Religion and the Human Sciences

Dear Friends,

Our presenters:

(Oct 4 – S208) J Barton Scott, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Department for the Study of Religion, will discuss his recent work on the Public and defamation in South Asia, part of which was recently published in the Special Issue of South Asia: The Journal of South Asian Studies, ‘What is a Public? Some Notes from South Asia.’

(Oct 11 – S208) Kajri Jain, Associate Professor of Indian Visual Culture and Contemporary Art at the University of Toronto, will also discuss the Public in South Asia. Jain’s first book, Gods in the Bazaar, and examined popular religious art in India, and her current research considers the role of religion in public, democratic aesthetics and the emergence of giant historical monuments in India since the 1990s.

(Oct 18 – S208) Dotan Leshem, senior lecturer in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, will discuss religion’s entrance into the publics sphere, as portrayed in his new book, The Origins of Neoliberalism: Modeling the Economy From Jesus to Foucault.

Note: This will be a joint-workshop session with the Global Christianities Workshop.

(Oct 25 – Marty Lib.) Mennatallah Khalil, PhD candidate in Anthropology, will discuss her work on the use of religion in politics/for political legitimacy and public support in Egypt.

(Nov 1 – Marty Lib.) Will Kunert, MDiv 2017, will discuss his MDiv thesis on the movement to quantitatively measure the results of hospital chaplaincy. Hospital chaplaincy is one of the last fields to use quantitative research to analyze itself, or advocate for itself to public administrators. Many maintain that chaplaincy can’t be measured. Will investigates the quantitative research that has so far been done in hospital chaplaincy and the public ‘obsession’ with quantification.

(Nov 8 – Marty Lib.) Alireza Doostdar, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and the Anthropology of Religion, will discuss his working article on public screenings of ‘spiritual films’ in Iran, and recent Satanic accusations in response to the films.

(Nov 15 – Marty Lib.) Sahm Myung Suh, PhD candidate in ASR, will discuss his article, ‘Broadcasting the Good News through the Bamboo Curtain’; FEBC and its Spiritual Cold War, on Christian radio broadcasting in East Asia. See the abstract:

The Far Eastern Broadcasting Company is an American-born, global radio ministry network originally established in the wake of the Cold War to transmit the Christian Gospel behind the ‘Bamboo Curtain.’ Co-founded by an evangelical radio broadcaster, Robert Bowman, and an ex-Navy intelligence officer, John C. Broger, the FEBC made it its mission to provide spiritual nourishment to hidden or anonymous Christians who were imagined to profess Christian faith in private secrecy under communist rule, as well as to ward off the advancement of communism in the broad Asian region through faith-based propaganda war. By tracing the historical development of the FEBC during the Cold War, the paper I propose to present in the upcoming ISMRC conference will explore the ways in which the lines between the private and the public spheres become blurred in the cycle of production, transmission, and reception of the politically and religiously charged sound media. The enterprise of making radio stations in various parts of the world and producing multi-language programs evidently took place in the public sphere, which involves a great deal of efforts at raising funds, negotiating with local authorities, and overcoming various technological problems and challenges. Meanwhile, the messages were sent out to penetrate the ‘Bamboo Curtain,’ and the intended audience was expected to listen to them in private and ultimately create what may be called the ‘counter-public.’

Hope to see you there!

We’re happy to announce the Religion & Human Science workshop presentation schedule for the Spring Quarter. Our meetings take place on alternate Tuesdays in the Marty Center Library (2nd floor of Swift hall) at 5pm. Light refreshments are always provided. Contact Andrew with any questions (kunze@uchicago.edu). Hope to see you there!

2^nd Week (April 5) – Andrew Kunze (Div PhD student): “Donating Devotion: Financial Discipline in Hindu Mass Media.” What’s the difference between local, personal donations to religious mendicants and mass mediated, transnational fundraising campaigns? This presentation will argue for a greater continuity between the two, in a case study of BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu publications, studying both their provincial Gujarati press in the 1970s and their contemporary online presence.

4^th Week (April 19) – Eric Gurevitch (SALC PhD student): “Erasing History, Emplotting Authors, Critiquing Ideology: The Place and Reception of Vijñāneśvara’s Mitākṣara,” an (abbreviated) reception history of Vijñāneśvara’s commentary on Yājñavalkya-smṛti (a text that was used in constructing colonial anglo-Hindu law), coupled with a close reading of the text to show how we can start to move away from some of the assumptions affected by colonial erasures.

6^th Week (May 3) ­– Alireza Doostdar (Div Professor): Professor Doostdar will share a selection from his newly completed book project on supernatural practices and conceptions of science in contemporary Iran.

8^th Week (May 17) – Charles Preston (Div PhD candidate): “Akbar à la Kālidāsa: Muslims, Tolerance, and Hindu Nationalism in a Modern Sanskrit Drama.” The modern Sanskrit drama Anārkalī (1972), by V. Raghavan, dramatizes Akbar’s Dīn-i-Ilāhī conference of religions and rewrites as a romance the tragic legend of Anārkalī.  While intended to address contemporary concerns of national integration and religious tolerance, the play subsumes Islam, the Mughals, and modern Indian politics under an imagined hegemonic and naturalized identity of Sanskritic Hindu tolerance.  In the Dīn-i-Ilāhī scenes, the play extols religious and national unity, yet mocks Muslim sectarianism and positively depicts Akbar as more Hindu than Muslim.  By refashioning the Anārkalī legend as a classical Sanskrit romance in the style of classical Sanskrit, and by having the eponymous heroine rescued by her royal lover’s Hindu wife, the play advocates an affective nationalism mediated through Sanskrit aesthetics and Hindu benevolence.  This reading of Anārkalī underscores contradictions of tolerance discourse when conveyed in Sanskrit’s elite register while combined with postcolonial nationalist rhetoric and colonial conceptions of essentialized religious identity.

10^th Week (May 31) – Joshua R. Vera (History PhD candidate): “Locating the Gods: Discerning Religion in the Ancient Cityscape.” What exactly can we learn about religion from the built environment? Is it truly possible to make concrete conclusions about religious identity and practice without a foundation of textual evidence? This paper examines the troublesome relationship between archaeology and religious history, using as a case study the cityscape of Athens under Roman control. Drawing upon the rich material evidence for the redevelopment of certain sanctuaries after the city’s subjugation, I will argue that indeed we can discern significant features of the everyday religion of the post-classical Athenians—buried somewhere between heritage and history.

Please join us on Tuesday, Feb 23, for a presentation from Nell Hawley, PhD student in South Asian Languages and Civilization. Nell will talk to us about the game of dice scene in the Mahabharata, and some literary theoretical issues therein. Chaz Preston will be the respondent.

We’ll meet in Swift 208 at 5pm. Light refreshments will be provided.

Join us this Tuesday at 5pm in Swift 208 to hear Pete Faggen, PhD student in History of Religions, discuss his dissertation proposal, ‘Authority Interrupted: The Gungru female lineage in post-1958 Tibet.’ Light refreshments will be provided. Email Andrew for a copy of the paper: kunze@uchicago.edu

Hi All,

Our next session will be co-sponsored with the Global Christianities workshop as we host Xiao-bo Yuan, Anthropology, presenting a chapter from her dissertation on Christianity in China. Xiao-bo’s chapter is titled ‘Educating “Little Sinners” in China: Underground Christian Schools and the Ethics of Self-Exile.’ If you’d like to join us, please email Andrew for a copy of the paper: kunze@uchicago.edu

We’ll meet at Noon on Tuesday in Swift Hall room 201. Vegetarian lunch will be provided.

See you there,

Andrew

We’re happy to announce the Religion & Human Science presentation schedule for the 2016 Winter quarter:

3rd Week (Jan 19) – Xiao-bo Yuan, Anthropology PhD candidate: ‘Public Undergrounds and Underground Publics’  on Christianity in China

4th Week (Jan 26) – Pete Faggen, Div School PhD student in History of Religions: ‘Authority Interrupted: Narrating Kalsang Drolma’s Altered Authority in Female Gungru Reincarnate Lineage in Post-1958 Tibetan Grasslands Community

6th Week (Feb 9) – Francis Mckay, Anthropology PhD candidate: on Eudaimonia and Teleology in contemporary American Buddhist communities

8th Week (Feb 23) – Nell Hawley, South Asian Language & Civ PhD student: on Sanskrit literary theory and/in the Mahabharata

10th Week (Mar 8) – Yulia Tsutserova, Div School PhD candidate in Religion & Literature: ‘Landscape as a Horizon of Religious Reflection in Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse’

 Please join us whenever you can!

Andrew

Be ye warned:

Xiao-bo Yuan’s presentation (originally scheduled for Dec 1), has been rescheduled for Tuesday, January 19.  There will be no workshop meeting this week, just go to the library and read instead.

Full Winter Quarter Schedule, coming soon!

-Andrew