spring 2017 gorabs newsletter volume 39 number 1tse, and david butler. ***** finally, please join us...

Spring 2017 GORABS Newsletter Volume 39 Number 1

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NEWSLETTER CONTENTS

: GORABS at the AAG Page 2: Message from the Chair Page 3: The David E. Sopher Award 2017 & 9th GORABS Annual Lecture Page 4: Upcoming Conference: International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Group Pages 5-36: Papers and Sessions of GORABS interest at AAG 2017 Boston Pages 36-40: Minutes from 2016 GORABS Business Meeting

Please send comments, questions,

letters, and newsletter submissions to

Vincent M. Artman, GORABS Secretary, [email protected]

Dear GORABS Members, On behalf of the rest of the Board, I hope that you will enjoy perusing this latest issue of the GORABS Newsletter. As you will see, there are numerous paper sessions this year that should be of interest to members of our specialty group. Many of these sessions are sponsored by GORABS while others are paper sessions organized by other specialty groups that are nevertheless relevant to our membership. Of special note is this year’s 9th Annual GORABS Lecture, entitled "Religion/Geography Intersections: Removing the Silences." The lecture will be given by Professor Stanley D. Brunn, and will be followed by a panel discussion and a question and answer session. We hope to see you there! Finally, please note that our webpage can now be found at: aaggorabs.wordpress.com -Vincent M. Artman, GORABS Secretary

GORABS at AAG 2017 – BOSTON

Please note the following GORABS-related information, with reference to our forthcoming annual AAG meeting at Chicago, Illinois, this March/April:

1. 9th Annual GORABS Lecture, 2017, "Religion/Geography Intersections: Removing the Silences," is scheduled on Saturday, April 8 from 10:00 am – 11:40 am in Room 111, Hynes, Plaza Level;

2. The Annual GORABS business meeting is scheduled in the same room, immediately following the Annual Lecture (11:50 am – 1:10 pm in Room 111 Hynes, Plaza Level)

3. GORABS is sponsoring 3 paper sessions this year.

GORABS Mission Statement The central objective of GORABS Speciality Group is to encourage and advance the study of the geographical dimensions of religious phenomena and belief systems. This includes, but is not limited to, the study of spatio-religious aspects of human behavior, socioeconomic and political issues, material culture, gender role, and human-environment relations from a religio-geographical perspective. GORABS intends to achieve its objectives by organizing scholarly paper presentations and discussion of sessions at the professional meetings, developing strategies to facilitate teaching the geography of Religions, publicizing information about GORABS, establishing contact with scholars in other related disciplines, and by seeking funding for research pertaining to the geography of religions.

Visit GORABS Online aaggorabs.wordpress.com


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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dear GORABS, I would like to commence my annual report by thanking Vincent, our new secretary, will now take charge of matters secretarial, the composition and circulation of the minutes being my final act as secretary and then, following on from that - collaboratively - we will put together a GORABS Action Plan. Back in June 2016, I wrote to GORABS Board, concerning our then foci, namely our 'Top Ten' (in no particular order). Most of this has now been achieved, or is well underway, but it is helpful for the membership to see what is anticipated. 1) Finalising 2017 GORABS Annual Lecturer (all of us); 2) Update GORABS website and complete transitioning (Justin leading, and all of us); 3) Advertise inaugural Wilbur Zelinsky Paper Session Award 2017, as well as Sopher Junior Scholar Award 2017 (all of us); 4) Engage other AAG specialty groups concerning ongoing joint keynote address and/or joint fieldtrip(s) in Boston 2017 - (all of us); 5) Commence thinking about AAG 2017 sessions and fieldtrip (involving regular contact with Stan Brunn, our new Stoddard Scholar); 6) Grow our membership, via social media, our Facebook page, our website, our electronic graduate and faculty contacts (all of us); Work on increasing some traffic to our FB presence. 7) Search out interesting bibliographical, regional/specialty conference material, and so forth for our next GORABS Newsletter (Vincent leading, all of us); 8) Submit our progress 'Annual State of GORABS' report to the AAG (Justin and myself); and have regular (say, monthly) e-conversations amongst the Board - I am open to Skype if thought useful. 9) Engage the AAG Enrichment Fund, so as to think of having regular non-geographer involvement 10) Plan AAG coordination of our sessions, business meeting and annual lecture to best advantage, in central days and locations, to maximise numbers (Justin, Vincent and myself). The list is by no means exhaustive and, hopefully, not exhausting either! We need to sustain our obvious talents and energies throughout the year - that is what our small specialty group is currently missing. We do things very well and innovatively when we focus and put our minds to it, but I think we could do much better even. All food for thought; I look forward to your comments and feedback at the next GORABS Annual Business Meeting, in Boston and, indeed, electronically in the meantime. David J. Butler


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THE DAVID E. SOPHER NEW SCHOLAR AWARD 2017

Description: The purpose of the David E. Sopher New Scholar Award is to promote intellectual enquiry from new scholars into geographies of religions and belief systems through the presentation of papers at the AAG meeting. Papers will be judged on potential contribution to the field of Geography of Religions and

Belief Systems, organization, and written composition.

Eligibility: Both graduate students and untenured faculty, who are not currently serving on the GORABS board, can apply for the award.

Award: The amount for the 2017 award is a travel grant of $250. The recipient will also be given an official

certificate at the AAG awards luncheon.

Disbursement: A check will be disbursed to the winner at the 2017 Geography of Religions and Belief Systems Annual Business Meeting at the AAG event.

Requirements: The paper and application form must be emailed to the GORABS chair in rich text or

Microsoft Word format by March 31, 2017. The paper must subsequently be presented at the national AAG meeting, though it does not have to be in a GORABS sponsored session. A panel drawn from the GORABS board will judge the papers and determine a recipient. The winner will be announced in time to attend the awards luncheon with a GORABS representative. GORABS reserves the right to not make an award in a

given year.

Vincent M. Artman, Secretary coordinates this award on behalf of the Board of Geography of Religion and Belief Systems (GORABS) – Email: [email protected]

***** Don’t miss the 9th GORABS Annual Lecture *****

The GORABS Annual Lecture 2017 – “Religion/Geography Intersections: Removing the Silences” is scheduled on Saturday, April 8 from 10:00 am – 11:40 am, Room 111 Hynes, Plaza Level. This event will include a lecture from Dr. Stanley Brunn, panelists Darrel McDonald, Adrian Ivakhiv, and Vincent Artman, and discussion from Stanley Brunn, Justin Tse, and David Butler.

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Finally, please join us at the GORABS Annual Business Meeting. The meeting will be held immediately after the 9th Annual Lecture in the same room.


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UPCOMING CONFERENCE:

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND PILGRIMAGE GROUP

The International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Group’s forthcoming (9th) Annual International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conference, will take place from 28 June - 1 July 2017, in Armeno, Orta Lake, Italy. While the call for papers closed on 31st Jan, abstracts would still be welcome from members of the GORABS group. (http://irtp.co.uk/call-for-papers-2017/)

The International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage (IRTP) Group was launched in 2003 by a lively and active group, who research many themes related to religious tourism and pilgrimage. One of the aims at the outset was to increase focus on the relatively little researched relationship between cultural tourism, spiritual tourism, and religious tourism. Due to the combined efforts of its participants, the now independent, International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage (IRTP) Group is a key international player in expanding the flourishing literature on this once ‘little researched’ topic. (see www.irtp.co.uk)

Since the end of 2013 the group has published the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, which is a high-quality, international, open access, online, double blind reviewed publication which deals with all aspects of religious tourism and pilgrimage. Based at arrow.dit.ie/ijrtp, to date, the journal has received over 65,000 downloads. We welcome papers and Special Issues from members of the GORABS.

Our third main project is a Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Book Series with CABI publishers. The first volume: Pilgrimage and Tourism to Holy Cities was released in early 2017. We have two more books in production with the publishers, and further volumes in process (http://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9781780647388).

The Group is more than happy to discuss projects, conferences, publications and any other ideas with colleagues from the GORABS. Please contact Dr. Kevin Griffin ([email protected]) or Dr. Razaq Raj ([email protected])


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AAG 2017 Sessions & Papers, sponsored by (or thematically linked to) GORABS interests:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5 Paper Session: Transcendental Spaces 1 (8:00 am – 9:40 am in Room 311 Hynes, Third Level) Geographies of Street Spirituality: Exploring the place of spirituality in the lives of Street Children in Bukavu, The Democratic Republic of Congo Author(s): Eva Krah* - University of Dundee Abstract: This paper examines the place of 'spirituality' in the socio-spatial lives of a group of 75 children and youth (aged 14-20) living on the streets of Bukavu in Eastern Congo. Based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, findings from this doctoral study indicate spirituality (i.e. religion and witchcraft/magic) plays an essential role in practices and processes of life-making and sense-making on the street. In particular, spirituality allows for a temporal and spatial extension of reality, creating a field in which the boundaries between geographical and transcendental spaces become blurred and where alternative agency emerges. Ultimately, spirituality is analysed as a facilitator enabling mobility, which allows street children to traverse space, also in their minds, and the contemplation of the self as a subject with a past and future. Findings from this study are the result of a careful blend of ethnographic, creative and visual methods grounded in a participatory epistemology which includes participant observation, pictorial interviewing, theatre and drawings. Keywords: spirituality, street children, congo Send a postcard, share a photo, count the clicks: an evaluation of varied mobile methods in pilgrimage research Author(s): Avril Maddrell* - University of Reading Abstract: This paper explores the meshing of mobile methods to the mobile polysemic spatial practice of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is a significant component of many religious faiths and is a form of scared mobility which is increasingly attracting wider participants in post-secular countries. Various intersecting forms of mobility are explored within a case study of collective walking pilgrimage in the Isle of Man. Pilgrimage walking is an inherently mobile practice, but a multifaceted one which includes dynamic embodied, sensory, emotional and spiritual mobilities and moorings. These experiences can be simultaneously intensely personal, social, sensitive to intrusion, accumulative and/or varying over time and space, presenting methodological and ethical dilemmas. Opt-in photo diaries and research postcards were as devised as methods of accessing participants' physical, emotional and spiritual mobilities which minimised intrusion on the 'moment', while giving voice to varied participants' experience and understanding, including leaders, believers, atheists, women, men, clergy and laity. The relative merits of these low tech largely qualitative non-intrusive mobile methods are evaluated and compared to data emerging from public engagement with related newly-developed digital platforms providing 'virtual pilgrimage' interpretation materials and associated mobilities generated via a smartphone app, website and related social media platforms.


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Keywords: sacred mobilities pilgrimage virtual gender "We're all humans": Negotiating sameness and difference in intercultural dialogue meetings Author(s): Helle Bach Riis* Roskilde University Abstract: This paper analyses dialogue meetings as transcendental spaces that attempt to disrupt and transform discourses on minorities and national identity in Denmark. The empirical case is The Cultural Encounters Ambassadors [Kulturmødeambassadørerne] (CEA). A project launched by the Danish association "The Border Association" [Grænseforeningen]. CEA is a team of young people in their twenties that tour around Denmark to conduct what they call "dialogue meetings", typically in educational institutions at various levels (with presumed majority students). The ambassadors all have a minority background, either visible: marked by skin and hair color or through clothing (the hijab), or invisible as they are part of the German minority living in Denmark. The project uses these visible and invisible bodily features to play with the audience's prejudice. This paper examines the dialogue meeting as a stage, where the ambassadors narrate and perform identity, and involve the audience emotionally and physically through exercises such as assumption games and storytelling. As such the dialogue meeting becomes a transcendental space that attempts to transform discourses of otherness, sameness and national identity. Keywords: Space, performance, body, identity, race Assembling the sacred space in the Taiwanese countryside - endogenous development projects, temple festivals and unruly material objects Author(s): Chi-Mao Wang* - Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taiwan (R.O.C.) Abstract: Until the 1990s the Taiwanese government deemed peasant folk religious activities such as temple festivals to be superstitious. Inspired by the rural endogenous development paradigm, nowadays it is no longer a sign of backwardness but a means for improving rural socio-economic wellbeing and sustainability. In some commentators' view, the arrival of endogenous development project is more democratic than centralized forms of political government. Inspired by Foucauldian take on power, the alternative account argues that the project should be understood as new modes of exercise of political power or neoliberal dispositif. Although Foucault's notion of governmentality is employed by critical analysts to examine the neoliberal dispositif or the ongoing process through which durable orderings emerge, little attention has been paid to the contingency of associations, the fissiparous nature of affiliations, and the agency of material objects. To bridge this theoretical gap, this paper argues that we should think of dispositif and assemblage together. Assemblage thinking, which places more emphasis on the agency of material objects and the ephemeral nature of heterogeneous association, offers valuable insight into the government of rural culture in the neoliberal era. With reference to an ethnographical fieldwork conducted in a Taiwanese village, Zhulin village, I argue that Chinese religious practices involved diverse material actants, such as divination blocks, god statues, and spirit mediums, continue to pose challenge to the neoliberal dispositif. By drawing attention to the performance of local actants, this paper also contributes to the understanding of the remaking of rural localities under neoliberal globalization. Keywords:


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assemblage, governmentality, Endogenous development, temple festival, global countryside Protesting the Global Day of Prayer: contested charismatic geographies in Hong Kong Author(s): Justin K.H. Tse* - Northwestern University Abstract: Despite the complaint that geographies of religion have focused too much on Christianity, the conflicts among Christians whose conceptions of theology may or may not be orthodox have seldom been explored. In this paper, I explore a contest over invocations of divine and spiritual forces among Protestants in Hong Kong for aid in political interests that occurred in the late 2000s, setting the stage for further spiritual clashes leading up to the pro-democracy occupy protests known as the Umbrella Movement in 2014 and its later aftermath. Focusing on the Global Day of Prayer in which some Pentecostals in Hong Kong invited establishment politicians to lead prayers for prosperity and order in packed football stadiums, I attempt to map these more-than-material invocations of spiritual forces in relation to the Alliance for the Return to the Christian Spirit, a group of Protestant divinity students that protested this alignment of secular power and spiritual forces with a conception of the transcendent order that was aligned with the politically persecuted in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the materially poor in Hong Kong. I argue that the investment of both groups in spiritual geographies needs to be taken serious in a metaphysical way as a battle between how divine and spiritual forces align with the material order. Such fissures over the spiritual order within the same theological tradition suggest that the study of human placemaking must include the attempt to create a sense of space in a world that is always more-than-material. Keywords: religion, Hong Kong, spiritual Paper Session: Edgy Urbanity: The Ideological Built Environment (8:00 – 9:40 am in Room 308, Hynes, Third Level) Latter Day Utopians: New Vistas in Vermont Author(s): Davey Hawkins* Abstract: In 1833 Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, produced a Plat for the City of Zion outlining a scalable urban center suitable for the righteous to live and work communally. Though never built as designed, nearly two centuries later it has inspired technology tycoon David Hall, a fourth generation Mormon, to manifest Smith's vision in rural Vermont. Tentatively called New Vistas, this replicate plat thought to be suitable for global spread falls squarely in the grandest modernist utopian traditions of early city planning, but will be capped with the gilding of the Angel Moroni. Upon deeper geographic analysis New Vistas represents not only an experiment in radical theodemocracy (communitarian-based economics) it appeals to the technological and environmental conscious of a sustainable ecovillage lifestyle. In essence this second wave Zion is explored and analyzed in the context of contemporary American neoliberalism. Keywords: utopia, religion, environment Paper Session: Emerging Urban Landscape in Global South 1 (8:00 – 9:40 am


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in Kent, Sheraton, Third Floor) Identity, Othering, and Displacement: How Imagined Geographies Are Complicit in the Production of Religious Violence in Jakarta, Indonesia Author(s): Daniel Fischelli* - University of North Texas Abstract: Much literature on urban conflict explain violence among religious groups as irresolvable cultural and theological differences. Culture and religion are understood as possessing an inherent essential core that breed identity difference and violence. My paper uses Derek Gregory's (2003) concept of "Imaginative geography" and "performance of space," where Gregory borrows from Said to conceptualize how the narratives of the "other" is both socially and spatially produced—the other is not only dehumanized through discourse, but the very geographies she occupies is also dehumanized through violent acts of destruction. I use "imaginative geographies" and "performance of space" to understand othering between Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians in Jakarta, Indonesia to understand identity formation and violence. This study will explore the impacts of neoliberal globalization, rural to urban migration of poor people into the urban core of Jakarta to understand how global and local political economy imbricate with pre-existing narratives of ethno-religious othering thus producing exclusionary geographical imaginations and violence. Understanding the socio-spatial production of imaginative geographies in the context of the Global South, I argue, provide deeper understanding of urban violence than explanations grounded on essentialized notions of "we" versus "they." Keywords: Human Geography, Imaginative Geography, Religion, Violence, Indonesia, Identity Paper Session: Transcendental spaces 2 (10:00 – 11:40 am in Room 311 Hynes, Third Level) Space-making as a means to unsettle the psyche Author(s): *Rachel Jane Liebert, Public Science Project, City University of New York Abstract: I entered disturbing expressions of white supremacy within present-day US through a transnational program of research to pre-empt 'psychosis'. Using interviews, participant observation, scientific artifacts, reflexive journaling, and public art, I mapped what I term psycurity - an abstract machine that channels paranoia, itself emerging out of a colonial desire-to-know entangled with a fear of 'regressing'. I argued that, within psycurity assemblages, paranoia (as a dis-ease of white supremacy) is able to hide as reasonable suspicion, predict the future, brand threatening bodies, and grow through fear, thereby making up the undulating coils of a neocolonial security state. Recognizing that this itself is a paranoid reading of the present moment, in this paper I reclaim my own response-ability as a critical scholar by offering a reparative reading of psycurity; one that addresses the cosmological violence and potential of psy inquiry. I stage an encounter with Gloria Anzaldúa and Coatlicue, Karen Barad, Isabelle Stengers, Trinh Minh-ha, and Sylvia Wynter to make a decolonial twist on the affective turn, and a feminist returning of paranoia's more-than-human roots; moves that shape-shift the problem of paranoia into one of space-making. Specifically, I wonder if treating paranoia as imagination and thus as requiring spaces of and for ritual, hesitation, and mystery might transmute the driving force of psycurity into yearning, a sense of other possible worlds here-now. Such unsettling of the psykhe (soul, breath) calls for psychologies of imagination that may widen our ability to respond to the neocoloniality of the present political moment.


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Keywords: Paranoia, imagination, Coatlicue, psychology, cosmological violence (Dis)Ordered Bodies: Politics of Representation and the Materiality of Religious Belonging Author(s): Sandra Wallenius-Korkalo* - University of Lapland Abstract: This paper examines the intersectional expressions and performativities of political arrangements and power relations located on the body in popular culture representations of a conservative Christian religious movement called Laestadianism. Originating from Finland and Sweden in the mid-1800s, the movement today has followers around the world, mainly in the Northern Europe and the American Midwest. This paper discusses four contemporary representations of Laestadianism from Finland and the United States: a film, a reality-television series, a theatre play, and a novel. The paper looks at how cultural products participate in negotiating a new understanding of Laestadianism, especially in terms of material politics of belonging. The paper claims that the interplay of religious in- and exclusions of Laestadianism in the representations is situated on gendered and sexualized bodies and lived in everyday practises, in the control over clothing, behaviour, movement, and being-in-common. Bodies have a key role in affirming and contesting religious belonging: docile bodies make the community but bodies also have a transgressive, disordering potential. The studied representations call for a dialogue between the movement and a wider society, drawing attention to the potential issues in the religious community, and the differences between Laestadians and 'the world', but also to recognizing the multiplicity of manifestations of everyday Laestadianism, and to calling for openness toward the 'other'. Keywords: body, religion, representation Ceremony and the Therapeutics of Subjectivity Author(s): Charles Carlin* - University of Wisconsin-Madison Abstract: Scholars and activists have long argued that environmental crises are as much existential as they are biophysical, that questions of meaning, identity, and the capacity for affective experiences of the world are as important as the technological challenges of mitigating emissions or managing habitats. This essay considers one experiment with transcendental space as a response to this existential challenge. It is based on ongoing ethnographic research into a body of practice that uses ceremony, fasting, and immersion in wild environments to open a space in which more-than-human beings and the earth itself can be experienced as animate and ensouled, and the human self can be experienced as emerging from an immanent relationship with this world. This essay explores how ceremony is used in these practices of fasting as a "therapeutics of subjectivity," a way to open a space to move past commonsense notions of self and other, or alive and inanimate, in order to achieve striking experiences of intersubjectivity in an animate world. I consider how this ceremonial practice can help to connect environmental ethical commitments with felt experience, and how this relates to broader efforts to emphasize a sense of earth as sacred in environmental social movements, such as the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Keywords:


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emotion, affect, ceremony, spirituality, wilderness, therapy, psychoanalysis The transcendental scale: exploring a shamanic community through spiritual embodied methods Author(s): Francesca Fois* - Aberystwyth University, UK Abstract: This paper aims to address what Keating (2008) calls the 'spirit-phobia' within academia by advocating the need for 'embodied methodologies' to further understanding spiritual spaces. This research draws upon ethnographic research, conducted in the shamanic community of Terra Mirim in Brazil, in 2012/2013. By participating in the community's shamanic rituals, such as Ayahuasca ceremonies, this study employs, what I term, a 'spiritual embodied method' where the researcher undertakes a spiritual journey as part of the research process for understanding the dynamics of a community. Thus, methodologically, the paper argues that in order to comprehend spiritual spaces, researchers need to engage in spiritual practices with their own bodies. By using such methods it is possible to gain access to 'other' knowledges and experience what I term the transcendental scale. The paper argues that the transcendental scale goes beyond space and time and creates juxtaposed and disordered forms of spiritual gnosis by processes of (dis)embodiment. This gnosis affects individuals' life and shapes the enactment of the spiritual community. Thus I argue that these spaces enact alternative orderings by integrating and considering equally important spiritual gnosis as much as epistemological knowledge. Keywords: Spirituality, Shamanism, Embodiment, Transcendental, Brazil Paper Session: Feminist Political Geographies 2: Affect and Emotion (10:00 am – 11:40 am in Hampton B, Sheraton, Third Floor) "Feeling" the State: Affective states and territories of the Turkish-Muslim diaspora in Germany Author(s): Devran Koray Ocal * - University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Abstract: This paper examines how the everyday geopolitical practices of diasporic institutions contribute to a state-like formation. Our focus is on DITIB and the Turkish-origin communities in Germany. DITIB is a Turkish Islamic civil society organization in Germany that is linked institutionally and financially to the Turkish state. As an umbrella institution, DITIB includes 950 local Sunni-Turkish mosque associations across Germany, reaching the majority of the Turkish diaspora. The qualitative research we conducted in Turkey and Germany in Summer 2016 shows that DITIB engages with not only religious but also social and political activities from organizing soccer tournaments to political demonstrations across Germany. Through these activities, DITIB provides paternalistic protection and care and fosters a sense of unity and belonging for Turkish Sunni Muslims, who in turn "feel" the Turkish state in Germany. We argue that DITIB establishes a state-like presence and affect through its practices and spaces for the Turkish diaspora. At the same time, DITIB's embodiment of the Turkish state tradition and its tensions incites various religious and political divisions among the Turkish diaspora, as well as between DITIB and the German state. To understand DITIB's practices as territorializing everyday spaces and promoting the feeling of state, we draw from feminist geopolitics, which brings attention to everyday practices of individuals and communities in state/territory making. The case of DITIB shows the affective and material emergence of multiple "state"s and overlapping territories in diaspora and how these processes of state formation and territorialization are contested.


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Keywords: DITIB, Germany, Islam, Religion, Geopolitics, Geography Paper Session: Unraveling Urban Property Norms, Practices, and Imaginaries 1: Neoliberalism, land, and property (12:40 – 2:20 in Falmouth, Marriott, Fourth Floor) Temple land for lease: The case of Bangkok Author(s): Chaitawat Boonjubun* - University of Helsinki Abstract: In Thailand, Buddhist temple land is donated by lay followers and Thai Sangha Act prohibits this type of land to be sold to the market. However, temples can lease their land and they allow people to use the land for settlement as a way to return merit to the communities. In this paper, I look at the role of Buddhist temples, as a landlord, on providing land to lease. Particularly, I am interested in finding out: the relationship between Buddhist temples and state Buddhism authorities who are responsible for supporting the temples on managing their land; the ways in which temple land has been valued; and, how land appropriation is applied to the temple land. My case is Bangkok and I employ empirical data from policy document analysis and interviews with Buddhist monks, state and local authorities, and tenants. Keywords: Property rights, Religious land, Land appropriation, Buddhist temple, Bangkok, Thailand, Southeast Asia Paper Session: Perspectives on East Africa (2:40 – 4:20 pm in Room 108 Hynes, Plaza Level) The Power of Women, and the Nature and Influence of Gender Roles in the Pre-Colonial Empires of Ethiopia and Mali. Author(s): Victoria Alapo* - Metropolitan Community College, Omaha Abstract: Pre-colonial African women are often stereotypically viewed or imagined in Western minds as subordinate or with no rights. It was the reverse that was often usually true: pre-colonial women in African societies actually had more rights than typical European women during the same time period. This research shows the highly important roles of women in two pre-colonial Empires: Ethiopia and Mali. For example, many women ruled in their own right as Sovereigns or Queens in old Ethiopia, thousands of years before women were ever allowed on the thrones of Europe, and were powerful as Queen Mothers in old Mali. Pre-colonial African women also often commanded entire armies during warfare, a role that in Europe was typically regarded as "male". The influence of pre-colonial African women, including in travel, trade / economy and family life, etc, will also be highlighted. This research also explores the contrasts in the roles of women due to the influence of Christianity in Ethiopia and Islam in Mali. Lastly, the research shows that the erosion of women's rights in Africa actually occurred in lockstep with European colonization; rights that women all over the continent are starting to get back. Keywords: Africa, Pre-Colonial Africa, Gender Geography, Geographic Perspectives on Women, Ethiopia, Mali, History


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of Ethiopia, Christianity in Ethiopia, History of Mali, Islamic Sub-Saharan African Kingdoms, Historical Geography, Cultural Geography. Paper Session: Issues in Ethnic Geography: Contested Spaces, Urban Regeneration and Place Identity-I (2:40 - 4:20 in St. Botolph, Marriott, Second Floor) Citizen or Terrorist? Contesting the working class' right to the city in Islamabad Author(s): Zahra Khalid* - University of California - Berkeley Abstract: In this paper I explore how terrorism discourse and insecurity affect (by which I mean the affect produced when subjects perceive themselves to be in a perpetual state of insecurity) produce new techniques of governing the urban working class in Pakistan. I use the empirical case of the July 2015 eviction and demolition of one of the largest informal settlements in the administrative capital, Islamabad. I rely on qualitative field research (in-depth interviews, and participant observation); as well as archival and secondary research as modes of inquiry. I aim to study how terrorism discourse and insecurity affect are generative of techniques of governmentality by state elites to protect middle class real estate interests, to the exclusion of the working classes. The legacy of modernist master planning in Islamabad combines with the present geopolitical moment of the War on Terror, to coproduce specific technologies of control and discipline, leading to a precarious urban citizenship for the working class. Deployment of these techniques has implications for how working class subjects experience day-to-day life in the city, and works by delegitimizing the working class' right to the city by shoring up xenophobia along race/ethnicity lines, contesting subjects' citizenship to the Pakistani state, use of anti-terrorism laws and courts for prosecution of the working class, and deploying terrorism propaganda in the popular consciousness; in addition to more widely deployed modes of control, such as criminalization and police violence. Keywords: Informal settlements, urban informality, terrorism, Islamabad, Pakistan, South Asia, cultural geography, urban geography, urban security, War on Terror, modernism, right to the city, governmentality, working classes, xenophobia


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THURSDAY, APRIL 6 Paper Session: The power of enchantment: exploring the affective entanglements between bodies, objects and space in constituting national identifications (8:00 – 9:40 am in Dalton A, Sheraton, Third Floor) The Poetics and Politics of Slam Poetry in South West Sydney Author(s): Rosalie Atie* - Western Sydney University Abstract: This paper explores the ways in which slam poetry can generate belonging for marginalised communities in Western Sydney. In particular, how the performative potential of slam is being used by Muslim Middle Eastern poets to voice alternative ways of being "Australian". Drawing on interview and focus group data with performers and audience members at Australia's largest regular live spoken word event, the Bankstown Poetry Slam, this paper considers the possibilities presented through slam's embodied mode, its dialogic qualities, and subsequent liminality, to create a space where identities, particularly racialised identities, may be negotiated and reproduced. It reflects on the possible links that may exist for participants between slam and the legacy of oral and narrative tradition in Arabic cultures, such as traditional poetic duelling (zajal). The embodied negotiations and reiterations undertaken in slam may connect the performers to the cultural provinces of their ancestry, offering a sense of cultural continuity and diasporic connection. This paper interrogates the ways in which cultural and political forces: local, national and international, can come to bear on the self-expression of individuals and groups within that community and how they can demarcate a space for themselves within, against, and despite these powers. Keywords: performativity, poetry, performance, slam, spoken word, race, identity, transnationalism, Muslim, Islam Paper Session: Contemporary Issues in Ethnic Geography (1:20 – 3:00 pm in Gardner A, Sheraton, Third Floor) Latino Religion in the Texas Panhandle Author(s): Lawrence E. Estaville* - Texas State University, Edris J. Montalvo - Cameron University Abstract: The Latino population, mostly Mexican, in the Texas Panhandle grew from 173,000 in 1980 to 398,000 in 2016. This study focused on the geospatial aspects of the religion of Latinos in the Texas Panhandle. The underpinning questions became: As more Panhandle counties became increasingly Latino during the first decade of the 21st century, (1) have Latinos maintained their traditional Roman Catholic religion in the Texas Panhandle, (2) has the region become increasingly Catholic, and (3) have Protestant denominations made inroads into Latino communities? To answer these questions, we drew data from the U.S. Religious Census undertaken decennially by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. Keywords: Latinos; migration; Texas Panhandle; religion


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Paper Session: Issues in Ethnic Geography – I (3:20 – 5:00 pm in Clarendon, Marriott, Third Floor) Resistance to Assimilation and the Creation and Expansion of Ethnic Homelands Author(s): John A. Cross - University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Abstract: Geographers and historians have long recognized commonalities among those ethnic groups that made the greatest impacts upon the cultural landscape, including time of arrival, size of ethnic group, isolation of population, concentration or dispersal of population, and the physical and cultural environment that surrounds the group's settlement. The arrival of new immigrants has been touted as shaping new ethnic geographies in the United States, yet over time forces of assimilation diminish the distinctiveness of many of their communities while also reshaping generic American culture. In contrast, certain groups actively resist assimilation. This paper explores the role that active resistance to assimilation will have in shaping future ethnic landscapes in America and the evolution of new ethnic homelands. This paper focuses upon the ethnic landscapes of three ultraconservative religious populations, the Amish, the Hutterites, and the Hasidic Jews, who have proactively resisted assimilation in rural and urban settings. Their imprint upon the nation's ethnic landscape has grown, as they separate their settlements from unwanted influences of American society. The means by which these groups display and promote their separate identity are reviewed. Their distinct ethnic landscapes and the spatial arrangements of their settlements that are evolving to accommodate their rapidly growing populations are described. Keywords: ethnic landscapes, homelands, Amish, Hutterites, Hasidic Jews


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FRIDAY, APRIL 7 Paper session: Geographies of Migrant and Ethnic Minority Political Participation and Mobilisation - Session 1 (8:00 – 9:40 am, Hyannis, Marriott, Fourth Floor) Placing faith in creative labour: work-based activism of Muslim women in the UK cultural and creative economy Author(s): Saskia Warren* - University of Manchester Abstract: Since the 2000s, a rapidly expanding Muslim marketplace has offered faith-centred content produced by and aimed at Muslim women e.g Muslima Oasis, 'Sister's Hour' (British Muslim TV), 'Days of Dolls' (Dina Torkia) and 'Sisterhood Magazine' (Fuuse productions/Deeyah Khan). In the geopolitical events post 9/11 adoption of the term 'Muslim women', especially by younger generations, has grown in an act of supra-national identification with the Muslima - Muslim female community - that crosses race, ethnicity, sects and class (Falah and Nagel 2005; see also Dwyer and Shah 2009). This is reflective of a wider prioritisation of religion in the construction of personal identity by ethnic minorities and in particular by Muslims, understood as a response to unfair treatment, stigmatisation, and higher levels of social and economic exclusion (McGee 2008; Khattab 2009). A recent study into UK-based ethnic minority groups and identification found Muslim women are the least likely to feel a sense of belonging (Karsen and Nazroo 2016), which has been intensified by particular scrutiny in public debate and in research (Falah and Nagel 2005; Hopkins and Gale 2009; Dwyer and Shah 2009). Little attention has been given, however, to the agencies of Muslim women, social, cultural and economic, in the production and circulation of narratives, networks, performances and material forms. Accordingly this paper considers the activism of Muslim women producers in resisting economic, social and faith-based exclusion by developing and diversifying spaces of the cultural and creative economy. Keywords: religion, Muslim, ethnicity, gender, culture, labour Paper Session: Geographies of Slow Violence 1: Gendered Violence (8:00 – 9:40 am in Exeter, Marriott, Third Floor) Slow Non-Violence: Muslim Women Resisting the Everyday Violence of Dispossession and Marginalization Author(s): Amy Piedalue* - Australia India Institute & University of Melbourne Abstract: This paper engages 'slow violence' at the intersections of impoverishment, urban exclusion, patriarchal norms, state dispossession, and Islamophobia. Spatial logics of divided and always oppositional landscapes of culture (i.e. East vs. West or the West vs. the Rest; modern vs. traditional; secular vs. theocratic; citizen vs. immigrant) fuel such slow violence - both producing and justifying the compounding dispossession of the 'others' of Western liberalism. Drawing upon ethnographic research in Muslim communities in Hyderabad, India and South Asian Muslim American communities in Seattle, USA, I map these tangled webs of marginalization and their violent effects. My aim in this paper, however, is to look toward a critical theorization of slow non-violence – that is, ideas and actions focused on long-term, incremental (but substantial) change, and which


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resist both the visible and invisible effects of structural violence. I point to women's grassroots theorizing and community-based organizing to illustrate slow non-violence. In particular, I illustrate the ways in which women's organizations employ plural forms of resistance to intimate gender violence, structural violence, and geopolitical violence. This slow non-violence varies across place and community, but demonstrates a purposeful effort to contest violence as organizers encounter it - as a complex, everyday, layered, diffuse, slow, and yet material reality. Keywords: Islamophobia, peace-building, gender violence, structural violence, South Asia Paper Session: Transnational Migration and Discursive Practices in the Host Society (8:00 – 9:40 am in Room 210, Hynes, Second Level) Muslim Ethnicity and 'Doing Halal' in Korea: Discursive Practices of Halal Food Globalization Author(s): Hyunseo (Helene) Park*- Ewha W. Univ. Abstract: Although the failure of Korean government plan to build a "halal food complex" inside the food industry cluster, which is under construction in Iksan, North Jeolla Province in Korea, the government and food industries are enthusiastic to develop the halal industries, produce halal certified food products, and open the door wider for local food companies to make inroads into the Muslim countries. This paper examine the increasing interests in halal food, and analyses the factors of networks in Korean halal market, mainly focused on growing acute tension between advocates and dissenters of halal food. It investigates the halal food as an interrelatedness of globalization and multiculturalism, as well as symbols of Islamophobia by some Christians. The paper identifies that 'doing halal in Korea' implies the process of conflict and compromise of discursive practices, which indicates food complexities, dynamics, and challenges. Keywords: food globalization, global food supply, halal food, halal certification, Muslim, religion conflict, 'Doing Halal' Paper Session: Rethinking Urban Governance in the Everyday: Pluralizing the Modes, Regimes and Multiplicities of Environmental and Infrastructural Governance (8:00 – 9:40 am in Clarendon, Marriott, Third Floor) Rethinking Urban Governance in the Everyday: Pluralizing the Modes, Regimes and Multiplicities of Environmental and Infrastructural Governance Author(s): Shilpa Dahake* - Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali Abstract: Kumbh Mela (the biggest Hindu religious congregation which happens after every 12 years) in 2015 along Godavari River in Nashik city, in the state of Maharashtra, unfolded multiple discourses over river and water use in the city. The state sanctioned river management interventions, to appease the religious forces, side-lined the basic needs of the citizens and ignored river ecology forcing locals to manoeuvre statutory regimes. Drawing from an ongoing ethnographic research on various endeavours along the Godavari River followed by Kumbh Mela, the article explores how the religious symbolism shapes urban environments and contest with everyday urban governance along the river in the city of Nashik. This analysis attempts to deepen the


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conversations in Urban Political Ecology by engaging with the religious symbolism of the riverscapes in the urban Indian context. The article illustrates, how the dominant narrative (here religious symbolism) of a river leads to performative urban governance, aligned with powerful local institutions, which (re)produces urban socio-natures and choreographs the power relations among the various interest groups. Keywords: Urban Political Ecology, Urban Riverscapes, Religion and urban space Paper Session: Religion, Justice, and the City (8:00 – 9:40 am in Room 313, Hynes, Third Level) Jobless and Godless: The Ideological Projects of a Faith-based Job Readiness Program Author(s): Brian R. Hennigan* - Dept. of Geography, Syracuse University, Gretchen Purser, Dept. of Sociology, Syracuse University Abstract: Geographic scholarship on faith-based organizations (FBOs) and landscapes of "postsecular" welfare provision has predominantly sought to highlight the potential of FBOs to counter or contest the logics, rationalities, and imperatives of the neoliberal state. In this article, we present an ethnographic case study of a prominent, evangelical job-readiness program called Jobs for Life. We explore how the program, which targets the jobless and the godless, reconciles the apparent contradictions between its ideological promotion of entrepreneurial independence and righteous dependence on God. By adorning work and workplace relations with spiritual meaning and Biblical import, Jobs For Life reveals the extraordinary utility of faith-based discourses and ideologies—"theo-ethics"—for the enactment of neoliberal workfarist policies designed to encourage, reward, and mandate work. Keywords: employability, job-readiness, faith-based organizations, postsecular geography, neoliberalism Faith that Works? Exploring the role of African American Church Leaders in Urban Regeneration in Pittsburgh Author(s): William Ackah* - Birkbeck University of London Abstract: This paper focuses on the role played by African American church leaders and their congregations in urban neighbourhoods undergoing regeneration in the city of Pittsburgh. Drawing on fieldwork research data the paper utilises the concept of spiritual capital to explore how church leaders navigate processes of urban change in their neighbourhoods. It explores how politicians, policy makers, other local activists and actors view faith communities. Are they regarded as positive agents, bystanders or stumbling blocks in urban policy contexts? The paper also will examine whether African American churches more commonly referred to as the Black Church should be regarded as a monolithic entity in these changing urban environments or is there a range of theological, ethical, political and social practices being displayed which leads to different outcomes for particular leaders and congregations in these contexts. Keywords: Black Church, Urban Regeneration, Social Capital


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Climate justice for "the least of these:" Race and racialization in evangelical climate activisms Author(s): Emma DeVries* - University of Minnesota Abstract: Evangelical climate activism is marked by a few distinctive features, through which its members perform race in a variety of subtle ways. Evangelicals lead on environmental issues with the language of compassion for humanity's most destitute who suffer most from environmental degradation. With climate change, the subject of the climate refugee carries particular currency among evangelicals, as they have historically supported the welcoming of refugees and, to a lesser degree, of immigrants, in response to biblical mandates to "welcome the stranger." Thus, organizers mobilize their constituencies through illustrating the impacts of climate change upon the global poor, and encourage them to be a "voice for the voiceless." Based on participant observation in one evangelical climate organization's prayer rallies at U.S. presidential debates and their global day of prayer for climate action, this paper examines members' theological articulations of their concern for climate justice. I will consider their activism through the lens of white biopolitics, in particular, white affect (Baldwin 2016), in order to examine racial power dynamics in discourses shorn of explicitly racial language. Do they generate white affect toward climate change, and re-inscribe colonial missionary relations as "white saviors" baptizing the racial others into whiteness (and as such effecting a 'racism without racism' (Goldberg 2009, 360)) or do they in any way generate alternative racial modalities and spaces of climate justice? Attention to the spaces of resistance, where people of faith are working to counter white supremacy, will be crucial in constructing alternative paths toward climate justice. Keywords: religion, race, climate activism Good Gentrifiers?: How Faith-Based Groups Navigate Development and Displacement on Atlanta's South Side Author(s): Claire Bolton* - University of Georgia Abstract: How do religiously motivated people and groups participate in the demographic trends that are shaping U.S. cities, changing where and how people live across inequitable social formations? This presentation draws on a case study of South Atlanta, a historically Black Atlanta neighborhood in which a faith-based community development organization builds and rehabilitates both affordable and market-rate homes. Part of a national network doing similar work under the mixed-income housing paradigm, the organization encourages middle-class Christians to practice their faith by moving to South Atlanta and building relationships with existing residents. This movement is posed as gentrification that benefits all and does not displace residents, since only vacant homes are rehabilitated or replaced. This research examines the dynamics between the community development group, these 'intentional' residents, and residents who did not move to the neighborhood as 'intentional' Christian neighbors, but many of whom are themselves deeply religious. The paper explores how religious conviction, race, gentrification, and settler colonial logics intersect to shape the neighborhood. I argue that while residents find common grounding in faith and form bonds of spatial solidarity (Hankins 2016) across race and class lines, these practices are severely limited in the context of new development approaching Atlanta's south side, such as the BeltLine greenway project. Faith-based residents struggle to robustly challenge the settler colonial logics with which they are complicit. The case study emphasizes the need for all well-intentioned urban residents to advocate truly affordable housing and reject all forms of displacement.


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Keywords: urban, mixed-income, gentrification, settler colonialism, geographies of religion Paper Session: Indigenous and marginalized groups (8:00 – 9:40 am, Room 105, Hynes, Plaza Level) China's Persecution of Falun Gong: What Do We Know, and Why Don't We Hear about It? Author(s): Hong Jiang* - University Of Hawaii Abstract: Falun Gong practitioners constitute the largest group of people being most severely persecuted by the Chinese regime since 1999. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a traditional mind-body practice and spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Because of aggressive campaign against Falun Gong by the Chinese government, misinformation about it abounds. Few scholars have engaged in the study of Falun Gong, and media reporting on the persecution has been muted in China and sparse elsewhere. Against this large background, however, some groups and individuals have conducted extensive research on the topic, and consistent information gathering has been carried out by websites run by Falun Gong practitioners, such as Faluninfo.net. This presentation surveys the state of knowledge about China's persecution of Falun Gong. I will summarize what research has been done, by whom and what organizations, what methods have been used, what kinds of evidence have been used, and what findings have been reached. When available, I will present data and spatial information about the persecution in China, including spatial distribution of persecuted deaths, and mapping of forced harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese hospitals and medical centers - the spatial pattern is analyzed in relation to China's geopolitical dynamics. I will supplement the survey with my first-hand data. This presentation will conclude with a discussion about the challenges and opportunities of conducting and disseminating research on human rights violations in China. Keywords: Falun Gong, China, human rights, geopolitics, religion Paper Session: China as Methods II (10:00 am – 11:40 am in Beacon E, Sheraton, Third Floor) Displaying Connections between Chinese and Global Muslim Communities through Fashions in Transnational Urban Space in the Hui Quarter in Xi'an Author(s): Yang Yang* - University of Colorado At Boulder Abstract: In this paper, I look at the process of producing multiple imaginaries of Islamic authorities in urban space in inland China as a way of connecting the Chinese Hui Muslims to the global Muslim neighborhood. Islamic authorities in different aspects of Muslims' everyday life vary significantly. Instead of only being Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, countries including Turkey, Indonesia, and the UK are alternatively leading the fashion trends among Muslims worldwide. China is often given inadequate attention for just being a late follower to


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the fast changing global Muslim fashions. However, the Chinese Muslims in cities are equally if not less savvy about fashion trends circulated among Muslim communities worldwide. The innovative interpretation of Muslim dresses including Baju Kurong made in Malaysia and Lehenga from Pakistan as part of the Hui Muslims' ethnoreligious traditions in the urban Muslim communities in Xi'an is a case in point. Analyses of this case suggest seeing the Chinese Muslim communities as an anchor point on which different Islamic authorities encounter and are given new meanings according to local social and political circumstances that in return reshape the global Muslim community. Therefore, I propose thinking how China, often seen as the peripheral part of the global Muslim community, contributes to producing the imagined hierarchical religious authorities through the transnational urban spatial production. As an inherent part of everyday urban life, diverse experiences of Muslims in urban China offer a potential approach to understanding urban experiences beyond the equation between urban and secular. Keywords: China, fashions, Islam, urban Paper Session: Symposium on Human Dynamics in Smart and Connected Communities: Understanding Neighborhood Dynamics 3: Lived Experience & Efficacy in Neighborhoods (1:20 – 3:00 pm in Room 110, Hynes, Plaza Level) Transformative Proximity: Christian Community Developers Describe their Hopes for Shared Experience and Belonging through Relocation Author(s): Sara M. Perisho Eccleston - Vanderbilt University Abstract: For the past three decades, members of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) have left the suburbs and relocated to the inner city, explaining that their faith compels them to live in partnership with the poor and seek neighborhood revitalization. However, by occupying neighborhood space, relocators also appropriate homes, disrupt existing social cohesion, and gentrify the area. While there are no quantitative data documenting the trend, CCDA has over 3000 individual members who may form the primary relocator population (CCDA About). The few empirical studies on relocation have tended to focus on the narratives of relocators (Marsh 2005; Slade, March, and Hetzel 2013) or consider relocation from a place-making lens (Hankins and Walter 2012), positioning relocation as a positive method of development. These analyses fail to consider how relocators may actually contribute to detrimental impacts on the neighborhood, such as gentrification and displacement. This presentation examines the motivations and goals of relocators, persons who intentionally relocate to low-income urban neighborhoods for the purpose of community partnership. I orient my study within the theoretical framework of antiracism, building on Roman's (1997) fantasies of redemptive identification. In this study, I seek to understand the motivations, goals, and strategies of relocators, in order to critically consider the implications for urban dwellers and community development practices. Results suggest that relocators engage fantasies of redemptive identification in three main ways: performing a modeling role; assuming a shared experience based on geographic proximity; and focusing on micro-level behavior change rather than macro-levels deconstruction. Keywords: neighborhoods, community development, religion, relocation


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Paper Session: Religion and Migration in Asia: Space, Mobilities, Ontology (3:20 pm – 5:00 pm in MIT, Marriott, Third Floor) Mobility, Religion and Difference in Hong Kong Author(s): Murat Es* - Chinese University of Hong Kong Abstract: Despite its claim to a cosmopolitan world city status, both public attention to cultural difference and discrimination rather lacking in Hong Kong. Questions of religious space and mobility similarly receive little attention despite the presence of various congregations in the city. This paper explores the variegated geographies of religion at the intersection of mobility and race in Hong Kong. To this end, I compare the double silence about the racialization of South Asian Muslims and the daily visitors from the mainland China, to explain the construction of ethno-religious alterity in "Asia's world city." Keywords: mobility, religion, alterity, Hong Kong Region and Religion Author(s): Vincent Artman*- Wayne State University, Alexander Diener - University of Kansas Abstract: Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest on the part of geographers in shaping popular narratives about different world regions. However, while regional geographers are increasingly concerned with explanation, rather than pure description, they have often been slow to fully acknowledge religion's social significance. Using examples from Central Asia, this paper argues that regional geography's potential for influencing public discourse will depend in part on its ability to engage more substantively with questions of religion. Keywords: Religion, Regional Geography, Central Asia, Islam Locational Conflicts over Burial Place Author(s): Amiram Gonen* - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Abstract: Most decisions on burial place are based on belonging attributes of the deceased, such as hometown; family, religion, ethnicity and social status. Family is the most common locational choice. However, attributes are often considered and at times contested. There is a variety of reasons contests and conflicts. One is disagreement between family members, each claiming their locational option, such as between spouse and parents or siblings of the deceased. In the West it is often a row between wife and the mother of the deceased husband. In non-Western tribal societies, the family of the husband of the husband evokes tribal custom, requiring burial in ancestral turf. Religion and ethnicity often underlie such locational conflicts when burial is denied because of not being a genuine member of the group. Among members of the armed forces there is often competition between military cemeteries, which honor service for the country but do not allow burial of other family members, and community cemeteries, allowing for family plots and often also offer a hometown burial option. In this competition between country as against family and hometown, there are many servicemen opting for a family or hometown location. Such controversies exist occasionally between burial in pantheons for the distinguished or national heroes. Some of these conflicts end up in court and in the mass media. All these point to the significance in human life of the decision to be made on burial place and it being a sensitive


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indicator of cultural and social diversity. Keywords: burial place, locational conflict, family, hometown, religion, ethnicity, social status, pantheon, military cemeteries Political Socialization through Spatial Re-Creation in Contemporary Tehran Author(s): Ayda Melika* - University of California Berkeley Abstract: Examining the transformation of urban open spaces in Tehran, I aim to illuminate the legitimizing role of urban park (re)design and recreation in modern history of Iran. In this paper, I examine the history of Pârk-e Laleh, focusing particularly on its transformation from Jalalieh hippodrome, used as military parade ground; to Pârk-e Farah, one of Tehran's largest recreational parks named after Iran's last Queen Farah Diba in 1966; to its current Islamized state renamed Pârk-e Laleh in memory of martyrs of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Studying various examples of environmental design and architectural projects in this park I demonstrate the political intentions of the builders and users manifested in these sites to create new forms of political socialization and spaces of resistance. In this paper, I argue that in Iran top-down urban park planning has been utilized to disseminate regime goals into public sphere in order to socialize people into desired cultures promoting structures of power. Illuminating the pre and post-revolutionary purpose of park planning as spaces of reform and control, I argue that Pârk-e Farah was a design strategy for urban modernization and cultural westernization, while its current reformed version, Pârk-e Laleh, aims at large scale Islamization. Examples from both the Islamic Republic and the Pahlavi Era are provided to demonstrate how political leaders re/shape urban open spaces to assimilate people into their desired political and military culture as part of a power struggle Keywords: Spatial Design, Political Socialization, Urban Transformation, Tehran, Iran, Modernisation, Islamic Republic, Westernization, Islamization, Militarization, Recreation, Parks, Middle East Urbanism Paper session: Emerging Scholars in Ethnic Geography (5:20 – 7:00 pm in Tremont, Marriott, First Floor) Syrian Refugees in Bradford: Brothers or Intruders? Author(s): Emily K. Frazier* - University of Tennessee Abstract: This presentation examines recent events in the UK and emerging patterns of Syrian refugee resettlement in the context of British notions about immigration, religious identity, and refuge. On June 16, 2016, MP Jo Cox, public champion of migrant and refugee rights, was fatally attacked on a street in Bristall, West Yorkshire. Eyewitness accounts record her attacker shouting, "Britain first!" a cry that crystallized the pervading discourses of anti-immigrant rhetoric a mere week before the "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union. While the implications of Brexit will undoubtedly be far-reaching, the Yorkshire attack of Jo Cox and other violent manifestations of nationalist sentiment pose troubling questions about the commitment of the United Kingdom to the 2014 Vulnerable Person Resettlement Program, a pledge to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. The Yorkshire city of Bradford hosted 106 "vulnerable persons" in 2015, situating more than half of those resettled


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Syrians within close geographic and symbolic proximity to the murder of MP Cox and related questions about the place of migrants and Islam in British society. By foregrounding the historical construction of Muslim identity in Bradford, the presentation highlights nuanced realities of resettlement and social integration largely ignored by wider scholarship on migration and refugee studies. This work places these questions within broader themes of belonging and integration to initiate renewed considerations of religious identity as a forceful element in the place making practices of migrants and refugees. Keywords: syrian, refugees, Islam, integration, belonging, religion Paper Session: Religion, Spatiality and Place-Making: Comparative and Historical Perspectives (5:20 pm – 7:00 pm in Tufts, Marriott, Third Floor) Evangelical Visual Culture and Popular Geographic Knowledge in 19th Century America Author(s): Mary Hancock* - University of California, Santa Barbara Abstract: This paper deals with the evangelical roots of popular geographic knowledge in early 20th century US. Both geography's popularization and its emergence as a scholarly discipline contributed to US territorial expansion in continental North America and to American imperialism abroad - processes linked in turn to immigrant exclusion and Jim Crow segregation at home. In this context, the National Geographic Magazine's popularization of geography is considered important because of its emphasis on densely illustrated, accessibly written narratives and its sizeable readership. There were, however, historical antecedents to NGM in the visual and print culture of evangelical Protestant missions and missionaries themselves were among the authors solicited by NGM. I investigate the entwinement of the evangelical global imaginary with popular geography by examining the works of missionary-authors appearing in NGM between 1900 and 1917, focusing on those concerning India. Their representations of Hindu India, understood within the expansion of American moral empire, furnished vivid, albeit morally ambivalent, stereotypes that fueled domestic discourses on both internationalism and Asian exclusion. I argue that such contributions to NGM, understood within the genealogy of mission visual culture and media, offer a window on the ways that mission's global imaginary helped shape popular geography in the US in an age marked by imperial expansion and new systems of racial and ethnic discrimination at home. Keywords: Popular Geography, Religion, India, History Conservation in the Shadow of Religion: The Organization of Sacred Space at Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Churches Author(s): Eliza Kent, Skidmore College Abstract: In the Amhara-speaking highlands of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches harbor some of the last stands of indigenous forest. Rural Ethiopian Orthodox churches are typically round, and the space around them is organized in a series of concentric circles that emanate out from the pure and holy center within the church's built structure and extend to the edges of the space considered "the church." In the outermost ring of the church, one typically finds a forest used as a community burial ground and conserved through the generations by a complex system of customary norms and prohibitions. Like "sacred groves" in many other


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parts of the world (India, Japan, Ghana, etc.), these sites have attracted the attention of conversation biologists interested in the potential of religion to help foster environmental conservation. Drawing on ethnographic research and oral accounts of the churches' foundation narratives, this paper argues that the conservation of the forest is the result of an implicit logic of purity and pollution that structures both the social and spatial organization of the site. Keywords: Ethiopia, Orthodox, religion, ecology Pedagogical Palimpsests: Tracing the Classroom Contours of Ancient Cartography Author(s): Lillian Larsen* - University of Redlands Abstract: The recurrent geographical detail encountered in the material and literary record of ancient and late-ancient school practice offers a provocative glimpse of the thematic threads of history and literature which link Classical and Christian classroom curricula. Across generations, as the dense geographies of Odysseus' travels meld with the storied Mediterranean journeys of the Apostle Paul, one can virtually trace the contours of received pedagogy, in space and over time. This paper explores the transmission and transformation of the resultant cartographic classroom legacy. It argues that the refracted school practice preserved on ancient, less ancient, and contemporary mapped surfaces makes manifest the degree to which pre- and post-modern models of Classical and Christian history have been shaped - and sometimes stamped – by the conceptual and physical imprint of primary pedagogical presuppositions. Keywords: Historical Geography, Education, Religion, Classical Pedagogy The Belgium Borderlands and the Crusader King Author(s): Elizabeth DePalma Digeser* - University of California, Santa Barbara Abstract: In the early fourth century CE, Lactantius, a courtier to Constantine I, publicized an image of this first Christian Roman emperor as the incarnation of the heavenly king foretold in the Book of Revelation, come to deliver the earth from the serpent of persecuting paganism. He first broadcast this construction of Constantine in Trier, the Empire's northwest imperial capital as well as the provincial capital for Gallia Belgica, a region that corresponds to NE France, Belgium, NW Netherlands and NW Germany. Although Lactantius was from North Africa and had a cosmopolitan education, his portrait of the emperor would shape the idea of the proper ruler in this region for centuries to come, even as the serpent's symbolism shifted from the pagan to the Islamic other. This paper seeks to understand why Lactantius' representation of Constantine resonated so strongly in this region by exploring its religious topography in dialogue with its character as a borderlands region. Keywords: borderlands, Belgium, crusades, Constantine


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Pagan and Christian Signs on the Peutinger Map Author(s): Emily Albu* - University of California Abstract: This large map, likely produced c. 1220 CE in a Swabian monastery with Hohenstaufen loyalties, depicts the inhabited world as known to the Romans, from the southern coast of Britain to India and Sri Lanka. Its eleven parchment sheets, once glued together in a strip about 22 feet long and displaying rivers, lakes, islands, and forests, feature more than 550 images of sites along the ancient Roman road network, with distances marked from point to point. The map presents itself as a relic from Roman antiquity, with temples and altars as prominently displayed markers and with a very few Judeo-Christian signs inserted into this largely pagan space. Examples of religious images include the Alexander altars in the eastern reaches of the map and the holy sanctuaries paired with each of the three dominant enthroned figures, at Rome, Constantinople, and Antioch. This paper attempts to decode the map's religious symbols and uncover the significance of their strategic placement for a Roman or a medieval patron. Keywords: map, medieval, pagan, Christian, religion Paper Session: Spatial Inequality, Justice and Policy IV: America (5:20 – 7:00 in Beacon F, Sheraton, Third Floor) The Other Bourgeois Conflict: Justice and the Ancient History of the Rural-Urban Divide Author(s): Michael Mayerfeld Bell* - University of Wisconsin – Madison Abstract: Political economic analysis has long recognized a fundamental conflict between capital and labor, bourgeoisie and proletariat. But there is another fundamental bourgeois conflict which interleaves with the other, and is in some ways prior to it. I will term that conflict as being between the "bourgeois" and the "pagan" - words which derive from the Latin for town and countryside. In this usage, the bourgeois refers to the originally urban life of class society, including both rich and poor, versus the originally rural life of kin society. The formation of cities depended from the outset on extraction of wealth from the countryside, which in turn provided accumulation for the development of class relations of capital and labor. This urban conflict with the rural was at once as well a cultural clash, yielding ideologies of justice that lent legitimacy to the economic relations, just as the economic relations lent urgency to the ideologies. With the rise of class society in cities, and its intertwined dependence on the countryside, came a revolution in philosophy: the idea of the good, and concepts of nature and of the divine based on a sense of their goodness. Christianity, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and Platonism all arise with class society, and all are founded on a sense of natures and divinities which are good, in contrast to pagan ideas of ambivalence. I will argue that these ideas of the good at once helped ancient people moralize both class conflict and rural-urban spatial conflict, and continue to today. Keywords: Rural, urban, spatial inequality, justice, religion, history, class, economy, culture


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SATURDAY, APRIL 8 Panel Session: 9th Annual GORABS Lecture: Religion/Geography Intersections: Removing the Silences (10:00 am – 11:40 am, Room 111 Hynes, Plaza Level) Session Description: The 9th Annual Geography of Religions and Belief Systems Specialty Group (GORABS) Lecture, will this year be presented by Professor Stanley D. Brunn, under the above title, followed by panelist reactions and a question and answer session. GORABS Business Meeting (11:50 am – 1:10 pm, Room 111 Hynes, Plaza Level) Session Description: This is the annual business meeting for the Geography of Religions and Beliefs Systems AAG Specialty Group Paper Session: A Transatlantic Comparative View on Local Policies towards Migrants (1:20 – 3:00 pm in Tufts, Marriott, Third Floor) "Nowadays, you have to know a lot about Religion": The constitution of the "Muslim Migrant" in local integration policies in Germany Author(s): Jan Winkler* - Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Georg Glasze - Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Abstract: The paper analyzes forms and dynamics of local political attempts to make "Muslim" communities - often conceived as migrant milieus - understandable, processable and governable. Since the 2000's the categories "Muslims" and "Islam" have increasingly been employed to understand and govern integration processes, while different forms of a dialogue with "Islam" have been institutionalized. These policies are often articulating "Muslims" as "migrants" and "migrants" as "Muslim", an identity-political pattern that - with all its pitfalls – is currently re-installed within the debates about refugee-integration in Europe. Based on qualitative studies on "Islam-related" policies in 52 German major cities and on ethnographic fieldwork in one city the paper illustrates how new governmental technologies are employed at local level, aiming at the integration of "Muslim-migrant" communities into local society. The paper discusses similarities and differences between national forms of "dialogue-oriented" policies – e.g. the German-Islam-Conference – and local techniques, which sometimes reject national strategies in favor of a decidedly trust-based approach to "Muslim" communities. Here, the paper illustrates how the practice of Interfaith-Dialogue is increasingly integrated in different strands of local politics. This approach profiles itself by its promise to practice a pragmatic and localized involvement of "Muslims" (and supposedly "Muslim" refugees) that is - in difference to media and political debates - based on notions of "trust" and "eye-level". This also points to a broader discourse on religious identities as well as to the emergence of local "expert-discourses" about the importance of being religiously sensitive for governing the "hyper-diverse", post-migrant city. Keywords: Integration policies, local policis, Islam and Muslims in Europe, Interfaith Dialogue, Gouvernementality


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Paper Session: Symposium on Human Dynamics in Smart and Connected Communities: Spatial Humanity in the Digital Era I (3:20 – 5:00 pm in Simmons, Marriott, Third Floor) Socio-cultural analysis using historical GIS databases: case studies from Putian, China and Singapore Author(s): Kenneth Dean* - NUS, Ick-Hoi Kim - NUS Geography Abstract: This paper outlines the contributions and new insights into regional socio-cultural history obtained through the development of two historical GIS with relational databases. Patterns of the distribution of cultural/religious features generated in the analysis of an evolving irrigation system in an alluvial plain adjoining the city of Putian in Fujian China revealed the close interaction between ecological and socio-cultural factors in the evolution of a complex hierarchy of ritual alliances with higher-order temples regulating sections of several inter-connected irrigation systems from 1500 to the 1950s. The second case uses the Singapore Historical GIS (SHGIS) developed by the NUS Geography Department to explore the forced movements of over 1000 Chinese temples, native-place and clan associations over the course of the rapid urban development of Singapore (1950-2016). Rapid and large-scale urban planning and re-zoning explains patterns of movement and clustering of temples and associations in specific sections of the city, while research into the survival of temple communities looks into whether GIS can be used to measure community resilience. Keywords: Historical GIS, Chinese, religion


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SUNDAY, APRIL 9 Paper Session: Geographies of Islamophobia (8:00 – 9:40 am, Nantucket, Marriott, Fourth Floor) Islamophobia and the spatial mobility of American Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area Author(s): Rhonda Itaoui* - Western Sydney University Abstract: Informed by contemporary debates in human geography on the socio-spatial effects of 'new racism', this paper encourages an interrogation of how Islamophobia impacts the way young Muslims navigate everyday public spaces in 'Western' cities. Through an interdisciplinary critical race/geographical lens, the findings of web-based surveys/in-depth interviews from a 2016 case study with young Muslims aged 18-30 years living in the San Francisco Bay Area are analysed. Survey data suggests that there is a 'geography' to the way Islamophobic spaces are distributed across the Bay Area, which is rationalised by interviewee 'mental maps' of perceived racism (Itaoui, 2016). Interview data suggests that previous experiences of Islamophobia influence how young Muslims not only perceive these suburbs, but also 'regulate' how young Muslims access these spaces. Drawing on the empirical accounts of (un)belonging in the Bay Area, this paper uncovers the reflexive socio-spatial implications of Islamophobia. Indeed, 'outgroup' constructions not only produce experiences of racism and feelings of alienation, but also result in the spatial exclusion, and 'motility' of young Muslims navigating social spaces across their cities. Keywords: Islamophobia, Racism, Mobility, Religion, Racial Geographies Spaces and Intersectionality of Islamophobia in the Greater Paris and Greater London regions Author(s): Kawtar Najib* - Newcastle University Abstract: This paper explores and compares the socio-spatial effects of Islamophobia in two important European capital cities. My research focuses on different spaces and types of discrimination against Muslim populations or people who are perceived as Muslim in the Greater Paris and Greater London regions, and it is part of a postdoctoral research project about Spaces of Anti-Muslim Acts (SAMA). In this paper and through the main associations fighting against hate crimes, a quantitative analysis of the geographical spaces of Islamophobia is presented, while highlighting the intersectionality of the phenomenon. First, producing a cartography of anti-Muslim discrimination according to where the hate crime incident occurred allows us to identify different places and spaces between these two cities. Indeed, the maps not only highlight particular places such as public areas, transport networks or public institutions, but they also describe specific logics of spatial organisation, such as centre-periphery urban model or pockets of segregation referring to sensitive urban areas. Second, adopting an intersectional approach allows us to demonstrate that discrimination resulting from Islamophobia can hide other types of discrimination related to gender, race, age or class. Thus, the typical profile of the victim has been highlighted (mostly women wearing a headscarf), as well as that of the discriminator who can refer to different characteristics in both countries. Finally this France / United Kingdom comparison is relevant because each of the two countries has their own context specificities and their own socio-political evolutionary


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trends. Keywords: Socio-spatial effects, Islamophobia, Spaces, Intersectionality, European capitals American Muslim Youth in Milwaukee, USA: Everyday Experiences of Belonging and Discrimination Author(s): Anna Mansson McGinty* - University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Abstract: Drawing on in-depth interviews with American Muslim youth with focus on everyday lives and belonging in the American Midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this paper discusses the concrete everyday experiences of belonging and discrimination. Before elaborating on these experiences, I will critically reflect on two concepts, both quite significant in our work on "geographies of Islamophobia." Firstly, I would like to pay analytical attention to what we as scholars, sometimes hastily, refer to as "everyday lives," and why this focus is important when looking at Muslims' experiences. Secondly, I discuss why I use the term "Islamophobia" with caution since it has become quite a broad concept encompassing different scales, referencing everything from systemic racism, perpetuated by state rhetoric and media representations, to everyday experiences of discrimination. Scholars have recently called for more empirical evidence for the claim that Islamophobia and increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric have a direct impact on Muslims' sense of non-belonging and alienation (Dunn 2016), as well as pointed to the danger of using Islamophobia as an inevitable and automatic backdrop when studying Muslim lives (Mansson McGinty 2015). Interestingly, Muslim youth's narratives about their lives in Milwaukee reflect acute awareness and sensitivity to anti-Muslim discourses but less direct personal experiences of such in their day-to-day lives. This highlights the importance of more research exploring the shifting dynamics of anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiments on different scales and in different national and social contexts as well as the relationship between discourses and everyday experiences. Keywords: American Muslims, Islamophobia, everyday lives, belonging, Muslim identities Paper Session: Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights I: Sanctuary Practices (8:00 – 9:40 am in Orleans, Marriott, Fourth Floor) The Ordinary and Extraordinary: Producing Migrant Inclusion and Exclusion in US Sanctuary Movements Author(s): Serin Houston* - Mount Holyoke College, Charlotte Morse - Mount Holyoke College Abstract: This article analyzes the Sanctuary Movement for Central Americans and the New Sanctuary Movement, two United States faith-based social movements, to think through the ways in which these pro-immigrant efforts paradoxically render migrants figuratively mute and often excluded from conceptualizations of the nation and its inhabitants even as they advocate for legal inclusion. We examine this tension of inclusion and exclusion through the frequent representation of migrants' histories and Christianity as extraordinary in the Sanctuary Movement for Central Americans, and migrants' lives as ordinary in the New Sanctuary Movement. We identify two key processes by which this framing of migrants as extraordinary or ordinary limits the enactment of full social, political, and economic inclusion: (a) public support is principally granted to certain stories, religions, identities, and experiences; and (b) migrants are consistently positioned, and often celebrated, by sanctuary activists as "others." The discourses of migrants as extraordinary or ordinary effectively generate broad involvement of faith communities in sanctuary work. Yet, as we argue, this framing comes with the cost


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of limiting activist support only to particular groups of migrants, flattening the performances of migrant identities, and positioning migrants as perpetually exterior to the US. Reliance on discourses of the extraordinary and ordinary, therefore, can truncate opportunities for making legible a range of migration experiences and extending belonging to all migrants, outcomes that arise in contrast to the purported inclusionary goals of the faith-based sanctuary social movements. Keywords: sanctuary; migration; religion; social movements; United States Paper Session: Geographies of Islamophobia (10:00 – 1:40 am, Nantucket, Marriott, Fourth Floor) Is 'parallel society' bad for integration? Author(s): Anne Ranek* - Roskilde University and University of Arizona Abstract: With increased Islamophobia, mistrust of Danish Muslim minorities, has partially been focused on private schools with large Muslim populations. The argument supporting intensified oversight and regulation of these schools hinges on the narrative that these schools foster a parallel society and radicalism. The argument claims that students are not able to fully integrate into society or completely understand what it means to be a 'democratic citizen.' This research comes out of a year of fieldwork at a private high school founded by Turkish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark. While the phrase 'parallel society' has increasingly become a buzzword meant to critique Muslim minorities for a lack of interest in the broader society, I argue that growing up in a parallel society can in some instances be good for integration. In this paper, I draw from the narratives of parents and high school and university students to discuss not only why some parents choose private instead of public schools for their children but also how students' subject positions are influenced by their schooling. By drawing on Sara Ahmed's (2000) theory of 'the stranger' and the analytical approach of intersectionality (Crenshaw 1991), I discuss how encounters can reconstitute the subject and also recognize who is seen as 'out of place.' These encounters often shape parents decision to have their children in a private school, allowing them to grow up as a majority. Keywords: Intersectionality, Europe, anti-Muslim, Islamophobia, Youth The "principle of neutrality" in Quebec and French laïcité debates and laws: The employment of veiled Muslim women Author(s): Carmen Teeple Hopkins* - York University Abstract: French jurisprudence and law prevents public sector employees from wearing religious symbols and dress and in Quebec in 2013, the provincial government failed to pass bill 60 that would ban certain religious symbols and dress within public sector workplaces. This law and proposed bill are based on particular interpretations of laïcité, the principle of separation between religion and the state. The common thread between the French law and proposed Quebec bill is that they are justified on the grounds of neutrality. Indeed, post-9/11 government


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legislation on laïcité uses the term, neutrality, to implicitly refer to religious dress and symbols that target Muslim women who wear the veil. This paper argues that the principle of neutrality is an abstraction that masks the gendered, racialized and classed urban labour-market exclusions that result from these laws and debates. Divided into three parts, the paper begins with a theoretical framework that contributes a lens of religion to an antiracist feminist Marxist approach to consider the position of veiled Muslim women in the Quebec and French labour markets. Second, the paper briefly considers the socio-spatial marginality of Muslim women through their migration patterns to Quebec and France and their high rates of precarious employment and unemployment. Finally, the paper examines the French principle of neutrality that bans religious symbols from public sector work and the failed attempt of bill 60 in Quebec demonstrate how the principle of neutrality weakens the position of veiled Muslim women in the labour market. Keywords: secularism, labour, veil, Muslim women, Quebec, France, law Islamaphobia. A spatially appropriate concept for the times Author(s): Kevin Mark Dunn* - Western Sydney University, Ana-Maria Bliuc - Western Sydney University, Katie Blair - Western Sydney University Abstract: A nationwide survey of Australians undertaken in 2015 and 2016 (n:6000) reveals the worsening levels of Islamaphobia in Australia. Never before has the Runnymede Trust's concept of Islamaphobia been more apt. A national fear has been constructed, of a Muslim other that is a cultural and civil threat. Our survey, and others, reveal the extent of this national calamity. Online surveys, with their dis-inhibited moderation of social desirability, are revealing the full extent of the public fears. Shocking levels of community support for overtly discriminatory immigration policies are reported in this paper, as well as the community support for overtly discriminatory development assessment. Organised racist groups, and right wing political parties, are using Islamaphobia with strong effect. Local anti-mosque politics, and the immanent politics against halal certification, are operationalisating national level discourses. These political movements are crystalising their community building and social identity around anti-Muslim sentiment. This is targeted at a minority group that is less than three per cent of the population, and with racist effect. National level anti-racism against these political forces is muted. Anti-Islamaphobic politics need to be similarly local, and needs a set of values that generate community and a desirable social identity. Returning to the concept itself can remind us of the values and spirit that may best confront these fearful politics. Keywords: Islamaphobia, racism, Islam, Australia Paper Session: Geography and the Jewish Question (10:00 am – 11:40 am in Berkeley, Marriott, Third Floor) Jewish Migration, Intermarriage, and Communal Integration Author(s): Bruce Phillips, Hebrew Union College Abstract: Observers of American Jewry have long argued that both intermarried Jews and inter-state Jewish migrants have weaker communal ties than in-married Jews and non-migrants. If migrants and intermarried Jews both have weaker communal ties, then it stands to reason that intermarried Jews would be more likely to migrate than in-married Jews. I use two national studies (National Jewish Population Survey 2000-2001 and Pew


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Profile of Jewish Americans, 2013) to test (1) whether migrants have weaker Jewish communal attachments than non-migrants and (2) whether in-married Jews are more likely to be migrants than in-married Jews. A corollary to the first two propositions is Jewish communities that have experienced rapid growth should be less cohesive than older, more stable communities both because migrants have weaker communal attachments and because growth communities do not have the infrastructure to absorb and engage new migrants into Jewish communal life. Using eight local studies I examine impact of Jewish population size and Jewish population growth on the integration of both in-married and intermarried Jews. Keywords: American Jews, Intermarriage, migration, ethnic identification What’s so Jewish about Jewish Geography? A Critical Appraisal of the ‘New’ Spatial Turn in Jewish Studies Author(s): Matthew Rosenblum, University of Kentucky Abstract: This paper surveys a great deal of the representative work on space and place in Jewish Studies arguing that what connects these various projects is their understanding of space as a dynamic process, on the one hand, and their unfortunate inability to apply that insight to the identity of the Jewish subjects who inhabit those spaces, on the other. Against this understanding of Jewish identity and Jewish research, this paper further develops a critical approach to Jewishness developed by Schreier (2015) which is based on resisting the identitarian impulse of cultural studies -Jewish and otherwise- and instead posing Jewishness as a problem for thought; against "representational discourse[s]" which attempt "to construct a model that adequately represents such things as 'identity,'" this paper defends a "nonrepresentational discourse" which "by contrast, treats language not in terms of what it signifies, represents, or means but in terms of what it does" (Silberstein 2000; 8). The third section continues to develop this theoretical framework by focusing specifically on the ways in which the eruv –a common fixture of Jewish urban life- has been described by scholars in Jewish Studies, and offers as a contrary, but instructive, example, the fictional depiction of an eruv in Michael Chabon's book, The Yiddish Policeman's Union (2007). The paper concludes with a call for a greater interdisciplinary relationship between geography and Jewish Studies. Keywords: Jewish studies, Jewish identity, spatial turn A Community in Transition: A Demographic Shift in the Jewish Population of Broward County Author(s): Ira Sheskin, University of Miami Abstract: Between 1997 and 2016, the Jewish population of Broward County (FL) decreased by 94,000 from 243,000 to 149,000. In 1997, 21% of Broward households were Jewish. By 2016, only 10% were. These changes were accompanied by a major shift in the composition of that population. The percentage of foreign born adults increased from 15% to 19%. The percentage of households from the former Soviet Union increased from 0.2% to 2.2%. Hispanic Jewish adults increased from 3,600 to 13,200. The number of Israelis increased from 4,400 to 13,600. The percentage of households who are snowbirds decreased from 12% in 1997 to 4% in 2016. The percentage in residence in the County for 20 or more years doubled from 31% to 63%.


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The percentage of the population age 65 and over decreased from 46% to 27%. The number of persons age 75 and over decreased from 77,000 to 23,000 leading to an increase in household size from 2.02 to 2.42 persons. A finding with major implications is that in 1997, 40% of adults under age 35 were married. In 2016, only 14% are. Measures of Jewish identity remained strong despite the significant change in demographics. Measures of home religious practice and synagogue attendance remained about the same. Intermarriage, as might be expected, increased but the couples intermarriage rate of 23% is still one of the lowest in the country. This paper discusses these and other changes and their implications for the future of the American Jewish community. Keywords: Jews, demography, Broward County Competition or Cooperation? Jewish Day Schools, Synagogues, and the (Re)construction of Young People’s Jewish Identities in England Author(s): Maxim George Morris Samson - University of Leeds Abstract: This paper examines the dynamic relationship between Jewish day schools and synagogues in England, with particular attention to the increasing competition between these institutions to shape young Jewish people's identities. Diasporic synagogues have historically provided a number of educational and social functions, often as a means of preparing individuals for synagogue worship, but also broader community involvement. However, the growing popularity of state-funded Jewish schools necessitates an intensive analysis of these institutions' changing roles and their implications for constructions and performances of Jewishness. To this end, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with various stakeholders, including rabbis representing a range of mainstream denominational affiliations, and parents and pupils at a pluralist Jewish secondary school. Rather than inspiring greater participation in synagogue communities, the research found that Jewish schools are widely perceived to be co-opting many of the educational and social functions traditionally held by synagogues, and often constitute alternative spaces for young people's negotiation of Jewishness. The research also revealed a discrepancy in understandings of Jewish identity between parents - as a largely reified, descent-based sense of collective attachment that can be attained through Jewish schooling - and rabbis, who viewed it as an individually-meaningful process developed via regular practices in various spaces, including the synagogue and home. Consequently, the research contributes to understandings of the ways in which young people (re)produce and negotiate their Jewishness across different spaces, and illustrates the challenges for Jewish community leaders in ensuring that Jewish schools and synagogues cooperate rather than compete. Keywords: Jewish, identity, social and cultural geography, education, faith schools


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Paper Session: Sexual(ities that) Progress? (10:00 am – 11:40 am in Columbus, Marriott, First Floor) Teaching sex ed in Ontario: parental rights, discrimination and opposing the LGBT 'agenda.' Author(s): Catherine Jean Nash* - Brock University, Kath Browne* - University of Brighton, Andrew Gorman-Murray - Western Sydney University Abstract: With the recent success of same sex marriage initiatives in Canada, Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and the United States, it seems only a matter of time until most countries in the global north follow suit. Nevertheless, in Canada, the Ontario liberal government's updated sex education curriculum has prompted an aggressive backlash by various religious/conservative factions. As argued elsewhere, objections to same sex marriage centre on the sanctity of the heterosexual family for the good of society and to model gender appropriate roles. By contrast, objections to the curriculum mark an important shift in the framing of oppositional discourses and we explore three main arguments. First, opponents claim that the curriculum promotes a radical gender ideology that will create 'gender confusion' in youth. Second, the curriculum's content is regarded as an unacceptable breach of parental rights to teach family values within their religious/cultural norms. Finally, opponents claim these interventions mark the indoctrination of children in a manner equated with the treatment of aboriginals in Canada's residential schools - a claim that suggests the curriculum will symbolically sever children from their religious/cultural heritage in a manner similar to the forced removal of indigenous children. These resistive strategies signal a move away from direct criticism of LGBT people and their families and towards claims to a minority status requiring protections for religious and parental rights. This paper discusses these oppositional narratives within local cultural and historical contexts as a prelude to discussions marking broader transnational circulations. Keywords: LGBT, queer, sex ed., parental rights, freedom of religion, First Nations Paper Session: Tourism, Transit, and Patterns of In-Out Migration (2:00 – 3:40 pm in Room 304, Hynes, Third Level) Espiritismo: The fusion of cultures and ideas Author(s): Christopher McCurley* - LSU Abstract: Throughout history there are many documents that observe the role that mobility has on the influences and transformation of ideas and cultural idealities. In particular, mobility as a theory can be utilized to examine the restructures of concepts associated with Latin American and Caribbean identity, such as folk healing and traditional medical practices. By using the practice and belief of Espiritismo within Puerto Rico as a case study, this research comprehensively evaluates the nature of spirit healing within several key domains that have shaped the social and cultural understand of this healing practice. Moreover, Puerto Rico attributes its ties to folk healing practices and cultural identity to the occupation of Spaniards, Africans, and Indians, where the blending of medicine, philosophy, religion, and folk healing have emerged into a cultural phenomenon. Espiritismo, a folk healing practice, has been utilized among economically disadvantaged individuals to resolve everyday and serious illnesses—that would otherwise not have means to afford alternative care. As a result, the origins of


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this healing therapy has great implications to the historical context of social and cultural studies in Puerto Rico. Keywords: Espiritismo, Mobility, Puerto Rico, Cultural Identity Paper Session: Modernity, Space and Gender 2 (3:20 – 5:00 pm in Beacon D, Sheraton, Third Floor) Appropriating the Masculine Sacred: Islamism, Gender and Mosque Architecture in Contemporary Turkey Author(s): Bülent Batuman* - Bilkent University Abstract: The religious duties of sexes differ in Islam, which most importantly marks the public appearance of the men and the women. While men are required to perform Friday and Eid prayers in the mosque with the congregation, women are not. This has historically led to the formation of the mosque as a masculine space, where the main prayer hall is used by men and a separate women's section is designed as a secondary component. The 1990s witnessed a global tide in women's demand for equal space in the mosque, contesting the gendered conventions. In Turkey, this tide coincided with the rise of the Islamist Justice and Development Party to power in 2002. After this, women came to the foreground not only as users, but also designers of mosque space in these discussions. In this chapter, I will analyze two recent mosques built in Ankara and Istanbul, both of which embody significance in terms of long-lasting tension between modernity and tradition in mosque architecture. Interestingly, both of these mosques were originally designed by male architects but were 'appropriated' by female interior designers throughout the construction process. Keywords: architecture, gender, Islam, mosque Paper Session: Taste in Food Politics and Ecology (4:00 pm – 5:40 pm in Yarmouth, Marriott, Fourth Floor) "I am not a yoghurt making mom:" Women's definitions of healthy, tasty and genetically engineered food in a Muslim majority country Author(s): Nurcan Atalan-Helicke* - Skidmore College Abstract: There is a growing scholarly interest in the gendered nature of shopping, preparation and consumption of food, in connection to feeding the family, a responsibility that is disproportionally assumed by the women. Scholars discuss how moral considerations, and the quest for healthy food complicate the already complex decision-making process, where consumers have to consider factors such as affordability, quality, religious appropriateness and convenience. This paper aims to establish broader connections between the concerns of the consumers in the North and the South, and argues that there exist more similarities between the desires and concerns of the consumers, who seek slow food, organic food and halal food (proper to consume according to Islamic law). Studies about the concerns of Muslim consumers both in global South, and the global North are comparatively new. The paper examines the case study of Turkey, where both Muslim and secular civil society organizations have assigned mothers the role to choose "the right food," non-genetically engineered food, to feed their children. Based on the findings of nine-focus groups carried out with women during summer 2015, the paper argues that women do not trust the food system, the state or the markets about access to clean and


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healthy food regardless of their income and education. Their level of information about genetically engineered food is low, and affordability of both organic food and halal food is a concern. The paper contributes to our understanding of food choices in a non-Western context.

MINUTES OF GORABS BUSINESS MEETING FOR 2016

The annual business meeting of the Geography of Religions and Belief Systems (GORABS) specialty group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) was held in Metropolitan B, 2nd Floor, at The JW

Marriott Hotel, San Francisco, California., Wednesday, 30th March, 2016, commencing at 7pm.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Present: Justin Tse (JT), chair; David Rutherford (DR), treasurer; David J. Butler (DJB), secretary; Darryl McDonald (DMD), past chair;; Vincent Artman (VA), graduate student representative; Tom C (TC); Richard Dodge (RD) and Jason van Horn (JVH).

I. Welcome and Apologies

The meeting was called to order by outgoing chair, JT, who welcomed the attendance at the annual business meeting, and invited any apologies to be registered. Three were received, namely, Ed Davis (ED); Michael P. Ferber (MPF), past chairs, who were not at this year’s AAG. Also Stanley H. Brunn.

Copies of last year’s minutes, as well as the 2016 business meeting agenda, having been provided by JT and DJB, were circulated amongst the attendance for consideration during the meeting. JT then called upon the attendance to introduce themselves; this done, the floor was then opened for the discussion of issues pertinent to GORABS. The minutes of the 2015 GORABS business meeting were then passed – proposed by X and seconded by Y.

II. The David E. Sopher New Scholar Award

As this year’s winner was present, and was under considerable time constraints for a return flight home, this item was moved up the agenda to second position. Our outgoing graduate student representative, Vincent Artman, who will shortly defend his doctoral thesis, was presented with his certificate and check by JT, to the applause of those present.

III. Election of Officers

It being a biennial year, the election of the principal officers was the next item on the agenda. The first vacancy – that of Secretary – will be filled by our outgoing graduate student representative, VA, who has completed his two years. He was proposed by JT, seconded by TC and passed unanimously. The minutes of this meeting would be drawn up by outgoing secretary, DJB. As JT would be progressing to the position of immediate past chair, which position he will automatically occupy for two years (2016-18), in accordance with the GORABS by-laws, the secretary and outgoing immediate past chair, DJB, was declared re-elected chair of GORABS for the period 2016-18; proposed by DR and seconded by VA. He duly accepted the position.


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The GORABS officers requested that David Rutherford continue as Treasurer for another year, to which he was perfectly agreeable. As DMD, TC, RD and MPF are mid-term in their GORABS service as ordinary board members, the filling of these positions does not arise until our 2017 Business Meeting. It was moved by DMD, seconded by DR, that Ed Davis (ED) and Jason Van Horn (JVH) be added to the GORABS Board. Passed unanimously. It was agreed to search out a suitable graduate student representative from among our academic connections, who would be most likely at AAG 2017 in Boston and further afield, and who would interact electronically meantime.

IV. The Robert H. Stoddard Senior Scholar Award

Owing to our having to change the date/time/location of our GORABS annual board meeting at short notice, Professor Stanley H. Brunn was unable to be with us. However, our outgoing chair, JT, would present him his award before a considerable audience, prior to the commencement of China Geographies (joint with GORABS) keynote lecture. It was decided by the Board that Stanley Brunn would hold The Stoddard Award until such time as a successor is appointed to the position; such that opportunities for GORABS-Brunn cooperation could commence at AAG 2017 Boston, and continue for perhaps a few conferences. The recent Brunn magnum opus, The World Religion Map, should feature with an ‘Author meets the Critics’ session, or sessions, at Boston next April and, indeed, we should liaise with Stan as to ideas he himself may offer GORABS for consideration in 2017 and subsequently.

V. Financial Report for the year 2015-16

The financial report of our treasurer, DR, reported a $3,150 balance in our account; funds are now, in common with all other AAG specialty groups, held with the AAG. We were the last speciality group not to do so, with our account held through Karol Prorock’s auspices as a former GORABS treasurer, which was the best way in an era when AAG burocracy was less manageable. It has now much improved, such that this development is the preferred methodology. It also turned out we have $120 more on account than we thought we had! Current expenditure runs at from two to three potentially annual awards of $250 each, namely, The GORABS Lectureship (annual); The Sopher Junior Scholar Award (annual); and, The Stoddard Senior Scholar Award (occasional). Our last AAG dues cheque amounted to $328, which would appear to be our annual income. In opening the accounts discussion, JT acknowledged we need to increase our membership, so as to be able to maintain our awards in a sustainable way. TC suggested, in light of our still considerable savings, that we make more junior scholar awards, conditional on membership, which could increase dues and GORABS interest. JT said Sopher Award already covers this sufficiently. JVH added his support to the TC strategy, even if adaptation was required. TC further emphasized that the Regional Geographer specialty group is doing this, with considerable success. DJB supported this initiative, as it would cost GORABS nothing (unless something of quality submitted) yet increase our profile. After considerable and lengthy discussion, it was decided to establish a funding pool for paper session organization by graduate students, proposed by TC, seconded by RD and passed. The award, which could not be retrospective to take account of the 2016 conference, would be called ‘The Wilbur Zelinsky Award’, to


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incentivize early career graduate students and would be condition on their first taking out GORABS student membership, following which they would submit a paper proposal in response to the advertisement in connection with the initial call for papers for AAG2017 at Boston, MA. DJB suggested, rather than several $75 dollar awards, that a single $100 dollar award, rather than several students or session groups sharing the annual Award and that it be awarded the best session organizer(s) and advertised on our Facebook page, Website, AAG Communities and in our own academic networks and circles. Applicants, having taken out GOARBS student membership, would apply to us in accordance with the general AAG session deadline or extended deadline; we would then have Oscar Larson edit the session electronically and for print format as The Wilbur Zelinsky Award Session. Passed unanimously. The Treasurer went on to gratefully acknowledge the donation solicitation successfully deployed by DMD from his College Dean and which has resulted in The GORABS Annual Lectureship 2016 cost of $250 being entirely covered, at no cost to GORABS, for which our grateful thanks. In closing his report, DR noted the significance of the AAG Enrichment Fund, which waives AAG dues such that we are now being actively encouraged to have non-geographers speak to us as Annual Lecturer. JT and DJB both mused how much has changed for the better, since the challenges they faced in having Professor Anne Taves at AAG2013 in LA. It was agreed that we would continue to exploit this avenue to the best for GORABS.

VI. GORABS website

The website is now WordPress, a development undertaken by JT during the past year (since AAG 2015), to be followed by the migration of the old website shortly, maintaining all of its content (which JT has copied recently). Any board member will be able to update the website, with login and password to be supplied us by JT – the GORABS Facebook page will be treated the same, so that we can coordinate all together and post items of interest. We are currently transitioning and JT was thanked for his role here, by those in attendance. Our new website address is aaggorabs.wordpress.com which entitles us to free web hosting. JT has just recently downloaded all past newsletters and will work on the remainder of the website shortly.

VII. AAG 2016 Conference Report

In Summer 2016, the semi-annual GORABS newsletter will issue, following the conference. It was not possible to issue one before the conference this year, owing to several last minute logistical changes in our GORABS itinerary, which would have swiftly rendered it null and void. TC is to forward photographs for use in the newsletter and website to JT. JT has taken notes from the GORABS Annual Lecture, from which he will do up a report. DJB will have the minutes for the newsletter and/or website. We should all search out material for website and newsletter – particularly new bibliography material of use to researchers. We were very lucky this year with being able to change the timing/date/location of our business meeting to immediately after our annual lecture, although the short turnaround in so doing definitely affected attendance. We should seek a report on every paper session from a participant (incoming secretary and chair to seek these) to add to our online and newsletter compilations.


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As agreed since 2010, our post-conference newsletter should include a list of all sessions and a summary of the papers delivered at the annual conference, together with anything of GORABS interest.

VIII. The Third Annual GORABS Lecture

Our Annual Lecture (Session 2684) this year was given by Dr Katharyne Mitchell (University of Washington) on Sanctuary and Refugees in Europe. The original program had this lecture in a Thursday slot, but we subsequently had it changed to Wednesday, 5:20 PM – 7 PM in Metropolitan B, JW Marriott Hotel, 2nd Floor – just prior to this business meeting! JT had circulated widely about the less than ideal change required, which possibly affected attendance. JT has taken notes from this year’s annual lecturer, which he will supply us in due course for the newsletter. He went on to suggest Minal Matau of Toronto as a potential 2017 annual lecturer. That speaker could address Mixed Race Bodies – Religion and the Public Sphere, which could be of wider interest. David Livingstone could also be asked one more time, as we have not tried in a few years, just to see. Harriet Haskins (UK) is another possibility.

IX. Joint Keynote Address and/or Annual Field Excursion This year (tomorrow, Thursday), there is a Joint Keynote Session held by the China Geography Specialty Group and GORABS that will be delivered by Dr Fenggang Yang (Purdue) on Mapping Chinese Spiritual Capital and Religious Markets. This will be held from 11:50 AM – 1:10 PM in Imperial B, Hilton Hotel, Ballroom Level. JT proposed, following this successful connection, to continue this initiative in 2017, potentially with Political Geographies specialty group. Talal Asad would be a great speaker. Another possibility would be with the Ethics, Justice and Human Rights group; which would be very useful. Last year, in Chicago, we had a GORABS-sponsored Field Excursion, courtesy of RD – the first in years. This year, we have involvement with the China Geographies walk in ChinaTown. We could potentially link to another group for AAG 2017 in Boston and it was agreed to further look into this, being a city with much GORABS potential. X. Any Other Business

JVH asked about the status of the GORABS online journal; JT explained we had ceased it, to be replaced by a quarterly e-bulletin (which had not yet been commenced!). This was still a potential, subject to us all getting news items out there and would help populate our website and increase Facebook traffic and, potentially, membership. On these, and all other matters, the committee will liaise electronically in the coming weeks. There being no further business, the 2016 Annual GORABS Business Meeting closed at 9p.m.

………………………………...…………..…. Chair


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………………………………………………. Secretary

spring 2017 gorabs newsletter volume 39 number 1tse, and david butler. ***** finally, please join us...

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