‘Securitizing the Sacred: Pilgrims’ Trails across Digital Landscapes’
Thursday August 22
9.30-10.00: Welcome Address (all sessions will be held in Room 538, Faculty of Information, 140 St. George St.)
10.00-11.30: Plenary Session 1 (Moderator: Nadia Caidi)
‘The Social Realities of Data in Contemporary Pilgrimage Practices: A Case Study from the United Kingdom’ Ellie O’Keeffe, National Centre for Social Research, UK
‘Using Computational Methods to Study Pilgrimage’ Deena Abul-Fottouh, Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University
11.30-12.00: Break
12.00-1.00: Community Engagement Session 1 [online] (Moderator: Simon Coleman)
‘Leave Only Footprints: Finding Britain’s Pilgrims’ Dawn Champion, British Pilgrimage Trust
1.00-2.00: Lunch (Room 728, 7th Floor)
2:00-3.20: Paper Session 1: Navigating Complex Infrastructures (Moderator: Yigal Nizri)
‘Mapping the Sacred Journey: “Flowing Space” and the Digital and Non-Digital Navigation on the Camino de Santiago’ Tamar Ben-Shlomo, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Sanctity and Security: Jewish Pilgrimages to Uman in the 21st Century’ Alla Marchenko, Azrieli Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
‘Beyond Sacred Division: The Unifying Power of Fragmented Sacred Spaces in Chabad Pilgrimage Practices’ Mendi Yaacobovitz, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem [online]
3.20-3.40: Break
3.40-4.30: Community Engagement Session 2 (Moderator: Sean McLoughlin)
Introducing the pilot of the Securitizing the Sacred Mapping Initiative, Astrid Manzanilla, Simon Coleman and Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto
Friday August 23
9.00-10.30: Plenary Session 2 (Moderator: Sean McLoughlin)
‘Algorithmic Amplification of Propaganda on Twitter and the Securitization of Pilgrimage: A Babri Masjid Case Study’ Sananda Sahoo, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University
‘Migrants, Refugees and Pilgrims: Data and AI Ethics for People on the Move’ Jacob Metcalf, Data & Society, NY
10.30-11.30: Community Engagement Session 3 (Moderator: Simon Coleman)
‘Religious. Tourism. Data. Hajj.’ Sean McLoughlin, University of Leeds; Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto
11:30-12:00: Break
12.00-1.30: Community Engagement Session 4 (Moderator: Nadia Caidi)
‘A Journey towards Social Computer Science’ Peter Marbach, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
1.30-2.30: Lunch (Room 728)
2.30-3.30: Paper Session 2: Diaspora and/as Pilgrimage (Moderator: Kaina Mendoza-Price)
‘Cuban Migration as Pilgrimage’ Pablo D. Herrera Veitia, Inclusive Excellence Post-Doctoral Fellow, Afrosonic Innovations Lab, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, University of Toronto Scarborough
‘Osun’s Spiritual Power and Influence: Contemporary Connections Between Nigeria, the Diaspora, and Humanity’ Ifawole Akangbe (Osun Grove historian, Ifa priest, artist, member of sacred custodians to Osun Grove), Iya Osunshikemi Asabi (Ifa priestess, Osun devotee), Iya Ifasade (Ifa priestess, custodian of the Osun River), Jeanette Charles-Márquez (Ph.D. candidate, documentary film producer, founder of Ìyá Global) [online]
3.30-4.00 Break
4.00-6.00: Community Engagement Session 5 (Moderator: Keegan Hobson)
‘Glad Days and Dazed Gays: Access and Surveillance of the Queer Disabled Pilgrim’ A. Atticus Hawk, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Saturday August 24
9.00-10.00: Plenary Session 3 (Moderator: Simon Coleman)
‘Place, Flow, Rhythm: Pilgrims, Data and Infrastructure in a Variegated World’ Steven Jackson, Department of Information Science, Cornell University
10.00-11.00: Paper Session 3: Fragmentations and Insecurity (Moderator: Nadia Caidi)
‘In the Digital Accretion Disk: Online Images of Interstitial Sites in Mecca and Unintended Audiences’ David Simonowitz, Middle East Studies, Pepperdine University
‘‘Pilgrimages and Insecurity: The Conversion of the Shiite Festivals to Arenas of Violence in Nigeria’ Mujahid Hamza Shitu, Department of Islamic Studies, Federal University Gashua, Nigeria [online]
‘Leveraging Technology for Secure Pilgrimage: An IT Perspective’ Zahid Hossain, Software Engineer [online]
NOTE: A visit to Glad Day Bookstore is proposed after the wrap-up.
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