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Religion
& the Social |
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The workshop on Religion and the Social aims to bring together
faculty and students from across the university with an interest in the study
of religion, both as a domain of social life and a source of ways of thinking
about the social. We hope to further a conversation not simply on the place
of religious practice, belief, and institutions in the contemporary world,
but also on the role of religious traditions in shaping the visions of the
social held by scholars and those they study, alike. In addition to
presentations by graduate students, faculty, and visitors, the workshop hosts
periodic reading sessions on theology and social theory aimed at laying the
foundation for a more informed engagement among participants trained to
approach religion from different disciplinary perspectives. Although the workshopÕs founding
members are building on the heightened theoretical and methodological self-awareness
within anthropology fostered by recent studies of Islam and Christianity, we
seek to expand the conversation to draw on research on other traditions
undertaken from a range of disciplinary perspectives. We are also eager to build bridges
between students and faculty focusing on religion, narrowly construed, and
scholars investigating the religious dimensions of secular politics, science,
and the media. The theoretical,
ethical, and methodological conundrums bound up with the study of religion
– conundrums that arguably date to the very origins of the social
sciences and humanities – call for intellectual generosity, as well as
rigor. We hope to nurture novel
approaches to religion by providing a forum in which the curious and
adventurous can share ideas. Faculty Sponsors Danilyn Rutherford (drutherf@uchicago.edu) Hussein Agrama (hagrama@uchicago.edu) Robin Shoaps (shoaps@uchicago.edu) Student Coordinators Benjamin White (benjaminw@uchicago.edu) Spring
2008 Friday,
April 11th Faisal
Devji (History, The New School) The
Terrorist in Search of Humanity Discussant:
Michal Ran (Anthropology, University of Chicago) Friday,
April 25th Justine
Buck Quijada (Anthropology, University of Chicago) Tengri
- Shamanism as a Universal Religion Discussant:
Nelly Samoukova (Anthropology, University of Chicago) Friday,
May 9th Leigh
Eric Schmidt (Religion, Princeton University) A
Student of Phallic Antiquities: Ida C. Craddock and the
Sexual History of Religion Discussant:
Ender Ricart (Anthropology, University of Chicago) Friday,
May 23rd Urmila
Nair (Anthropology, University of Chicago) TBA Friday,
June 6th Danilyn
Rutherford (Anthropology, University of Chicago) The
Enchantments of Secular Belief
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Meetings Location Assistance Papers |