Undergraduate Student Conference on the Study of Religion

The Department for the Study of Religion (DSR) and the Religion Undergraduate Student Association (RUSA) are jointly hosting the 4th annual Undergraduate Student Conference on the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Please register if you will be joining us: https://forms.office.com/r/dDheLC15eL

All undergraduate students with an interest in the study of religion are most welcome to attend. Come listen to fellow students speak about a variety of topics and connect over shared interests! The conference will feature presentations of original writing and research by undergraduate students. This year we would like our conference topics to focus specifically on underrepresented themes and underrepresented communities.

If you have any questions, please email religion.undergrad@utoronto.ca.

Time Program
9:45 – 10:00 AM Registration
10:00 – 10:10 AM Welcome Remarks, Professor Sarah Gallant, Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Student Advisor
10:10 – 11:10 AM

SESSION 1: Navigating Identities

  • Queer Punjabi Teenagers: The Intersection of the Sikh Faith and Sexuality for Children of Diaspora in Toronto (Brandon Bal, Specialist in Psychology and Minor in Religion)
  • Creating Muslim Community in Modern South Africa: The Case of the Kramat (John Wright, Double Major in Religion and African Studies)
  • Religion, Hospitality and Ethics: The Historical Alliance between Muslims, Christians and Jews in Albania During World War Two Enabled by the Albanian Customary Code of Hospitality
  • Legal and Social Barriers to interfaith Marriage in South Asian Diaspora Communities (Fateha Ahmad, Major in Political Science and Minor in French)
11:10 – 11:20 AM Break
11:20 AM – 12:05 PM

SESSION 2: Rebels and Reactionaries

  • Liberal and Illiberal Satanism: a comparison (Hugh Considine, Religion Specialist, Minor in GIS and a Minor in Environmental Geography)
  • From Atheism to Extremism? Comparing Right-Wing Radicalization on r/Atheism and Atheist YouTube (Emma Li, Specialist in Psychology)
  • When “Universal Value” is not Universal: Folkish Pilgrimage at the Intersection of Pagan Politics and Heritage Management (Annie Metzger-Oke, Double Major in Religion and Art History)
12:05 – 1:20 PM LUNCH BREAK - Participants are responsible for their own lunch
1:20 – 1:30 PM Welcome Back, Professor Sarah Gallant, Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Student Advisor
1:30 – 2:00 PM

SESSION 3: Bodies & Medicine

  • Sacred Herbs, Godless Bodies: On Abortion as Witchcraft (Franca Ciannavei, Double Major in Political Science and Sexual Diversity Studies, Minor in Religion)
  • Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Analyzing Experience (Miranda Crabtree, Major in Religion, Minors in Classics and Sociology)
2:00 – 2:50 PM

SESSION 4: PANEL DISCUSSION - Ethnographic Explorations in Toronto

  • Acts of Giving, Acts of Encounter: Ismaili Muslims and Interfaith Engagement in Toronto (Aneri Patel, Double Major in Religion and Philosophy, Minor in Writing and Rhetoric)
  • The Discursive and Embodied Hijab (Nida Islam, HBA Specialist in Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies, Minor in Religion)
  • Islamic ethics and entrepreneurship in Toronto (Ibrahim Nabi, Major in Economics and Minors in Statistics and Computer Science)
  • Living with the Quraan at Heart: Through the Lens of a Toronto Hafiz (Maryam Abdulganiyu, Double Major in Psychology and Health Studies)
  • Navigating Pain and Piety: How Osteoarthritis Shapes a Muslim Woman's Connection to God through Prayer (Nausheen Akhtar, Specialist in Pharmaceutical Chemistry)
2:50 – 3:05 PM Question Period
3:05 – 3:15 PM Closing Remarks
3:15 – 4:00 PM Networking Reception. Light refreshments.
 
With special thanks to the students serving on the Undergraduate Student Conference Committee this year:
  • Miranda Crabtree, Director of Internal Affairs
  • Annie Metzger-Oke, Director of Communications
  • Swamini Sagar, RUSA President
  • Aneri Patel, Director of External Affairs