Realities vs. Ideal: A Roundtable for the Study of Lived Religion

Realities vs. Ideal: A Roundtable for the Study of Lived Religion

Group leaders: Ryan Lemasters, Philosophy

With the generous support of Western Michigan University’s Center for the Humanities, this year (2020-2021) marked another successful year for the
Realities vs. Ideal: A Round-table for the Study of Lived Religion Interdisciplinary Humanities Group . The support provided by the Center for the Humanities allowed the group to access a broad range of material that stimulated research. This past year, the group continued to investigate "cognition." Since the group spent the 2019-2020 year researching this topic, the group was equipped to delve deeper into the nature of the mind. Using previous research as a platform to build on, the group was able to utilize the cognitive sciences to explore issues such as transhumanism, embodied cognition, predictive processing, and religion.
 
The Realities vs. Ideal: A Round-table for the Study of Lived Religion has evolved tremendously over the years. It has fluctuated back and forth from narrow to broad research topics. Throughout the years, the group has mainly consisted of members in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Comparative Religion. The group is proud to say that this past year they were able to broaden their reach and include members outside of these departments. In addition, they had consistent members who extended
outside the WMU community. 
 
It is worth noting that the group was also used as a way for undergraduate and graduate students to present their own research. One member presented her writing sample and got crucial feedback from the group. This eventually led to her successfully being accepted into a fully funded (philosophy) master’s program. This is just one of the ways that our IDHG
continues to have success.
 
With the impact of Covid-19, the group transitioned to an online platform. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the group dealt with the adversity. In fact, moving the meetings online allowed for more frequent meetings and the ability to reach a wider audience.
 
In 2021-2022 academic year, the group hopes to cast a broad net to assure a critical representation of fields and researchers within the humanities. More importantly, they are committed to inclusivity, and will continue to grow our population of underrepresented groups to accurately reflect WMU’s community.