Online Program Book

This is the preliminary program for the 2024 in-person Annual Meeting, hosted with the Society for Biblical Literature in San Diego, CA - November 23-26. Pre-conference workshops and many committee meetings will be held November 22. If you have questions about the program, contact annualmeeting@aarweb.org. All times are listed in local/Pacific Time.


	A24-415 Hinduism Unit Theme: Hinduism Beyond South Asia and North America Sunday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire L (Fourth Level) Aarti Patel, Pennsylvania State University, Presiding This panel explores the different ways Hindus and Hinduism have taken shape in various diasporic contexts beyond South Asia and North America. How has engagement with and understandings of Hinduism evolved in countries that carry historical Hindu influences? How has temple construction has offered communities forms of liberty? How do Hindus in the diaspora re/create public worship of Hindu figures? How has Hinduism been embraced in certain socio-political contexts? This panel presents the work of graduate students and emerging scholars studying Hindu diasporas in Thailand, Mauritius, People’s Republic of China, and United Arab Emirates to address these questions of community formation and practice. Through these explorations this panel further enriches the discourse of global Hindu diasporas. Aditya Bhattacharjee, University of Pennsylvania The Wat and Thewalai: Toward New Paradigms of Interpreting the Thai Hindu Tradition Abstract Early studies have generally used a dyadic schema to explain the pervasiveness of Hindu themes in Southeast Asia’s myriad religious cultures. Whereas Hindu traditions which appear indigenous are described as « Indianization » stemming from age-old processes of cultural exchange, the more recognizable forms of Hindu-ness in Southeast Asia are attributed to a modern Indian diaspora born of Western colonialism. In recent times, scholars have questioned these paradigms, especially with regards to present-day Thailand. My presentation offers ethnographic vignettes from fieldwork at two temples in suburban Bangkok—Wat Saman Rattanaram and Thewalai Khanetinsuan. Centered on the god Ganesha, the sites represent distinct but overlapping attitudes toward the public worship of Hindu figures in Thailand: one subsumes Ganesha under a Buddhist rubric, the other presents a vision of Ganesha which, although founded and managed by Thai Buddhists, retains a decidedly Hindu identity. Marek Ahnee , EHESS Gold like the Vēl : Murugan worship and economic independence in colonial Mauritius Abstract This paper aims to map the progressive settlement of Murugan worship throughout the indentured Tamil communities of Mauritius island, in the early decades of the 20th century. I locate the emergence of Murugan-centered within a departure from the historically dominant ritual economy of Mariamman and Draupadi worship, confined to sugar estate temples under direct White planters’ patronage. The establishment of Murugan cultic centres map instead the settlement of a new class of upper-caste Tamil landlords moving from small plantation holdings to more mercantile ventures. Through the foundation narratives of two important Murugan temples, I argue that the peripatetic and metamorphous deity provided to formerly indentured migrants a Bhakti of economic freedom and political ascension. As index of this devotional discourse, my analysis of three poems of Mauritian Murugan devotee Vadivel Selvam Pillai (1899-1978) showcase this association between the deity and a hard-won material liberty. Marc Lagace, McMaster University Kṛṣṇa Becomes Real: Conversion and Contagious Faith in Contemporary China Abstract Making use of previously neglected English- and Chinese-language sources, including hundreds of hours of archived recordings, and interviews conducted over nine months of ethnographic fieldwork (July 2022–May 2023), this paper explores (1) how and why, since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, various citizens of the People’s Republic of China have come to embrace lives of devotion centered on the Hindu deity Kṛṣṇa, and (2) how, despite the social and political challenges they face as religious actors in China, devotees manage to maintain and even strengthen their faiths. In grappling with the former, this paper reveals a combination of factors—ideology, “religious capital,” social bonds, and “direct rewards”—which draw and facilitate the conversion of Chinese to Hinduism. In dealing with the latter, it expands upon anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann’s theory of “real-making,” arguing that practitioners can become more certain of Kṛṣṇa’s existence through, among other things, affective synchronization. Kalpesh Bhatt, University of Toronto Navigating Tensions: Hindu Immigrant Challenges and Temple Evolution in the Islamic United Arab Emirates (UAE) Abstract This paper examines the challenges faced by Hindu immigrants in practicing their religion and establishing temples in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a predominantly Islamic country. Against the backdrop of global conflicts rooted in religious diversity, the paper enhances the discourse on religious pluralism by analyzing the historical development and architectural evolution of Hindu temples in the UAE. Drawing on my historical and ethnographic research, I argue that despite Hinduism’s status as a minority religion in a Muslim-majority nation, the reciprocal relationship between Hindu pluralistic approaches and the UAE government’s religious inclusion policies has facilitated the practice of Hinduism, the construction of temples, and the promotion of religious diversity and inclusion in the UAE. The paper analyzes the religiopolitical dynamics, interreligious tensions, and roles played by Hindu temples in promoting cultural exchange, social cohesion, and community empowerment, offering insights into Hindu-Muslim relations, religious pluralism, and cultural integration in the UAE.
	A24-416 Hinduism Unit and North American Hinduism Unit Theme: Hinduphobia in North American Contexts Sunday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Convention Center-29B (Upper Level East) Rupa Pillai, University of Pennsylvania, Presiding The recent emergence of the term “Hinduphobia” in social media and public policy has gone largely unnoticed by mainstream Western society. It is a term that appears to function as part of a spectrum of well-established terms for structural forms of racism linked to historical material practices of discrimination such as Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, and anti-semitism. However, while there certainly are many hypothetical and real examples of discrimination against Hindus by virtue of their religion in parts of the world, the attempt to include “Hinduphobia” into the lexicon of terminology arguably masks the much more immediate political and social reality that the claim silences legitimate criticism of India. In this roundtable discussion, panelists will explore several core questions and case studies involving Hinduphobia and its impact in North American, Hindu diasporic, and Indian contexts. Panelists Sailaja Krishnamurti, Queen’s University, Kingston Shana Sippy, Centre College Dheepa Sundaram, University of Denver Debadatta Chakraborty, University of Massachusetts
	A24-421 Middle Eastern Christianity Unit Theme: The Politics of Materiality and Middle Eastern Christianity Sunday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202B (Second Level) Deanna Womack, Emory University, Presiding This panel explores the politics of materiality and material culture in the context of Middle Eastern Christianity, including the dynamics of violence and destructive acts on material culture in the context of manuscripts, the manuscript trade, cultural heritage management, and archaeology. The papers delve into historical, sociopolitical, and theological perspectives, offering critical insights into how these elements intersect with the preservation and destruction of cultural heritage. Hannah Philipp, Emory University Saint Catherine’s Monastery: A Tangible Testament to the Vitality of Eighth Century Christians in Egypt Abstract This paper examines the role and impact of Saint Catherine's monastery in the lives of eighth century Christians living in Egypt. By approaching this topic through the lens of material and embodied religion, Saint Catherine's can be identified as a sacred space as well as a tangible testament to the vitality of eighth century Christians in Egypt. This paper specifically examines the structure and location of the monastery, the Ashtiname of Muhammad, and information provided by Father Justin who currently lives at Saint Catherine's. Through these sources, the Holy Monastery is identified as a refuge for Christians in the midst of religious conflict as well as a memorialization of the deeply rooted history of migration, violence, memory, and home-making that Christians in Egypt have experienced throughout the past generations. Maroun El Houkayem, Duke University "Our Manuscripts Have Been in Great Danger in Recent Days": The Bibliotheque Orientale, Beirut, and the Trials of World War I Abstract In the vicinity of Beirut's Bibliothèque Orientale lies a collection of archives, including those of Louis Cheikho, a leading figure in Oriental studies and manuscript collection. While Cheikho's efforts are often portrayed as mere emulation of European models, a closer examination of the manuscripts challenges this narrative. Through archival research in Beirut and Vanves, France, Cheikho's collecting emerges as a quest to establish a religious and linguistic education framework, grounded in modernity and secularism. His diaries from 1914 to 1918 offer profound insights into the manuscripts' journey during wartime, reflecting on their significance amidst religious and cultural upheaval. This study highlights the intricate interplay between faith, identity, and cultural preservation, emphasizing the pivotal role of manuscripts as repositories of collective memory and agents of societal transformation. Weston Bland, University of Pennsylvania From Populism with Coptic Characters to the Christian Origins of Socialism: Transformations of Revolutionary Orthodoxy in Egypt’s Republican Church Abstract This paper traces discourses on revolutionary politics in the Coptic Orthodox Church during the early Egyptian Republic (est. 1953). I argue that Egypt’s 1952 coup resonated with a Coptic community grappling with material corruption and spiritual decay, prompting a transformation of communal politics and religious thought in line with the period’s revolutionary ethos. This manifested in a populist wave in elections for the Coptic Communal Council and papacy that called for new blood, with a preference for younger candidates whose credentials were piety, spirituality, and ascetism rather than administrative experience. This was accompanied by a communal discourse that emphasized the affinities between socialism and Christianity, with clergy in particular arguing that Christianity constituted the origins of socialism in its purest form. While both currents were apparently inspired by the revolutionary period’s antiestablishment trajectory, I argue that their result was the incorporation of the Coptic Church into the ermerging authoritarian state. Responding Christopher Sheklian, Mississippi State University
	A24-431 Religion, Affect, and Emotion Unit Theme: Theorizing Thinking, Feeling, Belief Sunday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Hilton Bayfront-Indigo D (Second Level) Marvin Wickware, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, Presiding This session will offer perspectives, case studies, and object lessons on the relationships between cognition, emotion/sensation/feeling, and what we call "belief." It will do so at the intersection of theories of affect that have thickened and re-examined the relationship between thinking and feeling (starting particularly with Massumi's Parables for the Virtual and Sedgwick's Touching Feeling), and religious studies, with special focus on Donovan Schaefer's 2022 book Wild Experiment: Feeling Science and Secularism after Darwin. Panelists Ellen T. Armour, Vanderbilt University Joseph Winters, Duke University Maia Kotrosits, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School Responding Donovan Schaefer, University of Pennsylvania
	A25-200 Afro-American Religious History Unit and Sociology of Religion Unit Theme: *The Long and Shifting Shadow of ‘Negro’ Religion: A Critical Reappraisal of E. Franklin Frazier’s The Negro Church in America* on Its 60th Anniversary** Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Convention Center-3 (Upper Level West) Nicole Turner, Princeton University, Presiding E. Franklin Frazier’s The Negro Church in America is a foundational text in African American religious studies, examining the intersection of religion, sociality, and politics. Published in 1964 amid the Civil Rights Movement, it analyzes the historical trajectory of African Americans, from the transatlantic slave trade to the Great Migration. This roundtable reevaluates Frazier’s work, assessing its enduring significance and offering contemporary insights. Presenters delve into specific chapters, discussing themes such as the impact of slavery on religious practices, the development of independent Black churches, and their roles post-Emancipation. Panelists critique Frazier’s theories on assimilation and gender dynamics, reflecting on their implications today. With diverse perspectives from scholars of various backgrounds, the roundtable aims to deepen our understanding of African American religious history. The discussion seeks to engage multiple audiences, highlighting Frazier's enduring legacy and the ongoing relevance of his scholarship in contemporary discourse. Panelists Juan Floyd-Thomas, Vanderbilt University Cori Tucker-Price, University of Southern California Kera Street, Brown University Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Harvard University Charrise Barron, Harvard University Responding Nicole Turner, Princeton University Business Meeting Vaughn Booker, University of Pennsylvania, Presiding Nicole Turner, Princeton University, Presiding
	A25-214 Law, Religion, and Culture Unit Theme: Author Meets Critics: Leslie Ribovich's Without a Prayer: Religion and Race in New York City Public Schools Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua 310B (Third Level) Charles McCrary, Eckerd College, Presiding "This roundtable assembles scholars of religion to discuss Leslie Ribovich’s Without a Prayer: Religion and Race in New York City Public Schools, published in June 2024 in the North American Religions Series with New York University Press. The book is a detailed, skillful excavation of debates in midcentury New York schools, as administrators, school board members, parents, politicians, and other interested parties attempted to navigate desegregation and secularization. Our four panelists, scholars of religion with a variety of backgrounds and interests in the study of education, will highlight and discuss key themes from Without a Prayer that are pertinent to the study of law, religion, and culture. Among these are secularization and public institutions; the entanglements of race and religion, particularly as they intersect with nationalism and national identities; and the complex relationships between moral formation, religious ideologies, and race-making." Panelists Michael Graziano, University of Northern Iowa Jolyon Thomas, University of Pennsylvania Kim Akano, Princeton University Stephanie Thurston, University of Illinois Responding Leslie Ribovich, Transylvania University
	A25-227 Space, Place, and Religion Unit Theme: Marginal Geographies in Space Place and Religion Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Hilton Bayfront-Indigo D (Second Level) Matthew Mitchell, High Point University, Presiding This session explores the unequal and unjust power dynamics and violence inherent in American imperialism, nation building projects, and capital-driven forces. Papers analyze how such regimes produce chronic precarity and “sacrifice zones” through practices of surveillance and carceral governance, gentrification and displacement, and ecological extractivism. Presenters will introduce case studies of survival and meaning-making, shifting intimacies and solidarities, and challenges to secular spatial order. In doing so, they each address distinct racial and socio-economic forms of marginalization across a range of urban geographies. KB Dennis-Meade, Northwestern University Black Religious Placemaking in the Postcolony: A Case Study of Kingston, Jamaica Abstract This paper centers Black religious placemaking as a strategy of survival and meaning-making on the part of members of a Holiness/Pentecostal church in Tivoli Gardens, an inner city community in Kingston Jamaica. It examines the boundaries of belonging and identity amongst the seven subdivisions that constitute Tivoli Gardens, as Tivoli Gardens itself has largely functioned as an extralegal economy governed by a local don, or enforcer supported by the neoliberal Jamaica Labor Party. The process of Black religious placemaking, I argue, is a fraught and agonistic process that entails shifting solidarities within a postcolonial milieu deeply shaped by underdevelopment and American imperialism. These global processes simultaneously create economic and political instability, enacting chronic precarity and heightened stakes of survival. Employment and religious language, framed by evangelical Christian theology authorizes claims to political and spiritual sovereignty. Religious placemaking, then, is an embodied and ideological act of claiming space and authority to secure human flourishing. Nicole Carroll, Stanford University Long Stand the House John Africa Built: Secular Spatial Order and Insurgent Sacred Space in 1978 Philadelphia Abstract This paper examines the 1978 police raid of the West Philadelphia headquarters of MOVE, a Black radical religious organization, as a clash of competing spatial imaginations. Tracing the conflict between the secular spatial imaginary of Philadelphia’s carceral governance and MOVE’s insurgent approach to cultivating sacred space, I demonstrate the secular spatial logic encoded in zoning laws and their carceral enforcement by analyzing MOVE’s metaphysical reordering of urban space as a direct challenge to secular spatial order. Max Dugan, University of Pennsylvania Margins and Centers of Halal Consumption in Philadelphia Abstract Drawing on geographic approaches to urban consumption, this paper analyzes the margins and centers of halal consumption in Philadelphia. Based on twelve months of ethnographic research and digital mapping of halal businesses, I make two central claims: (1) there are multiple concentrations of halal consumption in the city that are racially, socio-economically, and devotionally distinctive; (2) in addition to Islamic institutions, these concentrations of halal consumption take shape in relation to gentrification, infrastructure, and urban renewal. I focus on two geographies of consumption in Philadelphia—one in West Philadelphia and one in North Philadelphia—as case studies of infrastructure's and urban renewal's effects on halal consumption. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that attention to the everyday urban process that shape Islamic tradition clarifies the anti-Black and capital-driven forces that marginalize enactment of Islamic tradition in Philadelphia, as well as the ways that Muslim sustain devotional practices and forge convivialities across difference. Maxwell Greenberg, Goucher College Jewish Pioneer Cemeteries and Zionist Geographies at the US Mexico Border Abstract As organizers and scholars explore the intimacies between Israeli and US nation-building projects, the phrase, “Palestine-Mexico Border” has emerged to capture the way that US and Israel collaborate through militarized surveillance and ecological extractivism to reassert their national borders. Overlooked, particularly in the US context, is how religion and religious space are important technologies and processes that justify and entangle national borders in global context / imperial borders. This paper explores the relationship between Jewish sacred spaces in Southern Arizona, and the intimacies of racio-religious geographies across and between US and Israel border zones. Business Meeting Katie Oxx, Saint Joseph's University, Presiding Brooke Schedneck, Rhodes College, Presiding
	A25-306 Chinese Religions Unit Theme: “Gendered Dilemma”: Medieval Chinese Perspective on Gender and Sexuality in Buddhism Monday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Convention Center-6F (Upper Level West) Hsiao-wen Cheng, University of Pennsylvania, Presiding By coining the term “gendered dilemma,” the panel investigates the situations with the presence of multiple gender norms, leading to inconsistencies and contradictions, consequently forging a new set of power/knowledge regimes. The dilemma surrounding sexual constructs, the concept of lust, and visions configures a rich multivocality in response to the tension and reconciliation emerging from the clash between the Buddhist and pre-established socio-cultural gender norms. Three papers in this panel seek to broaden the historical scope, spanning a transformative period of Buddhism from the late second to the eleventh century, presenting an examination of the “gendered dilemma” by textual comparison and analysis of early Chinese Buddhist sūtras with Confucian classical texts, a discourse analysis of gender convertibility in Mahāyāna sūtra narratives, and art historical analysis of female agency in possessing visuality in Northern-Song scriptures. Yuxuan Tay, University of California, Los Angeles ‘Many Women in Hell’: Problem of Lust in Early Chinese Buddhist Text Abstract This paper investigates the problem of lust embedded within a few of the earliest renditions of Buddhist scriptures translated from second to third-century China. Earlier Confucian classical texts cemented a discourse that presupposed the male gender’s natural inclination to lust. However, the early translated Buddhist texts in China introduced a new discourse that ascribed bodily lust as the female gender’s natural inclination. It is commonly accepted that the literate elites eventually accepted both discourse sets. However, the initial period when the Buddhist discourse was introduced must have presented a dilemma for the elites to reconcile similar and different gendered notions with the existing discourse. The result was a new discourse that firmly amalgamated both sets of ideals and redefined lust expressed by the male and female genders. The consequences of three different discourses would set a new basis for future literati interpretations of gender relations in medieval China. Tiantian Cai, University of Wisconsin-Madison Female Magic: Performing Sexual Convertibility in Early Mahāyāna Buddhist Narratives Abstract This study examines performativity within inconsistent narratives surrounding gender and sexuality in early Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, particularly exploring the theme of sexual convertibility in Sūtra on Transforming the Female Form, Chapter 6 of Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra and Chapter 12 of Saddharma-puṇḍárīka-sūtra. By analyzing the magical displays of the Goddess to Śāriputra regarding body forms, and the transformative sexuality of Taintless Light Girl and dragon girl, juxtaposed with biological categories about sexuality in Brahmajāla-sūtra, the paper argues that sexuality, distinct from gender, plays a role in constructing gender dichotomy and hierarchies; its superimposition with gendered body forms results in inconsistent narratives that persist as gender dilemmas in the sūtras. The study underscores gender/sex convertibility displayed in a performative manner, showing a tendency of reconciliation of contradictions in narratives. This study introduces a novel intra-religious approach to gender issues in Buddhist sūtra literature, providing insights into narrative modes linked with Buddhist doctrines and rhetoric devices. Huajie Fan, University of Virginia Gendered Visions of Faith: Lady Sun's Printed and Painted Buddhist Frontispieces Abstract Ten sandalwood-scented Buddhist scrolls were discovered next to the body of Lady Sun (b. 995-1055), a Buddhist practitioner from a scholar-official family. Each scroll features frontispieces, printed or painted with ink and gold, with several bearing Lady Sun's signature. This study examines Lady Sun's visual preferences, her engagement with the materiality of these scrolls, and the sensory experiences she actively pursued within the constraints of medieval visual culture and gender norms. At a time when print culture was burgeoning, but dominated by literate male elites, Lady Sun's collection stands out. Not only did she own and sign printed scrolls that stylistic tracing to imperial printing projects of Buddhist canon, but she also commissioned hand-painted identical copies for printed sūtra with altered visual programs, thus personalizing her devotional practice and negotiating her religious and social identity with established patriarchal visual structures that restricted women's access to visual and religious autonomy. Responding Stephanie Lynn Balkwill, University of California, Los Angeles
	A25-334 Women and Religion Unit Theme: Women's Religious Advocacy and Subversive Strategies Across Histories Monday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Convention Center-32A (Upper Level East) Rachel Pang, Davidson College, Presiding This session offers historical analyses to uncover the diverse strategies women have employed to navigate, resist, and reshape the landscapes of religious communities and societal expectations. From the radical advocacy of Caroline Dall and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the 19th century, through the covert resistance of crypto-religious women in the Crown of Aragon, to the nuanced negotiation of social and religious roles by Coptic Orthodox women in 20th-century Egypt, the session illuminates the often-overshadowed narratives of women's resilience and agency within religious frameworks. Through critical analysis of historical texts, socio-religious dynamics, and feminist methodologies, the panelists present how women across different epochs and cultures have challenged religious violence, preserved contested identities, and claimed spaces of leadership and influence. Lydia Willsky-Ciollo, Fairfield University Caroline Dall, Lost Prophet? Engaging Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible” and Caroline Dall’s The College, the Market, and the Court Abstract Caroline Wells Healey Dall (1822-1912) did not play well with others—so goes the historical record. Dall’s excision is notable for a number of reasons. As with many stories of “difficult women,” the leap to cite personality issues as the reason for exclusion by her peers obscures more than it reveals. This paper argues it was the radical politics born from her Unitarian upbringing, and her continued devotion to that liberal branch of Protestantism, along with her Transcendentalist proclivities that made her difficult to pin down. More specifically, it will engage in a critical reading of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible with an eye to what is carefully curated passages and commentaries obscure about the kind of biblically-rooted and radical women’s rights advocacy (which included a reimagining of sex work) that Dall brought to light in The College, the Market, and the Court. Ivana Arsic, University Pompeu Fabra Navigating Adversity: Women's Strategies in Crypto-Religious Communities Abstract The paper explores the survival strategies of crypto-religious minorities within the forced mono-confessional pre-modern Crown of Aragon. It introduces a novel comparative framework, focusing on the strategies employed by female members: Conversas and Moriscas, Christian women of Jewish and Muslim origin, respectively. These strategies are examined as they navigate the complexities of preserving their contested identities amidst religious violence within the inquisitorial tribunals of Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza from the late 15th to the mid-17th centuries. Employing an interdisciplinary and intersectional methodological approach, the study investigates the strategies adopted by these women to negotiate religious violence and maintain their identities. Through analysis of religious practice preservation, coping mechanisms, and negotiation tactics, the research unveils the resilience of these communities. By shedding light on the challenges faced by women in preserving cultural heritage amidst religious persecution, it highlights the intricate interplay of gender, religion, and social status within crypto-religious minorities. Weston Bland, University of Pennsylvania Navigating the First Mission of Motherhood: the Exclusion of Coptic Orthodox Women from Institutions of Communal Leadership, 1920-1960s Abstract This paper explores women’s exclusion from Coptic institutions of governance between 1927-1961. Despite a growing consensus that Coptic institutions should represent and be chosen by the people, Coptic women were excluded from participation as voters and members. I argue that women’s exclusion from Coptic institutional governance was rooted in the deployment of paternalistic readings of scriptures and tradition alongside a popular current in Egyptian feminism that stressed the need to educate women so they could raise nationalist sons. These dynamics created a communal discourse that framed women’s position in society in terms of their place in the family, justifying institutional exclusion on the grounds that wives should be subservient to their husbands and should dedicate themselves to maternal responsibilities. In turn, Coptic women mobilized these expectations to demand inclusion given Coptic institutions’ role in family life, as well as to carve out alternative spaces of influence as educators and journalists.
	A25-405 Chinese Religions Unit Theme: Teaching Women in Chinese Religions: Roundtable on a New Sourcebook of Translated Texts Monday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Convention Center-33A (Upper Level East) Katherine Alexander, University of Colorado, Presiding In this roundtable, a group of scholars who have collaboratively compiled a sourcebook of new critical translations of works relating to women in Chinese religions will speak about their forthcoming work, its contribution to the field, and its applications in the university classroom. Tentatively titled Teaching Women in Chinese Religions, the work focuses on women’s life-stages and how religious practices and rituals shaped norms around female identity and bodies. With chapters on roles like daughter, wife, mother and non-mother (nuns and shamans), and life-stages like girlhood, marriage, and widowhood, the book contributes to filling a critical gap in the diversity of teachable texts about women’s religious lives in Chinese history and culture. The panel aims to introduce the themes of this work, give audience members practical approaches to using its contents in the classroom, and create a forum for open discussion of best practices for teaching religion, gender, and literature. Panelists Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota Xu Ma, Lafayette College Rongdao Lai, McGill University Hsiao-wen Cheng, University of Pennsylvania Natasha Heller, University of Virginia Megan Bryson, University of Tennessee
	A25-427 Study of Islam Unit Theme: New Approaches to Media and Methods in Islamic Studies Monday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Convention Center-25B (Upper Level East) Elliott Bazzano, Le Moyne College, Presiding Digital humanities is playing an increasingly important role in religious studies. This panel advances this methodological agenda in Islamic studies in particular, by helping us envision possibilities of how new media and computer-based technologies can be understood and utilized in the field. The papers theorize new media in insightful ways, model novel methodologies in the study of Muslim communities and traditions, and reflect on the use of digital tools in our pedagogy and scholarship. Ariela Marcus-Sells, Elon University Teaching "A New Vision" for Islamic Studies Abstract My paper argues that Shahzad Bashir’s new, all-digital book A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures offers an alternative to the typical timeline of Islam presented in undergraduate survey courses. Accessibly written, the book invites scholars and students to think of Islamic history as a web, through which different people along different paths which intersect through various thematic, narrative, and material “nodes.” In Fall 2023, I redesigned my introductory survey course, “Islamic Traditions” around Bashir’s A New Vision. The course follows a “choose-your-own-adventure” format in which students collectively select each section of the book that we read as a group. The paper draws on my experience as an instructor and student survey responses to demonstrate that it is possible to introduce students to the study of Islam without flattening the complexity of Islamic historical thinking and that doing so can increase student excitement about, and engagement in, our courses. Ian VanderMeulen, New York University Traces of the Shaykh’s Ear: Islamic Teaching Certificates as Premodern “Sound Media” Abstract This paper mobilizes premodern textual artifacts relevant to the tradition Islamic sciences of Qur’an recitation (tajwid and the qira’at) as a means to theorize “sound media” from an Islamic perspective. It begins by noting the foreshadowing of modern recording technologies in the spiral shape of the late premodern Moroccan Sultan Sulayman’s sanad, or scholarly genealogy, in the recitational sciences. But it focuses, analytically, on the traditional teaching certificates, or ijazas, or Moroccan reciters in the generations leading up to Sulayman’s era. Such documents include increasingly detailed descriptions by the ijaza author of his student’s ijaza-earning recitational performance, known as a khatma, linked, textually, to a longer genealogy of practice represented by the sanad. I argue that such ijazas thus functioned as “sound media” that are both similar to, and more expansive than, modern technologies, preserving not just a “record” of a single performance but an entire history of practice. Max Dugan, University of Pennsylvania Muslim Geographies of Consumption in Philadelphia Abstract Drawing on geographic approaches to urban consumption, this paper conceptualizes Muslim geographies of consumption in Philadelphia. Based on twelve months of ethnographic research and digital mapping of halal businesses, I make two central claims: (1) there are multiple concentrations of halal consumption in the city that are racially, socio-economically, and devotionally distinctive; (2) in addition to Islamic institutions, these concentrations of halal consumption take shape in relation to gentrification, infrastructure, and urban renewal. I focus on two geographies of consumption in Philadelphia—one in West Philadelphia and one in North Philadelphia—as case studies of infrastructure's and urban renewal's effects on halal consumption. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that attention to the everyday urban process that shape Islamic tradition clarifies the anti-Black and capital-driven forces that constrain the enactment of Islamic tradition in Philadelphia, as well as the ways that Muslim sustain devotional practices and forge convivialities across difference.

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