BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.5.8//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news5223@zasb.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260518T135919 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260618T000000 SUMMARY:Authors’ workshop: "Spirit matters: Exploring histories of spirit s and things" DESCRIPTION:This workshop explores the spiritual as a historical dimension. Modern historiography has rethought historical agency\, yet spiritual age ncy has proven more difficult to incorporate. Much political\, social\, an d environmental history operates with a broadly secular framework: the spi ritual is occasionally mentioned\, sometimes dismissed\, often rationalize d – but rarely taken seriously on its own terms.\\r\\nRecently\, however \, this “de-spiriting” of historiography has itself been criticized as a colonial academic practice\, with several scholars arguing that the bin ary between the secular and “religion” constitutes a European impositi on. How\, then\, can historians open themselves to broader notions of agen cy by taking spiritual agency seriously? What counts as evidence in such i nquiries? And how can we engage spiritual realities without slipping into exoticization or epistemological relativism?\\r\\nThe workshop addresses t hese questions by focusing on things – plants\, earth\, stones\, rivers\ , artifacts\, blood\, hair\, among many others – as sites through which spirits manifest\, operate\, and communicate with the living. In doing so\ , it critically interrogates modern distinctions between the “supernatur al” and the “physical”\, treating them as historically contingent ca tegories specific to particular geographies and social groups.\\r\\nThe wo rkshop will take place over two half-days and is conceived as an authors ’ meeting. Invited participants will discuss pre-circulated papers with the aim of publishing a special issue in a leading journal. External parti cipants are welcome and kindly asked to register: Julia.tischler@unibas.ch [mailto:Julia.tischler@unibas.ch] X-ALT-DESC:

This workshop explores the spiritual as a historical dimensio n. Modern historiography has rethought historical agency\, yet spiritual a gency has proven more difficult to incorporate. Much political\, social\, and environmental history operates with a broadly secular framework: the s piritual is occasionally mentioned\, sometimes dismissed\, often rationali zed – but rarely taken seriously on its own terms.

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Recently\, ho wever\, this “de-spiriting” of historiography has itself been criticiz ed as a colonial academic practice\, with several scholars arguing that th e binary between the secular and “religion” constitutes a European imp osition. How\, then\, can historians open themselves to broader notions of agency by taking spiritual agency seriously? What counts as evidence in s uch inquiries? And how can we engage spiritual realities without slipping into exoticization or epistemological relativism?

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The workshop add resses these questions by focusing on things – plants\, earth\, stones\, rivers\, artifacts\, blood\, hair\, among many others – as sites throug h which spirits manifest\, operate\, and communicate with the living. In d oing so\, it critically interrogates modern distinctions between the “su pernatural” and the “physical”\, treating them as historically conti ngent categories specific to particular geographies and social groups.

\n

The workshop will take place over two half-days and is conceived as a n authors’ meeting. Invited participants will discuss pre-circulated pap ers with the aim of publishing a special issue in a leading journal. Exter nal participants are welcome and kindly asked to register: Julia.tischler@unibas.ch

DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260619T000000 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR