Conferences

Coordinators:
Daniel Cooper, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford ([email protected])
Jonathan Turnbull, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford ( [email protected])

Religion, spirituality and faith play integral roles in landscape transformation. Not only do spiritual beliefs and religious institutions inform individual and collective perspectives and engagement with each other and the land, but they also influence concepts of morality and justice in government, non-government, private, multilateral, and academic organizations. The fields of historical ecology, political ecology and spiritual ecology represent important frames of reference for understanding the complex dialects embedded in landscape. Most of the scholarship in these fields focuses on the nature-culture ontological continuum and biocultural integrity, often framing spirituality as an aspect of culture. However, many individuals and communities, including most indigenous populations, see beyond this binary framework to a deeper and more holistic understanding of landscape that includes a metaphysical or spiritual dimension. In such ontologies, social and environmental ethics are often dictated and enforced by other-than-human beings/biospiritual agents and interlocutors such as shamans, priests or priestesses. These beings and practitioners influence the way people perceive, feel and behave, often determining how and where resources are extracted and cultivated. The  objective of this workshop is to bridge the gap between science and religion in pursuit of a more integrated and holistic understanding of landscape, resource exploitation, conflict, governance, development and climate change.

http://sites.unimi.it/AISNA/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Call-for-Papers.pdf