religion

Call for Papers:

The Florida State University Department of Religion’s

18th Annual Graduate Student Symposium

February 14-15, 2020 · Tallahassee, Florida

The Florida State University Department of Religion is pleased to announce its 18th Annual Graduate Student Symposium to be held February 14-15, 2020 in Tallahassee, Florida.

Last year’s symposium featured original research from over 50 presenters from over 15 universities, and disciplines as varied as History, Anthropology, Political Science, Literature, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Classics.

The American Agrarian writer, philosopher, and farmer Wendell Berry frequently speaks of the need to be ‘placed’, to inhabit a particular landscape and its social memory over an extended period of time. This, he argues, is a precondition for fostering communities that care for the earth and the people who live off it—what he refers to as conviviality.

Boredom, (In)action, War and Warriors

27 & 28 August 2020, Amsterdam

Confirmed Keynote speaker: Professor Mark Kingwell, University of Toronto

Boredom has often been defined as idleness, slowness, doing nothing, doing

something over and over again, and waiting (Smith 1981, Daren 1999, Mæland &

Brunstad 2009, Bergstein 2009, Prozak 2017). These definitions suggest that boredom

is an experience that does not generate meanings and ideas by itself about itself.

Boredom remains constantly relevant to sociocultural and political spheres only

through its opposite. It is portrayed as the empty bubble, or the vacuum of

Diviners and Doomsdayers: The Poet as Prophet

Prophecy and poetry share a long history in American literature. Since Emerson argued for poets as America’s sacred seers, the term “prophet” has been variously applied in criticism of American poetry, to suggest poets who have startling foresight (for example, Robinson Jeffers or W.S. Merwin); to highlight social and political investments (in Muriel Rukeyser or Adrienne Rich); to align human utterances with divinely inspired truths (in Allen Ginsberg or Nathaniel Mackey); or to suggest a trans-historical lineage of prophet-poets, from Jeremiah to Blake to Whitman and beyond.

CALL FOR PAPERS: 

Religion and Theatre Focus Group 

Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference

Detroit, Michigan

July 29 – August 2, 2020

Drive: Combustion, Energy, Resilience

Saturday 4th April 2020 - Sunday 5th April 2020
Lisbon, Portugal

Spirituality recognises that there is more to reality than just the material world. The intuition that our lives have meaning and are part of something bigger is a powerful motivator for us to cultivate our spiritual side. The mystical experiences and beliefs that arise from this engagement can stimulate our imagination in unexpected ways. Feelings of transcendence and awe have inspired creative people, artists, writers and composers throughout the ages, and continue to influence cultures around the world. Spirituality has certainly not gone away in a hyper-connected age, but finds new modes of expression and practice.

The Song of Songs in European Poetry (13th-17th Centuries)

Translations, Appropriations, Rewritings

University of Padova, 29-30 June 2020

How does representation of the occult differ across time, such as in pre- and post-Soviet works? How are ghosts, alternative science, paganism, and the supernatural associated with themes and concepts in new Russian texts or new approaches to older works? Potential topics include but are not limited to the intersection of occultism with fantasy, science fiction, visual arts, politics, espionage, or satire.

Submit short bios and 300-word abstracts with a free NeMLA CFP List account at https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18275.

51st Northeast Modern Language Association Convention

March 5-8, 2020

16-17 October 2020

Southwest Conference on Christianity and Literature

Dallas Baptist University

Dr. Paul Wadell, Keynote Speaker

Dr. Wadell currently teaches philosophy, Christian ethics, and theology at St. Norbert College. He is the author of The Christian Moral Life—Faithful Discipleship for a Global Society, co-authored with Patricia Lamoureux (2010); The Moral of the Story: Learning from Literature about Human and Divine Love (2003); and Becoming Friends: Worship, Justice, and the Practice of Christian Friendship (2002), as well as other books.

Call for Papers: Special Section

Theatre History Studies Volume 40 (2021)

Co-editors: Jane Barnette and Chrystyna Dail

Shifting Shapes: Witch Characters and Witchy Performances 

This two-day conference will explore connections between theatrical and non-theatrical texts in early modern England. Theatrical culture functioned in vibrant relation to both non-theatrical performances (such as sermons and entertainments) and non-dramatic poetry and prose. However, moments of exchange between different genres have too often been obscured by disciplinary silos.

By bringing together scholars with a wide variety of interests the conference will open up new research questions which address the creative exchanges between plays and a wide range of non-theatrical texts and performances.

Topics for consideration might include: 

Mythological narratives constitute a significant portion of the world’s most influential literature; nevertheless, they are glaringly absent from contemporary literary studies. Students interested in the study of mythology are directed to departments of anthropology, religion, or intellectual heritage, and these fields certainly conduct invaluable examinations of world-mythology; however, myths are unequivocally literary in nature, and their omission in departments of literature is both a detriment to the field and a disservice to world cultures. What went wrong with the study of myth-as-literature, and how can we revive this genre to reinvigorate the field of literary studies? 

What went wrong?

Call for Essays: Religion and (Proto)Feminism in Early Modern Women’s Lives and Works, 1500-1800