On April 11-13, 2024, the Institute for Signifying Scriptures will be hosting a special annual meeting to commemorate two momentous occasions: The 20th Anniversary of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures and the 25th Anniversary of the African Americans and the Bible Project. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be highlighting some media to help you get excited about the meeting. I hope you’ll join us in Atlanta. I believe there will be a virtual element, but be there with us live and in technicolor if you can.
You can see from this annoucnement (a few months old now) that this is a big deal. As a member of the meeting’s executive committee, I can tell you that we’ve been working hard to put together a meeting that rises to the occasion. I’ve been working through the ISS’s archives and am developing some media pieces related to the ISS’s story. I’ll share some of that over the next few posts, as well as a special presentation at the live meeting.
The best way to kick this off though is to share some things from the friends I’ve made a long the way.
The first is a reflection by Lalruatkima, PhD called” Taking Stock of a Rhizome.” This short, smart essay was a written by Kima on the ISS’s 10th anniversary. Kima was one of the first graduate students I met while studying at the Institute. And without his encouragement and intellectual modeling, I’m not sure I would’ve made it through grad school.
He also just dropped his first book, Wild Races: Scripturalizing Empire in British India (Rowan & Littlefield, 2024). It’s a much needed study that exemplifies how the study of scripturalization can enhance both postcolonial social theory, archival study, and ethnographic autobiography.
The second piece I’m sharing is a conversation with Profs. Vincent Wimbush and Jacqueline Hidalgo. Jackie Hidalgo preceded me at the ISS. But in more ways than I can count, her footsteps ran deep and shaped my own path at Claremont. Whether responding to a bewildered first-year’s email, sharing insight at an annual meeting, or just being an all-around great academic friend, Jackie helped me understand the opportunity ISS presented for someone with an interest in biblical studies. Jackie’s podcast episode is below for your listening pleasure.
Stay tuned beacuse there’s more to come!
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