Call for Applications: "Revisiting Religion & Place in Light of Environmental, Legal, and Indigenous Studies" a residential institute for higher ed faculty—Deadline:3/3/2023

Rethinking Religion and Place in Light of Environmental, Legal, and Indigenous Studies

A Three-week Residential Institute for Higher Education Faculty

Application Deadline: March 3, 2023, 11:59PM EST

Details

• Stipend: $2,850, plus books purchased for participants
• Date: June 5-23, 2023
• Location: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
• Completed applications must be submitted through the online portal no later than 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time on March 3, 2023
• Notifications will be sent via email by April 3, 2023
• Contact program manager Rebecca Bultman at rdd6aw@virginia.edu with program inquires

The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom and the Religion, Race & Democracy Lab (RRD) at the University of Virginia are pleased to announce “Revisiting Religion and Place in Light of Environmental, Legal, and Indigenous Studies,” a three-week residential institute for higher education faculty to be held in Charlottesville, VA from June 5-23, 2023.

The Institute seeks to bring together 26 faculty and advanced graduate students in religious studies and related fields from across the United States for an immersive exploration of critical new perspectives on the theme of “place.” Given recent, dramatic advances on the study of place in the environmental humanities, social sciences, legal studies, and indigenous studies, the time is ripe for rethinking place as a fundamental feature of the study of religion.

The RRD, affiliate of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ Democracy Initiative, will lead the project, with Professors Martien Halvorson-Taylor and Kurtis Schaeffer, Co-Directors of the Religion, Race & Democracy Lab.

The goals of the summer institute are:

1. To introduce scholars in religious studies and related fields to the enormously productive re-thinking of the idea of “place” that has occurred across disciplines in recent years.
2. To help scholars of religion to make better use of both substantivist and constructivist theories of place and space in religion.
3. To assist scholars in developing a richer and more nuanced understanding of the opportunities and pitfalls that come with using the category of “place” in thinking and teaching about diverse manifestations of human engagement with the world.
4. To strengthen participants’ teaching and research through critical pedagogical reflection and workshops

One of the primary activities of the Institute will be close reading and discussion of important contemporary scholarship on the study of place, exploring the concept’s multifaceted physical, social, civic, spiritual, and legal dimensions. These discussions will be complemented both by conversations with noted experts and by pedagogy workshops driven largely by our participants’ research and teaching aims. The other primary activity of the institute, taking seriously the topic of religion and place, will be field-based engagements at local sites representing rich and relevant themes explored throughout the Institute.

Participants will receive a stipend of $2,850 at the conclusion of the program.

More information about the program, including information on guest speakers, fieldwork site, travel & lodging, can be here.

Application Requirements

The deadline for applications is March 3, 2023.

The application requires a short CV (.PDF or .DOCX format; 2 pages max.) and responses to the following prompts:

1. Please address your interest in the program (400 words max.)
2. Please address any intersections between your teaching and research and the themes of the program (400 words max.)
3. Please reflect on any past academic experiences that you can leverage for the success of the program (300 words max.)

Applicants will be notified by April 3, 2023. Selected applicants will have until April 14, 2023 to accept or decline the offer.

Once an applicant has accepted an offer to attend any NEH Summer Program (Seminar, Institute, or Landmark), they may not accept an additional offer or withdraw in order to accept a different offer.

Project applicants who accept an offer to participate are expected to remain during the entire period of the program and to participate in its work on a full-time basis. If a participant is obliged through special circumstances to depart before the end of the program, it shall be the recipient institution’s responsibility to see that only a pro rata share of the stipend is received or that the appropriate pro rata share of the stipend is returned if the participant has already received the full stipend.

More information about participant eligibility can be found here.

The Institute will adhere to the NEH Principles of Civility.

Endowment programs do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age. For further information, write to the Equal Opportunity Officer, National Endowment for the Humanities, 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. TDD: 202-606-8282 (this is a special telephone device for the Deaf).

Apply Here