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SUMMARY:Conference | Body Trouble: The Ambivalence of Sex\, Gender\, and D
 esire in Religious Discourse
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140310
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140315
DTSTAMP:20260526T043310Z
UID:en-20140310-conference-body-trouble-754@ceres.rub.de
CATEGORIES:
DESCRIPTION:Leaflet\nThis conference will address the inherent ambiguity o
 f religious approaches concerning the body in its multiform expressions th
 at render them as 'myriad bodies\,' which constitute the domain of religio
 us subjects\, instruments or mediums for doctrinal exegesis\, interpretive
  and regulatory practices\, disciplinary measures\, and constructions in t
 erms of sexuality and gender\, while equally serving as markers of differe
 ntiation between different religious traditions\, within the same traditio
 n and between the religious and non-religious spheres.\nThe body as a site
  of religious colonization has been constructed and deconstructed from wit
 hin a binary frame that invents and reinforces divisions and hierarchies b
 etween the 'male and female\,' 'natural and unnatural\,' 'eternal' and 'te
 mporal\,' 'physical and spiritual\,' 'outer and inner\,' 'pure and impure\
 ,' etc.\; while as Foucault has pointed out\, systems of power\, like reli
 gions\, define and reproduce the subjects they subsequently came to repres
 ent.\nThe stability and instability between these binary terms give rise t
 o a number of challenges that may take the form of exploration\, question 
 and problematic: when and how does the body becomes a topic of doctrinal d
 iscourse\, scriptural exegesis and institutional regimentation (i.e. monas
 ticism\, clerical hierarchies\, public rituals\, taboos\, dressing codes\,
  food abstention\, and consumption\, etc)? Can there be salvation\, or eve
 n religion\, with and without the body? How does religious language constr
 uct the categories of the body and its conflation in terms of sexual appet
 ites\, its gender (dis)continuities and the alleged relations between thes
 e? How does the differentiation between body and soul operate in the forma
 tion of religious discourse and institutional practice? Is there a recurri
 ng tension between Eastern and Western conceptions of body and religion ev
 en during a recent acceptance of Eastern prayer and concentration techniqu
 es?  What is the agency of sexuality and gender in spiritual transformatio
 n? On the other hand\, how is religion embodied and why do we feel the nee
 d to situate intellectual and gender excellence in the body?\nIf a stable 
 notion of 'body' no longer proves to be a foundational premise of religiou
 s discourse\, perhaps a new sort of religious exegesis is desirable to con
 test the very reification of gender and desire\, one that would take the v
 ariable construction of corporeal identity as a normative prerequisite and
  an embodied soteriological goal.
URL:https://khk.ceres.rub.de/en/events/en-20140310-conference-body-trouble
 /
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