The Uses of “Religion” in 19th Century Studies

Armstrong Browning Library: March 16-19, 2016

Baylor University

From March 16 – 19, 2016, the Armstrong Browning Library will host an international conference on “The Uses of ‘Religion’ in 19th Century Studies.” The conference will engage questions being asked ever more frequently among scholars of the nineteenth-century in a variety of disciplines concerning the category, “religion.” Scholars have recently noted the uniquely modern, Western character of “religion,” which grew up alongside notions of “the secular” and was deeply entangled with the historic realities of the formation of state power, imperial expansion, and discriminatory portrayals of non-Europeans. Interdisciplinary discussions of these and related subjects are still needed in nineteenth-century studies, in particular between scholars of nineteenth-century literature and scholars from other disciplines. This conference is designed to address the need. The conference will feature 15 select presentations that will extend our understanding of the ways in which “religion” was constructed and deployed in nineteenth-century literature and culture, as well as the ways in which we as scholars continue to invoke and apply that category now.

Please review the Call for Papers on the conference website at www.browninglibrary.org/ablrel2016. If you or a colleague at your institution would be interested in speaking on this theme, please apply quickly as the submission deadline is Friday, September 18, 2015.

In addition to this opportunity, the Armstrong Browning Library will offer $1,000 travel awards to five graduate students who are working on their Ph.D. and wish to attend the conference, but who will not present a paper. Recipients will be expected to attend every session and take notes in preparation for a roundtable discussion with the speakers at the close of the conference. As contributors to this discussion, they will focus on the implications of the conference for the treatment of religion in their various fields of study. Applicants should submit the following by Friday, September 18 in order to be considered for the award:

• A 200-word explanation of their interest in the conference and why it would benefit their research and professional development to attend
• A one-page CV
• A brief email recommendation of the student from a faculty member (this recommendation should only be a few sentences, and it should be sent directly by the faculty member)

All applications materials, including the brief faculty recommendation, should be emailed to ablconferences@baylor.edu by the deadline.

For more information regarding the conference, please reply to this email or visit www.browninglibrary.org/ablrel2016.

I wish you the best this fall with your research and teaching, and hope to see you at Baylor University in March 2016.

Sincerely,

Dr. Josh King