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Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life
The symposium Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life: Attention and Care for Nature and Humans in Religious Traditions explores how spiritual techniques awaken care and attentiveness towards the natural world, fellow human beings, and creation itself.
Experiences such as Sufi sama ceremonies, the use of fragrance in funeral rites, and the tending of plants and animals serve as examples of how spirituality can be expressed through small, meaningful gestures that foster a connection to transcendence. The symposium also investigates how these spiritual approaches inform the study of religion and address contemporary global challenges, particularly the ecological crisis.
The conference is organized jointly by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities (Fondazione Giorgio Cini) the Muslim Worlds Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and the Centro di Ricerche Etnografiche e di Antropologia applicata “Francesca Cappelletto” (CREAa) of the Department of Human Sciences of the University of Verona.
programme
Tuesday, 2 October
9:30 – 10:00 | Welcome Greetings
- Francesco Piraino (Fondazione Giorgio Cini)
- Lili Di Puppo (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg / KU Leuven)
- Fabio Vicini (University of Verona)
10:00 – 11:00 | Panel: Disarticulating Transcendence in the Everyday
- Paolo Sartori (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna)
Historicising The Religion of the Inarticulate: The Spirituality of Labour in Socialist Uzbekistan
- Burcu Kalpaklıoğlu (University of Amsterdam)
Women’s Sense of their Hak, Divine Justice, and Economies of Divorce in Istanbul
Chair: Francesco Piraino (Fondazione Giorgio Cini)
11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30 | Panel: Everyday Care and the Sacred
- Mahiye Seçil Daǧtas (University of Waterloo / Balsillie School of International Affairs)
The Afterlives of Catastrophe: The Everyday Rhythms of the Sacred in Post-Earthquake Antakya
- Stefan Williamson Fa (University of Cambridge)
Food Encounters: The “Throwntogetherness” of Food, Faith, and Care in London
Chair: Fabio Vicini (University of Verona)
14:30 – 15:30 | Panel: Experiencing Subtle Forms of Transcendence
- Maria Louw (Aarhus University)
- Paige Scanlon (Harvard Divinity School)
Clapping Toward Clarity: How Nuns Use Tibetan Buddhist Debate as a Practice of Care
Chair: Lili Di Puppo (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, KU Leuven)
Friday, 3 October
10:00 – 11:00 | Panel: Nature, Body, and Transcendence
- Roshan Iqbal (Agnes Scott College)
- Alba Siguero Lizano (Complutense University of Madrid)
From Being in Nature to Being Nature: The Sensory Dimension of Eco-Spiritual Political Ontologies
Chair: Lili Di Puppo (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg / KU Leuven)
11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30 | Panel: Transcendence and Beauty in Pilgrimage
- Kholoud Al-Ajarma (University of Edinburgh)
Pilgrimage as Ecological Awakening: Islamic Ethics of Care during and after the Hajj
- Khando Langri (Stanford University)
Circumambulating Exile: Beauty, Care and Adornment in Tibetan Refugee Daily Practices of Kora
Chair: Fabio Vicini (University of Verona)
14:30 – 16:00 | Plenary
The conference will be held in English.
Booking
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