Our 2008 Annual Meeting Program
Chicago, Illinois, October 31-November 1,
in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion
In addition to our usual program, we co-sponsored two AAR sessions, both on Sunday, November 2.
Friday, October 31
7:00-9:00pm, CHT-Joliet
AAR Program: M31-414
Constructing and Crossing Religious Boundaries in South Asia: A Discussion with International Visiting Scholars
Amy Allocco, Emory University, Presiding
Panelists:
Tissa Balasuriya, OMI, Centre for Society and Religion, Colombo
Dominique-Sila Khan, Institute of Rajasthan Studies, Jaipur
K. Srinivasan, Vivekananda College, Chennai
Paul M. Collins, University of Chichester, Respondent
Saturday, November 1
9:00-11:30am, PH-PDR 4
AAR Program: M1-114
9:00-11:00am, Panel Discussion
Female Authority and Religious Power in Hindu Traditions: A Reappraisal of Grace Jantzen’s Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism
John Thatamanil, Vanderbuilt University , Presiding
David Buchta, University of Pennsylvania
An Honorary Male or an Honorary Non-female? Baladeva Vidyabhusana on Gargi Vacaknavi
Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier, Loyola Marymount University
Engendering the “Mysticism” of the Alvars
Michelle Voss Roberts, Rhodes College
Power, Gender, and the Classification of a Kashmir Saiva Mystic
Antoinette E. DeNapoli, Emory University
“Crossing over the Ocean of Existence”: “Mystical Experience” and Religious Authority amongst the Female Hindu Sadhus of Rajasthan
Ella Johnson, University of St. Michael’s College, Respondent
This panel seeks broad audience participation. Panelists will make brief remarks based on papers that will be made available in advance on HCac, the society’s listserv, and audience members will then be invited to join in the discussion.
Business Meeting, 11:00-11:30
Corinne Dempsey, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Presiding
Sunday November 2
9:00-11:30am, CHT-Conference Room 4F
Co-Sponsored with History of Christianity Section
AAR Program: A2-107
Possession among Christians in India: Issues of Authenticity, Authority, and Identity
Catherine Cornille, Boston College, Presiding
Will Sweetman, University of Otago
The Cessation of the Oracles: Authenticity and Authority in Missionary Reports of Possession in India
Eliza Kent, Colgate University
Syncretism and Sin: The Yuyomayan Sect in Colonial Kerala
Mathew N. Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross
Distinguishing between Hindu and Catholic Exorcism in a North Indian Village
Kristin Bloomer, University of Hawaii
Possession: Syncretic and Somatic Semantics
Frederick M. Smith, University of Iowa, Respondent
Sunday, November 2
5:00-6:30pm, CHT-Conference Room 4F
Co-Sponsored with Anthropology of Religion Group
AAR Program: A2-313
Complicating Indian Christian Identities amid Competition, Conflict and Colonialism
Rebecca Sachs Norris, Merrimack College, Presiding
Kristin Bloomer, University of Hawaii
O Mother: Problems of Identity
Corinne Dempsey, University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point
Messing with Political and Religious Empire: The Suffering Nun and the Drunken Priest of Indian and Irish Folklore
Chad M. Bauman, Butler University
Reporting Violence: Media Accounts of Hindu-Christian Violence in Orissa and Beyond
Eliza Kent, Colgate University, Respondent