorship with Religion, Media, and Culture Unit
This Unit is a forum for exploring religious sites and the spatial dimensions of religions. We feature ethnographically-informed studies of living sites, historically-informed studies of texts and artifacts, and analyses of architecture and landscape. Our work seeks to shed light on the role of space and place in religious traditions and communities or to examine religious activity (performance, ritual, and practice) in spatial contexts. This Unit recognizes that spaces and places, real and imagined/visionary, are constitutive elements in religious life; it is dedicated to investigating how they contribute to contemplative, ritualistic, artistic, economic, ethnic, or political aspects of religious life using a variety of approaches and methods. We expect to include at least one session focused on spaces and places in Asia, in addition to sessions focused on other themes, regions, traditions or advancing the theoretical analysis of space and place.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Courtney Bruntz | courtney.bruntz@doane.edu | - | View |
| Katie Oxx, Saint Joseph's University | koxx@sju.edu | - | View |