Announcement: Religion and Rape Culture Conference

As you may be aware, our friends over at the Shiloh project have recently released a cfp for their Religion and Rape Culture conference taking place at the University of Sheffield on 6 July 2018. They are seeking submissions of abstracts (presentations and research posters) for a one-day interdisciplinary conference exploring and showcasing research into the phenomenon of religion and rape culture, both throughout history and within contemporary societies across the globe. This event is supported by WRoCAH and AHRC.

(Poster for the 1968 film Rosemary's Baby)

Following the success of our own Gothic Bible conference, we know that this event will be of interest to the Gothic community, and especially those interested in or research Religion and rape culture in Gothic or Horror. Sheffield Gothic will be helping out with the event, and we encourage those of you who are interested to submit an abstract or come along on the day!

We would also like to draw your attention to one of the brilliant keynotes, Professor Rhiannon Graybill (Rhodes College), whose work will definitely be of interest to Gothicists, and especially those interested in or researching the Gothic and/or Horror and religion. Some of her notable works include:

• “Yahweh as Maternal Vampire in Second Isaiah: Reading Gender and Prophecy with Luce Irigaray.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring 2017).
• Why is the Bible so much like a horror movie?
• "Day of the Woman"?: Sexual Violence and Feminist Horror in Judges 4-5

The Shiloh Project specialises in the field of Biblical Studies, but the conference organisers also strongly encourage proposals relating to rape culture alongside other religious traditions, and issues relating to rape culture more broadly.

This conference will take place at The University of Sheffield on 6th July, 2018. It is open to researchers at any level, and from any discipline and proposals from students, organisations and community groups outside of HE are welcome. Submissions of abstracts no more than 300 words long and a short author bio no later than 29th March, 2018. Please indicate whether your submission is for a research poster or a presentation. The organisers particularly welcome abstracts on the following topics:

• Gender violence and the Bible
• Gender, class and rape culture
• Race and rape culture
• Visual representations of biblical gender violence
• Representations of rape culture in the media and popular culture
• Teaching traumatic texts
• Methods of reading for resistance and/or liberation
• Sexual violence in schools and Higher Education
• Religion, rape culture and the gothic/horror genre
• Spiritualities and transphobia



(Image depicting the rape scene from TheMonk)

• Familial relations and the Bible

For more information, or to submit an abstract, email shiloh@sheffield.ac.uk

Registration for the event is free, and you can register here.

You can also visit The Shiloh Project blog here.

@ProjShiloh