The Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) invites you to its 2022 meeting at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, from June 23 to June 26, 2022. You can find the conference schedule here.
Registration for the conference is now closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The paper proposal process is now complete, but you can view the original call for papers below:
The Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) invites proposals for its upcoming Annual Meeting to be held at Colby College in Waterville, Maine from June 23 to June 26, 2022. The conference theme is "Prayer, Penitence, and Practice.” We invite proposals representing a range of disciplinary and methodological approaches that focus on practices that aim to communicate with or engage the trans-human in public, private, or communal contexts, including explicit prayer and supplication, meditation, and mysticism.
Possible topics include scripted or unscripted forms of speech, chanting, musical expression, or dance; penitential modes of address; narratives or artistic depictions of prayer; forms of puja; devotion to saints and deities; human and divine relationships cultivated through prayer and penitence; embodiment and performance in the context of prayer; commentaries on important ritual texts; and philosophical or theological accounts of the role of prayer or penitence in relation to mokṣa or other visions of human fulfilment. Comparative analysis of forms and modes of prayer/penitence/practice as well as robust theorizing of these categories are also invited
Abstracts should clarify how the paper will address the conference theme and engage with prayer, penitence, or practice in the religions of South Asia, including both its majority and various minority religious communities. Individual paper proposals as well as preformed panels that bring comparative perspective or represent a geographic or regional focus are welcome.
Conference organizers (Nikky Guninder-Singh, Archana Venkatesan, Brian Pennington, Sufia Uddin, Reid Locklin, and Chad Bauman) invite individual paper proposals not longer than 250 words. Proposals for preformed panels that include individual abstracts as well as a 200-word discussion of the connection among the papers are also welcome. Individual and panel proposals should be submitted through the Submit Paper Proposal portal no later than March 15, 2022).
The Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) is a forum of exchange for scholars engaged in the academic study of the religious traditions of India in both native and diasporic contexts. It provides scholars a leisurely, collegial environment in which to present their work. Emphasis will be placed on informality among peers. Committed to critical and creative inquiry, the conference is not an advocacy forum for the religions of India and does not endorse or proscribe a particular point of view. Only scholars with terminal degrees in religious studies or related academic disciplines (like Anthropology, Art, Ethnomusicology, History, Philosophy, Theology, Women Studies) researching and/or teaching in the area of religions of India are eligible to present, attend, and participate in the conference. Graduate students in advanced standing in any of these disciplines are also warmly welcomed to participate in the conference.
The CSRI Executive Committee
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Through roughly biannual conferences, the Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) provides a forum for scholars engaged in the academic study of religions of India to present their fresh and original research to colleagues. A distinctive feature of this conference is that it offers a leisurely, collegial, and informal setting to pursue critical inquiry into the rich and diverse religious traditions of India, both in their native and diasporic contexts. The Conference is an independent scholarly organization, and conferences are organized with the voluntary labor of scholars and funded through conference fees.
The conference is not an advocacy forum for or against any of the religions of India, and does not endorse or proscribe a particular point of view. Only scholars with terminal degrees in religious studies or related academic disciplines (like Anthropology, Art, Ethnomusicology, Folklore, History, Literature, Philosophy, Sociology, Theology, Women Studies) researching and/or teaching in the area of religions of India are eligible to present, attend, and participate in the conference. Graduate students in advanced standing in any of these disciplines are also welcome to participate in the conferences.