There are a number of sections, seminars, and groups at the AAR this year that may be of interest to folks doing
research on the American West (including our own!). We have surely overlooked many, but here are
short descriptions and links to more detailed CFPs of a few that may be of interest to
some of you (deadline for submissions is Monday, March 3):
African Diaspora Religions Group
This Group endorses the study of
African diaspora religions beyond its traditional parameters to include broader
geographies, histories, and cultures of people of African descent and the way
they shaped the religious landscape, not only in the Caribbean and the
Americas, but also in Europe and Asia. This study defines “diaspora” as the
spread and dispersal of people of African descent — both forced and voluntary —
through the slave trade, imperial and colonial displacements, and postcolonial migrations.
This Group emphasizes the importance of an interdisciplinary approach and is
central to its vision. The aim is to engage a wide range of disciplines and a
variety of scholars who work on different aspects of African diaspora
religions. It considers the linguistic and cultural complexities of the African
diaspora, the importance of African traditional religions, Afro-Christianity,
Afro-Islam, and Afro-Judaism, the way they have and continue to inform an
understanding of Africa, and also the way they have and continue to shape the
religious landscape of the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Asian North American Religion,
Culture, and Society Group
This Group (hereafter referred to
as ANARCS) is one of the primary vehicles for the advancement of the study of
the religions and practices of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in the
United States and Canada. As an integral player in the development of the
emerging field of Asian-American religious studies, ANARCS has cultivated the
work of junior and senior scholars from an impressive array of disciplines,
including the history of religion, sociology, theology, philosophy, ethics,
anthropology, psychology, education, and American and ethnic studies. ANARCS
encourages new perspectives on Asian North American religious practices and
faith communities, as well as innovative theoretical work that extends the
concepts of empires, diaspora, transnationalism, globalization, im/migration,
orientalism, adaptation, acculturation, race, ethnicity, marginalization,
oppression, and resistance. In addition to this list of concepts, ANARCS will
explore theoretical, philosophical, and theological concepts, such as
aesthetics, beauty, and love. ANARCS seeks to foster and mentor scholars
(junior, senior, and nontraditional) through preconference sessions, gathering
for meals, and maintaining a robust listserv.
Asian North American Religion,
Culture, and Society Group, Law, Religion, and Culture Group, Religion and
Migration Group, and Religion in Latin America and the Caribbean Group
We invite proposals on the theme
of Borderlands, Gatekeepers, and Exclusions. Proposals may consider any aspect
of the interface between religion, law, and the borderlands; we are especially
interested in those foregrounding Asian American, Latin American, and Caribbean
experiences and perspectives.
Gay Men and Religion Group and Law, Religion, and Culture
Group
We invite papers that explore how religious and legal ideas
and practices work together to advance or resist the regulation of
(homo)sexuality. The session will be comparative in nature, so preference will
be given to projects that explore geographical contexts outside the United
States, especially in the Pacific Basin.
Indigenous Religious Traditions Group
This Group focuses on theoretical, methodological, and
conceptual issues in the study of indigenous religious traditions the world
over. Though particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the
study of indigenous religions, we are primarily grounded in the “history of
religions” approach as it concerns the analysis of indigenous traditions. The
Group is also concerned with the interface of indigenous religious traditions
and modernity, colonial and postcolonial conditions, and local and global
forces that shape the practice of indigenous traditions and their
categorizations.
Latina/o Critical and Comparative Studies Group
This Group, founded in 2009, fosters interdisciplinary and
theoretically innovative analyses of Latina/o religiosities and spiritualities
in the Americas. Our goal is to advance knowledge and ways of knowing that
expand traditional areas of religious studies with respect to Latina/o
communities, mindful of transnational and global realities. Thus, we encourage
studies that explore non-Western beliefs and practices, including the
indigenous, the African diasporic, Buddhist, and Islamic, as well as those that
advance more complex understanding of culturally hybrid Christianities. We wish
to foster dialogue that is respectful of the culturally different theological
understandings of the sacred within different traditional or emerging
spiritualities. We encourage feminist- and queer-centered perspectives as well
as thought rooted in community experience.
Located at the intersection of the United States and Mexico,
the San Diego setting for the AAR occasions a multiplicity of topics on the
borderlands.
Mormon Studies Group
This Group will examine the range of topics, disciplines,
and methodologies that can be brought into dialogue with Mormonism as studied
in an academic environment. It is interested in exploring strategies for
teaching about Mormonism, both as the main focus of a class or as a unit within
a survey course. It seeks to identify the best resources available for teaching
and understanding the tradition and provide encouragement for scholars to fill
gaps in what is currently available. The Group encourages significant
comparative studies and interdisciplinary cross-fertilization and hopes to
explore intersections between Mormonism and ethics, theology, philosophy,
ecclesiology, missiology, spirituality, arts and literature, sociology,
scripture, and liberation studies.
Native Traditions in the Americas Group
This Group sees its mission as the promotion of the study of
Native American religious traditions and thereby the enrichment of the academic
study of religion generally, by engaging in discourse about culturally-centered
theories and encouraging multiple dialogues at the margins of Western and
non-Western cultures and scholarship. The Group is committed to fostering
dialogue involving Native and non-Native voices in the study of North, Central,
and South American Native religious traditions and to engaging religious
studies scholarship in robust conversation with scholarship on other facets of
Native cultures and societies.
Native Traditions in the Americas Group and Religion and
Ecology Group
We welcome submissions that focus on native traditional
knowledge and the environment, including climate change. papers.aarweb.org/content/native-traditions-americas-group-and-religion-and-ecology-group
link: http://papers.aarweb.org/content/native-traditions-americas-group-and-religion-and-ecology-group
New Religious Movements Group
This Group supports and encourages research on all aspects
of the study of New Religious Movements. Presenters in our sessions study new
and alternative religions, past and present, from a variety of methodological
and disciplinary perspectives. Our sessions and additional meetings are
intended to create opportunities for dialogue among academics who share a
passion for understanding NRMs, and to make known to a broader audience the
importance of such movements for understanding issues of religious tolerance,
community building and maintenance, ritual and doctrinal innovation, and other
aspects of religious life.
North American Hinduism Group
This Group was established in 2006 for the purpose of drawing
greater scholarly attention to Hinduisms outside of South Asia. Though it will
focus on North America, the Group also welcomes relevant research on Hinduisms
in other non-Indian contexts. The Group has three main goals:
To study and describe Hinduisms in North America and related
diaspora contexts
To develop a more sophisticated understanding of what
distinguishes these Hinduisms from those in South Asia
To nurture thoughtful debate on the methodologies unique to
and appropriate for their study
This Group seeks paper and panel submissions that advance
the study of Hinduisms in North America and related diaspora contexts, develop
a more sophisticated understanding of what distinguishes these Hinduisms from
those in South Asia, and nurture thoughtful debate on the methodologies unique
to and appropriate for their study. We welcome any paper or panel submissions
that might fulfill these goals.
North American Religions Section
Pentecostal–Charismatic
Movements Group
This Group provides a forum for scholarly consideration of
global phenomena associated with Pentecostalism and Charismatic movements. This
Group provides an arena for a wide array of scholars, disciplinary
orientations, and methodological approaches bringing together those working
constructively from within these traditions with scholars considering the
phenomena from historical, sociological, ethnographic, theological, and other
perspectives. The Group intentionally seeks to encourage a global and pluralist
perspective.
Religion and Cities Group
The Religion and Cities Group invites papers that explore
the multilayered intersections of religion, ethnicity, gender, and global
migration within the world’s urban contexts. The realities of the city of San
Diego, situated on territory that once belonged to the Spanish empire and now
lies in close proximity to one of the world’s busiest land borders, calls us to
an exploration of religions as they are being lived out within the varied urban
contexts being reshaped by global migration. We are interested in the
consequences of migration on new forms of urban religious hybridity, activism,
as well as increased religious pluralism. We seek papers that explore how urban
border spaces are disrupting traditional religious identities, leading to new
religious configurations globally, and also how migrant religions are
simultaneously reshaping cities globally. We invite submissions that are
grounded in empirical research suggestive of fresh theoretical paradigms for
interpreting these urban dynamics.
Religion and Ecology Group
This Group critically and constructively explores how
human–Earth relations are shaped by religions, cultures, and understandings of
nature and the environment. We are self-consciously inter- and
multi-disciplinary and include methods such as those found in the work of theologians,
philosophers, religionists, ethicists, scientists, and anthropologists, among
others.
Religion and Ecology Group and Scriptural/Contextual Ethics
Group
This session seeks submissions on the ethics of land and
landedness, particularly as these themes intersect with ecological questions.
This theme is designed to echo the 2014 AAR annual meeting theme of Climate
Change.
Religion and Migration Group
This Group is a forum in which scholars working on religion
and migration from multiple perspectives can interact across methodologies,
religious traditions, and regions. We solicit papers addressing the religious
practices, experiences, needs, and beliefs of migrating peoples who adapt to
new environments and impact their societies of origin and destination. We
understand religion and migration broadly, from the religious communities of
rural migrants in regional cities to the new understandings of religion that
second-generation children construct in order to make sense of their ethnic
identities or ethical responses of receiving communities. If you are interested
in subscribing to our listserv, please contact Alison R. Marshall, Brandon
University, marshalla@brandonu.ca .
Religion and Politics Section
This Section provides a forum for scholars and professionals
interested in the relationships between religion, the state, and political
life, both in the United States and around the world. Our members focus on the
interaction between religious and political values, movements, and commitments,
and the role of religious individuals and communities in bodies politic. This
focus includes attention to the ways in which religion and religious actors
participate in public discourse, contribute to debates over public values and
social policy, and affect — and are affected by — activity in the political
sphere. We welcome members doing both normative and descriptive work from a
variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including religious studies, political
science, philosophy, social ethics, law (including church–state studies),
history (as it relates to contemporary understandings), and theology. We seek
to advance scholarly inquiry on religion and politics and we seek also to speak
to broad and diverse publics about areas falling under the Section’s purview.
Religion and US Empire Seminar
This seminar supports a critical examination of the complex
relationship between religion and US empire from the formal inception of the US
as a nation-state to the present. The seminar will encourage attention to
fundamental theoretical issues relating to religion and US expansionism,
including but not limited to the following: the co-constitution of race,
religion, and nation; the political and institutional mechanics of empire; the
role of civic, ethnic, and religious nationalisms in supporting and critiquing
empire; the value of transnational and national approaches to understanding US
religious history; and the implications of reconceiving the standard
periodization of US history to depart from standard state-building categories.
The specific research projects of the collaborators attend to such issues as
militarism and the materiality of religion and empire; the influence of empire
on rituals, practices, and beliefs of US public religion; and the linkages
between colonial administrators, missionaries, and the scientific study of
religion.
Religion in the American West Group
The Religion in the American West Group is a forum for
graduate students, independent scholars, and faculty who situate their work
regionally in the North American West, broadly conceived. The study of religion
in this region allows scholars to use a broad array of methodologies (historical,
anthropological, literary, sociological, and others) to explore the most
pressing questions in the field of American religion and in Religious Studies
more generally. These include, but are not limited to: the history of empire
and colonialism; the connections between religion and violence; the
construction and deployment of racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities;
transnational movement of people and ideas; religion and the natural and built
environments; myth-making and its role in the construction and critique of
nationalist ideologies; and the development of the category of religion. The
purpose of this subfield is not to remain in the American West, to define the
West, or to argue that religion in the West is unique. Instead, by situating scholarship
regionally, scholars of the American West are able to develop theories and
methods that can be useful interpretive lenses for other regions defined by
land, transnationalism, migrations, diversity, and colonialism. Moreover, the
Group supports the development of a rigorous intellectual community by
pre-circulating papers in advance of the national meeting and maintaining a
blog.
Religions, Social Conflict, and Peace Group
Relationships between religions and the causes and
resolution of social conflict are complex. On the one hand, religion is a major
source of discord in our world, but on the other, religious agents have often
played a central role in developing and encouraging nonviolent means of
conflict resolution and sustainable peace. While religion as a factor in
conflicts is often misunderstood by military and political leaders, it is also
the case that the popular call for an end to injustice is quite often a
religious voice. We seek to add a critical dimension to the understanding of
how religion influences and resolves social conflict. We want to develop and
expand the traditional categories of moral reflection and response to war and
also to investigate kindred conflicts — terrorism, humanitarian armed
intervention, cultural and governmental repression, ecological degradation, and
all of the factors that inhibit human flourishing. We also hope to encourage
theoretical and practical reflection on religious peace-building by examining
the discourses, practices, and community and institutional structures that
promote just peace. Through our work, we hope to promote understanding of the
relationships between social conflict and religions in ways that are
theoretically sophisticated and practically applicable in diverse cultural
contexts. http://papers.aarweb.org/content/religions-social-conflict-and-peace-group
Space, Place, and Religion Group
This Group is a forum for exploring religious sites and the
spatial dimensions of religions. We feature ethnographically-informed studies
of living sites, historically-informed studies of texts and artifacts, and
analyses of architecture and landscape. Our work seeks to shed light on the
role of space and place in religious traditions and communities or to examine
religious activity (performance, ritual, and practice) in spatial contexts.
Hope to see you in San Diego!
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