http://www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/workshops.asp
Workshops at the 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco
Religion and the Media Workshop
What’s Next for Texts: Scripting Religion in a Networked World
Friday, November 18, 9:30 AM–4:30 PM
In 2011, the AAR will not only be meeting concurrently with the Society of Biblical Literature, it will be doing so near Silicon Valley, the global epicenter of the digital revolution. Taking its cue from this conjuncture, the workshop will ask, “What’s next for texts?” Although it might seem that the diffuse networks of the internet should have exploded the sacred book once and for all, “scripture” continues to shape the contemporary world in ways that are at once unexpected and overdetermined by the textual past. Religion has gone online, to be sure. But the text still significantly shapes religion in ways that go far beyond questions of “content.” Books as material objects continue to structure religious lives and religious worlds. Scriptural metaphors have come to encode debates about seemingly secular objects like the U.S. Constitution and the human genome. The scriptural sanctity of the Qur’an has been successfully mobilized for political ends. Gathering together scholars from the AAR and the SBL, this year’s Religion and Media Workshop interrogates textuality in both ancient and modern worlds, calling particular attention to research that attempts to bridge the two. It further asks how scholars of religion can make use of the emergent methodologies associated with the “Digital Humanities.”
We invite you to join a discussion of these themes with leading reporters, performers and academics, including
- Elizabeth Castelli, Barnard College and Editor of Postscripts
- Jeremy Stolow, Concordia University
- James Watts, Syracuse University
Our unique three-part workshop includes panels, performance and small group discussion. Our morning program features a series of interdisciplinary panels on ancient and contemporary textualities, which interrogate “text” as a medium that exceeds and encompasses its informational content. In the afternoon, we turn to the digital, asking how Google Books and the Digital Humanities reconfigure the question of “scripture” for the twenty-first century. As always, there will be ample time for small thematic conversations around issues of urgent relevance to the study of religion and media.
The cost for the workshop is $60, which includes the entire day of sessions and lunch. Registration is limited to the first 75 participants.
Rethinking Islamic Studies Workshop
Gender, Sexuality, and Bodies in the Text
Friday, November 18, 1:00 PM–5:00 PM
Sponsored by the Islamic Mysticism Group and the Qur’an Group
In this workshop eight scholars will lead discussions on reading gender, sexuality, and bodies in the classical sources. We will address matters such as the following:
- Historically grounded readings of gender and sexuality in the Hadith
- Bodily representations of the Prophet’s wives in the Sira
- Gender and bodies in Sufi metaphysics and hagiography
- The role Fatima’s esoteric body plays in theological and hagiographical sources
- Masculinity in Qur’anic accounts of the prophets and prophecy
- Iconoclastic practices as they are embodied in the text of image, ritual action, and architecture
Each scholar will head a table focusing on a different topic and set of sources and discuss the methods, and even the salience, of reading gender, sexuality, and bodies in the sources.
The cost for the workshop is $30, which includes the entire afternoon of sessions and a coffee break. Registration is limited to the first 75 participants.
Status of Women, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Workshop
Overcoming Barriers to Underrepresented Scholarship: A Strategy and Action Workshop
Friday, November 18, 9:00 AM–4:30 PM
Sponsored by the Status of Women in the Profession Committee, the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee, and the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer Persons in the Profession Task Force
Despite more than four decades of feminist, anti-racist, queer and other insurgent scholarship, the work and the scholars who produce it still face many barriers in the academy. This strategy and action workshop will focus on developing a plan of action for overcoming these barriers. The morning session will feature a panel that will discuss barriers to and strategies for promoting and disseminating paradigm-shifting intellectual projects in the academy. In the afternoon, participants will work on developing concrete proposals for collective action that can be implemented within the AAR and our home institutions.
The cost for the workshop is $50, which includes the entire day of sessions and a continental breakfast (lunch will be on your own). We do not want anyone to be prevented from attending the workshop due to cost. If you need a subsidy, please contact judith.plaskow@manhattan.edu. Registration is limited to the first 80 participants.
Sustainability Workshop
Teaching About Religion and Sustainability: The Animal Question
Friday, November 18, 1:45 PM–5:30 PM
Sponsored by the Sustainability Task Force and the Animals and Religion Consultation
What roles do and can animals play in the religion classroom? How can thinking about animals and religion help our students better understand both religion and their own relationships with animals? In this teaching workshop, experienced scholar-teachers will help attendees work through these and related questions. One panel will introduce key issues concerning animals, religion, and sustainability through the specific themes of urban wildlife, companion animals, and animals as food. Another panel will focus specifically on teaching about animals in three different kinds of religion courses: introduction to religion, comparative religion, and seminary courses (e.g., Biblical Studies, Christian Ethics). Participants will also discuss how to teach about animals and religion through service- or community-based learning. Guided small-table discussions following the panels will give attendees the chance to further discuss issues raised by the presentations and to share pedagogical techniques with each other. We will also have a comprehensive bibliography for all participants.
The cost for the workshop is $40, which includes the entire afternoon of sessions and a coffee break. Registration is limited to the first 75 participants.
Workshop Reservation Form (PDF)
