Workshop: Latter-day Saint Philosophy Project

Inaugural Latter-day Saint Philosophy Project Workshop

Conference Venue:

Brigham Young University, United States

Details

Call for Latter-day Saint Philosophy Incubator Workshop

We invite submission of abstracts for a hybrid workshop on any aspect of philosophy that engages with the Latter-day Saint faith. Each accepted speaker will give a 15-minute presentation of their work in progress, followed by a 25-30 minute question-and-answer session. The goal of this workshop is to help develop early-stage ideas into publishable form. We expect that submitted abstracts are for projects in this early stage of development, and hope the workshop can serve the authors in their aim to bring their ideas to fruition.

Submissions are open to all, but those by early career researchers and those developing ideas in underexplored areas of Latter-day Saint philosophy are especially welcome. Submissions may be sent to ldsphilosophyproject@gmail.com. They should be no longer than 500 words, prepared for blind review, and accompanied by a title page including author information. Abstracts should be submitted by July 14th, 2021, 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Accepted speakers will be notified by August 1st, 2021.

The conference will be held on Sept 17-18, 2021 at Brigham Young University.  We will accommodate speakers whose abstracts have been selected but cannot attend in person by enabling zoom presentations. Those with questions may contact us at ldsphilosophyproject@gmail.com.

What Hath Theory to Do With (Mormon) History?

This guest post comes from stephen b., a Ph.D. Student in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. He writes about religion in public life, secularism, modernity, and the Progressive Era. He also hosts the Mormon Studies podcast Scholars & Saints.

While historians can do their work largely not reliant on “high theory,” theory can’t do its work without the contingency and specificity of history. In her book The Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject, Saba Mahmood talks about the embodied religious practices of Egyptian Muslim women in the piety movement of the Islamic Revival during the mid-1990s. By analyzing the conditions under which these women became subjects through embodied practices such as arguing, reading, memorizing, teaching, and so forth, Mahmood illustrated concretely why theories of agency and subject formation in the work of Judith Butler are problematic in the ways that they epistemologically exclude possibilities of agency that do not center on the feminist/liberal assumption that freedom is constitutive of agency (Nor do they acknowledge the need to ground, as Mahmood says, “a theory” in concrete examples).

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MHA 2021 Awards

Congratulations to all of the winners!

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2022 MHA CONFERENCE CALL FOR PAPERS

Theme: Landscape, Art and Religion: The Intermountain West and the World

For its 57th Annual Conference in Logan, Utah, the Mormon History Association has joined forces with the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts to create a program that we hope will bring an art element into the sessions. We have selected a theme which we believe will evoke provocative historical papers and also suggest art topics, meaning all the arts: literature, visual art, music, film, theater, architecture, design, and so forth.

The theme, “Landscape, Art, and Religion: The Intermountain West and the World,” grows out of the assumption that the natural environment shapes culture and society. Social organization, the economy, and artistic expression are formed and directed by the landscapes in which they rest. During the first century of Mormon settlement, the intermountain landscape influenced many aspects of human life In the twentieth century, the Intermountain West remained the heartland of Latter-day Saint culture, but church members had to adapt to other landscapes, cultural and physical, as Mormonism expanded around the globe.

The program committee invites scholars young and old, local and global, to investigate all aspects of this theme. Because of the collaboration with the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, we hope many will take the occasion to explore artistic dimensions of society and culture. How are the riches and the tensions of Mormonism’s natural settings manifest in literature, music, the visual arts, film, and all the other art disciplines?

Of course, as always, sessions on all aspects of Mormon history are welcomed. We hope to attract the best current scholarship. Though individual papers will be given full consideration, proposals for complete sessions, whose participants reflect MHA’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, are most likely to be accepted.

Please submit (1) a 300-word abstract for each paper or presentation and (2) a one-page CV for each presenter, including email and cell phone contact information Full session proposals should include the session title and a 150-word abstract outlining the session’s theme, along with a confirmed chair and commentator or moderator, as applicable. Individuals may only be included as presenters in one proposal per conference. Previously published papers are not eligible for presentation at MHA. Limited financial assistance for travel and lodging at the conference is available to student presenters and some international presenters. Proposals from international presenters or others who cannot attend the meeting in person will be considered for the online version of the conference.  All presenters—including poster session presenters and online presenters—must be MHA members and registered for the conference format (in-person or online) in which they present.

The deadline for proposals is November 15, 2021. Send proposals to the program co-chairs at logan2022@mormonhistoryassociation.org as a single PDF. Acknowledgment of receipt will be sent immediately. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be made by January 15, 2022.

MHA Student Social on Saturday, June 12

To replace our MHA Student Reception, all students are invited to participate in a Zoom social hour on Saturday, June 12, at 7 pm MST. This social will give students a chance to meet other students interested in Mormon history and catch up with friends you already know. Feel free to join the social with your drink or dessert of choice, and enjoy the chance to socialize virtually, learn about resources for students in Mormon history, and make new friends. 

Please contact the MHA Student Representative, Charlotte Hansen Terry, to receive the Zoom meeting number and password.

Postdoctoral Fellowship: University of Virginia Mormon Studies

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia invites candidates to apply for a post-doctoral Research Associate position. The Research Associate conducts research and supports academic and public events related to the study of religion. Duties will include administrative tasks in support of research activities, the Forum on Democracy and Religion, the Virginia Center for the Study of Religion, and the Mormon Studies Program. The Research Associate will coordinate public events and academic meetings and provide communications and budgetary support. The position may also involve teaching academic courses and an opportunity to present research. This job is ideal for someone who thrives in a higher education environment, has an interest in the study of religion, especially but not limited to American religion and Mormonism. [ADDED LATER: POSITION BEGINS ON 8/24/2021]

Requirements:

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