Conference line up for rest of 2022!

I’m excited to share a quick summary of my conference presentations for the rest of 2022. Like so many of us, I have missed the chance to see colleagues in person. Presenting my paper, “Sharing Siva’s Secret: Translating Svarodaya and Anti-Colonial Knowledge Production,” at our regional AAR in Denver this past March was so much fun, and I was surprised at how inspired I was by the experience. Since that presentation I have committed to writing a book that pulls together a few different threads in my research (hope to have more news to share on that front by the end of the year), and I am working this summer to develop the basic skills needed for a potential digital humanities project that would produce something to help future students of Arabic and Persian paleography (reading manuscripts).

Back to the conferences!

First up - I will be at Fan Expo Denver 2022 (formerly known as Denver Pop Culture Con) doing two presentations on Sunday, July 3rd:

• “Hokey Religions” to Reality: Jediism and Fiction-Based Religious Traditions

• This is The Way? Depicting Religious Fundamentalism in The Mandalorian

  Then I have a bit of a break until late November, when the American Academy of Religion comes to town. My two papers are:

• One Breath, Two Aims: Classifying zikr and `ilm-i dam in early-modern Persian encyclopedias (part of a panel titled “Literary Symbols and Cultural Practices of Premodern Sufism: Recent Discoveries,“ sponsored by the Islamic Mysticism unit)

• "Ayesha at Last" and "Hana Khan Carries On": Romance Novels and the New Adab of Muslim Self-Representation (part of a panel titled “Regimes of Muslim Subject Formation,” sponsored by the Study of Islam Unit)

Lastly, in what has to be termed a very favorable “conjunction” (astrologers understand :) the Middle Eastern Studies Association is ALSO coming to Denver, and I will be presenting:

• “From the Subtle Body to Concrete Results: The “Science of the Breath” (`ilm-i dam) in Early-Modern Persian Occultism” (as part of a broader panel on Islamicate Occult Bodywork)

I will admit, it looks like a lot. A few of the papers overlap a bit with one another, but I am now really using the conferences as a way to motivate myself to keep reading, writing, and thinking. I have found that I benefit from rotating through different projects because it keeps things fresh. Even when I was finishing my dissertation, there were so many different parts to it that I could flow from one to the next as needed (i.e., spend one day making sure those footnotes were formatted properly, then work on translating primary sources another day, and so on). So too with my conference papers - it is so much easier for me to think about my research on using the breath for divination if I also take the time to work on this relatively new project looking at Muslim romance novels. And spending time critically analyzing Star Wars is just too much fun.

As we celebrate the longest day of the year, I look forward to having lots of great conversations with friends and colleagues (both old and new) over the next few months. As always, lots to learn!

Interview on "Theory of Change" podcast with Dr. Alfredo Palacios

I’m thrilled to share the interview I did with Dr. Alfredo Palacios on “The Theory of Change” podcast. Dr. Palacios and I discussed the dynamics of religious freedom in contemporary times, as well as an examination of the interplay between colonization and religion. “The Theory of Change” podcast is aimed at people working in the healing professions, Dr. Palacios is a professor of counseling at UCCS as well as a practicing professional counselor. Enjoy!

Link to UCCS talk, "Religious Diversity: The Promise and the Warning

Last night I had the privilege of participating in the UCCS Philosophy in the City series in a talk titled “Religious Diversity: The Promise and the Warning.” A recording of the event is available here. In our 90 minutes, we covered a wide range of topics pertaining to the history of religion in America. Enjoy!

Talk on Religious Diversity at UCCS - February 5, 2021

I am thrilled to announce that I am giving a talk on religious diversity as part of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) “Philosophy in the City” event series! On Friday, February 5th, 5:30-7pm MST.

Religious Diversity: The Promise and The Warning

Is embracing religious diversity the way towards a healthy and vibrant society? In the U.S., we have struggled to sincerely engage with diversity (religious or otherwise), and its cultural and political ramifications. In this discussion, Dr. D’Silva will explain the “promise and warning” of religious diversity using historical and contemporary examples. This live virtual event is free and open to all, and will take place on Friday, February 5th, 2021, 5:30-7pm MST. Please register to receive the livestream link. Part of the Philosophy in the City series, hosted by UCCS Philosophy. To register, please click here: https://www.cvent.com/d/2jqmmw

Presentation on Religion in America

At long last, another presentation is available from the lecture series, “Let’s Talk About Religion,” sponsored by Pitkin County Senior Services. This time I had the honor to tag team with my close colleague and friend, Rev. Thomas DeZauche, as we tackled religious traditions in the U.S. For this presentation we focused on traditions that are foreign to the Americas, namely Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. We hope to put together a separate presentation on indigenous religious traditions in 2021.

Thank you for watching!

Another round of lectures on World Religions!

It has been a busy month! I last posted in early July with an online lecture, “Introduction to Religious Studies,” offered through Pitkin County Senior Services in Aspen, CO. In the past month I completed additional lectures on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sufism. The embedded links are to these videos on YouTube, and you can also access them through Pitkin County Senior Services list of activities.

These lectures have been really fun to create. Squeezing as much as possible into a 30-40 minute presentation is a great challenge, even if for every piece content included, there are 100+ things excluded. My hope is that these lectures provide a starting point for anyone interested in learning about world religions. I’ve included a slide at the end of each presentation featuring “additional readings,” for further study.

As I said, there are more lectures in the works, stay tuned for the next group!

"These aren't the papers you're looking for": Looking back at Denver Pop Culture Con 2019

A few weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to participate in Denver Pop Culture Con 2019, gathering with thousands of people to talk about the movies, TV shows, comics, and yes, COSTUMES that we all love. For me, this was a welcome foray into a venue that is really all about the public. Regardless of where we live or what we do to making a living, walking around the convention center, it was all about appreciating who had the best costume or knew the most about a given movie, TV show, or book. As someone who has spent the last five years participating in academic conferences, this was such an enjoyable experience!

First of all, I got to spend a few days with an old friend, Chad Federwitz. I have known Chad since we both we at Naropa, and I was honored when he and our mutual friend, TJ, invited me to join a panel they did last year at Denver Pop Culture Con on religion and the Jedi Order. Their panel last year looked at Buddhist and Daoist influences/resonances with the Jedi Order, and this year we expanded things to include Sufism. At the last minute, TJ was called to go on a spiritual retreat to Japan, so Chad and I handled things by ourselves. Our other panel was what I like to call a “light Marxist critique” of the Star Wars franchise. Chad and I talked about how the Star Wars movies, books, comics, and TV series invite the audience to identify with the downtrodden and oppressed, but we wanted to point out some ways in which the Resistance/Rebellion is not quite as “free” as we might want it to be. Also…people in the audience wanted to talk about how Disney was the equivalent of the Evil Empire/First Order, so that was a fun dynamic to negotiate. I’m already looking forward to attending (and hopefully participating) next year. With it being an election year, I think some good discussion and critique of the equivalences that some folks want to draw between particular political parties and “sides” of the conflict in the Star Wars universe would be particularly appropriate. So much deconstruction to do!

Lastly, I have to saw that one of most enjoyable parts of speaking at this gathering was that I didn’t feel like I was performing. That might sound strange, given that many of the other participants were literally in costume, but in the past when I have spoken at AAR or MESA, I can’t help but feel like I’m supposed to put on armor and wade into battle as some type of superhero academician, all-knowing, all-confident, etc. Some of that pressure comes from being in the precarious position of a graduate student and contingent faculty member, but it’s also true that there are a lot of egos crowding the room at academic conferences, and beyond the pressure to do a good job presenting your paper, there are the added expectations of networking and job searching. In attending Denver Pop Culture Con 2019, I really focused on hanging out with my friends, sharing some ideas and listening to what the audience thought, and just soaking it all up the wonderful atmosphere.

I’m taking the rest of 2019 off from academic conferences, but I am sure I will be back in 2020 and beyond. When I do get back to those spaces, I will be sure to take some of the Pop Culture Con vibe with me. Also, perhaps a light saber…:)

Comic Con pix!

Chad and I…looking far too serious at our first panel!

Two great Jedi Knights, ready to attend our panel on Buddhism, Daoism, Sufism, and Star Wars!

Not sure these guys would be able to handle crewing the Rocinante from The Expanse, but props to their “Pur’n’Clean” uniforms, and for organizing a panel on my favorite current sci-fi show!

All credit to local Denver LEGO master and “Brickitect” Ken Klock for putting together this amazing rendition of the Imperial shield generator from Return of the Jedi. What this photo doesn’t show is that the wings on the Imperial shuttle actually moved up and down. Wow!

Probably my favorite cosplay from Pop Culture Con - Ahsoka Tano, complete with her twin light sabers! Photo Credit to Sarah aka Miss Marvel/She-Ra.

Denver Culture Con 2019, here we come!

In a few days I will speak on two panels at Denver Culture Con 2019 (formerly known as Denver Comic Con). This is an exciting opportunity to have more public facing conversations than are usually possible (or welcome) at the run of the mill academic conference.

The first panel is titled, “Why Supporting Star Wars Helps the Empire, not the Resistance,” and takes place on Friday, May 31, 2:30-3:20 p.m. in Room 704/706 at the Denver Convention Center. Here is the abstract:

“Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises around the world, spawning films, TV series, books, comics, and – by some accounts – a new religious movement. Whether labeled as the Rebellion or Resistance, viewers are consistently invited to identify with the downtrodden and oppressed in every book, film, or TV series. However, this identification with the oppressed belies the reality in which the SW universe itself is a powerful force driving us to consume SW media and related products. These modes of production and consumption do nothing to address the deep inequalities that exist IRL. To the contrary, consuming the SW universe does more to empower the neoliberal capitalist "Evil Empire" than it does any type of Resistance. Through examining the tension between the ideals promoted by the SW universe and the effects of fans’ consumption of that universe, audience members will critique their own relationship to this much beloved universe.”

The second panel is titled “The Jedi Religion: Sufi, Daoist, and Buddhist Themes and the Jedi Order,” and takes place on Saturday, June 1st, from 2:30-3:20 p.m., in Rooms 704/706. Yes, that’s right, the panels are at the SAME TIME and in the SAME PLACE, just one day apart. This means that I have no excuse not to get to the second panel on time!

Here is the abstract for the second panel:

“Many researchers, writers, and fans alike, lay claim to the Jedi, insisting that the Jedi Order is basically Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, etc. The Jedi, however, are not Muslim or Buddhist, or any other modern religion, they are Jedi. George Lucas has pointed to numerous religious influences in his stories, yet many want to put Yoda or Qui-Gon Jin in a particular camp of religious influence. In this talk, we will explore possible influences and parallels between the Jedi Order and Sufi, Buddhist and Daoist religion/philosophy. Using source material taken from the “official canon,” we will search for common ground between the Jedi Order and three rich and diverse religious traditions. We hope that this presentation will provide participants with greater knowledge of these three world traditions, and how they might connect to the world(s) of Star Wars and the Jedi Order.”

Click here for the full schedule, as well as information on buying tickets.

Check back for my after action report, which will be sure to include some great photos of people dressed up as their favorite scfi-fi/fantasy characters!

San Antonio here I come!

I will be presenting at the American Academy of Religion annual conference in San Antonio, Texas this year.  The conference is November 19-22, I present on a panel titled "The Occult Challenge to Sufism" on November 21.  My paper is entitled "Do Sufi Occultists Dream of Electric Sheep? : Magical Constructions of Authenticity in a 19th CE Persian Manuscript." I look forward to connecting with so many friends and colleagues during what I am sure will be hectic whirlwind of a conference. For anyone interested in the conference program, here is a link: 

https://www.aarweb.org/annual-meeting/guide-to-the-2016-aar-annual-meeting-in-san-antonio