Encountering the Unexpected: Glitches, (Dis)placements, and Marginalia

Syracuse University Department of Religion

Graduate Student Conference

March 25th and 26th, 2016

Call for Papers

Deadline: February 5, 2016 The Religion Graduate Organization invites you to submit paper and panel proposals to the semi-annual Religion Graduate Conference, Encountering the Unexpected: Glitches, (Dis)placements, and Marginalia. This conference actively encourages interdisciplinary discussions about unexpected encounters in the field and in the archives. Specifically, this conference aims to explore surprise occurrences in academic work when ideas, texts, people, and places collide or interact in unpredictable ways. Consider moments in the research process which unsettle the positionalities and potentialities of bodies, politics, images, and texts. We invite both M.A. and Ph.D. students to submit abstracts from a variety of thematic and theoretical backgrounds.Keynote: Pamela Klassen, University of TorontoWe particularly invite papers on the following themes:

The unavailable, unexpected, and interruptive
Hauntings/spirits, ghosts in the shell, alien encounters
Bridges and barriers
Wormholes
Transitions, transgressions, and mistranslations
Hacking, coding, cybernetics
Fragments/fragmentation
Lacunae, redactions
Miracles, surprises, and moments of the surreal
Bricolage, montage, overlapping images, photoshopped reality
Reconfiguring theories and methodologies
Unexpected ethnographic or field work encounters
Displacement, diaspora, boundaries
Coups, treaties, and alliances
Synergy, flow, short-circuits
Film, texts, performances
Flashpoints/breaking points
Mystical positionality and experience
Emergence/divergence/convergence
Abstracts are welcomed from various fields and disciplines, including but not limited to:

Anthropology
Area Studies
Art History
Art, Film and Visual Culture
Cultural Studies
English
Gender Studies
History
Philosophy
Psychology
Political Science
Queer Studies
Religion
Sex and Sexuality Studies
Sociology
Science and Technology Studies
Theology
Panel submissions are greatly encouraged.

A panel should consist of 3 papers
Ideally a panel should include scholars from more than one institution
We are particularly interested in panels on:

Pamela Klassen’s Spirits of Protestantism: Medicine, Healing, and Liberal Christianity
Exploring the intersections of Native American Studies and Religious Studies
Cultural Memory and the Study of Religion
Memory, Memorialization, and The Search for Public Meaning
Visions of the Future: Past and Present
Social Media as Social Revolution
Religion on the Margins
Panel or paper proposals should contain the following:

A one-page abstract (350 words for papers; 500 words for panels) describing the nature of the paper or panel. No names or institutional information should appear on the abstract to facilitate a blind selection process.
Cover page which includes the name(s), institution(s), and contact information for participant(s)
Current CV for the participant(s)
For panel proposals, identify the primary contact person for the panel.
Submit all materials to SUReligionConference@gmail.com on or before February 5th, 2016