CALL FOR PAPERS

The Donner institute will arrange a Symposium 16-18 June 2010 in Åbo / Turku, Finland

Religion and the Body

Place:
Linnasmäki Congress Centre Hotell
Ringbrynjegatan 7 / Lustokatu 7
Tel.: +358 2 412 3500
FIN-20380 Åbo / Turku
Finland

Internet site: http://web.abo.fi/instut/di/congress2010/index.html

The theme we have chosen for the Donner Institute 21st Symposium is Religion and the Body.

One of the places where religion and culture intersect is the body. The body can be manipulated using various methods; methods that are also used in a non-religious context.  Examples of such are asceticism, fasting and other dietary restrictions, and various psycho-techniques such as yoga.  The body is also mutilated for religious reasons, as in the case of circumcision.

Examples of phenomena within this theme include:
- Bodily rites and symbolic gestures
- The body after death
- The body as a creation of divine life
- Body trance
- Circumcision of boys and girls at initiation rites
- Gender and the human body in religion
- Head-coverings, face-veiling, bowing, kneeling,
genuflecting, and other signs of spiritual modesty
- Healing
- Instrumental music, choral singing, psalm
recitation, and hand-clapping
- Intense sensory experiences, including hunger,
sexual abstinence, sleep deprivation, and skin
laceration
- The odor of incense and the sight of iconography
- The ‘purification’ or ‘churching’ of women's bodies
after childbirth
- Religious aspects of tattooing
- Soul and the flesh
- Therapy as religion
The theme of the body has been topical for quite some time – for example, within gender studies. Thus, we probably do not need to give any detailed account of what we refer to by our theme Religion and the Body. We should, however, point out that we are thinking of the concrete body, not of body in a metaphorical sense.

Application:
Please send your application to give a paper, with a short abstract included, to the Donner Institute no later than February 15 2010.
20 minutes will be reserved for your lecture followed by 10 minutes for discussion.

Finally, we would like to inform you that the lectures will be published, in English, French or German, in volume 23 of the Donner Institute series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis. The published version of your lecture may be longer than
the one you present at the symposium. We will be happy to receive a digital and publishable version of your lecture already at the symposium but no later than October 31, 2010

Registration:
The registration fee is 150 €, 100 € for doctoral students. The fee should be paid by the end of April 2010.Account number: Nordea FI 12 20571800020055 NDEAFIHH
(In Finland: Nordea 205718-20055 Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi)

The registration fee includes a Get together party, an excursion and a banquet organized in connection with the symposium. Please indicate in your registration whether you wish to participate in the excursion and the banquet.

Accommodation:
Linnasmäki Congress Centre Hotell
Ringbrynjegatan 7 / Lustokatu 7
Tel.: +358 2 412 3500
FIN-20380 Åbo / Turku
Finland

Address:
Donner institute
PB 70
FIN-20501 Åbo / Turku
Finland
E-mail: donner.institute@abo.fi
Tel.: +358 20 786 1450
Fax: +358 20 786 1459

The 33rd Implicit Religion Consultation at Denton Hall, Yorkshire, will be held 7-9 May. The 2010 conference has several themes. See www.implicitreligion.org.

The Association for the Sociology of Religion will meet 13-15 August at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. The theme is Religion, Identity, and Place. See