
Co-sponsor: Center for the Study of African American Religious Life (CSAARL) Venue: African American History and Culture Museum Event Location: Oprah Winfrey Theater Cost: FREE (REGISTRATION IS MANDATORY & LIMITED ONE TICKET PER PERSON) Get Tickets: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/8179341 Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible Link: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/initiatives/center-study-african-american-... “Recovering the Bones: African American Material Religion and Religious Memory” is a two-day academic conference hosted by the new Center for the Study of African American Religious Life (CSAARL) at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. The conference will explore the relationship between Black religious traditions and material objects by bringing together scholars from a variety of academic disciplines including: folklore studies; archeology; religious history; literature; philosophy; anthropology; art history; ethnomusicology; and religious studies. Conference participants will convene to examine the varied ways material objects and religious memory have helped to shape African American history and culture. With a focus on material culture, the conference will extend contemporary scholarship on African American religion beyond traditional text-based approaches to the study of Black religion. Religious objects to be examined include: clothing; art; sacred texts; musical instruments; objects appropriated from the natural world; food; and embodied religious practices