Graduate Student Conference 2026 - Day 2 of 2

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When and Where

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 8:30 am to 5:30 pm
JHB 100
Jackman Humanities Building
170 St George Street, Toronto ON M5R 2M8

Description

The 2026 DSR Graduate Student Conference Committee is delighted to bring this event back after a hiatus of several years and to join in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Department for the Study of Religion. This conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of students from many different departments and institutions. Our hope is that this gathering brings together those who share a commitment to exchanging ideas, exploring new perspectives, and an enthusiasm for the study of religion in all its forms.—Cliel Shdaimah, Grace Feeney, Shannon Drew, Vivek Shah

THIS IS EVENT IS OPEN TO REGISTERED ATTENDEES ONLY. REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.

Day 2 of 2: Tuesday, April 21 (see also Day 1, Monday, April 20)

  • 8:30-9:30
    • Welcome
  • 9:30-11:00 
    • PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION PANEL
      • Ariel LaFayette, "Evaluating the Role of Grace in Kierkegaard’s “Work of Love in Recollecting the One Who is Dead”"
      • Nicolas Sarian, "Destruction as Mediation: Luxury and the Economic Production of Value"
      • William Hunt and Mateos Labbé-Phelan, "Tongues of Fire: Albert Ayler’s ‘Love Cry’"
  • 11:30-1:00
    • RELIGION IN TORONTO PANEL
      • Alison Cleverley, "A Workshop on Knowledge Mobilization at the Intersection of U of T's Campus Landscape and it's Religious History"
      • Cole Van Der Velden, "Fear of the World: The Hindering Effect of Complex Religion on Educational Attainment"
      • Emily Dumais, "“Love is a Holy Thing”: Memory-Making at the Metropolitan Community Church’s 25th Anniversary of the World’s First Same-Sex Marriage"
      • Phenix Lin, "Faith Intertwined with Ethnicity: Chinese Christian Experiences of Conversion, Baptism, and Community in Toronto"
         
  • 1:00-2:00 LUNCH
     
  • 2:00-3:30
    • RELIGION AND AI PANEL
      • Amanda Ghany, "The Psychoanalysis of Involuntary Celibates"
      • Felicia Sang, "Tongue Diagnosis Robots: When Traditional Chinese Medicine Meets Artificial Intelligence"
      • Grace Feeney, "Not a spectrum but a surrogate: between cuteness and abjection"
      • Ridhima Sharma, "Dharma in the age of AI: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Masculine "Dharma Maxxing""
    • TAMIL STUDIES PANEL (JHB 616)
      • Janani Comar, "Identity Matters: Iyothee Thass’s construction of Tamil Buddhist Identity through literary history"
      • Jesse Pruitt, "A Controversialist In the Colonial Court: Critical Notes on the Eulogistic and Condemnatory Biographies of Nā. Katiraivēṟ Piḷḷai"
      • Praveen Vijaykumar, "Twentieth-century Vernacular Caste Genealogies in Print"
      • Stephanie Duclos-King, "Protestant, Pentecostal, Charismatic?: Christian Care at a Medical Missionary Institution"
  • 4:00-5:30
    • KEYNOTE ADDRESS: PROFESSOR FILIP ANDJELKOVIC, "House Tour: I Promise None of This is a Metaphor"
  • 7:00-9:00
    • RECEPTION

 

The conference committee thanks all its sponsors for their generosity in supporting the 2026 DSR Graduate Student Conference.

• Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies • Centre for Comparative Literature • Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies • Cinema Studies Institute • Department of East Asian Studies • Department of English • Department of Historical Studies (UTM) • Department of Historical and Cultural Studies (UTSC) • Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Department of Philosophy • Department of Political Science • Department for the Study of Religion • Emmanuel College • Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies • Mark Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies • St. Augustine’s Seminary • St. Michael’s College • University of Toronto Graduate Students' Union (UTGSU) • University of Trinity College • Victoria College • Wycliffe College •

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170 St George Street, Toronto ON M5R 2M8

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