Digital Commons Network^™

From Interpretation To Experience: Narrative As A Space Of Encounter With The Sacred In Religious Tourism, Tomasz Duda

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

No abstract provided.

G3) Does A More Physically Demanding Pilgrimage Bring More Spirituality And Closeness To Faith, Jaffer Idris, Mohammed Jabar Yaqub

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Pilgrimage is frequently associated with bodily hardship, often interpreted as a pathway to deeper spiritual transformation. This abstract examines whether physically challenging pilgrimages generate greater spiritual benefit than less demanding journeys, drawing on scholarship from religious studies, sociology, and pilgrimage tourism research. Historically, many traditions frame pilgrimage as an embodied practice involving endurance, sacrifice, and discipline. Within this framework, physical exertion can function as ritualized effort that encourages humility, reflection, and detachment from everyday routines. Scholars drawing on theories of liminality argue that demanding journeys intensify pilgrims’ awareness of vulnerability and transition, thereby supporting experiences of meaning, renewal, and transcendence …

Play And Pilina: Reimagining Play Design Through Material Kinship And Cultural Practice, Corinne Takara

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Playful encounters at the intersection of familiar consumer materials and place-based natural matter are fertile terrain for speculative play world-building. This paper introduces bio-collaborative play, a design paradigm where materials and organisms are recognized as active collaborators and kin. This shifts play design away from the manipulation of objects toward a sustained dialogue with living systems. Grounded in Kānaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) principles of pilina (reciprocal care) and kuleana (privileged responsibility), this framework reimagines speculative play as an act of communal care spanning biological scales and generational time. By treating plants, microbes, and everyday materials as co-authors, this approach analyzes …

Disrupting And Reimagining Women’S Identities: A Feminist Design Methodology Inspired By The Self-Combing Women’S “Goddess Fictual” Practice, Lu Li, Catherine Caudwell, Rosie Scott

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper investigates the feminist identity transformation strategies of "self-combing" women in late nineteenth-century China, who resisted patriarchal marriage identity by enacting alternative female identities through "Goddess Fictual" practice (goddess fiction belief and ritual performance). Through fieldwork of the historical residences and spiritual spaces of self-combing women, this paper identifies the goddess shrine as their new female identity performative site. It was within this specific site that spiritual goddess belief and identity ritual performance converged to support these women’s identities. Inspired by this historical experience, we translate this feminist practice into a new design methodology. It demonstrates how this historical …

Evolving Marxist Criticism Of Steinbeck's "The Grapes Of Wrath": Theological Tensions, Class Consciousness, And Cultural Relevance, Kimberly Fore

Liberty University Research Week

This study examines the evolution of Marxist literary criticism applied to John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel "The Grapes of Wrath" across the decades following its publication.Textual analyses conducted by successive generations of scholars demonstrate that critical interpretations have shifted from the early objections to its perceived religious sentimentality that were common in initial Marxist reviews, through a Cold War-era reframing that sought to align or distance the novel from prevailing political ideologies of the time, to 1980s scholarship focused on collective identity and the potential for group solidarity in proletarian narratives. Subsequent perspectives, including examinations of racial dynamics in the depicted …

From Tiktok To Transcendence: Reclaiming Focus Through Contemplative Education, Araceli Gordus Huizar

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

In an era shaped by the attention economy and digital technology, students in higher education navigate constant stimulation that fragments attention, increases stress, and challenges emotional regulation. Research in psychology and neuroscience suggests that chronic exposure to social media, AI tools, and multitasking environments contributes to divided attention and diminished cognitive performance. While institutional responses, such as phone bans, attempt to manage distraction, they often fail to cultivate the internal capacities necessary for sustained focus and meaningful learning.

This paper argues that contemplative education--grounded in Buddhist and Hindu contemplative traditions and informed by humanistic psychology and contemporary mindfulness-based interventions--offers a …

Mindful Libraries: Integrating Well-Being Into Library Strategy And Culture, Lauren Fralinger, Jose Rodriguez, Adrian Legaspi, Nyabi Benjamin

Navigating the Future Together: Student Success Symposium

Abstract:

Academic libraries are uniquely positioned to support holistic student success by fostering environments that promote well-being, belonging, and resilience. This presentation highlights how our university library integrates wellness into its strategic planning, services, and physical spaces. Through initiatives such as a dedicated meditation room, guided mindfulness sessions, and stress-relief activities, the library creates inclusive spaces for reflection and restoration. A curated Mindfulness Collection—featuring digital and physical resources on mental health, spirituality, and contemplative practices—empowers students to explore wellness on their own terms. These efforts are complemented by Earth Month programming that connects personal well-being with environmental stewardship.

Library leadership …

Case & Effect: Building Durable Skills Through Strategic Partnerships & Curriculum, Jonathan Vorbeck, Stephanie Ashley

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Drawing on two undergraduate case studies, this paper illustrates how campus-wide collaboration and innovative curricular design integrate durable skills. Strategies emphasizing civil discourse, networking, and professional facilitation offer practical approaches for embedding sustainable, workforce-ready skills across disciplines while engaging students in meaningful, real-world experiential learning.

Crafting Playful Data Engagement: Designing Textile-Based Workshops For Participants From Diverse Backgrounds, Chengtian Li, Jianrui Zhao, Xinru Zhu, Chihiro Sato, Kayoko Nohara

IASDR Conference Series

Building on craft’s material, narrative, and embodied dimensions—well established in design research—this study explores how textile-based making can foster playful engagement with personal data. As data practices shift beyond performance-oriented dashboards toward more expressive and situated forms, textile craft offers an alternative mode for materializing data through hands-on interaction. We conducted three workshops with participant groups of varying expertise in craft and data—crochet hobbyists, data-science students, and community organisers—with each workshop employing textile techniques tailored to their backgrounds. Our findings show that participants creatively negotiated material constraints and affordances to engage with their data in ways aligned with the playful …

“Mysterium Tremendum Et Fascinans”: Melian’S And Lúthien’S Numinosity, Alexandra Filonenko

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

From Guesswork To Great Collections: Using Ai To Build Engaged, Faculty-Informed Libraries, Tracy Gilmore, Tiffini Travis

POC in LIS Summit

Struggling to build collections that truly reflect your campus’ teaching and research needs? You’re not alone. With limited face time with faculty, hybrid schedules, and shrinking budgets, librarians often work in the dark—relying on guesswork, legacy requests, or one-size-fits-all tools.

This hands-on workshop introduces an innovative, AI-powered method developed at CSU Long Beach for creating faculty user profiles using publicly available data and tools like ChatGPT. Inspired by customer profiling strategies in the business world, this approach helps librarians move from reactive to proactive collection development.

Learn how to turn online faculty biographies, Curriculum Vitas, and publication data into actionable …

J1) Virtual Reality And Multifaith Pilgrimage: Assessing The Impact Of Vr Technology On Religious Tourism Across Different Traditions, Md. Javed Kawsar, Rashed Khan

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Religious tourism has traditionally been a deeply immersive, physical experience, drawing in millions of pilgrims to sacred sites across different faiths. However, with advancements in Virtual Reality (VR) technology, religious tourism is evolving to offer virtual experiences of these sacred spaces. VR's potential to make sacred journeys more accessible, especially for individuals facing physical, financial, or geopolitical barriers. While VR enhances interfaith understanding and can complement traditional pilgrimages through immersive and educational experiences, it raises critical questions about spiritual authenticity, theological legitimacy, and ethical use. However, VR is not a full replacement for physical pilgrimage due to its limitations in …

D3) Sacred Steps: Walking, Religion, And The Path To Peace, Francesca Benna

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Walking is one of the simplest and most primordial human acts, yet it carries profound meanings that transcend cultures, religious traditions, and paths of individual and collective transformation. Walking is not merely a means of movement but a practice that fosters reconnection with oneself, the environment, and the community. Bruce Chatwin, in The Songlines, highlights how nomadism is an inherent human condition, suggesting that movement is essential not only for physical survival but also for mental and spiritual well-being. In an era marked by environmental crises, conflicts, and increasing technological alienation, rediscovering the value of walking responds to a deep …

Body Maps As A Source Of Women’S Embodied Experiences: A Diary Study Into Visualising Personal Health Data, Danique Hofstee, Armağan Karahanoğlu, Karin Dijkstra, Geke Ludden

Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG) Conference Series

This paper explores the use of body maps as a visual methodology for capturing and representing women's embodied health experiences. Through a diary study involving 25 participants and 325 drawings, we identified two key themes: working with the body map template and telling stories by adding elements to the body map. Our findings highlight the potential of body maps to provide rich, nuanced representations of women's health data that transcend traditional numerical and text-based methods. A better understanding of experiences of health data can ultimately contribute to the development of more inclusive and empathetic health technologies. This research points out …

Cuju: The Ancient Chinese Game That Held An Empire Together, Enzo H. Smith

Young Historians Conference

This paper explores how cuju, an ancient sport known as the predecessor of modern football, evolved from the Han to Song dynasties (206 BCE–1368 CE) as a unifying force in imperial China. Calling upon primary sources such as ancient cuju manuals and various art pieces suggests this sport's importance went beyond a leisurely practice. Using academic journals about Chinese history and the development of cuju from different academic fields and, most notably, the FIFA museum’s online exhibit of cuju, the reason cuju had such a strong place of value in Chinese society was apparent. Beginning as a combat exercise in …

Entheogens: The Hallucinogenic Plants That Shaped Religion, Nicolas A. Michaud

Young Historians Conference

Entheogens have played a pivotal role in religious and spiritual practices across diverse cultures, aiding in the pursuit of divine connection and higher consciousness. Evidence suggests that dating as far as back as a million years ago, early human species such as Homo erectus and Homo habilis experimented with hallucinogenic plants like psilocybin mushrooms, introducing the earliest forms of shamanic practices. As societies became more structured, the use of entheogens expanded throughout various parts of society. In ancient Greece, oracles utilized plants like henbane to communicate with the divine, molding military and political policy. During the Middle Ages, Tibetan Buddhism …

Embodied Self-Remembering; Toward A Personal Movement Philosophy, Nicholas Greenlund

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The possibility examined in this project is the expansion of human consciousness through Inner work. This “Inner work” integrates the insights of Buddhist psychology, Integral psychology, Enneagram philosophy, and Somatic practices for the expansion of conscious potential in and through the cultivation of compassionate understanding. By observing and identifying the conditions that reinforce a reactive state of being, a choice emerges to remain or grow a capacity of responsiveness. This process is through the body’s sensory presence, the heart’s courage to love, and the mind’s construction of Self. The subjective exploration of the interconnected body-mind integrates the complex study of …

2025 Academic Conference Program

Holy Cross Undergraduate Academic Conference

No abstract provided.

Believing In Simulation Theory, Aeve Boucher

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This paper utilizes the frameworks, terms, and methodology used by David Chalmers in his recent book “Reality+”, along with ancient Chinese philosophers Zhuangzi and Mozi in order to make an argument for why we ought to believe that we are currently living in a simulation while at the same time withholding judgment on the metaphysical reality of whether or not we are currently living in a simulation. The argument uses Chalmers’ five different concepts of reality along with his own views of how being in a simulation would not negatively impact our currently held beliefs, especially in regards to language …

"They Looked At Us Like An Astronomer Would View Pluto": High-Church Christianity And Rural America, Jacob Battle

Liberty University Research Week

This is one of two projects conducted over the summer of 2024 by Jacob’s team. The now-defunct St. Mary’s Redbank Episcopal Church—the most northern, remote, and poor establishment in the Diocese of Pittsburgh—is situated amidst the picturesque hamlets and rolling hills of the Redbank Valley in rural Pennsylvania, overlooking the Alleghany River. This small country church spent countless years acting as both a center of worship and social activity for the virtually abandoned village of Redbank and its community. The mission is of simple construction, seating between fifty to seventy-five congregants, and is embraced by a proud cemetery boasting veterans …

Session Iic: Religious Studies Presentation 3 - Prayer Benefits In Relation To Mental Health, Emma Beam

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

My presentation is on a research paper I wrote for my Adult Discipleship class in Fall 2024. It discusses the relationship between prayer and mental health by identifying ways prayer can have benefit on mental health, factors that are required in order for prayer to have benefit on mental health, different types of prayer and how they impact mental health, and different mediationg variables between prayer and mental health.

Session Iic: Religious Studies Presentation 1 - A Literary Analysis Of Job 1: 1-12, Crystal Aldridge

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

No abstract provided.

Session Iic: Religious Studies Presentation 2 - The Messianic Expectation Of The Psalms Of Ascents, Brock Nikkari

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

The presentation will look through the history and authorship of Books IV and V of the Psalms and their usage in Judaism. The main focus of the presentation will be on the defense for and against a messianic reading of the Psalms of Ascents. Then it will wrap up with a conclusion and a talking point of further research.

Science In The Studios: Communicating Science On Social Media Using On-Campus Resources, Danielle Airola M.A.

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Social media platforms offer powerful tools and spaces in which to communicate science to the general public. However, these platforms are equally available for the sharing and spread of pseudoscience and anti-science content. The widespread use of these platforms means an audience of people already exists who use social media as a source of news and information. The burden is on us as scientists and researchers to understand how to use these platforms. To aid in this process, the University of Montana’s Mansfield Library offers spaces in which to create content for social media that are free for us to …

The Politics Of U.S. Religious Freedom And The War On Gaza, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd Phd

Department of Religion Events

It is not possible to understand what is happening in Gaza, or in the US, without understanding the religious politics of American support for Israel. This lecture delves into the swirling mixture of religion, history, and politics that shape relations between these two states. The structure of that relationship also shapes what it means to be religiously free in the US today. Whose religion is free? And whose is defined as heresy, terrorism, or anti-Americanism? At a moment in which US-Israeli relations have come under unprecedented strain and scrutiny, it is helpful to approach this relationship from outside the demands …

Building An Inclusive Community: Hosting An International Graduate Student Orientation, Adelia B. Grabowsky, Liza J. Weisbrod, Timothy Dodge, Juliet T. Rumble

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

In 2018, library faculty at a large, public land grant university formed a working group tasked with assessing the information needs of graduate students and implementing action plans to support this user population. From the beginning, the librarians recognized that graduate students are not a homogeneous group. Desiring a more nuanced understanding of these students, they held focus groups in 2019 to explore students’ experiences with navigating graduate school and, more specifically, the University library. One sub-group of particular interest to them was international graduate students, who make up a sizable percentage of the graduate student population on campus. International …

How Christian Dominionism Threatens U.S. Democracy, Julie Ingersoll

Department of Religion Events

Part I of "God and Country: The Rise of American Theocracy". Video is unavailable for this installment.

As the rising tide of Christian nationalism continues to spread across the country and imperils American democracy, understanding the origins and impact of the movement has become increasingly urgent. This installment of the Department of Religion's webinar series examines the rise of Christian theocracy within the far-right ranks of American Evangelicalism. Dr. Julie Ingersoll, a leading national expert on extremist forms of American Christianity, discusses how Dominionism grew to such a dominant and influential movement within U.S. politics today and why it poses …

Rerighting//Rewriting, Al Partington

Undergraduate Project Award

My project is a 30 page poetic memoir that I composed over Winter quarter 24 in Dr. Serena Chopra's class. It contains pieces of different modes and genres and was inspired by a variety of artists and writers from different backgrounds.

Middles And Centers In Chinese Translations Of Tolkien, Eric Reinders

Mythcon

How do Chinese translators of Tolkien translate the name “Middle-earth” without confusing it with China itself (Zhongguo, or “central kingdom”)? China is a nation which named itself the center of the world, and centrality is never a neutral or apolitical claim. “Middle/central kingdom” signifies a traditional conception of geopolitical power in concentric rings: from emperor, to capital city, to zones nearer to or further from the capital. This paper borrows from the tradition within Religious Studies of theorizing claims to centrality (Eliade, J. Z. Smith) and centrality in Chinese political symbolism (Meyer, Wheatley, Wu Hung, Walsh). Here I primarily consider …

The Space Between Procedural And Situated Ethics: Reflecting On The Use Of Existing Materials In Design Research On Children Affected By Stroke, Pleuntje Jellema, Piet Tutenel, Birgit Moser, Anne-Sophie Schoss, Maja Kevdzija, Andrea Jelić, Ann Heylighen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Conducting design research in hard-to-enter care environments with children affected by stroke poses important ethical questions. Research focuses on procedural ethics or on situated ethics, emphasizing a hard-cut between research practices be-fore and during fieldwork. This paper explores this duality through an investigation of publicly available existing materials (i.e., biographies and YouTube videos). What was intended as a preparatory step before ‘entering the field’ becomes the primary way to better understand the role of the built environment in everyday lives of families affected by childhood stroke. In this paper we reflect on the shared space the investigation creates within a …