Abstract
The 130 Research Associates who have participated in the Women's Studies in Religion Program have helped create a new field of scholarship shedding light on a host of issues concerning intellectual categories, public policies, and personal understandings. To celebrate the work of both past and future scholars in the program, the 25th Anniversary Conference, on February 3, 2006, focused on how their work both complicates and clarifies categories of gender, nation, and disciplinary studies in the context of globalization.
In National Borders/Gender Borders, the opening session of the conference, keynote speaker Peggy Levitt introduced her work on transnational identities among new immigrant groups, examining models of citizenship that emerge when religious rather than political affiliations serve as the matrix for locating oneself in the world. Respondents placed her discussion in the context of critical studies of religion and gender, exploring how this new field contributes to conversations about transnationalism, globalization, and citizenship.
In the session Crossing Gender, Genre, and Politics, 2005-06 WSRP Research Associates Gannit Ankori, Constance Furey, Rosemary Carbine, Jia Jinhua, and Shahla Haeri described the projects they are working on this year, presenting the latest work in women's studies in religion.
In the final session, Borders of Race, Religion, and Discipline, prominent authors Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Karen King, Amy Hollywood, and Michelene Pesantubbee reflected on the reception of the books they worked on as WSRP Research Associates. The session, moderated by Bernadette Brooten, highlighted some of the field-changing WSRP projects that have engendered continuing conversations and set the agenda for further research.
The day ended with a reception honoring all past Research Associates, program founder Constance Buchanan, and the generous benefactors of the program.