About this archive
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We have included here some of the past contributions to the Religion in the Public Sphere initiative and related projects, specifically from the Elements Experiment and the Religion Beat blog – both graduate student projects in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto.
Launched in 2014, the Elements Experiment was supported by an Inspirit Foundation National Impact Grant, and based out of the previous iteration of the Religion in the Public Sphere Initiative. Asking the question, What are the elements that make up our shared spaces?, the project was conceived for young people across Canada, and across disciplines, professions, and lived experiences. The Elements Experiment was comprised of two elements: an online space, and a conference. The online space invited submissions from youth (ages 18-30) across Canada to share work that spoke to the themes of religion, the secular, and public spaces in an age of diversity, regardless of whether the content was academic, journalistic, creative, or experiential. This intention was carried into The Elements Experiment Conference in October 2014, where individuals presented work published on the online space and new content was brought into the conversation. This conference provided an opportunity for face-to-face engagement and the creation of an intellectual space without boundaries.
The Elements Experiment actively attempted to create an intellectual space that disrupted understandings of who can speak about religion, the secular, and public spaces, and what kinds of language is considered acceptable when speaking about it. Students at the University of Toronto Department for the Study of Religion started The Elements Experiment based on what they perceive as a distinct lack of spaces for students to produce work and have that work legitimized using more than solely academic language and systems of legitimacy. Elements experimented with the notion that academic knowledge, experiential knowledge, artistic expression, and other ways of engaging, can be in conversation with each other, creating a shared intellectual space. The Elements Experiment asks, what if we could put aside the project of shaping our knowledge and language for a single discipline, and expand ourselves to engage with diverse ways of knowing and communicating?
The Religion Beat was an online publication hosted by Religion in the Public Sphere, occupying the space between a blog and an academic journal. For readers inside and outside the academy, it was a curated collection of articles and podcasts from contributors passionate and knowledgeable about religion in society. Aimed particularly at young scholars, it was a forum for sharing interests and expertise with a broader audience while maintaining a commitment to intellectual writing and analysis. Religion Beat welcomed academic and non-academic articles relating to religion in the public sphere as well as book reviews or responses to public talks, community events, conferences or current affairs. It also produced a podcast.