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Call for proposals: Plant Lives conference

Type: Calls For Papers [View all]
Posted by: Yale Institute of Sacred Music
Deadline: Fri, January 16th, 2026

Plant Lives: Sacred Interdependencies in the Arts of the Americas

A planting event and conference hosted by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music

April 11, 2026

This one-day conference will explore the many capacities of plants to transmit divine insights across time, and the ways in which plants perform, evoke, and embody sacred relations throughout the Americas. In addition to considering plants as agents of divination, the conference and the subsequent planting celebration will look to plants as a means of reviving sacred interdependencies in art and musical practices. Coconut shells and seed beads frequently appear in contemporary Santeria divinations; the banjo is a cousin of gourd-based stringed instruments originating in Africa and Brazil; African American eco-feminist musicians have revived shekere and coconut percussion instruments since the 1980s. Images of plants are also powerful reminders of the tastes, smells, and other sensory experiences lost to migration.

We are interested in 20-minute papers or performances that discuss plants, planting, or plant-derived materials in relation to ecology and the sacred. On the evening of the conference, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music will host a public groundbreaking for a gourd garden at the Urban Naturescapes Native Plant Nursery in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood. We hope the event will activate questions such as: How have plants sustained spiritual relationships across geographic contexts? How can we see plants as living archives that impact what we remember in the here and now?

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music will cover the cost of hotel accommodations in New Haven and provide a $250 stipend toward travel. Interested participants should send a 250-word abstract, along with the presenters’ name/s and affiliation/s, if any, to plantlivesconference[at]gmail.com by 16 January 2025. All abstracts will receive a response by 23 January 2025. Questions can be directed to Katie Anania at katie.anania[at]yale.edu. 

Posted on Wed, December 3rd, 2025
Expires on Fri, January 16th, 2026

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