On the Connection Between Religion and Media
The Virginia Colloquium for Theology, Ethics, & Culture will take place from May 6-8, 2016 at the University of Virginia. The keynote lecture will begin at 5:30 pm on Friday, May 6 in Minor Hall. Admission to this lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.
The keynote speaker is renowned anthropologist Professor Talal Asad, whose transformative work on the genealogical mediations of religious and “secular” traditions has deeply influenced the study and practice of religion today. His research interests include the phenomenon of religion (and secularism) as an integral part of modernity, and especially in the religious revival in the Middle East. Connected with this is an interest in the links between religious and secular notions of pain and cruelty, and therefore with the modern discourse of Human Rights.
The conference theme is “Religion and Media.” Religion is often described as a “mediated” phenomenon, whether ritually, doctrinally, aesthetically, communally, politically, narratively, and/or violently. The conference will initiate a dialogue about “media,” construed not only as a “mode of transmission” but also as a process of (re-)/mediation and repair, to open new lines of investigation for theological and religious studies.
This conference is co-sponsored by the Project on Lived Theology.
For more information on the event, visit the conference website here. Visit Asad’s faculty page at the City University of New York here.