Religious Studies Graduate Conference 2012

"On Religion:
Definition, Delimitation, and Application"

February 24-25, 2012

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
"Failure in Success? New Opportunities in Religious Studies"
Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy,
Harvard University
Friday, February 24, 2012 • 4:00–5:30 pm • Woodburn Hall 121

The conference will explore such questions as: What is religion? How can this term be delimited? How do a scholar's methodological commitments (e.g., ethical, historical, literary, philosophical) relate to the practice of delimitation? Do such methodological commitments inform different approaches with which to study religion, or do they presume different concepts of religion? What might be ways of hosting conversations about these things even as scholars' terms are in flux? Join us to explore these questions and many more.

Conference Schedule:

All meetings take place in Woodburn Hall 121.

Friday, February 24:
Woodburn Hall 121

11:30 – 1:30 Registration, lunch, meet and greet

1:30 – 1:45 Opening remarks
Nancy Levene, Indiana University

1:45 – 3:45 Panel 1: "Theoretical" Approaches to the Study of Religion
Chair: Diane Fruchtman, Indiana University
Respondent: Richard Nance, Indiana University

"Mill's search for ritual," Matthew Kaul, Indiana University
"Assemblage theories of religion," Samuel Hopkins, University of Chicago
"Baptizing Durkheim," Perry Petrich, Loyola University Chicago

3:45 – 4:00 Coffee break

4:00 – 5:30 Plenary
Chair: Bharat Ranganathan, Indiana University

"Failure in Success? New Opportunities in Religious Studies"
Parimal G. Patil, Harvard University

Saturday, February 25:
Woodburn Hall 121

10:00 – 10:30 Coffee

10:30 – 12:00 Panel 2: Insiders, Outsiders, and the Study of Religion
Chair: Tola Rodrick, Indiana University
Respondent: Kevin Jaques, Indiana University

"Possessed knowledge: Zora Neale Hurston and the Study of Religion," Ernest Julius Mitchel II, Harvard University
"Religion, Science, and Glossolalia," Travis Cooper, Indiana University

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 Panel 3: Religion and Law
Chair: C.M. Libby, Indiana University
Respondent: Richard B. Miller, Indiana University

"Determining What Counts as Religion in American Courts," Free Williams, University of Virginia
"Exclusively Charitable," Gabrielle Desmarais, University of Ottowa

2:30 – 2:45 Coffee break

2:45 – 4:45 Panel 4: Interdisciplinarity and Universality
Chair: Travis Cooper, Indiana University
Respondent: Parimal G. Patil, Harvard University

"Thinking 'Western' Religion," Jason Hoult, York University
"Religion and Reducibility," Anil Mundra, University of Chicago
"Religion in its Finite Representations and Religion as "Absolute Object" in Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion," A.J. Goldman, Harvard University
"Removing 'Religion' from the Universe," Gloria Lopez, University of South Florida

4:45 – 5:00 Closing Remarks
Constance Furey, Indiana University

5:00 End of Conference, announcement of best paper

For more information, e-mail: iugradconf@gmail.com
Organized by the Department of Religious Studies
with support from College Arts & Humanities Institute
and IU Graduate and Professional Student Organization.