Animals and Religion Unit and Comparative Studies in Religion Unit

Animals, Poison, & Religion

We seek to assemble a panel to compare religious valences of animals and venom, poison, and poisoners, as variously manifest across diverse religio-cultural contexts and communities. This panel would be the second in a series of panels on the topic, following a panel at the 2021 AAR that included papers on witchcraft as a comparative lens for the spiritual meaning of poisonous pesticides in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and a paper on poison (Tibetan: dug) “casting” and cancer in Gyalthang, Tibet. We aim to continue this conversation surrounding two central holistic queries: in what ways can poison and poisoners be best understood as comparative categories in the study of religion, and what roles do venom, poison, and toxicity play in the religious roles and religious worlds of animals?