Women's Studies at HDS
The Women's Studies in Religion Program (WSRP)
Founded to advance research on the fundamental importance of religion in defining gender, as well as to recover women's instrumentality in religious realms, the Women's Studies in Religion Program began in an incipient form in 1973. In 2005, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program's establishment in its current form as an international interdisciplinary research center focused on religion and gender. During those 25 years, over 100 visiting scholars have produced a body of knowledge that has helped transform the study of religion and the professional education of ministers and religious leaders. Their publications challenge long-held assumptions that shape both individual and social values, and often inform public policy discussions.
Border Crossings: The 25th Anniversary Conference of the Women's Studies in Religion Program will focus on the ways the new field of scholarship created by WSRP Research Associates complicates traditional categories of gender, nation, and disciplinary studies. Keynote speaker Peggy Levitt will examine what difference it makes if religious rather than political affiliations serve as the matrix for assimilation among new immigrant groups. Respondents will place her discussion in the context of critical studies of religion and gender, exploring how this new field contributes to conversations about transnationalism. An afternoon session will highlight the work of current WSRP Research Associates, who will be presenting the fruit of their new research for the first time. A panel of prominent authors who are past WSRP scholars will reflect on the reception of the books they worked on in the program and on the impact of their work in women's studies in religion on both disciplinary and interdisciplinary conversations.
For more information, please visit the Women's Studies in Religion Program website.
