SEATTLE UNIVERSITY

=20

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH-A CONFERENCE

=20

CALL FOR PAPERS

=20

The Gaffney Chair for Endowed Mission and the Center for the Study of =
Justice in Society jointly present and invite contributions to a =
Conference on AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. The conference =
will be held at Seattle University from April 27-29, 2006.

=20

This is the first of a trilogy of conferences to be held at Seattle =
University devoted to the exploration of the place of peoples of African =
descent in the Catholic Church. Subsequent conferences will look at the =
place in the Church of New World Africans (from Canada to Chile and all =
points in between) and, finally, of Continental Africans.

=20

The AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH conference will examine =
different dimensions of African American experiences in the Church.

=20

v What are the experiences of African Americans in the Church? How =
has the Church related to the African American cohort of its =
congregation?

=20

v What is the place of the Church in the lives of African Americans? =
 Have African Americans found in the Church the Gilead with the =
proverbial balm to soothe their wounded and make them whole?

=20

v Given the specificity of African American culture, how has it =
impacted the evolution of Catholic culture in the United States? How =
have African American cultural expressions-music, speech, dress, =
architecture, etc.-influenced Catholic practices?

=20

v Has the Church acknowledged and/or celebrated the African American =
presence in it? What forms have such acknowledgments or celebrations =
taken?

=20

v What role did the Church play in some of the constitutive events =
of American, including African American, history from the founding =
through Slavery and the Slave Trade to the Civil Rights movement to the =
present? What have been the Church's own narrative respecting these =
events and what have been the reactions of African Americans to that =
narrative?

=20

v What is the place of African American religion and spirituality in =
Catholic Theology and Liturgy? Has it impacted the celebration of the =
Eucharist?

=20

We invite papers from scholars and practitioners alike that respond to =
the above questions. Conference topics will include the following:

=20

=B7 Growing up Black and Catholic

=B7 Liturgy

=B7 Black Theology: Doing Theology in a Black Key

=B7 History of Black Catholicism

=B7 Womanist Theology

=B7 Black Spirituality in a Catholic Context

=B7 African American Artistic Expressions and the Church

=B7 Blacks Who Left the Church and Those Who Came Back

=B7 Nonpractising Black Catholics

=B7 Strategies of Resistance in the Church-Coping or =
Assimilation?

=B7 African Musical Traditions in the Church

=B7 African American Fraternal/Sororal Orders

=B7 African Americans and Catholic Education

=B7 African Americans and Catholic Social Services

=20

Please submit 1 page abstracts for individual papers or panel proposals =
to Ms. Julie Stein, jstein_at_seattleu.edu <mailto:jstein_at_seattleu.edu> by =
Jan 28, 2006. There is no registration fee to participate in the =
conference but all presenters will be encouraged to register to =
facilitate organization. Participants must pay their travel and =
accommodation expenses. Hotel accommodation information with special =
conference rates will be made available to all participants. For further =
information, please contact: Ms. Julie Stein at jstein_at_seattleu.edu.

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Tue Dec 13 2005 - 08:39:00 EST