Atlanta, 2010

This year's meeting of the Religion in the American West seminar will center around four papers exploring constructions of identity, especially in the Southwest and California.  The papers under discussion examine the role of religion in constructing and complicating regional and national identities, sacred sites, and religious rituals. In addition to discussing the critical issues that each paper raises, the seminar discussion will also focus on ways that the four papers taken together highlight the distinct contributions the American West makes to understanding American religion. Seminar attendees are asked to read the four papers in advance; they are available for seminar members through the “Members Only” page of our website (http://www.yale.edu/relwest/).  Enrolled seminar members should have received an email with instructions about accessing this page; those interested in attending who are not yet enrolled should contact tisa.wenger@yale.edu for more information accessing the papers via the website.

 

The Seminar Meeting will take place during the 4:00-6:30pm session on Saturday Oct. 30. Here is the list of presenters and their topics:

 

Travis Ross, University of Nevada, Reno

Sectionalism in California’s Religious Periodicals: Place in Religious Rhetoric

 

Jonathan William Olson, Florida State University

“Not Merely Asiatic but Pagan”: Religion, Chinese Exclusion, and the American West

 

Barry Joyce, University of Delaware

Creating an Axis Mundi in the American Southwest: Religion, Science, and the Sacred at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park

 

Brett Hendrickson, Arizona State University

Mexican-American Religious Healing and the American Spiritual Marketplace

 

Following the discussion will be a business meeting, in which we will chart our direction for the remaining two seminar meetings.

 

We hope to see in you in Atlanta!