CFP: Travel and Accommodation Sponsored #International #Conference on #Historiography and #Hagiography in #Buddhism and Beyond -#University of #Cambridge, United Kingdom, on 8-10 July 2024

 

This international conference aims to bring together scholars working on practices of record-keeping, historiography, and hagiography in the Buddhist tradition and in related cultural fields. Recent years saw a steadily-growing interest in the impact of Buddhism on historiography and hagiography, in tandem with an unprecedented increase in the availability of textual and visual primary sources. Ambitious digitization projects (especially of premodern sources) and the changing landscape of the digital realm offer new opportunities to study premodern and contemporary practices of writing and narration. In this three-days conference, we seek to foster an interdisciplinary discussion on practices of textual and visual recording, storytelling, and memory in Chinese Buddhism and beyond – past, present, and future.

This conference is generously sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟) and hosted by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.

The conference will take place at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom, on 8-10 July 2024 (08/07/2024-10/07/2024). Accommodation and meals will be provided for the duration of the conference. Travel expenses to Cambridge will be covered for conference presenters (please contact organizers for further details).  

We welcome proposals for papers on topics relating to historiography, hagiography, and narration, including but not limited to:

• Buddhist historiography and record-keeping
• Historiography and record-keeping in other Chinese religious traditions
• Narrating lives of extraordinary individuals (e.g. biographies, autobiographies, hagiographies) in textual, oral, visual, and material forms
• The intersection of Buddhism and literature
• Book culture and production of texts in the Buddhist tradition (e.g. in print culture, manuscript culture, publishing practices, patronage of textual production, production of temple gazetteers and mountain gazetteers etc.)
• Uses of visual arts and the performance arts in creating or supporting Buddhist historiography and hagiography

Proposals for papers should include the following information:

No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Buddhist Teachings

5%

Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

₹1,383.00

19%

Buddhism for Beginners

₹350.00

32%

Tantra & Buddhism, Greatest Spiritual Wisdom

₹199.00

42%

The Essence of Buddhism

₹599.00

32%

Buddha In Daily Life, The: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

₹599.00

24%

Buddhism Declined in India: How and Why

₹495.00

32%

Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India

₹699.00

The Central Philosophy of Buddhism: A Study of the Madhyamika

32%

The Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom

₹399.00

1. Name, affiliation, and title of position at the affiliated institution (independent scholars are also welcome to apply; please note “independent scholar” in your proposal if relevant)
2. Title
3. 250 word abstract
4. Contact information: email, address, and phone number(s)

The deadline for all proposals is Friday, February 23^rd, 2024 (23/02/2024). Proposals should be sent as either Word or PDF to the following email address: hist.hagio@gmail.com

For general information and logistical questions, please email the organizing committee at: hist.hagio@gmail.com

Regarding the conference, please contact the primary organizer, Dr Noga Ganany at ng462@cam.ac.uk.

*Proposals must be submitted in English.

Contact Email

hist.hagio@gmail.com

Attachments

CFP: Historiography and Hagiography in Buddhism and Beyond

CFP: Edited Volume on Deconstructing the #Gender-Based #Violence in #South #Asian #Literature and #Popular #Culture

Gender-based violence is a worldwide issue with an extended past that is predominantly an outcome of social norms and power disparities. In countries as different as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, studies find that violence is frequently viewed as physical chastisement—the husband’s right to ‘correct’ an erring wife (Heise 1999). Unfortunately, it is one of many societal concerns that literature has long addressed. According to the analysis of a report by CARE and International Rescue, gender-based violence has arisen amid the pandemic and quarantines (Haneef and Kalyanpur 2020). Authors from different corners of the world have examined the complexities of violence and its effects on individuals and society in everything from classic works to modern novels. Some worth mentioning examples would be Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) by Maya Angelou, Kindred (1979) by Octavia E. Butler, Milk and Honey (2014) by Rupi Kaur, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (2017) by Roxane Gay, Speak: The Graphic Novel (2018) by Laurie Halse Anderson, My Dark Vanessa (2020) by Kate Elizabeth Russell, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (2022) by Kate Beaton, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy. Reading literature offers readers an opportunity to empathise with characters’ experiences and gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the emotional and psychological aspects of gender-based violence often in the forms of ‘slow violence’ (Nixon 2011). Literature can aid readers in developing empathy for survivors through fictional narratives and in understanding the value of services and support for victims. Additionally, literature frequently offers a voice to marginalised people, highlighting their experiences and encouraging societal change. Gavey’s study Just Sex? The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape (2005) argues that cultural scaffolding continues to make rape not only possible but probable and that this support provides an alibi for minimalizing rape and creating a norm for masculine sex. (Zare 3). Hence, in a way, the intertwined relationship between violence and its impacts passes through lopsided twists and turns.

 

Apart from literature, popular culture has also played a pivotal role in necessitating the trajectories of violence and perpetrations. Through films, television shows, and online media, gender-based violence is frequently portrayed in popular culture. A recent graphic anthology Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back! (2014) depicts the various ways of violence in fourteen provocative sketch-stories. Scenes of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse might be shown, feeding false narratives and diminishing viewers' awareness of how severe these behaviours are.

 

This edited collection will examine how gender-based violence has been portrayed in literature and popular culture in the South Asian Context, emphasising the adverse impacts on society as well as its possibility to be changed. We are looking for chapters that deepen our understanding of different dimensions of Gender-based Violence.

 

Possible topics may include, but not are not limited to:

• Violence in South Asian Autobiographies

• Trauma Narratives in South Asian Narratives

• Domestic Violence in South Asian Comics

• Trafficking, Trauma, and Torment in South Asian Web-series

• Physical and Psychological Abuse in South Asian Popular Culture

• Pain, Paranoia, and Partner Violence in South Asian Movies

• Film and Fiction: Perpetrators and Victims

• Mini-narratives on Facebook and Instagram

Last Date of Submission of Full Manuscript: 31st December 2023

Decision on Submission: 1st March 2024

Scan the QR Code or Click on the Submission Portal: https://forms.gle/mcGbygpvaXTqhknN7

Full papers should be no longer than 8000 words.

Authors are requested to follow MLA 8th Edition. All submissions will be peer-reviewed.

We will publish the Edited Volume with a reputed publication house.

contact email: 

partha.bhattacharjee1990@gmail.com