Religion on the Ground. An Interdisciplinary Conference. (Erfurt, Germany, August 22-23, 2015)

Religion on the Ground
An Interdisciplinary Conference sponsored by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions
Erfurt, Germany, August 22-23, 2015
A pre-congress event in advance of the 2015 meeting of the IAHR

A major development in the study of ancient religion over the past few decades has been the growing emphasis on the social, material, and experiential realities of non-elites. This development has affected both the sorts of questions scholars are asking, and the sorts of data on which they draw to formulate their answers. Rather than focusing on the philosophical or theological concerns of elite texts, scholars have sought to bring a wider body of evidence to bear on understanding and interpreting the lived experience of religion.
The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions seeks papers for a conference to be held in Erfurt, Germany, August 22-23rd 2015, on the topic, “Religion on the Ground.” In keeping with the society’s broad interests in religions of the Mediterranean basin over the great chronological expanse from prehistory to late antiquity, we seek contributions from scholars in the fields of Classics, Ancient History, Religious Studies, Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies, and Egyptology. While not excluding textual evidence, the organizers are seeking proposals that incorporate archaeology, history of art, ritual and/or liturgical studies, and other sub-fields that provide a window into the religious practices of the time. Particular preference will be given to proposals that engage a question from a cross-disciplinary perspective or that highlight important theoretical or methodological issues. Especially welcome are transdisciplinary papers which synthesize a variety of textual, archaeological, and art historical and/or material culture sources to reach new insights into ancient Mediterranean religions.  Scholars from all phases of their careers are welcome to submit proposals.
Abstracts of 500-600 words for a paper to take 18 to 20 minutes to read should be submitted by email attachment as .doc files to socamr@gmail.com. Abstracts should contain a title and a word count, but no identifying information. All abstracts will be judged in a blind-review process by our Program Committee. The deadline for submission of abstracts is April 3, 2015. Participants will be contacted with an invitation to participate by late April, 2012.
For further information, contact Nancy Evans at evans_nancy@wheatoncollege.edu.
For information on the 2015 IAHR Congress: http://www.iahr2015.org/iahr/index.html