Religion Call for Papers | @relcfp

The 28th Annual Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference at Concordia University (Tiohtià:ke/Montréal) is pleased to present the theme of this year’s conference: Religion Performed: Insights at the Intersection of Religiosity, Performance, and Performativity. This hybrid event will be held over two days in the Winter 2023 semester.

Call for Papers

This year, we invite scholars and artists alike to explore the fascinating interplay of religion and performance, broadly conceived. We encourage prospective presenters to think, work, play, and/or move through the many possible meanings of “religion” and “performance,” and the countless ways in which these two concepts might interact. Performers and presenters may elect to engage with one or more of the areas listed below or to reach beyond these suggestions. It is our hope that this year’s proposed intellectual and experiential pursuit will prompt an exciting deployment of creative energies and fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration.

Possible areas of exploration:

• Religiosity, performativity and the digital space
• Performed faith (onstage, in daily life, etc.)
• Remembrance (personal, collective)
• Identity formation/reconfiguration
• Performances/artistic presentations (poetry, music, dance, etc.) and their contingent contexts
• Ritual (its sources and iterations)
• Material practices and objects

Event description: This year’s hybrid programming will be held over two days. A full-day, in-person conference will be held at Concordia University on March 9th, 2023. Participants will have the option to attend the conference in person or remotely, as all proceedings will be livestreamed. The second part of the conference will be held on March 16th, 2023, from 1 to 4 p.m. EST, and will take the form of an entirely virtual “webinar”. Both parts of the conference will feature a combination of paper presentations, panel discussions, keynote addresses, and live or recorded creative performances. It is our hope that our diversified programming and accessible conference format will foster meaningful exchanges across disciplinary and geographic divides.

Submission instructions: Proposals of max. 300 words are due November 15, 2022 to agic@concordia.ca and must include: a project title and five descriptive keywords; the applicant’s name, email address, and a brief biography (approx. 150 words). Those affiliated with a university are asked to additionally submit their department and graduate level. Submissions in both English and French are welcomed, as are multi/intermedia or performance-based works. We ask that proposals be written either in French or English and expect discussion to take place primarily in English. However, we welcome presentations/performances which feature a component in a language other than English or French. For those who wish to present a performance-based work, a short but descriptive proposal is acceptable.

Undergraduate mentorship opportunity: Given its desire to promote diverse talent including that of newer students, the AGIC 2023 organizing committee also welcomes submissions from undergraduate students. Outstanding proposals will be retained, and student presenters will be assigned a graduate-level student mentor who will offer feedback and encouragement to the presenter in a one-one-one post-conference workshop. Please see above section for submission instructions.