Online Program Book

Confucian contemplation, particularly quiet-sitting meditation, has been historically overlooked in contemplative studies. This is despite its deep integration in Confucian traditions, where figures like Cheng Yi and Yang Shi viewed it as crucial for moral self-cultivation and active engagement with the world. Zhu Xi's evolving stance further illuminated its philosophical depth. The underrepresentation is partly due to the practice's societal integration, the absence of texts with detailed techniques, and the scholarly necessity to reinterpret and recontextualize these traditions after their decline in modern times.The papers session advocates for including the Ruist perspective in global research, noting its potential relevance to modern professionals akin to ancient Ru scholars. It includes papers exploring early Chinese ritual fasting, the philosophical dimensions of quiet-sitting in the lineage of pattern-principle learning, Zhu Xi's meditation interpreted through a Chinese Catholic lens, and the efficacy of Confucian practices in contemporary pedagogy of liberal arts.

Michel Foucault labeled counter-spaces that influence, contest, mirror, and invert as heterotopias. Paper one considers heterotopia through transformations of a plot of land in Colorado, unveiling environmental challenges, adaptations, and the interplay of sacred spaces facing climate-related shifts. The second, co-authored paper offers a dialogic analysis of two U.S. social institutions – early nineteenth century prisons and mid twentieth century sexual closets – at a key moment in their historical formations. In the dialectic between imagined and materialized, they each produce another heterotopia – queer and spectral in form – in which other worlds are imagined, queering the hetero of heterotopia. The third, multi-authored paper showcases innovative ethnographic research of a revival of Victorian era-style spiritualism underway in British public houses (‘pubs’), the latest collective space for contemporary spirit communication. The fourth paper examines the ambiguous utopia/heterotopia that is the Métis community of Ste Madeleine in Manitoba, destroyed by the settler government.

If esoteric religious practices are, by definition, "hidden," then who exactly do they exclude, and what are the social consequences of such exclusions? This panel examines the relationship between esoteric practice and violent ideology in three diverse historical and cultural circumstances. From the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, these panelists explore the interconnections between esotericism and discourses of universalism and traditionalism. These panelists demonstrate some of the ways in which esoteric discourses of prisca theologica and secrecy can and have led to intolerant and violent cultural formations. 

This panel delves into the intricate interplay between queer existence and religion, examining intersections of identity, influence, and resistance within diverse cultural contexts. The panel discussion will be preceded by the screening of short clips from three queer-affirming African movies or a full movie from one of the options: "Inxeba" (John Trengove, South Africa, 2017), "Walking with Shadows" (Aoife O’Kelly, Nigeria, 2019), and "The Blue Caftan" (Maryam Touzani, Morocco, 2022). These clips will prepare the audience for a paper by Stefanie Knauss on the recent development of positive representations of queerness in African cinema, with particular attention to resistance both to anti-queer Christian and Islamic discourses as well as some of the assumptions implicit in Western models of queerness and sexuality. Questions and discussion to follow.

The 2024 IGW session will be a non-traditional position paper session that aims to engender a conversation about the current state of women and gender studies in Muslim contexts past and present. We invited participants to engage with three broad themes: the study and practice of Muslim and Islamic feminisms, decolonial approaches as they intersect with Islam and gender, and the role of "tradition" and athority in the study of Islam and gender. Four scholars offer short position papers on the divine feminine between decoloniality and tradition, Muslim #MeToo, ordinary women as producers of Islamic knowledge and doctrine, and the reproduction of religious practice in Islamic law. The short presentations will be followed by a facilitated discussion with those in attendance at the session on wider repercussions of these papers and the direction(s) our field is moving in.   

In critical studies of Indigenous medicine, sacred plants, ethnobotany, and "psychedelic" hallucinogens, this panel explores how Indigenous sacred plants and medicinal knowledge been commodified to create modern medicine (e.g. psychedelics). What have been the costs for Indigenous peoples and how have they been persecuted for medicinal plant usage? Noting sacred plants' commercialization among non-Indigenous communities, how have locals fought against this knowledge theft and resource extractions? Presentations examine the "psychedelic renaissance," allopathic medicine, psychedelic holding practices, Western exploitation of Mazatec sacred mushrooms, and how to center voices such as curandera María Sabina to interrogate possibilities for reparations of commodified Indigenous sacred medicines.