Annual Meeting 2024 Program Book

This paper explores the lifeworlds of third gender khwaja saras in Pakistan within the expansive, underexplored religious tradition of Faqiri. Faqiri refers to the transgressive, often antinomian, tradition of Sufi holy poverty. Khwaja saras in Pakistan have been the locus of well-meaning activism and legislation to integrate them into the state as rights-bearing subjects through the secular category of Trans, which has also produced a strong backlash from right-wing conservatives. Drawing on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in which my khwaja sara interlocuters turn to Faqiri to explain what Trans and other categories fail to capture, I argue that both khwaja sara lifeworlds and Faqiri produce gendered selves that cannot be flattened into secular categories. Moreover, what unites those “in Faqiri” – from low-caste Hindus to transgressive mystics to occult practitioners to peripatetic animal entertainers is a subaltern religious imagination that defies and exceed the state’s conceptions of “Islam” and “religion” and “Sufism.”

This paper examines how modernity has altered the notions of authority in a South Asian Muslim devotional community. In focus are the Da’udi Bohras, a close-knit community of Shi‘i Isma‘ili Muslim merchants led by a lineage of holy men called da‘i al-mutlaq (or da‘i, the summoner). In response to colonial modernity, the Indic caste of Bohras (Gujarati, traders) became a global Isma‘ili community, claiming to be the true heir to the Fatimid-Isma‘ili heritage. This redefinition has also seen the representation of the da‘i shifting from a miracle-performing “perfect guide” to a scholarly figure. Such articulations have significant implications for the post-colonial identity of the Bohras and Muslim communities in South Asia.

In this paper I examine the Christian Medical College (CMC) founded by a Protestant medical missionary, Dr. Ida Scudder (1870-1960) in 1900 in Vellore, South India. I focus on the work conducted in the department of the Rural Unit of Health and Social Affairs (RUHSA), an NGO offshoot of the CMC founded in 1977. I draw primarily on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at RUHSA in the summer of 2023, supplemented with archival records from “The Ida Scudder Papers,” an extensive archive dedicated to Ida Scudder and the CMC. I use one of the self-help groups on campus as a case study to explore how developmental ideals are translated into action, and how the women within the self-help group interact with those ideals. I argue that the racial capital accrued by foreign missionaries has found new expressions in both caste and religious positionality in modern day medical missionary endeavors.

In scholarly treatments of Sanskrit textual traditions, the genre of commentary (bhāṣya) has generally overshadowed a closely adjacent genre known as vādagrantha, no doubt a result of its capacious and elusive nature. This paper focuses on the Svāminārāyaṇa-Siddhānta-Sudhā, a 21st-century vādagrantha text of the theistic Vedānta school Akṣara-Puruṣottama Darśana. It first engages with definitional questions concerning the nature and purpose of this genre—which appears prominently across the Vedānta, Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā, and Buddhist traditions—and locates its conceptual origin in the eponymous Nyāya notion of vāda. The paper demonstrates the significance of this genre in two respects: 1) its concern first and foremost with ideas, as opposed to the shastric texts alone, and in turn 2) its crucial relevance in systematising the beliefs of a religious tradition in a Sanskrit philosophical register, in view of a particular socio-historical context.

This paper challenges the prevailing notion of an abrupt termination of Indian Buddhism in the thirteenth century CE. It does so by examining material culture from archaeological contexts of identified Buddhist monasteries in the Magadha region. The paper primarily relies on the data collected during a systematic village-to-village survey conducted during 2021-22. In addition, a variety of textual and epigraphic sources have also been used to reconstruct the social and political context of the region during the long period between the eleventh and seventeenth century CE. The study of changes in both continuity and discontinuity in the Buddhist landscape of Magadha after the alleged decline offers a unique insight into the medieval history of Indian Buddhism in the region.  Through this micro-regional approach, the study provides a nuanced perspective on the history of diverse religious traditions in eastern India, contesting the ‘decline’ paradigms surrounding Medieval Buddhism in India.

As one of Central Asia's most popular pilgrimage sites, Ganden Monastery in Tibet is renowned for the autogenous phenomena (or rangjön) found along its circumambulation route. These rangjön depict deities and other phenomena thought to have spontaneously and miraculously manifested in the rockface. The goal of this paper is to describe the significance and function of Ganden's rangjön. Analyzing pilgrimage guide texts related to Ganden, it argues that rangjön are complex phenomena that are best understood as both material and discursive constructions with implications in the social, religious, and geographic spheres. And that the presence of rangjön represents a method by which a manmade monastery became a sacred place, one that then played a key role in the growth of the Tsongkhapa devotional cult and the rise of the Geluk tradition. As a corollary, I argue for the thus far overlooked importance of monasteries as pilgrimage sites in Tibet. 

This paper examines qingjing, a Chinese expression referring to the quiet and pure sensory experiences, in contemporary Mount Putuo, the abode of Guanyin (a compassionate deity) in China. While existing studies have focused on red-hot sensory experiences and sociality in Chinese contexts, this paper emphasizes qingjing as a sensory experience that is opposite to red-hot but ideal in Chinese religious life. Through ethnographic fieldwork, this paper argues that qingjing is based on the presumably strong efficacy (ling) of Guanyin and Mount Putuo to respond to visitors’ wishes and related to a reverse sensory experience: xianghuo (incense fires). Though seemingly contradictory, qingjing and xianghuo both represent the efficacy of Guanyin and Mount Putuo and thus constitute each other. This paper specifies three logics: qingjing in the “absence”, “complementation”, and “distraction” of xianghuo. Beyond the perspective of sociality, this paper contributes to the general understanding of sensory experiences in Chinese religious life.

In Buddhist thought, do children have the capacity to attain enlightenment? Or are they bound by their ignorance, unable to ascertain the Dharma until they develop a certain level of discernment? This paper examines concepts of children’s ritual efficacy and soteriological capacity in medieval Chinese Buddhist miraculous tales and hagiographical accounts from the third to tenth centuries CE.  It considers in what circumstances, in what capacities, and for what purposes children appear as religiously agentive in accounts of Buddhist practice in medieval China. Reflecting indigenous Chinese concepts of biophysical and moral development, medieval Chinese Buddhist miraculous tales and hagiographical accounts ascribe ritual efficacy and soteriological capacity to children from roughly six-years-old (seven sui 歳) onward. By exploring portrayals of children’s religious practice in medieval Chinese Buddhism, my paper invites scholars in Buddhist studies to reconsider how historical and cultural notions of childhood shaped basic tenets of Buddhist thought.

This paper examines contemporary Japanese lay Buddhist childcare through a case study of the Tendai-derived lay Buddhist organization, Kōdō Kyōdan, and its childcare programs. Against the backdrop of Japan’s low birth rate, Kōdō Kyōdan established its three childcare programs at its headquarters in the city of Yokohama at the turn of the 21st century to address demographic concerns at both the national and organizational levels. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted since 2018, this paper explores lay Buddhists’ understanding and practice of hōshi (serving) in their relationships with the religious organization, family, and society in the context of public caution against religious proselytization. This paper argues that by reflectively responding to societal and organizational expectations, the childcare staff members at Kōdō Kyōdan negotiate their religious and social identities in a dynamic context marked by changes in their parent religious organization and in Japanese society at large.

Teaching and Learning literature often underscores the value of inviting students to connect what they know to previous experiences as well as sociality and what Eyler (2018) calls "beautiful questions"  as beneficial for learning (Rovai 2022, Cozolino 2013, Bandura 1977, Vygotsky 1980).  This quick demonstration will introduce "dialogic moments" as a way of connecting students to course content and each other at the beginning of a class. 

After opening the session with a dialogic question meant to demonstrate the approach, participants will be invited to think of one question appropriate for their context and field test it in small groups in the room.

As an introduction to the challenges of interpreting ancient primary texts, and especially letters, students are invited to analyze an image of a short personal letter between sisters written just over a decade ago. Students are not given any context for the letter, however, and are led through a process of identifying cultural information and analyzing the author’s apparent intentions in order to maximize understanding of the letter. The conversation posits explanations—with varying degrees of confidence—for some of the letter’s contents while leaving other references unexplained. This activity is designed as a segue into study of the Pauline letters, but it can be applied to other letters or primary sources.

In an recent contribution to Islamic studies pedagogy, Shahzad Bashir noted that “theological, nativist, and orientalist” modalities of teaching frequently persist, even in well-intentioned courses on Islam (A New Vision).  Carl Ernst likewise articulates the need to destabilize stereotypes of Muslims as automatons, rotely applying scriptural texts (Not Just Academic!).  In a recent course on “Islamic Law, Ethics, and Practice” these pedagogical interventions were pursued when students chose the roles of legal theorists (faqihs), oral advocates (wakils), and judges (qadis) and deployed the rational toolkit of Muslim legal thinkers.  In the august setting of law school courtroom, student-jurists debated whether, based on analogical reasoning (qiyas) a Qur’anic injunction against wine rationally entailed a prohibition of kombucha, cigarettes, psilocybin, or caffeine.  In reaching the divergent conclusions with the same sources and methods, students experienced firsthand the domain of Islamic law as an arena of spirited debate, rational disagreement, and nuanced analysis.

Using food, art, and role playing, students and professors throw a dinner party, inspired by Judy Chicago's installation art project "The Dinner Party." 

Immersive Religion is a web-based, extended reality resource for teaching about religious practices. Joining 360-degree footage of diverse religious practices with translations, video interviews with scholars and religious professionals, interactive 3d objects, virtual tours of sacred spaces, and other explanatory elements, Immersive Religion offers an engaging and interactive resource for integration into a host of religious studies classes. This "Teaching Tactics" demonstration will introduce the resource and provide attendees with a sample lesson plan that models active, experiential classroom learning using Immersive Religion, adaptable to participants’ own courses.

This paper contends that Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realist approach, developed in response to the emergence of nuclear weapons and the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, offers a valuable framework for understanding and addressing the ethical concerns of both nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence (AI). While distinct in nature, both threats demand nuanced approaches that acknowledge our limitations, promote responsible action, and strive for a future guided by love and justice. This requires ongoing dialogue, national and international cooperation, and the development of ethical frameworks to ensure these powerful technologies serve humanity's flourishing, not its destruction.

This paper mines Hans Jonas’ response to the ‘existential’ risks posed by nuclear technologies, The Imperative of Responsibility, in order to account for why humanity’s extinction ought be resisted in the first place and to argue that something like Jonas’ mode of responsibility is necessary to generate the types of moral relationships with future generations that would prompt us to take such existential risks seriously. This paper will argue that Jonas’ path toward caring about future generations does not arise from intuitions about the need to create happy people or the final value of humanity. Rather, he begins with a concept of responsibility that is iterative which grounds a responsibility to perpetuate the existence of the race. Such an account has a number of advantages over contemporary efforts to defend the value of future generations, which this paper will elucidate. 

Before the rise of the medicalization of death, more often than not, death is thought of as a sort of darkness that claims its victims. Borrowing from Christian theology, death is considered the final curse to be broken. “Oh death, where is your sting?” the Scriptures taunt as they envision the final resurrection and the ushering in of everlasting life. “Oh death, where is your victory?” In a paradoxical turn of events, the legalization of “Medical Aid in Dying” gives those who are willfully choosing to die the opportunity to taunt death, despite death's inevitability. Why is this the case? In this paper I will argue that medical aid in dying acts as a perverse ars moriendi, engendering a false sense of control as it relates to the uncontrollable, i.e. death.

The philosopher Byung-Chul Han claims, “The smooth is the signature of the present time.” The social imperative to reduce resistance and struggle in human life is so ubiquitous as to be nearly imperceptible. It is present in trivial ways (e.g., the aesthetics of the iPhone, the experience of Amazon Prime delivery) and non-trivial ways (e.g., the rapid rise of GPT as a substitute for the writing process, the prospect of widespread biomedical moral enhancements). This paper draws on the work of environmental philosopher Holmes Rolston III–specifically the evolutionary biological concept of “dialectical stress”--to provide a positive account of the role of struggle, resistance, and friction in the intellectual and moral life and an alternative ethico-aesthetic paradigm for our age.

What is the future of human labor in an increasingly digital workplace? The data make abundantly clear that if we continue measuring our work chiefly in terms of efficiency, then we will begin displacing ourselves in the workforce. In response to this crisis, this paper attempts a renewed vision and corresponding criteria for measuring the value of human labor by turning to Simone Weil. Weil critiqued Taylorism for divorcing thought and action in factory labor, but her solution is somewhat obscure. I argue that, by reading it alongside her theological-mystical writings, her analysis of liberated labor emerges as fundamentally analogical, imitative. I apply this theological reading of Weil’s philosophy of labor to today’s “Digital Taylorism,” arguing that, to respond to the labor crisis posed by AI, we must reckon with the fact that labor is imitative and thereby, above all else, valuable as a kind of identity formation.