Religion Call for Papers | @relcfp

CALL FOR PAPERS

Fourth Annual Graduate Conference McGill University’s School of Religious Studies

Paper proceedings from the conference will have the opportunity to be published, in collaboration with ARC: The Journal of the School of Religious Studies.

Details

• May 16th to 17th, 2025
• McGill University
• Tiohtia:ke (Montreal), Quebec
• Deadline for submissions: Februruy 1st, 2025

The Religious Studies Graduate Society of McGill University’s School of Religious Studies invites you to submit your paper proposal to our 2025 bilingual conference: (Disputed) Origins in the Study of Religions

From the beginnings narrated in religious texts, to the founding figures of religious traditions or philosophical schools, fi·om the origins of subfields to the tracing out of their respective academic boundaries, to claims of grounds in philosophy of religion, there is no sense in which the polysemous notion of ‘origin’ is not central to the study of religion. An origin is both a creative act of spontaneity and a determining fi·arne with a special, even normative, claim on everything that follows from it. Therefore, origins are and have been unique sites of dispute and contestation. Origins are thus subject to claims, counter-narratives, reformulations, and endings followed in tu1n by new beginnings. We seek submissions that treat the theme of ‘origin’ in all senses and meanings relevant to the field of religious studies, as broadly conceived as possible.

We invite participants to submit papers that reflect their research by situating their work within the context of origin, genesis, and disputed origins: When vve consider how religion is understood, practiced, talked about, and studied, inside and outside of academia, what exactly are origins? How and by whom are they defined and narrated? How and why are they sites of ongoing disputes? Proposals that do not relate directly to these themes are also welcomed. We hope this bilingual conference will be a space where, together, graduate students from different universities gather in Tiohtia:ke (Montreal) and will find a place to shru·e their expertise with each other and build a lasting sense of academic community.

Submission Guidelines:

• Paper length: Participants will have a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 20 minutes for their presentations, followed by a short period for questions

Please submit, in one single .doc or .docx document:

1. your name, preferred pronouns, university, department, program, and contact information.
2. a tentative title for your presentation.
3. an abstract of your presentation (250-word limit).
4. Indication of whether you want your paper to be considered for publication.
5. Indication of whether you speak English, French, or both.
6. Indication of the primary language of your presentation.
7. Submissions should be sent to [email protected].

For those willing to submit their conference paper for publication, more details will be communicated to them at a later date.

We accept papers from graduate students from any discipline whose research is connected to the conference theme in religious studies and associated fields. As a general guideline but not exclusively, any of the following areas and fields of study are recommended:

• Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern, and Contemporary Religions & Spiritualities
• Western, Eastern, and Indigenous Religions & Spiritualities
• Philosophy, Theology, Philosophy of Religion, Phenomenology of Religion, Ethics and Bioethics
• Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology of Religion
• Religion & Political theory, Religion in the Public Sphere, Secularization and Laïcité,
• Religion in Pop Culture and the Arts
• Mode1nity, Industrialization, Globalization, Communication and Media Studies, New
• Technologies, AI and Religion
• Ritual Studies, Material and Sensory studies, Semiotics of Religion
• Gender, Race, Decolonial, Postcolonial, and Queer Critical Theories
• Magic, Mysticism, Myth, Ritual, Theopoetics

Download the flyer as a PDF