2014
BASR annual conference, 3-5 September 2014
The 2014 conference of the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR, http://www.basr.ac.uk/index.htm) will be hosted at The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK, Tel: +44 (0) 1908 274066, website: www.open.ac.uk
The BASR 2014 annual conference has two themes: “religion, art and performance” and “the cutting edge”. Both can be interpreted broadly. Panels and papers are invited.
Religion, art and performance
Religion is at least represented in artistic and dramatic ways. It has been argued that theatre began in religious rituals, that visual arts began as demonstrations of religious knowledges, and that literature arose from religious myth-telling. Perhaps pre-modern arts of all kinds were fundamentally religious. Contemporary religion has interesting relationships with art and performance: from the use of ritual-like acts on stage to the staging of religious rites to impact a wide public; from the portrayal of religious themes in art to the emerging emphasis on “religion as act” or “religioning” in recent scholarly theorising. Perhaps religion is a performative art. Is it still valid to distinguish ritual from drama on the grounds that the former involves only participants while the latter invites audiences? What difference does the display of religious acts or things in museums, galleries, theatres, heritage and tourist venues make? Ideas and questions like these (and there are many more) seem likely to enhance the value of the study of religions to interdisciplinary scholarship. Perhaps the study of religion could be improved by dialogue with scholars of art or performance, and/or vice versa. The BASR 2014 conference provides an opportunity to explore these and other questions and debates. Therefore, we invite panels and papers about religion, art and performance (all defined broadly).
The cutting edge
Many BASR members also belong to scholarly associations for the study of specific religions or for the advancement of specific approaches to religion(s) (e.g. anthropology, philosophy, sociology and more). We invite panels on the cutting edge of debates that focus on specific religions or apply specific approaches. In doing so we hope various forms of cross-fertilisation will enrich the field of studies of religion.
All correspondence about the conference (other than the bursaries) should be directed to arts-basr@open.ac.uk
2014
A new book by Jim Cox
James L. Cox, 31.01.2014, The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies. Edinburgh: Acumen Publishers, 192 pp., ISBN-13: 978-1844657551 (pbk), BP17.99, discount price BP14.39
Indigenous societies around the world have been historically disparaged by European explorers, colonial officials and Christian missionaries. Nowhere was this more evident than in early descriptions of indigenous religions as savage, primitive, superstitious and fetishistic. Liberal intellectuals, both indigenous and colonial, reacted to this by claiming that, before indigenous peoples ever encountered Europeans, they all believed in a Supreme Being. ‘The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies’ argues that, by alleging that God can be located at the core of pre-Christian cultures, this claim effectively invents a tradition which only makes sense theologically if God has never left himself without a witness. Examining a range of indigenous religions from North America, Africa and Australasia – the Shona of Zimbabwe, the ‘Rainbow Spirit Theology’ in Australia, the Yupiit of Alaska, and the Maori of New Zealand – the book argues that the interests of indigenous societies are best served by carefully describing their religious beliefs and practices using historical and phenomenological methods – just as would be done in the study of any world religion.
CONTENTS:
Preface
1. The ‘God’ Controversy in Pre-Christian Indigenous Religions
2. Making Mwari Christian: The Shona of Zimbabwe
3. How God Became Australian: Transforming the Rainbow Serpent into the Rainbow Spirit
4. The Alaskan Exception: The ‘Person of the Universe’ and Christian Neglect
5. The Debate over Io as the Pre-Christian Māori Supreme Being
6. Indigenising God: The Conflict between Fact and Value
Bibliography
Index
Reviews
Cox’s insightful study of the concept of the ‘high god’ in four indigenous cultures, and its complex relationship with Christian missionary preaching of the Biblical God, is a major scholarly achievement.” – Carole M. Cusack, University of Sydney
“This book is an excellent argument for the need to study indigenous religions as the beliefs and practices of indigenous peoples, as traditions in their own rights.” – Bettina E. Schmidt, University of Wales Trinity Saint David
James L. Cox is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies in the University of Edinburgh. His most recent books include ‘An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion; From Primitive to Indigenous: The Academic Study of Indigenous Religions‘ and ‘A Guide to the Phenomenology of Religion‘.
2014
AASR Pictures from AAR and SBL Atlanta 2010
2014
AASR Student Award
The African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR) promotes the academic study of religions in Africa through the international collaboration of scholars whose research has a bearing on the subject. The Association stimulates e.g. academic conferences both in Africa and overseas. The 6th AASR conference will be held at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, from July 30-August 3, 2014. The topic of the conference is ‘Religion, Ecology and the Environment in Africa and the African Diaspora’.
On the occasion of this conference, the Association is pleased to announce the presentation of the AASR Student Award. This award honours an individual African student whose paper makes an outstanding contribution to the topic of the conference. The recipient of the AASR Student Award will receive a cash prize of $ 500. As the award will be presented during the AASR conference in Cape Town, the first prize includes a return ticket to Cape Town from any leading airport on the African continent. The recipient of the award will be invited to present the winning paper during the conference, and the paper will be published in the AASR Bulletin. The ASSR Student Award also includes a second prize, of $ 300, and a third prize of $ 200 cash.
Nominations
Nominations for the AASR Student Award must be made by May 15, 2014. Electronic submissions may be sent to Professor Gerrie ter Haar at terhaar@iss.nl. Other members of the jury are Professor Elias Bongmba, Dr Frans Dokman and Dr Rosemary Amenga-Etego.
The jury accepts nominations from students registered at African universities only. Both Phd and Master students are invited to submit a paper for consideration. The maximum length is 5000 words, including references. To facilitate the objectivity of the review process, the name of the candidate, current mailing address and phone number should appear only on the title page of any paper submitted. The winner will be notified by June 21, 2014.
In the absence of a paper deemed to merit the award, the award may be withheld.
For further information about the AASR, the Cape Town conference and the (sub)themes related to the conference topic, please visit www.a-asr.org.
2014
2014 Consultation of African and African Diasporan Women in Religion and Theology
CALL FOR PAPERS
2014 Consultation of African and African Diasporan Women in Religion and Theology
Theme: Texts of Terror, Texts of Empowerment: Reimagining Sacred Canon
in Africana Womanhood
The Consultation of African and African Diasporan Women in Religion and Theology invites proposals for paper presentations at the 2014 meeting. Proposals engaging any religious tradition and on any of the wide variety of topics related to the consultation’s theme – Texts of Terror, Texts of Empowerment: Reimagining Sacred Canon in Africana Womanhood – are welcome. ALL proposals should clearly and specifically (1) integrate discussion of sacred texts (in oral, written, or embodied forms) and (2) consider the relationship of sacred texts to any forms of violence against continental and diasporan African women and girls. Proposals may not exceed one single-spaced page and should include the proposer’s name and email address, a title, the proposer’s institutional affiliation, and a clear indication of how the proposed presentation considers violence, African-descended women, and sacred texts. Send proposals to ghanaconference2014@gmail.com. The deadline for proposals is March 1, 2014.
The second Consultation of African and African Diasporan Women in Religion and Theology will take place July 6-14, 2014, in Legon, Ghana. The 2014 meeting extends work of the 2012 conference by continuing the focus on overcoming violence against continental and diasporan African women and girls and seeking to build relationships of continental and diasporan African women in religion and theology. Roots of these meetings began during the 1970s and 1980s when Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Brigilia Bam, Musimbi Kanyoro, Katie Geneva Cannon, Jacquelyn Grant and others first encountered each other as the earliest continental and diasporan African women’s voices at transnational Christian denominational and interdenominational meetings.
