18th ANNUAL SOCIETY FOR RICOEUR STUDIES CONFERENCEOctober 24-27, 2024 The University of Chicago Divinity SchoolChicago, Illinois, USA “Imagination and Metaphor: Paul Ricoeur at Chicago, 50th Anniversary” Keynote Speakers (confirmed): William Schweiker (University of Chicago)Annemie Halsema (Vrije …
Film Studies Center, University of Chicago Special screening at the 18th Annual Society for Ricoeur Studies Conference “Filmic Metaphor: Narrative and the Cinematic Imagination”ANUJA: A Short Film (2024) Directed by Adam J. Graves (Metropolitan State …
The Society for Ricoeur Studies is pleased to share three exciting announcements: Interested in exploring this new contribution to Ricoeur scholarship? Visit the Rowman & Littlefield website to learn more and order your copy. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666919097/Refiguring-the-Sacred-Conversations-with-Paul-Ricoeur …
Lectures on Imagination, by Paul Ricoeur Now available! Published March 15, 2024 The book is appearing simultaneously in an English version by the University of Chicago Press and in a French translation published by Éditions …
Graduate Student Research Competition for Indiana Dunes Environmental Congress 2025 Call for Papers MS Word | PDF The Hermeneutics in Real Life project (hinrl.org), in association with the Society for Ricoeur Studies (ricoeursociety.org), is excited to announce a Call …
The Society for Ricoeur Studies (http://www.ricoeursociety.org/) is pleased to announce the theme of the 2024 annual conference is “Imagination and Metaphor: Paul Ricoeur at Chicago.” The host and co-sponsor of this year’s conference is the Divinity School of the University of Chicago (https://divinity.uchicago.edu/).
Special screening at the 18th Annual Society for Ricoeur Studies Conference
“Filmic Metaphor: Narrative and the Cinematic Imagination” ANUJA: A Short Film(2024)
Directed by Adam J. Graves (Metropolitan State University of Denver) A special screening of the film followed by a discussion with the director Friday, Oct. 25 at 8:30 pm | Cobb Hall (C307) https://www.anujathefilm.com/
Reserve your seat for the screening using Eventbrite ticketing link above. The screening is free and will be open to the public, but we are pleased to offer Eventbrite ticketing to reserve your seats in advance. The Film Studies Center’s 100-seat screening room in Cobb Hall (C307) features large-screen projection capabilities for various digital and film formats, promising an excellent viewing experience. Seating is limited, so we encourage you to take advantage of the early ticketing option to reserve your seat.
We invite conference participants and attendees to a pre-screening Pizza Dinner (Friday, Oct. 25, 7:00-8:00 pm) in Swift Commons after the Nuveen Lecture by Hans Joas (Friday, Oct. 25, 5:30-7:00 pm). We will have gourmet pizzas and salads catered by Pizza Capri in Hyde Park. Registration and pre-payment is required.
The Society for Ricoeur Studies (SRS) is pleased to announce a special screening and discussion of Anuja: A Short Film during our 2024 annual meeting in Chicago. The film is written and directed by longtime SRS member Adam J. Graves. This special event offers a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy of imagination, cinematic storytelling, and social justice themes.
The screening will be held on Friday evening at 8:30 pm at the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center, which has generously agreed to sponsor this event. Following the film, there will be a discussion with Adam Graves, providing attendees the occasion to engage directly with the filmmaker about his work.
Anuja tells the story of two sisters working in Delhi’s garment industry. When nine-year-old Anuja is offered the chance to attend an elite boarding school, she faces a dilemma that forms the narrative’s core. The film explores themes of child labor, education, and familial responsibility in contemporary India.
Adam Graves, Professor of Philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver, brings his background in South Asian studies and philosophy to this project. Developed in collaboration with Salaam Baalak Trust, a nonprofit organization that provides education and opportunity to thousands of Delhi’s street children, Anuja aims to present an authentic portrayal of life as a child laborer in the global textile economy. Graves is the founding director of the Denver Project for Humanistic Inquiry, a public humanities center that explores the relationship between philosophy, film, literature and history.
The short film features Sajda Pathan, a resident of a Salaam Baalak Trust home, in the lead role. Pathan’s personal experience as a former street child adds a layer of authenticity to her performance. The cast also includes newcomer Ananya Shanbhag and veteran actor Nagesh Bhonsle.
Anuja has already gained recognition on the festival circuit. It premiered at the 24th annual deadCenter Film Festival and won Best Live Action Short at the HollyShorts Film Festival. With this win at HollyShorts, one of the select group of Oscar-qualifying festivals, Anuja automatically becomes eligible for Academy Award consideration in the three shorts categories.
Of particular interest to SRS members will be Graves’ attempt to translate Ricoeurian concepts of metaphor, narrative, and the imagination into visual storytelling. The film employs visual metaphors and a non-linear narrative structure that reflects Ricoeur’s ideas of “narrative identity” and “refiguration.” Through its cinematic techniques, Anuja invites viewers to actively interpret and engage with the world it depicts.
This screening presents an excellent opportunity for our society to examine how Ricoeur’s philosophical ideas can be applied to and explored through film. It also allows us to support and celebrate the work of one of our members in bringing these concepts to a broader audience.
All attendees of the 2024 annual meeting are invited to join us for this special event on Friday, Oct. 25 at 8:30 pm. The screening of Anuja promises to be both an engaging cinematic experience and a springboard for thoughtful discussion on the application of Ricoeurian philosophy to visual media and cinematic art.
Upcoming presentation: The book will be featured in a special panel session at our 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ricoeur Studies, October 24-27, 2024. Join us Friday morning, Oct. 25, to hear the editors and contributors discuss the book. (Details below)
Special offer: Enjoy a 30% discount on both hardcover and ebook editions when ordering directly from Rowman & Littlefield. Use special discount code LXFANDF30 at checkout. (See discount flyer below).
Interested in exploring this new contribution to Ricoeur scholarship? Visit the Rowman & Littlefield website to learn more and order your copy.
Refiguring the Sacred: Conversations with Paul Ricoeur, edited by Joseph A. Edelheit, James F. Moore, and Mark I. Wallace presents an opportunity for Ricoeur scholars to reflect and engage on Ricoeur’s religious ideas, nearly 20 years after his death. This collection uses the twenty-one papers collected by Mark I. Wallace in Paul Ricoeur’s Figuring the Sacred, translated by David Pellauer, as its primary resource. Contributions by several significant Ricoeur scholars prompt questions which initiate new conversations almost 30 years after its original publication. Ricoeur’s life-long engagement with texts illuminates his embrace of the sacred, as well as his significant thinking and writings on religious imagination, theology, the Bible, hope, and praxis—all ideas which require more reading and reflection in order to refigure of our understanding of Ricoeur. Wallace brings two additional essays that could not be included in his original collection and explains why they remain essential to our understanding of Ricoeur. Refiguring the Sacred demonstrates the foundational multidisciplinary scholarship inherent in the interfaith dialogues through which Paul Ricoeur embodied the Sacred.
Friday, Oct. 25, 10:30 am (CDT) in-person and hybrid (Zoom)
This plenary session at the University of Chicago Divinity School will highlight the recent publication Refiguring the Sacred: Conversations with Paul Ricoeur (Lexington Press, 2024), edited by Joseph A. Edelheit, James F. Moore, and Mark I. Wallace. The volume complements the 1995 anthology Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative, and Imagination (Fortress Press) that collected many of Ricoeur’s essays on religion and biblical hermeneutics in the 1970s-80s written during his years at the University of Chicago Divinity School. The new volume offers fresh perspectives on Ricoeur’s hermeneutical philosophy of religions and the enduring legacy of his approach and seeks to continue the conversation. The panel, featuring the book’s editors and contributors, will explore Ricoeur’s insights on religious language, biblical interpretation, and imagination, examining their relevance to contemporary issues of faith, praxis, meaning, interfaith dialogue, and experiences of evil and trauma. The session aims to stimulate discussions on Ricoeur’s interdisciplinary approach to religion and its significance for current debates in religious and philosophical studies. Panelists include Joseph A. Edelheit (St. Cloud State University), James F. Moore (Valparaiso University), Mark I. Wallace (Swarthmore College), Stephanie Arel (Fordham University), Steven Kepnes (Colgate University), Dan R. Stiver (Jesse C. Fletcher Seminary), George H. Taylor (University of Pittsburgh), and Timo Helenius (University of Turku, Finland).
The book is appearing simultaneously in an English version by the University of Chicago Press and in a French translation published by Éditions du Seuil.
Our gratitude goes out to the Ricoeur family, without whom this publication would not have been possible.
Read the special announcements by George H. Taylor for the English Edition and Jean-Luc Amalric for the French translation (links below).
The Hermeneutics in Real Life project (hinrl.org), in association with the Society for Ricoeur Studies (ricoeursociety.org), is excited to announce a Call for Papers for the Environmental Humanities Congress: Indiana Dunes in the Calumet, to be held from June 19-22, 2025. The purpose of this Call for Papers is to invite graduate students to participate in a competitive awards program for research projects focused on environmental justice and ecological resilience in the Indiana Dunes and Calumet Region on Lake Michigan. A Research Resources page has been set up to point researchers to the large quantity of publicly available research on the conference theme. Although the Congress is an interdisciplinary event, our great hope is that hermeneutic scholars will make a major showing at the Congress and become a central part of the interdisciplinary conversation. Please see the wealth of hermeneutically inflected research themes for possible paper topics on the Congress website.
As many as twenty $750 honoraria will be awarded to support the presentation of graduate student research at the Congress. Research paper proposals can be submitted to the Competition from now until November 1, 2024. Award announcements will be made December 1, 2024. To apply, graduate students should submit an extended abstract (450-600 words) and a carefully constructed bibliography in a single PDF document to jarthos@iu.edu. Details on submission guidelines are contained in the Call for Papers. We also invite you to visit the conference website to sign up for event notifications.
This is an exceptional opportunity for graduate students to engage in place-based, interdisciplinary research that contributes to the growth of environmental humanities and hermeneutical studies. We strongly encourage all interested graduate students to submit their proposals and be part of this exciting event!
The Call for Papers (Abstracts) for the 2024 Fonds Ricœur’s Summer Workshops has been extended to March 31, 2024.
The call for proposals for the 7th Edition of the Fonds Ricoeur’s Summer Workshops on Memory, History, Forgetting co-organized this year with the CRAL (EHESS), the Society for Ricoeur Studies and the Dublin City University is now online. Workshops will be held from June 24 to 28th, 2024 in Dublin.
