UPDATES AND INFORMATION ON THE IAHR CONGRESS DURBAN 2000 (click here to go to official Congress page)

August 5-12, 2000

LOCATION OF THE CONGRESS

Durban, South Africa     Holiday Inn Durban Elangeni, North Beach 

THEME OF THE CONGRESS

History of Religions: Origins and Visions
__________________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE MOVED ALL TRAVEL AND HOTEL AND TOURIST INFORMATION TO THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT

REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION
The registration and information desk will be open at the following times:
 Saturday 5 August  - 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
 Sunday 6 August - 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
 Monday 7 August - 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
 Tuesday 8 August - 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
In addition to collecting your registration materials you may buy Congress T-shirts and make excursion and tour bookings.

BADGES
Conference badges should be worn at all times in the Congress venue to allow entry to sessions and the exhibition area.

DONATIONS
We want to thank all of you who made a contribution at the time of pre-registration toward our fund to help bring our colleagues from countries with weaker currencies to this Congress.  Every little bit helps and has been creatively used.  In case you missed helping out or would like to add a little more, donations will be gratefully received at any point during the Congress.  Please contact Velia, Pratap or Rosalind regarding this.

CONGRESS OFFICE
There will be a Congress office located on the Mezzanine level of the Durban Elangeni. Computers will be available for word-processing and internet/e-mail use.

EXHIBITS
The exhibition of books, arts and crafts is located in the Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach Conference Centre (next to Elangeni). There will be a formal opening ceremony at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 5.  The exhibition will close on Friday afternoon. Please check with the Congress office if you have brought materials for display.  Flyers and information sheets may be left either in the exhibition area on the tables provided or in the Conference registration area.

LOCAL TRANSPORTATION
Transportation to and from the airport has been arranged for you at reasonable rates by Silver Henry. Please let her know of your departure plans.  Taxis can also be arranged at your hotels.  There will be buses to take you on Tuesday afternoon from the Durban Elangeni to the Durban Art Gallery and City Hall in time for the Cultural Evening. The buses will operate a shuttle system beginning at 3:30 p.m. and returning from approximately 9:30 p.m.

All taxis (except for as we call them "Black Taxis") use meters. Each hotel is in contact with reputable taxi operators. "Black Taxis" (minibuses) are a lot cheaper, but they are not safe for tourists being unroadworthy and overloaded.
 
SHOPS
There is a small shopping centre with banks, supermarket, eating places, liquor stores, etc. just behind the hotel.

TOURS
DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR THE WEDNESDAY EXCURSION!!!!!!!! Silver Henry of Conference Connection, (SILVERCC@IAFRICA.COM, O82 891 0564/031 262 0299/9) who is in charge of tours and transportation, has organized a wonderful day for you to experience Durban and its environs. It is also very reasonably priced and includes lunch at the Hare Krishna Temple in Chatsworth and tea and scones at the Phezulu, a Zulu cultural centre, in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The morning will be spent visiting some of the landmark religious institutions in Durban as well as a Gandhi site.

Please also allow time before and/or after the Congress to visit the many wonderful landscapes and attractions South Africa has to offer.   You may contact Silver Henry on this also.  We are also arranging tours using the services of local experts.  For example, a trip is planned to view the famous southern African rock art in the Drakensberg, and to visit a Zulu ceremony.  Another possibility will be to visit the mosques in Cape Town. A short drive up the North Coast from Durban will further convince you of the beauty of South Africa. Umhlanga Rocks is a more up-market and popular spot for the beach and restaurants. Many visitors make the trip to Hluhluwe game reserve and/or to the UNESCO World Heritage site, the St Lucia Wetlands Park--Africa's largest marine lake with unspoilt scenery and one of the highest concentrations of bird life in Africa (367 species).

Durban is the vacation Centre of South Africa with wonderful beaches and all forms of entertainment. Once you see the beaches and surf you will understand why Durban is one of the surfing capitals of the world.  Dolphin- and whale watching is also an option since the season runs from June to December. (Contact Velia about this).

SOCIAL EVENTS
Nothing formal has been arranged for Saturday, August 5th as many of you will want to rest, catch up with old friends, start making new ones, and generally get your bearings.  A walk along the sea front is highly recommended and you will be joining many Durban residents for whom this is a weekend ritual.  For Sunday morning see the next section. On Sunday afternoon, August 6th, there will an opening ceremony at 2 p.m. of the Book and Cultural Exhibition in the neighboring hotel, the Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach. This will be followed at 3 p.m. by the formal opening ceremony of the Congress with welcoming remarks from dignitaries and IAHR officers, and cultural dances.  A reception follows.

Tuesday, August 8th is the focal point of our cultural events.  It will begin with a visit to the Durban Art Gallery from 5 p.m. onwards  to view two international print exhibitions celebrating the South African Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  We then proceed promptly to the awesome City Hall next door for the Mayor's reception (6:15-7:15 p.m.) and the Cultural Evening itself (7:30-9:30 p.m.) with a fabulous array of dancers and singers reflecting the rich cultural diversity of Durban and Kwa-Zulu Natal.

On Wednesday August 9 and Thursday August 10 you will have the opportunity to see two feature films ("Sarafina" and "Cry, the Beloved Country") made by renowned South African and Durban film-maker, Anant Singh. There will also be ethnographic films shown on Thursday.

Friday, August 11th in the evening is your chance to enjoy fine dinner and good South African jazz at the Closing Banquet.  The event is open to all registrants.

OTHER ACTIVITIES DURING THE CONGRESS
We have planned several interesting activities for you.  On Sunday August 6--if you are prepared to get up early--you can join Professor "Pippin" Oosthuizen on the beach to meet and witness the Zionist groups who come from all over the region: for baptism and purification in the Indian Ocean. Professor Oosthuizen has spent the best part of his eminent academic career studying South Africa's independent African churches.  He makes an excellent guide, so I do recommend that you set your alarm clocks for around 5:30 am!!   Professor Oosthuizen is also offering to accompany people to St. John's Faith Apostolic Church in a local township for the Sunday morning service (10:00 a.m.)

A visit to a local Indian pentecostal church is also suggested for a Sunday morning service, or the extremely lively Durban Christian Centre in Berea where you can hear some good Zulu-style gospel music.  Silver Henry will help with this. She can also set you up for shopping at a Durban Indian emporium to buy your Indian dresses and spices! There is also a popular flea market on the sea front each Sunday which is well worth a visit.

Robert Papini, research officer at the KwaMuhle Museum in Durban, is willing to accompany those interested to the market where traditional Zulu herbs and medicines (muthi) are sold. He has arranged for a sangoma or diviner/traditional healer to lead us. He can also help you plan a visit to the Gandhi sites around Durban and a service of the renowned Zulu Shembe Church (Nazaretha Baptist Church) if so requested.  (robertp@prcsu.durban.gov.za). Robert also knows a lot about where to buy local artists and music, so if you want some advice consult him! In addition, Sabine Marschall, who teaches art history in Durban, is a valuable local resource and will be helping with art gallery visits, etc.  Thillay Naidoo is arranging for a nearby Hindu temple to receive visitors during the Congress.

Do find time during the week to stroll around the centre of the city of Durban, especially at lunchtime. Each Wednesday there is a local music performance in front of the City Hall. Do try to visit the museums,  especially two sites of the Local History Museums - the KwaMuhle Museum, where urban apartheid was developed for all southern Africa; and the Old Court House, where a photographic exhibition which covers the major faith traditions in the province of KwaZulu-Natal has been specially re-mounted for the Congress (to sample, go to http://www.durban.gov.za/museums/localhistory/courthouse/currentexhibition/index.htm.  A CD-ROM of this "Moving Spirit" exhibition will be available for sale at the Congress Exhibition site.

Wednesday August 9 is a public holiday for Women's Day in South Africa. Throughout the whole week there will be various events around Durban related to the Women's Arts Festival. Programmes will be available. Don't miss the related exhibits at the Durban Art Gallery on Weya Women's Appliqué Art from Zimbabwe and from South African needlework cooperatives.

For your purchases of African art and artefacts please patronize the African Art Centre in the Tourist Junction, 160 Pine Street (ask for Anthea Martin, the Art and Development Director). They have a great selection of art works and curios-better quality and often different from the beachfront paraphernalia. Proceeds are directed back to the artists themselves. They will also be exhibiting during the Congress in our Exhibition Centre. Also consider taking a short taxi ride to the NSA Gallery (Natal Society for the Arts) at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood for lunch or tea in the Arts Café, to view the exhibits and possibly make a purchase from their gift shop. The Indian Market on Grey Street is a good source for curios and souvenirs.  There is also the Bat Centre in the port–an alternative art and music space–which sells some interesting and original jewellery. This is a good place to eat lunch or dinner and gaze out at the ships, and also a cool nightspot (especially at weekends).

RESTAURANTS AND FOOD
There is a full range of places to eat in Durban. Some of the best restaurants (e.g. on Florida Avenue and Windemere Road) may require a short taxi ride as they are in the residential neighborhoods. A list of recommended restaurants will be provided. You will find everything from cheap take-aways to 5-star cuisine within walking distance of your hotels!  During the Congress, light lunches will be offered on the pool deck, lounge areas and the Irish Pub will be serving pub lunches.

SECURITY
During the day there is little problem, as long as you don't go out looking too much like a tourist (ie cameras, jewelry, Congress badges and bags). Markets are prime pickpocketing areas so be alert. It is at night that one has to be much more careful as in many big cities. Act on advice from the locals rather than hearsay.

HEALTH AND MEDICAL NEEDS
Adjacent to the Holiday Inn Durban Elangeni is: North Beach Medical Centre, 37 Sol Harris Centre, Marine Parade, Durban Tel:  332 6060
Fax:  332 0497  Hours:  07h00 - 19h00 - weekdays Hours:  09h00 - 17h00 - weekends and public holidays.  At the centre are Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors, Physiologists, etc, as well as a pharmacy.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Velia Del Mei - Mobile 083 777 9256
Joanne Smidt - Mobile 082 900 9022
Office Number:  562 9461
Fax Number:  562 9945
The Congress e-mail address may also be used: velia@iafrica.com

GENERAL CONGRESS SCHEDULE

PLENARY                         8:30-10:30 A.M.
COFFEE BREAK            10:30-11:00 A.M.
PANELS SESSION A          11 A.M.-1 P.M.
LUNCH                                          1-2 P.M.
PANELS SESSION B                    2-4 P.M.
TEA BREAK    4-4:15 P.M.
PANELS SESSION C         4:15-6:15 P.M.
[except for Tuesday when the last session has been cancelled to allow participants to get to the Durban Art Gallery and City Hall for the reception and cultural evening, Wednesday (excursion day), and Friday when the plenary concludes the sessions.  There are also additional evening plenary sessions on Sunday and Monday.]

VENUES
All keynote/plenary sessions will take place in the Great Ilanga ballroom in the Holiday Inn Durban Elangeni.  Panel sessions will be held in the Elangeni, as well as in the neighboring Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, and the Jewish Club.  A few sessions have been scheduled for the Great Ilanga ballroom which will be divided into Zones A, B, and C.  This situation has been made necessary by the abundance of panels.

Each session is designated by a day/session/locator number, e.g. Tu 2.5, indicates an event occurring on Tuesday, during that day's second session period, in Suite 2. A session may indicate an opening, closing, plenary, or panel session; these are numbered in order of occurrence.

Room codes
South Ilanga    = 1
East Ilanga    = 2
North Ilanga    = 3
Suite 1    = 4
Suite 2    = 5
Suite 3    = 6
Suite 4    = 7
Suite 5    = 8
Quarterdeck   = 9
Sundeck    = 10
Great Ilanga, Zone A  = 11
Great Ilanga, Zone B  = 12
Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach Durban, Umgeni  = 13
Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach Durban, Congella = 14
Jewish Club Conference Room = 15
Great Ilanga, Zone C  = 16

SATURDAY, AUGUST 5

Arrival and Registration  11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
IAHR Executive Committee Meeting  3 - 5 p.m.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6

Registration   10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Opening of Book and Art Exhibition 2 p.m. Holiday Inn North Beach
Opening Reception Holiday Inn Durban Elangeni 3 - 4 p.m.

Su 1     Opening Ceremony     4 - 5 p.m.
PLACE:  Great Ilanga
Master of Ceremonies: Dennis Schauffer
Distinguished guests: South African Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, South African Commissioner for Human Rights, Barney Pitayana, the Mayor of Durban, Obed Mlaba, IAHR Congress Director, Pratap Kumar, Program Chair and IAHR Deputy General Secretary, Rosalind I. J. Hackett, IAHR General Secretary, Armin Geertz, and IAHR President, Michael Pye
Cultural performances: processional by Shembe dancers and musicians, closing by Suriyalanga

Su 2     KEYNOTE ADDRESS 1       5 - 7 p.m.
PLACE:  Great Ilanga
CHAIR:  Yolotl Gonzales
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  Michael Pye. IAHR President
THEME:  "Memories of the Future: Looking Back and Looking Forward in the History of Religions"
RESPONSES:  Jacob Olupona, Jacques Waardenburg, Purushottama Bilimoria, Elio Masferrer, Brian Bocking

MONDAY, AUGUST 7

M 1     KEYNOTE ADDRESS 2       8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
PLACE:  Great Ilanga
CHAIR:  Nokuzola Mndende
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  David Chidester
THEME:  "History of Religions, Durban 2000: Identity, Location, Media, Method, and Education"
RESPONSES:  Isabel Apawo Phiri, Robert Jackson, Tinyiko Maluleke COFFEE BREAK     10:30 - 11:00 a.m.
PANELS SESSION A     11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
M 2.1   South Ilanga
DIASPORA AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION: SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIONS
CONVENORS:  Martin Baumann and Steve Vertovec
CHAIR:  Martin Baumann
http://www.uni-bremen.de/~mbaumann/IAHR-Diaspora-Panel.htm
Joergen Nielsen, "Integration of South Asian Muslims in the UK"
Taleeb Noormohamed, "America's Islam: The Consequences of Muslim Political Engagement"
Alleyn Diesel, "Tamil Hindus in Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa): History, Identity and the Establishment of a Place in the New South Africa"
Martin Baumann, "Becoming a Colour of the Rainbow: The Social Integration of Indian Hindus in Trinidad Analysed Along a Phase Model of Diaspora"

M 2.2   East Ilanga
JEWISH HISTORY: TURN IT AND TURN IT AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING IS CONTAINED IN IT
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Gilya G. Schmidt
Daniel J. Lasker, "The Karaite as Jewish Other'"
Jaqueline S. Du Toit, "Thy Books Are Thy Good Treasure"
Luis M. Giron-Negron, "The Canine Curse: Jewish-Christian Polemics in a 14th Century Spanish Chivalric Novel"
Gilya G. Schmidt, "Martin Buber's Ecstatic Confessions Revisited"

M 2.3   North Ilanga
THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS IN JAPAN: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Gary L. Ebersole
Michio Araki, "Problems of Indigenization of the Study of Religion in Japan."
Takeshi Kimura, "The Contributions of Private Universities in Japan to the Study of Religion"
Jun'ichi Isomae, "The Formation of the Concept of 'Religion' in Modern Japan"

M 2.4   Suite 1
MIRCEA ELIADE'S VISION AND OUR PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF RELIGION I
SYMPOSIUM CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Bryan  S. Rennie
Michiaki Okuyama, Ulrich Berner, Natale Spineto (paper to be read by Giovanni Casadio), Wilhelm Danca, Knut Jacobsen, William Lafleur, Chin Hing Chung
M 2.5   Suite 2
CROSS CULTURAL AND "POST' CRITIQUES OF PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION: NEW VISTAS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?
CONVENOR:  Pratap Kumar
CHAIR:  Purushottama Bilimoria
Purushottoma Bilimoria, "After God and Belief: What is Left of the Philosophy of Religion in a Crosscultural and Postcolonial World?"
Laurie Patton, "Performative Notes on the Vedic Origins of Aesthetics"
Yoshitsugu Sawai, "The Semantic Structure of Reality in Sankara's Advaita Philosophy"
William Sweet, "Religious Belief, Meaning, and Argument"
Respondent: Robert Neville

M 2.6   Suite 3
RELIGION, NATURE AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION I: RELIGION AND NATURE IN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Bron Taylor
Bron Taylor, "Nature and Religion: Theoretical Issues in the Contemporary and Global Context"
Graham Harvey, "The Vitality of Animism in Nature-centred Spiritualities"
Michael York, "Explorations into European or Euro-American Interpretations of Indo-European Religion."
Open discussion with participants: Opening a Dialogue on Theoretical Issues in the Study of Religion and Nature, facilitated by Bron Taylor

M 2.7   Suite 4
THE IMPACT OF GODDESS STUDIES ON THEORETICAL PARADIGMS IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION, ASIA AND THE HIMALAYAS
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Miranda Shaw
William Harman, "A Kinder, Gentler Mariyamman and Middle Class Respectability"
Janice Glowski, "Living Goddess as Animate Image: Contextualizing Kumari Worship in Nepal"
Miranda Shaw, "The Vasundhara Vrata in Nepal: Women As Living Bodhisattvas"

M 2.8   Suite 5
RELIGION AND MEDIA I:  RELIGION, MEDIA, GLOBAL, LOCAL
Sponsored by the International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Stewart Hoover
Richard Fox, "Forget the Appearances: Some Thoughts from a Copernican in Cyberia"
Peter Beyer, "Religion, Media, and the Global/Local Nexus: Making Claims and Mobilizing Resources"
David Morgan, "Visual Media and the History of Christian Missiology: Framing the Research of Local Appropriations of Global Visual Culture"
Respondent:  Keyan Tomaselli
 
M 2.9   Quarterdeck
EVANGELICALISM COMPARED
CHAIR:  Paul Freston
Eric Morier-Genoud, "Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches in Mozambique: Origins and Present Developments"
Paul Freston, "Evangelical Christianity and Politics in Central America and Central Africa: Guatemala and Zambia Compared"
Donizete Rodrigues, "The Gypsy Evangelical Church of Philadelphia of Portugal: Some Considerations"
Abraham Kovacs, "The Scottish Evangelical Impact on Hungarian Protestantism in the Late 19th Century"
Daniel M. M'tungi, "Charismatic Churches in East Africa"

M 2.10 Sundeck
RELIGIOUS WORLDS IN LATIN AMERICA
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Eliane Moura-Silva
Eliane Moura-Silva, "Spiritist Literature and Religious Imaginary in Contemporary Brazil"
Leandro Karnal, "Religions in Colonial America: A Comparative Study"
Eduardo Albuquerque, "Narrative and Cures in Brazilian Prayers"
Leila Albuquerque, "East: A Source of an Imaginary Geography in Brazil"
Robin Wright, "New Perspectives on Native Millenarianism"
 
M 2.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
WORKSHOP ON PUBLISHING AND BOOK DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Gerrie ter Haar and Margaret Ling
Richard Crabbe (African Christian Press, Ghana), Michael Dwyer (Hurst & Co., London), Klaus Fiedler (Kachere Series, Malawi), Gerrie ter Haar (ISS, The Hague), Bridget Impey (David Philip Publishers, South Africa), Margaret Ling (Zimbabwe International Book Fair), David Maxwell (University of Keele), Alois Mlambo (Zimbabwe), Jesse Mugambi (University of Nairobi/Acton Press), Isabel Mukunyora (University of Zimbabwe), Lynn Taylor (James Currey)
 
M 2.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM I
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and J. A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Wouter J. Hanegraaff,  Introductory Address
Kocku von Stuckrad, "The Beginning of a Mutual Enrichment: Jewish Mystical Discourse and Hermetic Esotericism in Late Antiquity"
Annine van der Meer, "The Harran of the Sabians in the First Millennium A.D.: Cradle of a Hermetic Tradition?"
 
LUNCH     1 - 2 p.m.

PANELS SESSION B     2 - 4 p.m.
 
M 3.1   South Ilanga
TEACHING IN THE TRENCHES: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
CHAIR: Robert Jackson
Rober Mager, "Religion in Quebec's Public School System: Forty Years of Debate"
Lily Pollack, "The Centrality of Religious Education for a Middle East Peace"
Denise A. Cush and Dave Francis, "‘Positive Pluralism' to ‘Awareness, Mystery, and Value': A Case Study of Religious Education Curriculum Development"
Irvin Chetty, " The Conflict Between Religious Education and Religious Observance in a south African Public School: A Durban Case Study"
Brendan Carmody," Religious Education and Pluralism in Zambia"
Respondent: Robert Jackson

M 3.2   East Ilanga
MILLENNIALISM, PERSECUTION, AND VIOLENCE: I
CONVENOR and CHAIR: Catherine Wessinger
H. Christine Steyn, "A South African Millenarian Tragedy: The Xhosa Cattle-killing Movement"
Grant Underwood, "Mormonism, Millenarianism, and the Maturation of a New Religious Movement"
Jean Rosenfeld, "Common Law' Millennialists of the 1990s"
 
M 3.3   North Ilanga
RELIGION, NATURE AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION II: RELIGION AND NATURE IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT
CONVENOR:  Bron Taylor
CHAIR:  Jo Pearson
Celia Nyamweru, "Religion and Nature in Africa; the Sacred Groves of the Mijikenda People, Kenya"
Asenath Omwega and Jacob Wanyama, "The Sacred Mountain of the Samburu People"
Amini Tengeza, "The Mijikenda Grave Markers"
Heem Bachan Sahu, "Plants - Their Socio-Religious Value among the Tribes of Chotanagpur"
Satya Narayan Munda, "The Role of Sarna (Primitive) Religion for the Survival Of Nature and Animal Kingdom in Jharkhand"
P. C. Oraon, "The Religious Importance of the Sal Tree (Shorea Robusta) in Tribal Bihar, Jharkhand, India"
 
M 3.4   Suite 1
RELIGION AND LOCALITY I: RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDINGS OF PLACE
CONVENORS: Kim Knott and Mary N. MacDonald
CHAIR:  Gina Buijs
Mary MacDonald, "Experiences of Place and Change in Melanesian Religions"
Chirevo Kwenda, "Sacred Spacing: An African Perspective"
Jacob K. Olupona, "Sacred Cosmos: The Meaning of Place in Yoruba Religious Traditions"
Baijnath Seth, "Cultural and Religious Relevance of the ‘Tusu' Festival in Jharkhand, South Bihar Region"
Respondent:  Kim Knott
M 3.5   Suite 2
THE POWER OF THE OCCULT IN MODERN AFRICA I
SYMPOSIUM CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Jim Kiernan
Elias K. Bongmba, "Evans-Pritchard And the Theoretical Demise Of the Concept Of Magic In Africa"
Véronique Faure, "Occult And Politics In South Africa"
Rune Flikke, "Curing The Ills Of History: The Role Of History And Ancestors In Urban Zulu Zionist Healing Practices  Witchcraft As An Issue In The 'Politics Of Belonging'"
Peter Geschiere and Francis Nyamnjoh, "Democratization and Urban Migrants' Involvement with the Home Village"
 
M 3.6   Suite 3
SHIFTING SHAPES: MOMENTS IN BUDDHISM'S MOVEMENT FROM MONASTIC TO GLOBAL IN THE 21ST CENTURY
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Miriam Levering
Vivian Nyitray, "Globally Engaged Buddhism for the 21st Century?"
Victor Hori, "Discipline and Work: Rinzai Zen Monastic Practice and the Toyota Automobile Production System"
Miriam Levering, "In the Atomic City, For Whom Does the Temple Bell Toll?"   Respondent: Hwei-syin Lu
M 3.7   Suite 4
RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS I
CONVENOR:  Abrahim H. Khan with Arvind Sharma
CHAIR:  Abrahim H. Khan
Arvind Sharma, "Religion and Human Rights"
Joseph Runzo, "Why the Morality of a Universal Declaration on Human Rights Needs Grounding in Religious Ethics"
Nancy Martin, "Reaching toward Universality, Honoring Particularity: A Human Rights Declaration from the World Religions"

M 3.8   Suite 5
CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS IN AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA: THE INTERFACE BETWEEN RESEARCH AND DIALOGUE
ROUNDTABLE CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Klaus Hock
Peter B. Clarke, Anne Kubai, Johnson Mbillah, David Westerlund, Muslih T. Yahya, Joergen Nielsen

M 3.9   Quarterdeck
RELIGIOUS DIASPORA AND THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION: PROSPECTS AND PERILS
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Braj M. Sinha Eve Mullen, "‘Acculturation': the Tibetan Buddhist Diaspora in North Africa"
Nathan Katz, "Understanding Religion in Diaspora: Models, Metaphors, and Methods of Religious Acculturation with Reference to the Case of the Jews of Cochin"
Terry Rey, "The Abiding Influence of Kongolese Diasporic Religion in Saint-Domingue/ Haiti"
Braj Sinha, "Dispersion, Diffusion, Marginalization and Resacralization: Hindu Diaspora in the Canadian Context"
 
M 3.10   Sundeck
RELIGIOUS CONFLUENCES REEXAMINED I
CHAIR:  Arthur Song
Alejandro Chaoul, "Tracing the Origins of Cho in the Bon Tradition: A Dialogic Approach Cutting Through Sectarian Boundaries"
Ed Irons, "The Study of Urban Chinese Religiosity: The Challenge of the Next Century"
Arthur Song, "Taoism and Christianity: Kindred Spirits or Enemies?"
Arthur Seltzer, "Kabbalistic Themes in the Book of Jonah: Reincarnation, Transformation and Redemption"
Adam K. Arap Chepkwony, "A Historical Connection between the Kipsigis and Jewish Religious Traditions?"

M 3.11   Great Ilanga, Zone A
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN EASTERN EUROPE
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Dalibor Papousek
Dalibor Papousek, "The Academic Study of Religions in the Czech Republic: Retrospect and Prospect"
Attila K. Molnar, "The Construction of the Notion of Religion"
Tibor Porció, "Religious Studies in Hungary and the Department of Religious Studies in Szeged"
Abraham Kovacs, "New Development in the Study of Religion in Eastern Europe"

M 3.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
ISLAMIC DISCOURSES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Abdulkader Tayob
Elom Dovlo, "The Nation of Islam in an African Setting: The Rhetoric and Politics of Louis Farrakhan in Ghana"
Inga Niehaus and Ursula Gunther, "Civil Society and Islam during the Transition Process in South Africa"
Respondent:  Abdulkader Tayob

M 3.14   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
THE IMPACT OF GODDESS STUDIES ON THEORETICAL PARADIGMS IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION, EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Miranda Shaw
Miriam Robbins Dexter, "The Sheela na-gigs: Tracing the Legacy of Prehistoric and Pre-Christian Goddesses in Medieval Irish Iconography"
Marcelline Krafchick, "Homer's Circe: The Transformer Transformed"
Respondent: Laurie Patton

M 3.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM II
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Antoine Faivre
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, "Lodovico Lazzarelli's Use of Jewish Mystical Sources"
Jean-Pierre Brach, "Christian Kabbalah"
 
TEA BREAK     4 - 4:15 p.m.

PANELS SESSION C     4:15 - 6:15 p.m.

M 4.1   South Ilanga
CONVERSION: RESEARCH AND THEORIES OF RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATION
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Lewis Rambo
Stuart Devenish, "The Transformation of Meaning in Christian Conversion: Applied Research in the Phenomenology of Religion"
Brendan Carmody, "Conversion and a Secular Vocation"
Charles Farhadian, "Conversion, Missions and Social Change among the Papuans of Irian Jaya"
Lewis Rambo, "Conversion Theories and Phenomenology"
Robert Anderson, "Conversion to Christianity and the Ghosts of Iceland"
Debra Washington Mubashshir, "Returning Home: An African American's Transition to Islam From Christianity"

M 4.2   East Ilanga
ISLAM, GENDER, AND IDENTITY
CONVENOR:  Abrahim Khan
CHAIR:  Peter Antes
Sufia Uddin, "A Mystical Journey Or Misogynist Assault?: Al-Qushayri's Commentary On The Seduction of Yusuf"
Tirza Visser, "Towards a Conceptual Change? Rethinking the Gender Perspective in Islam"
Mohammed Sirajul Islam, "Kirmaniya Sufi Order of Khustikiri as a Vivid Instance of Fraternity and Solidarity in India"

M 4.3   North Ilanga
MILLENNIALISM AND VIOLENCE: PANEL II
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Catherine Wessinger
Robert Ellwood, "Nazism as a Millennialist Movement"
Catherine Wessinger, "Violent Moments on a Continuum of Millennial Behaviors"
Gordon Melton, "AD 2000: An Evangelical Alternative to Apocalypse"
Gene Gallagher, "The Dynamics of Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence at Waco"

M 4.4   Suite 1
RELIGION AND MEDIA II: EMERGING THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN MEDIA, RELIGION, AND CULTURE
Sponsored by the International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Stewart Hoover
Stewart M. Hoover, "Media, Religion, and Culture in Global and Local Transition"
Jolyon Mitchell, "The Ethics of Photojournalism: Toward an Audience-centred Approach"
Joyce Smith, "Discovering the Blessed in the Broadcast: Scholarship at the Intersection of Religious and Media Studies"
Respondent:  Stewart Hoover

M 4.5   Suite 2
COMPARATIVISM THEN AND NOW: STOCKTAKING AND CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE FORMATION OF CROSS-CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
CONVENORS:  William E. Paden and Jeppe Sinding Jensen
PANEL I: HISTORICAL COMPARATIVISMS
CHAIR: William E. Paden
Norman Girardot, "Max Müller's Sacred Books and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of the "Comparative Science of Religions"
Robert Segal, "Robertson Smith's Use of the Comparative Method"
Thomas Ryba, "Comparative Religion, Taxonomies and 19th Century Theories of Science"
Michael Buchowski, "Is Comparative Study of Belief Systems Possible? Anthropologists' Views from Frazer to Levi-Strauss" Respondent: Russell McCutcheon
 
M 4.6   Suite 3
RELIGION AND POLITICS IN  AFRICA: SOME NEW APPROACHES
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Gerrie ter Haar and Stephen Ellis
Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar, "The Idea of Transformation in African Religion and Politics"
Simeon Ilesanmi, "Religion and the Politics of Human Rights in Africa"
Christo Lombard, "Religion and Politics, Trauma and Healing - Namibian Experiences And Perspectives"
David Maxwell, "Catch the Cockerel Before Dawn: Pentecostalism and Politics in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe"

M 4.7   Suite 4
THE STUDY OF INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS: LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  David Shorter
Sylvia Marcos, "Indigenous Religious Traditions: A Gendered Orality"
Armin Geertz, "Primitivism in the Study of Hopi Indian Religion"
David Shorter, "Interpreting Ourselves Interpreting Others: The Academic Study of Indigenous Religions"
Jordan Paper, "The Study of Native American Religion: Personal Experience with Political Correctness and Indigenous Racism (or Why I no Longer Study Native American Religions)"
Alfred Young Man, "Anomalous Painters, Writers, Critics, and Other 'Indian' Impostors"
M 4.8   Suite 5
RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE: SOUTHERN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  James Cochrane
Isabel Phiri, "The Christian State and Democracy in Zambia"
Russel Botman, "A Public Theology of Hope"
Tinyiko Maluleke, "Christian Minorities in Civil Society"
Martin Prozesky, "On Being Ethically Religious in a Secular, Plural and Democratic Society: Principles, Problems and Prospects"

M 4.9   Quarterdeck
CHALLENGES TO AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY IN BUDDHISM
CHAIR:  Vivian Nyitray
Oliver Freiberger, "Salvation for the Laity?: Soteriological Concepts in Early and Modern Theravada Buddhism" Michael von Brück, "Tulku and Deity: the Tibetan Shugden Controversy as Example for the Conflict of Canon and Charisma"
George Chryssides, "Transcultural Migration and New Religious Movements: a Case Study of Western Buddhism"

M 4.10   Sundeck
ETHICS, CULTURE AND SOCIETY
CHAIR:  H. Christine Steyn
Philip Johanes Nel, "Social Justice as Religious Responsibility in Near Eastern Religions: Historic Ideal and Ideological Illusion"
David Herbert, "Religion, Trust and Civil Society"
Adewale Kuyebi, "Motherhood according to the African Tradition Religions' Scriptures: Myths, Proverbs, Prayers, and Daily Watch-Words"
David T. Adamo, "What is in Names? African Names as Expression of Religious Experience in African Culture"
Yadu Nath Pande, "Pushakar Tirtha of Rajasthan India: An Anthropological Appraisal"

M 4.11   Great Ilanga, Zone A
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AMAZONIA
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Paula Montero
Paula Montero, "Theology of Inculturation and Catholic Missions in Brazilian Amazonia"
Pilar Jordan, "Catholic Missions and Social Construction of the Space in Andina Amazonia (19th-20th centuries): A Comparative Reflection"
Ronaldo R. M. Almeida, "Protestant Transcultural Missions in Amazonia (Amapa-Brazil)"

M 4.12   Great Ilanga, Zone B
NEW PARADIGMS FOR RESEARCH AND TEACHING
CHAIR:  Mary McGee
Peter Jackson, "Towards a Description of the Indo-European Religious Heritage"
Paul Morris, "Religio-Cultural Maintenance: The Ethnicization of the Study of Religion"
Houchang E. Chehabi, "Moses as Inspiration for Ayotallah Khomeini"
Shun-hing Chan, "Indigenizing the Sociological Study of Religion in the Chinese Context: Themes, Visions and Proposals"
 
M 4.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
RELIGION, LAW AND CULTURE I: RELIGIOUS LAW
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
Ebrahim Moosa, "Myth and Realism in Islamic Law" Natalie Dohrmann, "Jewish Slavery and Rabbinic Jurisdiction in Roman Palestine"
Robert Yelle, "Poetic Justice: Magic and Rhetoric in Hindu Ordeals"
Kanta Gupta, "Women's Property: A Comparative Study in Hinduism and Islam"
Respondent:  Abdullahi A. An-Na'im

M 4.14   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
THE PROBLEM OF NATURE, LIFE AND SALVATION IN JAPANESE RELIGION(S)
SYMPOSIUM CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Michio Araki
Masakazu Tanatsugu, "The View of Nature in Japanese New Religions"
Hiroshi Yamanaka, "Images of Nature in Contemporary Japanese Popular Culture"
Katsuhiko Kimura, "The Impact of Western Ideas of Nature on Modern Japanese Religions"
Michiyo Sasao, "The Problem of Time (and Nature) in Japanese Modern Culture"
Yotaro Miyamoto, "The Nature of Life and the Life of Nature in Japanese Religions"
Respondent:  Takeshi Kimura
 
M 4.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM III
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Jane Williams-Hogan
Susanna Akerman, "Der Löwe aus der Mitternacht and Johannes Bureus' Rosicrucian Papers"
Arthur Versluis, "Jacob Böhme and Kabbalah"
Elliott Wolfson, "Secrecy and the Disclosure of Withholding in Kabbalistic Hermeneutics"
TEA BREAK     6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

M 5     KEYNOTE ADDRESS 3     7:30-9:30 p.m.
PLACE:   Great Ilanga
CHAIR:   Gary Lease
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:   Jonathan Z. Smith
THEME:   "A Twice Told Tale: The History of the History of Religions' History"
RESPONSES:   Yoshiya Abe, Jesse Mugambi, Laurie Patton, William Paden
 
RECEPTIONS
North American Association for the Study of Religion (Elangeni pool deck area) [by invitation only] 9:30 pm.
Western Esotericism and Jewish Mysticism Symposium (Jewish Club)  [Everyone is welcome]  9:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8

Tu 1     KEYNOTE ADDRESS 4     8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
PLACE:  Great Ilanga, Durban Elangeni
CHAIR:  Peter Antes
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  Abdullahi A. An-Na'im
TOPIC:  "Human Rights, Religion and Secularism: Does it Have to be a Choice?"
RESPONSES:  Ebrahim Moosa, Gerrie ter Haar, Diane Bell, Charles R. M. Dlamini
 
COFFEE BREAK     10:30 - 11:00 a.m.

PANELS SESSION A     11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Tu 2.1   South Ilanga
RECONSIDERATION OF THE METHODOLOGY OF BUDDHIST STUDIES IN JAPAN
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Masahiro Shimoda
Shizuka Sasaki, "New Development in the Study of Buddhist Discipline"
Kenryo Minowa, "Debate (Rongi) and Oratory (Shodo) in Ancient Japanese Buddhist Temples"
Teruma Nishimoto, "The Current Study of Chinese Buddhism in Japan"
Respondent:  Akira Saito
 
Tu 2.2   East Ilanga
RELIGION AND MEMORY
CONVENOR:  Judith Fox
CHAIR: Jeremy Carrette
Judith Fox, "Text versus Machine: Memory, Divinity and History in Two South Asian Contemporary Religions"
Joanne Pearson, "‘Forgot Not the Days of Old': Wicca and the Memory of Witchcraft"
Werner Kelber, "Memory and Manuscript: The Role of Memory in the Formation of the Gospels"
Respondent:  Birgit Meyer
 
Tu 2.3   North Ilanga
RELIGION IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN SOCIETY
South African Academy of Religion Sponsored Panel
CHAIR:  Ncumisa Manona
Lionel Lawson, "The Depiction Of Religion In Some South African Literature (Leroux, Mutwa, And Others)"
J A (Bobby) Loubser, "Treading The Thin Line: Pitfalls in the Search for a Common Discourse for Religious Education in South Africa"
Gerrie J. J.  Lubbe, "Religion-State Relations in South Africa: the Commission for the Promotion of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities"
Renee Ferguson, "Feuerstein and Religion: Compatible Partners in Teaching and Learning about Religions in the Context of Teacher Education"
 
Tu 2.4   Suite 1
COMPARATIVISM THEN AND NOW: STOCKTAKING AND CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE FORMATION OF CROSS-CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
CONVENORS:  William E. Paden and Jeppe Sinding Jensen
PANEL II: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND DIRECTIONS
CHAIR:  Jeppe Sinding Jensen
Benson Saler, "Comparison: Some Suggestions for Improving the Inevitable"
Luther Martin, "Comparativism and Social Theory"
William E. Paden, "Universals Revisited: Human Behaviors and Cultural Contents"
Jeppe Sinding Jensen, "Universals and the Study of Religion"
Respondent:  Timothy Fitzgerald
 
 

Tu 2.5   Suite 2
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON AFRICAN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton
Teresia Hinga, "Independent Churches in the Age of Globalisation: Opportunities and Challenges"
Philomena Mwaura, "Women Evangelists and Their Use of Mass Media in African Independent Churches"
Deidre Crumbley, "Independent Church Movements in Africa and its Diaspora: Implications for a Model of Afro-Christian Independent Churches"
Grace Wamue, "Revisiting Our Indigenous Shrines Through Mingiki"

Tu 2.6   Suite 3
NEW RELIGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION I
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Mikael Rothstein
Lisbeth Mikaelsson, "Homo accumulans and the Spiritualization of Money".
Mikael Rothstein, "The Flying Saucer Myth in Global Perspective"
Liselotte Frisk, "The Satsang Movement: A Transnational Culture in the 21st Century"
Olav Hammer, "Constructing New Age Doctrines: The Hesitant Globalization of Modern Religion"

Tu 2.7   Suite 4
WARFARE AND RELIGION I
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Funso Afolayan
Funso Afolayan, "The Gods Are Not to Blame: Warfare and Religions in Nineteenth Century Yorubaland"
Atta El-Battahani, "From Peaceful Accommodation to Forceful Integration: The Politics of Jihad in Sudan 1989-1999"
Timothy Longman, "Religion and Genocide in Rwanda"
Gerard van't Spijker, "Religion after the Genocide in Rwanda"
Respondent: Robert Baum

Tu 2.8   Suite 5
FREEDOM OF RELIGION AS A UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHT
SYMPOSIUM CONVENORS:  Abrahim Khan and Arvind Sharma
CHAIR:  Abrahim H. Khan
Sylvia Marcos, Sumner Twiss, John Kelsay, Arvind Sharma, Purushottama Bilimoria, Martin Prozesky, Johan Van der Vyver
 
 
 

Tu 2.9   Quarterdeck
WITCHCRAFT AND WITCHCRAFT-RELATED PROBLEMS IN AFRICA I
SYMPOSIUM CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Thias Kgatla
Umar Danfulani, "Socialisation, Wealth, and Sorcerous Stigmatisation: Sorcery and the Rehabilitation of Leprosy Victims among the Mupun in Nigeria"
Elom Dovlo, "Witchcraft in Contemporary Ghanaian Society"
Stephen Ellis, "Anti-Witchcraft Movements in the Formation of the Merina State: Madagascar, 1828-1861"
Hugo Hinfelaar, "Witchcraft and Organised Crime"
Wouter van Beek, "Where Does It Stop?"

Tu 2.10   Sundeck
PLURALITY OF THAI RELIGIONS: SYNCRETISM OR ADJUSTMENT?
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Amarjiva Lochan
Phramaha Boonchuay Doojai, "Hill Tribes, Animism and Buddhism: A Case Study of Lanna Thailand"
Suraiya Bensoah Sulaiman, "The Contribution of Muslim Women in Socio-religious Life in Thailand"
Suwanna Satha-Anand, "Millennium Christianity in Thailand"
Amarjiva Lochan, "Supernatural Powers vis à vis Buddhism in Northeastern Thailand"
 
Tu 2.11   Great Ilanga, Zone A
URBAN DWELLERS AND RELIGIONS IN ASIA
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Robert Kisala
Seung-gil Park, "Solidarity and Redemption of Urban Dwellers in Korea"
Hidetake Yano, "Ritual as Spectacle and Meditation: A Case of New Buddhism Movement of Urban Middle Class in Thailand"
Tatsuya Yumiyama, "Aum and New Age Movements in Japan"

Tu 2.12   Great Ilanga, Zone B
AFRICAN CULTURES AND AFRICANS' RECONSTRUCTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY IN COLONIAL ZIMBABWE, 1890-1980
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Nicholas Creary
Wendy Urban-Mead, "Girls of the Gate: Female Christian Identity in Matabeleland, Colonial Zimbabwe, 1930-1948"
Nicholas M. Creary, "The Chimurenga in the Church: African Nationalism and Student Protest in a Jesuit Seminary in Zimbabwe, 1959-1979"
Carol L. Summers, "Tickets, Concerts and School Fees: Faith, Finance and Mission Churches in Southern Rhodesia During the 1930s"
Respondent:  Debby Gaitskell
 

Tu 2.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
STRUGGLES TO DEFINE HINDU IDENTITY
CONVENOR:  James Fitzgerald
CHAIR: Rachel DwyerMcKim Mariott, "Multidimensionality as India's religion"
Will Sweetman, "The Study of Hinduism Past and Present"
M. L. Bhatia, "Resumption of Land Grants to Hindus under Aurangzeb"
Kailahsh Pattanaik, "'Mahima Dharma': The Monotheistic Religion of Nineteenth Century India"
Respondent:  Mary McGee

Tu 2.14   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
ISLAM AND IDENTITY FORMATION
CONVENOR:  Abrahim H. Khan
CHAIR: Richard Martin
Debra Washington Mubashshir, "Raising the Sails, Lifting the Veils: The Impact of the Study of African Americans and Islam on Global Explorations of the Faith"
David Thurfjell, "Shi'ite Identity Construction Through Everyday Piety"
Joseph Nevo, "Islam in Jordan: The Role of Professional Associations"
Alef Theria Wasim, "Islam, Identity and Pluralism: A Case Study of Muhammadiyah Movement in Indonesia"
 
Tu 2.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH  MYSTICISM IV
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Albert Roodnat, "J.B. van Helmont's Concept of Butler's Stone and Middle-Life"
Allison P. Coudert, "Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy and Esotericism at the Court of Sulzbach"
Gary W. Trompf, "Esoteric Newton and the Kabbalists' Nosh: Natural Law between Mediaevalie and Modernity"
 
LUNCH     1 - 2 p.m.

PANELS SESSION B  2 - 4 p.m.

Tu 3.1   South Ilanga
INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Elias Bongmba
Carl Raschke, "Understanding Unfamiliar Religious Logics: The Case of Waco"
Werner Kelber, Caroll P. Turner, "Judaism, Christianity and the Ordeal of Remembering"
Chirevo Kwenda, "Interreligious Dialogue: The Obligation to Give, the Grace to Receive"
Respondent:  J. A. (Bobby) Loubser

Tu 3.2   East Ilanga
WITCHCRAFT AND WITCHCRAFT-RELATED PROBLEMS IN AFRICA II
SYMPOSIUM
CONVENORS and CHAIRS:  Gerrie ter Haar and Thias Kgatla
Thias Kgatla, "Containment of Witchcraft Accusations in South Africa: Vestiges of Self-hate in South Africa"
Samuel Mbambo, "The Mbambi Brought the Message: the Dosa Tragedy in Kavango"
Gomang Seratwa Ntloedibe-Kuswani, "Witchcraft and Witchcraft-related Problems:  a Challenge to African Ideas of Community and Healed Relationships"
Junior researcher from the University of the North participating in SANPAD Project

Tu 3.3   North Ilanga
RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS II: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
CONVENOR:  Abrahim Khan
CHAIR:  Douglas Allen
Eileen Barker, "From Lions and Stakes to Reports and Registration: Modern Forms of Controlling Unpopular Religion"
J. M. Vorster, "Christian Reformed Tradition and Human Rights"
Jonathan Gichara, "Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Peace Enhancement: An African Social-Religious Perspective"
Olexiy Bilyk and Yaroslav Bilyk, "Religion and Human Rights"
 
Tu 3.4   Suite 1
CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE STUDY OF INDIGENOUS RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Sylvia Marcos
Dale Stover, "Lakota Sundancing in a Postmodern World"
Earle Waugh, "Religious Issues in the Formation of the Alberta Elders' Cree Dictionary"
Lisa Madera, "Syncretism/Shamanism in the Ecuadorian Andes and Amazon"
Alfred Young Man, "Native American Spirituality versus the Idea of Religion in the Art of Contemporary Native Artists"
Xavier Ricard, "The Constitution of the Category 'Shamanism' in Anthropology"
Tu 3.5   Suite 2
SYNCRETISM: CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDIES AND THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS I
CONVENORS:  Luther Martin and Anita Leopold
CHAIR:  Luther Martin
Kirstine Munk, "Miracles, Modernity and Magic: Syncretism as an Explanatory Category to Recent Religious Responses and Magical Practices Among Urban Blacks in Contemporary South Africa"
Anita Leopold, "What Kind of Universal is Syncretism? An Analysis of Impossible Blends as Third Identities"
Michael Pye, "Analysing Syncretistic Processes: A Contribution to Theory Development in the Study of Religions"
 
Tu 3.6   Suite 3
RECONCEIVING THE INDIGENIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton
Kandioura Drame, "Perspectives on Spiritual Integration in African Literatures"
A. O. Sanni, "Islam in Yorubaland, Nigeria: Its Intellectual Tradition in a Historical Context"
Marc F. de Mey, "Islam, Christianity and Swahili National Culture in Tanzania"
 
Tu 3.7   Suite 4
LIBERATION, TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION: PERSPECTIVES ON THE RECENT PROCESS
SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION SPONSORED PANEL
CHAIR:  Stuart C. Bate
Annalet van Schalkwyk, "A Tendered Truth: Women's Testimonies at the TRC and Reconciliation"
Yehoshua Gitay, "The Biblical Profile of Truth and Reconciliation"
Sue Rakoczy, "Toward a Feminist Spirituality of Liberation "
Tristan Anne Borer, "Interpretations of 'Reconciliation': Comments on Evaluating the South African TRC"
 
Tu 3.8   Suite 5
VISUAL PIETY AND THE POWER OF IMAGES I
CONVENOR:  David Morgan
CHAIR:  Jolyon Mitchell
David Morgan, "The Visual Practice of Protestantism in the United States and Ethiopia"
Don Consentino, "Chromolithography and Revelation: Haitian Vodou in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
Allen Roberts, "Visual Piety in Senegal" Julie L. McGee, "Art that Heals: Africa and Ritual in African American Art"
Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, "Enshrining Temporalities in the Pre-Colonial Benin Aristocratic House"
 
Tu 3.9   Quarterdeck
RELIGION, NATURE AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION III: RELIGION & NATURE ACTIVISM AND TRANS-ATLANTIC CONNECTIONS
CONVENOR:   Bron Taylor
CHAIR:  Tim Jensen
Tim Jensen, "The Greening of Religions: Opportunities for the Study and Teaching of Religions"
Joanne Pearson, " 'I Am The Soul Of Nature, Who Gives Life To The Universe': Wicca, Esotericism, and  'Living Nature'"
Bron Taylor, "Dark Green Religion from Earth First! to the Earth Liberation Front: the Global Bricolage of Radical Environmental Resistance"
 
Tu 3.10   Sundeck
DANCE AND MUSIC AS SACRED EXPRESSION
CHAIR:  Ina Fandrich
Barbera Sonneman, "What Makes Dance Religious?"
Miranda Shaw "Buddhist Dance in Nepal: A Tantric Art of Transformation"
N. Jayavidhya, "Bhakthi Cult through Music: A Study of Jayavidhya Narasimhan"
Ratan Prakasha, "Bridging Peoples: The Chau Dance of Bihar/Orissa/Bengal"
 
Tu 3.11   Great Ilanga, Zone A
MISSING LINKS AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION
CHAIR:  William Paden
Jacques Waardenburg, "Cracking the Constructs: Studying Religion as Meanings"
John P. Dourley, "Jung, Mysticism and a Newer Myth"
Godelieve Orye, "A Missing Link in the Study of Religion: Religion as 'Learning Tradition'"
Respondent:  Russell McCutcheon

Tu 3.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
WRITING THE HISTORY OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS:  DIFFICULTIES AND HOW WE OVERCAME THEM
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Gregory D. Alles
Gregory D. Alles, "Finding Evidence is the Easy Part:Rudolf Otto and the Nazis"
Hans Kippenberg, "Fixing the Notion of an 'Autonomy' of Religion"
Horst Junginger, "The Study of Religion under the Impact of National Socialism"
Don Wiebe, "American Influence on the Shape of Things to Come: Religious Studies in the Twenty-first Century"
Respondent:  Michel Despland

Tu 3.14   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE: TRANSFORMING THINKING ABOUT GOD SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION SPONSORED PANEL
CHAIR:  Danie P. Veldsman
Celia E.T. Kourie, "Mysticism and Transformation"
Daniël J. Louw, "The Use of Art and Aesthetic Reasoning in the Transformation of God-images within a Context of Suffering and Social Change"
J. S. (Kobus) Krüger, "From Riches to Rags. The Contextualisation of  Reformed Spirituality in South Africa"
Respondent:  Henk S. Versnel
 
Tu 3.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM V
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Jan Snoek
Olle Hjern, "Esoteric Christianity in Sweden: Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Last Judgement and the New Age"
Jane Williams-Hogan,  "Emanuel Swedenborg and the Jewish Kabbalah: Organic or Syncretic Relationship?"
Tomas Mansikka and Nils G. Holm, "Philalethes and Swedenborg: August Nordenskjöld and the Revival of Utopian Alchemy"
 
TEA BREAK     4 - 4:15 p.m.

CULTURAL EVENING
4 - 5 p.m. (optional) Tour of Zulu herb market, Emakethe Yemithi, with Sangoma.  Meet in Elangeni lobby.
4 - 5 p.m. (optional) Exhibition opening, "Makabongwe ophezulu", sponsored by US Consul-General.   African Art Centre

[Note: both locations are near the Art Gallery and City Hall]
5 - 6:15 p.m.   Reception and viewing of Human Rights exhibitions, Durban Art Gallery
Welcoming remarks by Carol Brown, Curator and Prof. Charles Dlamini, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of Zululand, member of South African Human Rights Commission
6:15 - 7:15 p.m.     Mayor's civic reception, Durban City Hall
7:30 - 9:30 p.m.     Cultural evening, Durban City Hall
Master of Ceremonies: Dennis Schauffer
Featuring: Gumboot dancers, Westville Girls' Choir, Patrick Ngcobo, Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, Kathak, Umtshezi Heroes, Fauzia Bhanu, traditional Zulu "Ngoma" dance

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9

EXCURSIONS
Main tour:
>08h30......depart hotel for the Grey Street mosque
>08h45......tour mosque + view the outside of the cathedral
>09h45......make our way to the St. Pauls Cathedral in Pine street.
>10h30......Arrive and Tour cathedral
>11h15......Depart for Hare Krishna temple via the routing with the
                  view of the other historic temples on the way.
>12h15......Arrive & tour Hare Krishna temple
>13h00......Lunch at the Hare Krishna temple
>14h00......Depart for Phezulu via Mariannhill
>15h00..... Arrive at Phezulu - watch the show /croc world/tour
>16h30.....Tea/coffee/scones (because of time this will be
>                 served at the Boma @ Phezulu overlooking the Valley
>                 of a 1000 hills).
> 17h15.....Depart for hotel.

W1 MEETING OF IAHR INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE
8:30 a.m. - 12 pm   Suite 5
Limited to representatives of regional and national associations of the IAHR, together with the Executive Committee and four co-opted members

W2 BUSINESS MEETING OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION
PLACE: Suite 1
TIME: 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Suite 5, Durban Elangeni
Presiding:  J.A. (Bobby) Loubser
 
W3 BUSINESS MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
2 -3 p.m.
Unisa regional offices, Room 1-B1
230 Stanger st (c/o Old Fort road), Durban
 
W4 SCIENCE AND RELIGION 1:  MIND, ETHICS, AND EPISTEMOLOGY
SPONSORED SESSION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE AND RELIGION FORUM
PLACE:  Suite 5, Durban Elangeni
TIME:  4 - 6 p.m.
CHAIR:  Abrahim Khan
George Ellis, " Issues of Compatibility between Science and Religion" I.G. Gous, " Mind, Memory & the Management of Meaning"
Lieb Liebenberg, " Cognition, Imagination & Ethics"
Braam Pieterse, "Ecology and Evolution"
W5 SCIENCE AND RELIGION II:  SYMPOSIUM ON CURRENT SCIENCE AND RELIGION ISSUES
TIME: 7  - 9 p.m.
PLACE:  Suite 5, Durban Elangeni
CHAIR:  E. Thomas Lawson
George Ellis,  Lieb Liebenberg, Peter Barrett, Donald Wiebe, Abrahim Khan, Ronald Numbers, Gustavo Benavides
 
FILM SHOWING of "Sarafina"
TIME:  7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
PLACE:  Great Ilanga
 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10

Th 1     KEYNOTE ADDRESS 5     8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
PLACE:   Great Ilanga, Durban Elangeni
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:   Madhu Kishwar
CHAIR:   Miriam Levering
THEME:   "Allies or Adversaries? The Continuing Hold and Power of Female Moral Exemplars in Hindu ReligiousTradition"
RESPONSES:   Kim Knott, Teresia Hinga, T. S. Rukmani, Sylvia Marcos

COFFEE BREAK     10:30 - 11:00 a.m.
 
PANELS SESSION A     11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Th 2.1  South Ilanga
GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION STUDIES IN ASIA
CONVENOR:  Michio Araki
CHAIR:  Michio Araki
Michio Araki, "The Religious Meaning of Urban Space in Asia and Globalization Today"
Yoshiya Abe, "Globalization and Civil Religion--the Japanese Case"
Kojiro Nakamura, "Islamic Revivalism in the Midst of Globalization"
Respondent:  Kazuko Shiojiri

Th 2.2   East Ilanga
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND GENDER
CONVENOR:  Morny Joy CHAIR:  Sylvia Marcos
Edith Franke, "The Goddess at the Side of the Cross"
Judy M. Tobler, "Home is Where the Heart is: Gendered Sacred Space in South Africa"
Jennifer Ann Seif, "Red Sisters: Celibacy, Domesticity and the Cultural Meanings of Catholic Womanhood, Mariannhill, Natal"
Marja Hinfelaar, "The Urban Identity of Roman Catholic and Methodist Women's Organisations in Colonial Zimbabwe (1945-1959)"
Akay Jharia Minz, "The Impact of Modernization in Tribal Religion"
Maya Milcinski, "The Notion of the Feminine in Japan's Religions"

Th 2.3  North Ilanga
HINDUISM IN DIASPORA
CONVENOR:  Knut A. Jacobsen
CHAIR:  Pratap Kumar
Knut A. Jacobsen, "Global Hinduism and Norwegian Context"
Purushottama Bilimoria, "Diaspora and Difference:  Problems in Studying South Asian Religious Communities in Australasia"
Indira Y. Junghare, "Hindu Religious Tradition in Minnesota"
Radhika Sekar, "Sri Lankan Hindus in Canada"
Respondent:  T.S. Rukmani

Th 2.4  Suite 1
TEACHING, RESEARCH, AND USE OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN THE STUDY OF COMPARATIVE SACRED TEXTS AT EMORY UNIVERSITY
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Gordon Newby
Vernon Robbins, "Technology and Interactive Interpretation in the Comparative Study of Sacred Texts"
Laurie Patton, "The Fruits of Interactive Reading: Research and the Comparative Study of Sacred Texts"
Gordon Newby, "Pedagogical Strategies in the Comparative Study of Sacred Texts"
 
Th 2.5  Suite 2
COGNITIVE THEORIES OF RELIGION: NEW PERSPECTIVES: I
CONVENOR:  E. Thomas Lawson
E. Thomas Lawson, "Towards a Cognitive Science of Religion"
Justin Barrett, "Recent Developments in the Cognitive Psychology of Religion"
Harvey Whitehouse, "Imagistic and Doctrinal Religions: a Cognitive Approach"

Th 2.6   Suite 3
RELIGION IN POST-INDEPENDENCE AFRICA
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION SPONSORED PANEL
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Jacob K. Olupona
Hassan Mwakiamako, "Leadership and Governmentality in the Muslim Community in Kenya during Colonialism"
Leslie R. James, "Patterns of Remembrance : Religion, Integration, and Restoration in the New World African Diaspora"
Richard Hoskins, "The Religious and Social Challenges of Post-Independence Kimbanguism"
Zulfikar Hirji, "Muslims in Post-Independence Zanzibar: Religious Life at a Crossroads"
Jibrin Ibrahim, "Pentecostalism and Democratic Governance in Nigeria"
Helgard Patermann, "Community Spiritual and Civil Society,Values of Life in an African Rural Community"
Gampi Matheba, "Religion and Political Violence in South Africa"
 
Th 2.7 Suite 4
USING ICONOGRAPHY TO DOCUMENT RELIGIOUS CHANGE
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Brian Bocking
Brian Bocking, "The Oracles of the Three Shrines: Windows on Japanese religion"
Bradley Tindall, "Rajaraja I and the Rise of Devotional Hinduism in South India"
Marion Bowman, "Making Gerard Manly: the Iconography of the Mothers' Saint"
Michael Pye, "Reflections on the Marburg Museum of Religions"
 
Th 2.8 Suite 5
CULTURAL STUDIES AND RELIGION: CASE STUDIES IN MEDIA USE BY U.S. CHRISTIANS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Mark Hulsether
Mark Hulsether, "Building Bridges Between Cultural Studies and the Study of Religion"
Ron Hopson, "Religious Right Rhetoric in Postmodern America."
Michael Laney, "Motivations for US Christian Web Usage by International Religious Web Site Users:  Implications for Indigenous Cultures."
Respondent:  Stewart Hoover

Th 2.9  Quarterdeck
RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS III: ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES
CONVENOR:  Abrahim Khan
CHAIR: Richard MartinFrederick M. Denny, "Human Rights and Religious Conversion: The Empathetic Scholar who does not Convert to the Religion S/he Studies"
Bruce B. Lawrence, "Human Rights and Religious Conversion beyond the East-West Cultural Divide"
John Kelsay, "Religious Conversion and Interpretation of the Qur' n"
 

Th 2.10  Sundeck
LOCAL AND GLOBAL RELIGIOUS INTERSECTIONS
CHAIR: David Westerlund
Afe Adogame, "Traversing Local-Global Religious Terrain: African New Religious Movements in Europe"
Elio Masferrer, "The Historical Configuration of the Religious Field in Mexico"
Peter B. Clarke, "African (Candomblé) and Japanese-derived Religions in Brazil"
Alba Maranhao, "Daimoku and the Transcendent: Identity Construction among Soka Gakkai's Followers"
Juan Campo, "Globalizing Pilgrimages: Modern Islamic and Hindu Pilgrimages in Comparative Perspective"
Paras Kumar Choudhary, "Text and Context of Pilgrimage to Gaya Tirtha"
Viktor Savelyev, "Protestantism in Ukraine: History and Nowadays"

Th 2.11 Great Ilanga, Zone A
THE STUDY OF RELIGION AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT CONVENORS:  Abdulkader Tayob and Teresia Hinga
Abdulkader Tayob, Teresia Hinga, Armin Geertz, Gary Ebersole
 
Th 2.12 Great Ilanga, Zone B
SACRED PROMISES:  DYNAMICS OF LAY RELIGIOUS VOWS: I
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  William Harman
Selva J. Raj, "Shared Vows, Shared Space, and Shared Deities:  Ritual Vows Among Tamil Catholics"
J.E. Llewellyn, "The Vows of Women:  A Nariyist Critique"
William Harman, "Dealing with the Goddess: Hopes, Fears, and Down Payments"
 
Th 2.13  Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
SCIENCE AND RELIGION III: SCIENCE AND RELIGION PERSPECTIVES
SPONSORED SESSION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE AND RELIGION FORUM
CHAIR:  Abrahim Khan
Thomas Ryba, "Varieties of Naturalism"
Ronald Numbers, "Creationism in the 20th Century: an International Perspective"
Gustavo Benavides, "Cognition and Ideology in the Religious Management of the World"
Respondent:  Donald Wiebe

Th 2.14 Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
GENERAL TOPICS IN THE AREA OF GRAECO-ROMAN RELIGIONS
CONVENOR:  Luther Martin
CHAIR:  Panayotis Pachis
Einar Thomassen, "Early Christian Initiation and the Theory of Transformation Rituals"
Charles Guittard, "From Archeology to Anthropology : the Relationship Between Literary Sources and Archeological Discovery in Our Knowledge of Roman Religion"
Jonathan Peste, "The Syncretistic teachings of Zosimus from Panapolis"
Pier Franco Beatrice, "Power and Forgery in Christian Antiquity, Some Methodological Remarks"
Henk Versnel, "'Coping with the Gods': Wayward Reading of Ancient Greek Theology"
Dominique Briquel, "Georges Dumézil and his Contribution to our  Knowledge of Roman Religion"
 
Th 2.15  Jewish Club Conference
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM VI
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Antoine Faivre
Martha Keith Schuchard, "Judaized Scots, Jacobite Jews, and the Development of Kabbalistic Freemasonry"
John Collett, "The Integration of Kabbalah with Other Religious Ideas in Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, 1871"
Pierre Riffard, "Esoterisms and Religion"
 
LUNCH     1 - 2 p.m.

PANELS SESSION B     2 - 4 p.m.
 
Th 3.1   South Ilanga
SACRED PROMISES: DYNAMICS OF LAY RELIGIOUS VOWS II
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  William Harman
Martin Baumann, "Vows in Diasporic Contexts: Hindu Temples in Germany"
Brigitte Luchesi, "Who Reaps the Fruits of Fasting?  Women's Vows in Kangra, North India"
Karen Pechilis Prentis, "Devoting Oneself to Siva Through Song"
 
 
 

Th 3.2   East Ilanga
INTER AND INTRA RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATION
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Tuula Sakaranho
Minna Rikkinen, "New Religious Movements and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland"
Tuula Sakaranaho, "Multicultural Rhetorics. Religious Freedom in a Muslim-Christian Dialogue"
Heikki Pesonen, "A Rhetorical Analysis of Media Discourses dealing with the Role of the Finnish Lutheran Church in Environmental Questions"
Tom Sjoblom, "Early Irish Taboos. A Study in Cognitive History"
Marja Tiilikainen, "The Language of Suffering: Bodily Symptoms of Somali Women as Communication"
 
Th 3.3  North Ilanga
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS
SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION SPONSORED PANEL
CHAIR: Ulrich Berner
H. Christine Steyn, "Religious Studies in the Secondary School"
Cornelia Roux, "Religious Education in the New Millennium: Fact or Myth?"
Gomang S Ntloedibe-Kuswani and Mercy Amanda Rakhudu, "Towards a Working Definition of Religious Education in Botswana"
Christo Lombaard, "Transformation of Religious Education in Namibia"
 
Th 3.4   Suite 1
PERSPECTIVES ON IMAGE WORSHIP IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Leona Anderson
Jayant K. Lele,  "Why Gods Drink Milk? On the Postmodernity of a Milk-guzzling Ganesh"
Leona Anderson, "Awakening God: the Power of Images in South Asia"
Willi Braun, "The Western (Christian) Construction of Idolatry"
Radhika Desai, "The Politics of Idolatry"
 
Th 3.5  Suite 2
WOMEN AND ISLAM
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Rubina Ramji
Rahni Ennor, "A Matter of Honour: The Zina Ordinance and Gendered Interpretations of Islamic Law in Pakistan"
Rubina Ramji, "Western Media and Muslim Women: Image and Counterimage"
Suleman Dangor, "Muslim Women between Tradition and Modernity"
 

Th 3.6  Suite 3
THE POWER OF THE OCCULT IN MODERN AFRICA II
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Jim Kiernan
Birgit Meyer, "Ghanaian Popular Cinema And The Power Of The Occult"
Isak Niehaus, "Lustful Witches : Sexuality And Witchcraft In The South African Lowveld"
Rosalind Shaw, "The Magic Of The Stateless: The Hunter-Militias Of Sierra Leone"
Owen Sichone, "Witchcraft As Knowledge : Some Zambian Examples"
 
Th 3.7  Suite 4
SCIENCE AND RELIGION IV: THEOLOGY, ECOLOGY AND HEALTH
SPONSORED SESSION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE AND RELIGION FORUM
CHAIR:  Lieb Liebenberg
Peter Barrett, "Toward a Theological Meta-Narrative of Kenosis and Beauty"
James Cochrane, "Theology, Science & Health in an African Context: A Proposed Post-Graduate Course"
David Field, "Narratives, Ecology and Worship"

Th 3.8   Suite 5
MORAL UNIVERSALS, HUMAN RIGHTS, and RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
CONVENOR:  Abrahim H. Khan
CHAIR:  Arvind Sharma
Joseph Runzo, "What are the Parameters for a Universal Ethics and can Christian Ethics be Universal?"
Nancy Martin, "Contextualizing Moral Universals and Human Rights: Views from the Underside"
Mohammed Rafique, "Moral Universals in Islam"
Sumner B. Twiss, " Confucian Values and Human Rights: A Philosophical and Historical  Perspective"
 
Th 3.9   Quarterdeck
THE VIRTUAL FRONTIER: TRANSFORMING POWER AND IDENTITY IN THE ELECTRONIC DIMENSION OF RELIGION
CONVENOR:  Rosalind I. J. Hackett
CHAIR:  Mark MacWilliams
Michael Collier, "How Fast Is Faith: The Religion of Hyperreality"
Shawn Arthur, "Technophilia and Nature Religion: Growth of a Paradox"
Stephen Flanigan, "Falun Gong Online: Redefining Revolutionary Space"
Respondent:  Bruce Lawrence
 

Th 3.10  Sundeck
RELIGIOUS CONFLUENCES REEXAMINED II
CHAIR:  Peter Clarke
Torres Yolotl Gonzalez, "The History of African Religion in Mexico"
Marion Bowman and Catherine Robinson "In Search of Druids: Parallel Theories of Origins and Questions of Identity"
Nazki Mohmmad Iqbal, "A Comparative Study of Saivism and Islam and Kashmir"
Gwilym Beckerlegge, "From Saffron to Seva: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Appropriation of Swami Vivekananda"
Kameshwar Prasad Singh, "Impact of Hindu Cult on the Tribes of Chotanagpur"
Raju Poundurai, "Early Contacts of South India and China: An Exploration of the Phenomenon of Hindu Diaspora"
 
Th 3.11  Great Ilanga, Zone A
NEW  PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION, THE BODY AND HEALING
CHAIR:  Patrizia Burdi
Noritah Omar, "The Metaphorical Functions of Religious Narrative: An Agent of Change in Human Experience- Past, Present, and Future"
Maya Burger, "Body Language as a Religious Expression: Some Methodological Problems"
Stuart C. Bate, "An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding And Assessing Religious Healing in South African Christianity" Rachela Permenter, "Interactive Narratives in Navajo Sandpainting: Healing as Layering of Time, Space, and Meaning"
Luis Felipe Rios, "Support, Individuality and Energy: The Body of Filhos-De-Santo: An Anthropological Perspective on Afro-Brazilian Coporeality"
 
Th 3.12 Great Ilanga, Zone B
ENGAGING RELIGION IN A TAIWANESE ACADEMIC CONTEXT
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Geoff Foy
Geoff Foy, "Ethnographic Reflections on Religious Studies Methodology: Taiwan"
Hwei-syin Lu, "Emotional Discourses in the Study of Religion"
Rei-zhen Huang, "Examining Taoist Ritual from the Inside and Outside: Perspectives from a Taoist Priestess"
Respondent:  Miriam Levering
 
 
 
 

Th 3.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
THE UPANISHADS: FOCUS AND PERSPECTIVES I
SYMPOSIUM CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Mikael Aktor
Daud Ali, "Politics and the Birth of the Self in Early India"
Laurie Patton, "Stealing and Birthing: Closer Readings of Women's Bodies in the Upanishads and Vidhana"
Brian Black, "Technologies of the Atman: The Self, Body & Person in the Early Upanisads"
Mikael Aktor, "Upanishadic Bodies Between Self-knowledge and Ritualism: Consequences for a ‘Hindu Understanding' of the Human Body?"
 
Th 3.14   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
SYNCRETISM: CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDIES AND THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS II
CONVENOR:  Luther Martin and Anita Leopold
CHAIR:  Luther Martin
Panayotis Pachis, "Neo-paganism: A Case of Syncretism in Contemporary Greece".
G. C. Oosthuizen, "African Christian Syncretism versus Western Stagnant Churchianity"
Respondent:  Luther Martin

Th 3.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM VII
CONVENORS:   Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Antoine Faivre
Henrik Bogdan, "Kabbalah and Western Esoteric Rituals of Initiation"
Marco Pasi, "British Occultism and Kabbalah: From the Golden Dawn to Israel Regardie"
Yuri Stoyanov, "Enochic Apocalypticism and Mysticism in Some Currents of Modern Western Esotericism"

Th 3.16   Great Ilanga, Zone C
COGNITIVE THEORIES OF RELIGION: NEW PERSPECTIVES II
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  E. Tom Lawson
Robert N. McCauley, "The Evolution of Ritual Arrangements"
Stewart Guthrie, "Religion, Cognition and Evolution"
 
TEA BREAK     4 - 4:15 p.m.

PANELS SESSION C     4:15 - 6:15 p.m.
 
Th 4.1   South Ilanga
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND GLOBALIZATION
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Abdulkader Tayob
Ulrich Berner, "Religion and Globalization. African New Religious Movements in the so called Global Age"
Mark Perry, "Global Society in the Writings of Baha'u'llah: Comparative Analysis of a Nineteenth-century Conception"
Suleman Dangor, "The Challenge of Cultural Globalisation to Muslims in the 21st Century"
 
Th 4.2   East Ilanga
NEW APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF AFRICAN RELIGION I
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  James Cox
Henk van Rinsum, "Okot p'Bitek and African Religions: A Case of Double Consciousness"
Gerrie ter Haar, "Research and Personal Interaction: The Case of Ghanaian Christians in the Netherlands"
Douglas Dziva, "Key Figures in the Study of Zimbabwean Traditional Religions: Implications for New Methodologies"
Leslie Nthoi, "Understanding Mwali Cult Shrines in Zimbabwe: Contestation of Sacred Space"
Respondent:  Frank Whaling

Th 4.3   North Ilanga
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND IDENTITY I
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  Gerard Wiegers
Ganga Natha Jha, "Changing Tribal Identity: A Study of Religious Conversion in Chotanagpur"
Kim Knott, "Emergent Religious Identities in a Dynamic Plural Context: the Case of South Asians in Britain"
Albertina Nugteren, "Navakalevara Rituals: The Periodical Renewal of the Wooden Temple Statues at Puri (India) as an Illustration of Intrareligious Pluralism"
H. L. Beck, "Christmas as Identity Marker: Three Islamic Examples"
 
Th 4.4   Suite 1
RELIGION AND WORLD CINEMA
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Lewis Rambo
Krzysztof (Kris) Jozajtis, "'The Birth of a Nation' an Event in American Religious History"
Maria De Lourdes, "The History of Roman Catholic Church Intervention in Motion Picture Production"
Lewis Rambo, "Representations of Religion in Contemporary Film"
Respondent: Mark Hulsether
Th 4.5   Suite 2
THE UPANISHADS: FOCUS AND PERSPECTIVES II
SYMPOSIUM CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Mikael Aktor
John Gardner, "The Early and Middle Vedic Origins of the Vocabulary for the Self in the Upanishads"
Patrick Olivelle, "The Heart in the Upanishads"
Signe Cohen, "The Katha Upanishad Reconsidered"
Walter Slaje, "Water and Salt: The saindhava-d.r.s.taanta in the Yaaj~navalkya-Maitreyii dialogue (BAAU II 4,12)"
 
Th 4.6   Suite 3
COGNITIVE THEORIES OF RELIGION: NEW PERSPECTIVES III
CONVENOR:  E. Thomas Lawson
Veikko Anttonen, "Identifying Generative Mechanisms of Religion: The Issue of Origin Revisited"
Theodore Vial, "Good to Eat and Good to Think: Cognitive Aspects of the Eucharist"

Th 4.7   Suite 4
INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
CONVENOR AND CHAIR:  A. Tsukimoto
M. Ikezawa, "The Early Confucian Ideas of Rituals and their Transformation in Medieval Chinese Textbooks" H. Ichikawa, "Two Ways of Communicating with the Transcendence in the Pentateuch and Lotus Sutra"
S. Kamada, "How Do Mystical Thinkers Read Their Thought in the Qur'an?"
Y. Tsuruoka, "The Song of Songs for Three Spanish Mystics"
Yoshitsugu Sawai, "Hermeneutics of the Upanishads in the Vedanta Religious Traditions"
Respondent:  S. Kanai

Th 4.8   Suite 5
VISUAL PIETY AND THE POWER OF IMAGES II
CONVENOR:  David Morgan
CHAIR:  Stewart Hoover
Robert Papini, "The Mandala of Courtship Beads: Modern Flat-beadwork Pattern as Lineal to Pre-horticulturalist Iconography in Southeast Africa"
Henry John Drewal, "Serpents, Mermaids, Snake Charmers and Saints:  The Many Faces of Mami Wata Imagery, Beliefs and Practices in Africa and Beyond"
Norman Girardot, "Howard Finster's Visionary Cosmos: Religious Aspects of American Outsider Art"
Dana Rush, "The 'Idea' of India in West African Vodun Art and Thought"

Th 4.9   Quarterdeck
RELIGION AND HUNTING
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Gary Lease
Gary Lease, "Hunting and Human Consciousness: The Origins of Religion as a Survival Strategy"
Jordan Paper, "Religion and Hunting: The History from a Religio-Ecological Perspective"
David Shorter, "Killing Deer, Remembering Christ: Catholic Yoeme Indian Hunting Rituals"
Respondent:  Chirevo Kwenda

Th 4.10   Sundeck
RELIGIOUS ADVOCACY
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Terry C. Muck
Terry Muck, "Religious Advocacy and Buddhism: Teaching Tempered By Anatta"
Frances S. Adeney, "Religious Advocacy and Christianity: Verbal Witness as Ritual Communication"
Arvind Sharma, "Religious Advocacy and Hinduism: Paradoxical Yet Distinct Perspectives"
Frederick Denny, "Religious Advocacy and Islam: Some Personal Expressions"
Respondent:  Jacques Waardenburg
 
Th 4.11   Great Ilanga, Zone A
CURRENTS OF CHANGE WITHIN HINDUISM
CHAIR:  Harilall Dewa
Elizabeth A. de Michelis, "Modern Yoga: Transmission of Theory and Practice"
Harilall Dewa, "Sanatana Dharma: Vision for the 21st Century"
Vijaypani Pandey, "Tanaism among the Tribal Bihar"
Reender Kranenborg, "Apocalyptic Movements within Hinduism"
Karma Oraon, "The Changing Aspects of Tribal Religion in Chotanagpur"
Th 4.13   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Umgeni
REFLECTIONS ON SACRED POWER
CHAIR:  Umar Danfulani
Lisa Maria Madera, "Rainbows, Anacondas, and Holy Water: Tracing the Currents of Sacred Power in Contemporary Ecuador"
Ina Fandrich, "The Hidden Power of Female Diviners and Fortune-Tellers"
Christina Harrington, '"How the Irish Saved Civilization'": Celtic Christians, Celtic Pagans and the Attribution of Mystical Powers"
Lalenthra Dass, "Can Spirituality Meet the Challenges of the Modern Scientific World?"
Rosa Maria Martinez Ascobereta, "New Perceptions of the Sacred: A Methodological Approach"
Adewale Kuyebi, "African Belief in Consciousness of the Soul: A Study in Yoruba Religions"
Luis Felipe Rios and Maria do Carmo Brandao, "The Jurema Cult in Pernambuco, Brazil"

Th 4.14   Holiday Inn Garden Court North Beach, Congella
RELIGION THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS
South African Academy Of Religion Sponsored Panel
CHAIR:  Elias Bongmba
Gerhard van den Heever, "The Social Construction of Eternity. Category Formation in Unreligion/Atheology"
Ernst Conradie, "On Cosmology and Plurality, Symbolic Sub-universes and Paradoxical Umbrellas"
Johannes N Vorster, "To Put 'the Body in Pain' into Religious Discourse" Respondent:  Vernon Robbins

Th 4.15  Jewish Club Conference Room
WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM VIII
CONVENORS:  Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
CHAIR:  Arthur Versluis
Jan Snoek, "Influence of Kabbalism on Freemasonry?"
Ralph Liedtke, "Hermeticism and Kabbalah in Friedrich von Hardenberg"
Jean-Pierre Laurant, "The Nineteenth Century Reads Kabbalah"
 
EVENING MEETINGS
AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS
GENERAL MEETING (open to all AASR members and interested parties)
TIME:  8-10 P.M.
PLACE:  Suite 5, Durban Elangeni
Presiding:  Jacob K. Olupona
 
FILM SHOWING of "Cry, the Beloved Country"
PLACE:  Great Ilanga
TIME:  8-10 p.m.
 
FILM SHOWING of "The Gospel According to the Papuans" (Dir. Thomas Balmes, 52 mins. 1998) [fascinating and provocative documentary on the conversion of many Papuans to Christianity amidst fears of the Millennium, as expressed by themselves]  and "Peace Child" (24 mins.) [popular evangelical film about the conversion of the Sawi of Irian Jaya to Christianity in the late 1960s].
Introduced by Lewis Rambo and Charles Faradhian. Discussion follows.
PLACE:  Suite 1
TIME:  8-10 p.m.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11

PANELS SESSION A     8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
 
F 1.1   South Ilanga
COGNITIVE THEORIES OF RELIGION: NEW PERSPECTIVES IV
CONVENOR:  E. Thomas Lawson Timothy Light, "The Unity of Identity: the Question to which Religion is Part of the Answer"
Benson Saler, "Secondary Beliefs and the Alien Abduction Phenomenon"

F 1.2 East Ilanga
THE IMPACT OF PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS ON THE STUDY OF RELIGION I
CONVENOR and CHAIR:  Abrahim Khan
Patrice Brodeur, "Between Medieval and Contemporary Islamic Constructions of Disciplinary 'Origins': Towards a Pluralistic History of Religions?"
Douglas Allen, "The Impact of Philosophical Phenomenology on Religious Studies"
Thomas Ryba, "Rational Choice Theory in Religious Studies: Husserl, Schultz, and Weber"
Michel Despland, "From Polemics to Diplomacy"

F 1.3   North Ilanga
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS FOR THE STUDY OF GRAECO-ROMAN RELIGION I
CONVENORS:  Luther Martin and Panayotis Pachis
CHAIR:  Gustavo Benavides
Hans Kippenberg, "Religio Licita/Illicita: the Impact of Legal Status on the Worldview and Ethics of Ancient Religious Communities"
Giovanni Casadio, "How to Write a Survey of Greek Religion from the Point of View of the Comparative Study of Religion"

Luther Martin, "Kinship towards Kingship: the Consolidation of (Religious) Power during the Hellenistic Period"