Fantastic Religions and Where to Find Them
Deities, Myths and Rites in Science Fiction and Fantasy
July 2-6, 2019
Velletri (Rome)
The conference purports to be an occasion for an interdisciplinary discussion about the representation of religions in Fantasy and Science Fiction literary production and in any possible artistic manifestation connected to the two genres.
The themes the conference intends to tackle are the following:
- Representation of “historical” religions. Why does an author represent them in a particular way? What is their relationship with the historical context the author belongs to?
- Construction of “made-up” religions. What elements characterise religions invented by individual authors? According to what motivations does an author outline their features? Are their characterising elements taken from “historical” religions? According to what aims and modalities?
- Representation of deities and other extra-human beings present in “historical” religions. How and why does an author portray a deity or another extra-human being according to a specific image? What is their relationship with the author’s historical and cultural context?
- Representation of deities and other extra-human beings in “made-up” religions. What are their features? How and why does an author build a deity or another extra-human being by determinating its peculiar traits? What is their relationship with the beliefs present in “historical” religions and the historical and cultural context the author belongs to?
- Representation of myths and sacred tales present in “historical” religions. According to what modalities and motivations are they reported?
- Representation of myths and sacred tales present in “made-up” religions. How does an individual author build a myth or a sacred tale of the world he or she created? What features qualify it as such? Are these taken from myths and sacred tales present in “historical” religions? What is their relationship with the author’s historical and cultural context?
- Representation of rites present in “historical” religions. According to what modalities and motivations are they reported?
- Representation of rites present in “made-up” religions. How does an individual author outline a rite of the religion they created? Is there a relationship with rites present in “historical” religions?
- The impact of Fantasy and Science Fiction production in society in relation to religious beliefs. Did some of the works belonging to these genres concretely influence and condition contemporary religious life?
Scientific committee: Roberto Arduini (Associazione Italiana Studi Tolkieniani), Igor Baglioni (Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”), Ada Barbaro (Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”), Tommaso Braccini (Università degli Studi di Torino), Elisabetta Marino (Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”), Francesca Roversi Monaco (Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna).
Administration: Igor Baglioni (Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni”).
The scholars who would like to contribute may send a one-page abstract (max 2.000 characters) to Igor Baglioni, the director of the museum, ([email protected]) by April 20, 2019.
Attached to the abstract should be: the title of the paper; a short biography of the authors; email address and phone number.
Papers may be written and presented in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
The acceptance of papers will be communicated (by email) only to the selected contributors by 2019, April 30.
Please send the complete paper by email not later than June 20. The delivery of the paper is required to participate in the conference.
Important deadlines:
Closing of call for papers: April 20th, 2019.
Notification about acceptance: April 30th, 2019.
Delivery of papers: June 20th, 2019.
Conference: July 2-3-4-5-6th, 2019
There is no attendance fee. The participants who don’t live in Rome or surroundings will be accommodated in hotels and bed-and-breakfasts which have an agreement with the Museum of Religions “Raffaele Pettazzoni” to offer discounted prices.
Papers may be published on Religio. Collana di Studi del Museo delle Religioni “Raffaele Pettazzoni” (Edizioni Quasar), and in specialized journals. All the papers will be peer-reviewed.
In the evenings there will be free-of-charge visits to the museums and monuments of Ariccia, Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, Nemi, Rocca Priora. The excursion programme will be presented at the same time as the conference programme.
Info
Email: [email protected]
Call for papers (versione italiana):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11yeZtwy5s5sBnzykbmveL7Sd3Ey1_CjC/view?usp=sharing
Call for papers (english version):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/131McieWoyKv32tfnIbZzZm5Sr33AnDFQ/view?usp=sharing
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