apologies for cross posting: have just heard about this event which may be 
of interest to some here, i particularly like the academic/non-academic 
crossover potential

  and on a wider note, perhaps if anyone is going to conferences that are in 
the remit of the JSM they would be kind enough to drop some flyers on the 
general information table at such events on our behalf? please contact the 
editors for further information

  thanks

  dave e



  I'd like to draw your attention to a conference being sponsored by the SMN 
and hosted by the MA programme in the Cultural Study of Cosmology and 
Divination, Religious Studies, School of European Culture and Languages of 
the University of Kent.

  DIVINATION AND DIALOGUE
  5-7 October 2007, at the University of Kent

  This is an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to new insights into 
divination arising from recent work in religious studies, anthropology, 
history and classical studies. What marks it out as a new departure is the 
central importance accorded to the practical and theoretical perspectives of 
diviners themselves (who are sometimes also scholars of divination). The 
intention is to avoid reductive explanations in favour of revising the 
received wisdom on the basis of ethnographic and historical data in order to 
achieve a better understanding of divination as a virtually ubiquitous human 
practice. We shall also explore related issues such as the nature of 
\\`divinatory intelligence\\` (Vernant), the relationship between divinatory 
and \\`metaphorical truth\\` (Ricoeur), the re-assertion of the primacy of 
ontology over epistemology, and the importance of reflexivity in scholarly 
studies of divination. The ethnographic and historical material presented 
will range from c! ontemporary Nigeria, urban Cub, Mayan Guatamala and the 
shamanic cultures of the circumpolar Arctic to classical Greece.

  Confirmed speakers:

  Mr. Geoffrey Cornelius (Religious Studies, University of Kent)
  Dr. Patrick Curry (Religious Studies, University of Kent)
  Ms. Dorian greenbaum (Warburg Institute, University of London)
  Prof Stuart Harrop (Anthropology, University of Kent)
  Dr. Martin Holbraad (Anthropology, University College London)
  Prof. Philip M. Peek (Anthropology, Drew University)
  Prof Juha Pentikainen (Religious Studies, University of Helsinki)
  Prof Barbara Tedlock (SUNY, Buffalo)
  Prof. Dennis Tedlock (SUNY, Buffalo)
  Dr. Angela Voss (Religious Studies, University of Kent)

  Plus: Evan Heimlich, Laura Grillo and Paul Devereux

  For further information please go to:
  www.kent.ac.uk/secl/Div_conf/

  and for booking information:
  www.kent.ac.uk/secl/Div_conf/Lt_104470_SECL_Booking.pdf


  Claudia Nielsen

  London Group Co-Ordinator - The Scientific and Medical Network
  London Group Homepage (SMN Members' Circle)
  SMN Homepage: www.scimednet.org

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