The International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (ISSRNC) is hosting a conference on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus on Feb. 2-5, which includes a virtual attendance option.
Scholars are set to discuss the intersections of technology and religion, culture and nature with the theme, “After Earth? Religion and Technology on a Changing Planet.”
The society’s members include anthropologies, scholars of religion, philosophers, indigenous studies scholars and geographers, as well as researchers from other disciplines.
“ISSRNC was established in 2005 as a place for scholars conducting research about topics such as the role of culture and values in shaping perspectives of nature, the engagement of religious traditions with environmental ethics and the many forms of spirituality closely associated with nature or ecology,” said Evan Berry, associate professor of religious studies at ASU and conference organizer. Berry added that there are 30 plus panels on topics ranging from apocalypticism to multispecies encounters, from fossil fuel extraction to space colonization.
The two keynote presentations will be open and free to the public to attend. The first keynote speaker is Sylvester Johnson, the founding director of the Virginia Tech Center for Humanities. He will speak about his research on human-machine symbiosis. On Saturday, Mary-Jane Rubenstein, professor of religion and science in society at Wesleyan University, is scheduled to give the plenary keynote lecture based on her recent book, “Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race.”
The public can register on the society’s website for access to the full online conference for $50.
