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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Historians,<BR>
<BR>
Some of you may be interested in the Call for Papers (CFP) for an upcoming graduate student conference at Columbia University in New York.<BR>
<BR>
Best regards,<BR>
Dr. S<BR>
<BR>
Roshanna P. Sylvester, Ph.D.<BR>
Associate Professor and<BR>
Graduate Program Director<BR>
Department of History<BR>
DePaul University <BR>
rsylvest@depaul.edu<BR>
773-325-7825 (phone)<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: Columbia University Religion Graduate Students Association [<A HREF="mailto:columbiareligion@gmail.com">mailto:columbiareligion@gmail.com</A>]<BR>
Sent: Mon 12/12/2011 10:18 AM<BR>
To: columbiareligion@gmail.com<BR>
Subject: CFP, Columbia Religion Graduate Student Conference: "Pray, Kill, Eat"<BR>
<BR>
Hello,<BR>
<BR>
We kindly request that you please distribute this to your respective<BR>
Departments and listserves.<BR>
<BR>
Many thanks,<BR>
<BR>
Udi Halperin and Hamsa Stainton<BR>
Conference Coordinators<BR>
Religion Graduate Students' Association<BR>
Columbia University<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Call for Papers<BR>
<BR>
The Religion Graduate Students' Association of Columbia University is now<BR>
accepting paper proposals for its Eighth Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate<BR>
Student Conference:<BR>
<BR>
Pray, Kill, Eat: Relating to Animals across Religious Traditions<BR>
<BR>
Friday, April 20, 2012, 9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.<BR>
<BR>
Columbia University, New York, NY<BR>
<BR>
The keynote speakers for the conference are:<BR>
<BR>
Professor Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor<BR>
of the History of Religions in the University of Chicago Divinity School<BR>
<BR>
Professor Kimberley C. Patton, Professor of the Comparative and Historical<BR>
Study of Religion at Harvard Divinity School.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Humans have always had complex and intimate relationships with animals.<BR>
Animals have been feared, revered, hunted, sacrificed, eaten, utilized,<BR>
domesticated, and worshipped for thousands of years. Religious traditions<BR>
have been instrumental in both reflecting and constructing humans' notions<BR>
of animals and have integrated such notions into comprehensive mythical,<BR>
symbolic, and ritual frameworks of meaning and action. In recent decades,<BR>
however, many earlier forms of such relationships have been radically<BR>
transformed in the face of rapid development. At the same time scholars<BR>
like Kimberley Patton and Wendy Doniger have led efforts to rethink animals<BR>
and religion from comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives. This<BR>
conference, therefore, engages both the shifting complexity of the modern<BR>
world and a growing body of scholarship in religious studies. We seek<BR>
papers that explore animals as both religious objects and subjects, and<BR>
probe the myriad ways in which religions reflect, shape, and re-shape the<BR>
relationship between humans and animals.<BR>
<BR>
We welcome papers that address contemporary as well as historical<BR>
articulations of this topic, drawing on diverse methodologies and sources.<BR>
Papers may be on any topic related to animals and religion. Suggested<BR>
themes include:<BR>
<BR>
- Sacrifice<BR>
- The use of animals (or animal parts) in festivals, rituals and other<BR>
religious contexts<BR>
- The deification and demonization of animals<BR>
- Religious dietary practices (e.g. prescriptions and proscriptions<BR>
regarding animals)<BR>
- Transgressive practices involving animals<BR>
- Animals as the paradigmatic Other<BR>
- Blurred categories: hybrids, half-animals, shape-shifting, etc.<BR>
- Possession of/by animals<BR>
- Animals in religious narratives<BR>
- Animal symbolism<BR>
- Religion and animals in the 21st century (urbanization, technology,<BR>
industrialization of animal husbandry)<BR>
- Animal rights and the treatment of animals<BR>
- Religion, animals, and political discourse<BR>
- Evolution and creationism<BR>
- Reincarnation<BR>
<BR>
Please submit paper titles and abstracts (300 words or less) to<BR>
columbiareligion@gmail.com.<BR>
Please include name, institutional and departmental affiliation, and a<BR>
contact email address.<BR>
<BR>
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: January 27, 2012<BR>
All proposals will receive a response by mid-February, 2012<BR>
<BR>
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