|
Religion
& the Social |
|
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) Sex,
Wrath, Metricality and Subjecthood: On the Notion of
ÒSecretÓ (gsang ba) in the Nechung Scripture Discussant:
Pierre Julien Harter CANCELLED! Friday,
June 6th Danilyn
Rutherford (Anthropology, University of Chicago) The
Enchantments of Secular Belief
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meetings Location Assistance Papers |