Our 2008 Annual Meeting

The society’s 2008 Annual Meeting was held in 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.

2008 Annual Meeting Program

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

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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.

11:00-11:30, Business Meeting

Corinne Dempsey, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Presiding

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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

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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