Just back from Sixteenth-Century Studies 2012 in Cincinnati, despite the Sandy / Frankenstorm. On the whole a good conference; my plenary panel on Thursday night went well considering that we really didn't have an idea about the format. At the end of it, it became clear however that there is a theme of connecting the senses and the emotions in a much more nuanced and robust manner. In numerous panels and papers the experiential, the sensuous, the emotional, and the role of practice were front and centre! quite a happy turn of events I think, considering these define my work in so many ways. Solid outcomes - seeing the Religion and the Senses in print for the first time (out on Oct 23 2012!),
read more

I decided (during my lunch) to see what Stefan Sinclair and Geoff Rockwell's Voyant Tools would tell me about my monograph. I guess some kind of self-discovery over a sandwich is OK - especially when it combines two aspects of your own work. Here are some visuals generated by Voyant: So my book is about the senses and religion. I'm genuinely surprised though at how low the raw count is on the senses themselves - then again, it's about the sensorium as a whole, not each individual sense per se. Another view is rather interesting I think - word trends that more or less follow what each chapter is about. Knowing how I intended my argument to flow, this graph is comforting - it actually sh
read more