Conference co-sponsored by
Political Economy of Religion Program, Taubman Center, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Center for Geographic Analysis, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard
New technologies are permitting researchers from various disciplines to work together to access in various operational formats large quantities of data. For example, technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software are innovative ways of collecting and merging together large amounts of data. Google Map and Google Earth are popular tools for spatial visualization that can interface with GIS. Text-mining, a technological tool relevant to the study of religion, draws on information retrieval and data mining creating patterns from large quantities of texts and making them available for scholarly analysis.
The purpose of the two-day conference is to bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines who are interested in applying these and other new technologies to their research on religion. Conference discussion will focus on the advantages and challenges of applying new technologies to research on religion. Harvard experts as well as scholars from other institutions will show-case their current work in various disciplines using new technologies and forms of analysis. Presentations will focus on combining the content of research on religion with database design, geo-referencing, social network analysis, text-mining, remote-sensing, and spatial-temporal analysis. Spatial–temporal analysis, text-mining, and social network analysis will be discussed as a means of extending and deepening research on religion. Tutorials will be held each day for small group, hands-on learning. A poster session will display a collection of relevant research activities related to the study of religion.
The interdisciplinary nature of the conference presentations and discussion is critical to exploring promising new research pathways. Scholars working in different fields tend to be isolated from scholars working in other areas. This conference seeks to create a network of scholars working in different disciplines such as sociology, economics, history, political science, and regional studies to become aware of research already being done and define horizons for future research. What is unique about the new technologies is that they permit cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. A main function of the conference will be to foster dialogue among scholars from various disciplines who work on religion and to initiate network-building and collaboration among scholars.
Organizers of the Conference
Rachel M. McCleary is Senior Research Fellow, Taubman Center, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Research Fellow of the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago, a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University, and B.A. (double major) from Indiana University. McCleary conducts research on the political economy of religion. Her research focuses on cross-country studies on religion, religious beliefs and aspects of economic development. McCleary is currently editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of the Economics of Religion (forthcoming 2010). Her books include Global Compassion: Private Voluntary Agencies and U.S. Foreign Policy since 1939 (Oxford University Press 2009), Dictating Democracy: Guatemala and the of End Violent Revolution (University Press of Florida, 1999–English; Artemis-Edinter 1999–Spanish), and Seeking Justice: Ethics and International Affairs (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).
Contact information:
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Taubman Center
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
rachel_mccleary@harvard.edu
Peter K. Bol is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He led Harvard’s university-wide effort to establish support for geospatial analysis in teaching and research; in 2005 he was named the first director of the Center for Geographic Analysis. He also directs the China Historical Geographic Information Systems project, a collaboration between Harvard and Fudan University in Shanghai to create a GIS for 2000 years of Chinese history, and the China Biographical Database project, a collaboration between Harvard, Academia Sinica, and Peking University. He is the author of “This Culture of Ours” – Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China (1982) and Neo-Confucianism in History (2008) and various studies of China’s sociocultural history.
Contact Information:
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC)
Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
pkbol@fas.harvard.edu
Outside presenters:
John Corrigan, Florida State University, Department of Religion, French and Spanish
Missions in North America
Juan Carlos Esparza Ochoa, University of Texas at Austin, Project on Religion and Economic Change, Population Research Center.
Roger Finke, Pennsylvania State University, Sociology and Religious Studies, Association of Religion Data Archives (The ARDA)
Brian Grim, Pew Forum,Washington, D.C.
Murat Iyigun, University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Economics
Karl Ryavec, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Geography, Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library
Gray Tuttle, Columbia University, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Modern Tibetan Studies
Chris Weaver, School of Computer Science and the Center for Spatial Analysis, University of Oklahoma
Robert Woodberry, Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
Harvard presenters:
Merrick Lex Berman, Center for Geographic Analysis
Peter Bol, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Suzanne Preston Blier, Professor of Fine Arts, African and African American Studies
Rachel McCleary, Kennedy School of Government
Nathan Nunn, Economics Department
James Robson, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Michael Szonyi, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
The conference will be open to anyone who wishes to attend.