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Centre for Gender and Religion Research Conferences

Past Conferences
Sixth International Conference on Dowry, Bride Burning and Son-Preference, 2003

Recent research on dowry-related deaths shows an alarming rate of increase. Many women are being harassed, maimed and killed despite active campaigns and legal reforms. This has led to a sense of urgency amongst both academics and activists. As a result an ongoing series of conferences on dowry and dowry-related violence has been organized by the International Society against Dowry and Bride Burning in India (ISADABBI) in collaboration with the Universities of Harvard and London (School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS). All these conferences have proceeded on two fronts: as a venue for academic papers and discussion, and as a basis from which to formulate programs for practical action.

The First International Conference (Harvard Law School, October 1995) established the primary contexts for dowry-related violence and drafted a six-point program for action. The issues and implications of this first conference were further explored at the second (Harvard, 1996), third (SOAS, 1997), fourth (Harvard, 1998) and fifth (Delhi, 1999) conferences.

The Sixth International Conference on Dowry, Bride-Burning and Son-Preference, originally planned for January 2002 was held in New Delhi in 3-6 January 2003. As the title indicates, the conference extended its brief to include the related topic of son-preference, thus recognising a key issue in the broader context of violence against women.

Papers were presented in the following areas:

  • Patrilinear inheritance traditions;
  • Domestic violence;
  • Legal issues;
  • Son-preference;
  • Gender identity;
  • Family structures;
  • Dowry in the diaspora context;
  • Cross-cultural comparisons
Damaged Bodies: Gendering Identity in Religious Discourse. 5-7th November 2001, SOAS

The Gender & Religions Research (GRR) Centre at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London held its first conference in Gender & Religions Research on the theme 'Damaged Bodies: Gendered Identity in Religious Discourse'.

We considered how gender and sexuality are rendered 'visible' or 'invisible' through the representation of the body in the religious traditions of the world and to what extent the 'damaged body' illuminates and establishes normative presentations of gender identity.Central questions included the ways gender influences responses to, and visions of, the body. How does it affect issues of reading and representation for the scholar and the practitioner? Is the gaze in religious imagery and text gendered? In what ways are gender and sexuality displayed on or through damaged bodies?

Papers related to the conference theme were presented on the following topics:

  • writing the body and gynocritics: transformative strategies in religious practice;
  • the body and reproduction;
  • the study of religions researcher as gendered subject;
  • challenging androcentrism in religious discourse;
  • intersections between gender, sexuality, religion and the body;
  • religious space: gender, architecture and religion;
  • the body in ritual performance;
  • the private and public body;
  • bodies of knowledge/bodies of belief;
  • concepts of the body in the philosophy of religion;
  • damaging bodies: is religion good for women?;
  • religion and healing.