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CFP anthropology/media/religion
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----- Forwarded Message ----
CFP anthropology/media/religion
A session has been accepted for the 16th World Congress of the Union of
Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES). This year’s conference
is being held in southern China, in the city of Kunming, Yunnan Province
from July 15-23, 2008.
https://www.icaes2008.org/defaultDo.jsp
<RELIGION AND/AS MEDIA: ANTHROPOLGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS>
Angela Zito, NYU
Huang Jianbo, Renmin University of China
We welcome papers on anthropological contributions to the expanding study
of religion and/as media that will allow us to explore the intertwining of
empirical observation and theoretical analysis.
Both “religion” and “media” rely upon forms of “mediation”. They can be
seen to function in surprisingly intimate ways, and to create ever more
potent forms of social practice when deliberately intertwined. Both
involve and mobilize epistemological and cosmological matters of the
constitution of the real for human beings. They are both forms of cultural
practice involved in ever-changing domains of power, politics and the
construction of senses of self and community. Cultural anthropology has
had a longstanding interest in how people are constantly engaged in
producing the material world around them, even as they are, in turn,
produced by it. Every social practice moves through and is carried upon, a
material framework or vehicle.
Contrary to the secularization thesis, which proposed that, as scientific
and economic rationality progressed, religion would disappear, on the
contrary religion everywhere seems to be gaining in importance. From
Pentecostal Christianity and fundamentalist Islams, to Buddhist revivals
and Hindu political ambitions, to indigenous communities’ emphases upon
traditional cosmologies, religions expand. At the same time, media forms
ranging from print posters, film, radio and cassette recordings, and
television to digital media as CD, DVD, and the internet knit the world
ever-closer in communication practices that carry and influence the
religious lives of millions of people.
We welcome papers that address the ethnography and theory of this nexus.
We especially welcome the inclusion of various forms of media in the
presentation (audio, visual, objects etc). Among other issues, scholars
might address: how do people mediate their religious practices and with
what consequences? How do the mass media form religious expectations and
practices? How do media practices function in ways analogous to the way
anthropologists have thought of religious life: to form senses of
community and self; to provide ways of transcending and critiquing
everyday lifeworlds through ethical commentary and commitment? How does
the mediation of religious life intersect with local economies, power
structures, and political life? How do those who considered themselves
outside the structures of institutional religion mediate their spiritual
lives?
We hope to present scholarship that will serve to introduce this new field
to thousands of participating anthropologists, ethnologists from all over
the world.
Please send all inquiries immediately to Angela Zito, [log in to unmask]
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Religious Studies,
co-director of the Center for Religion and Media, New York University
* * * * * * *
a n g e l a z i t o
religious studies/ anthropology
726 broadway suite 554
ny ny 10003
p: 212-992-9656 f: 212-995-4827
http://www.angelazito.com/
co-director of the center for religion and media
http://www.nyu.edu/fas/center/religionandmedia/
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