The American Academy of Religion, Western Region (AAR-WR), is delighted to announce its annual Call for Papers (CFP) for its 2025 Conference, which will be held at Arizona State University. It will be an in-person conference with some hybrid capabilities.
Call for Papers: American Academy of Religion, Western Region 2025 Annual Conference - “Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality” Dates: March 14-16, 2025 Location: Arizona State University Abstract Submission Deadline: September 30th, 2024
The American Academy of Religion, Western Region (AAR-WR), is delighted to announce its annual Call for Papers (CFP) for its 2025 Conference, which will be held at the Arizona State University (ASU). It will be an in-person conference with some hybrid capabilities.
Our region is grateful for ASU’s wonderful support of our annual conference and look forward to this opportunity to share the exciting research, scholarship, and publication taking place within AAR’s Western Region!
We look forward with great enthusiasm to this conference and to seeing everyone at ASU!
Sincerely,
2024-2025 Board of Directors
American Academy of Religion, Western Region (AAR-WR)
2025 Conference Theme
Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality
Membership in AAR required to present at the conference. Become an AAR Member here.
Submission of an abstract alone, however, does not require membership.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word version or PDF version) to the relevant Unit Chair listed below by September 30, 2024.
Unit Chair Call for Papers Form
| Proposal Form (Word Doc) |
| Proposal Form (PDF) |
Asian American Religious Studies
Laura Snell, University of California, Santa Barbara, laurasnell@ucsb.edu
Albert Shannon Toribio, University of California, Santa Barbara, shannon_toribio@ucsb.edu
For the AAR-WR Conference 2025, the Asian American Religious Studies Unit focuses on the overlapping and often mutually constituting categories of religion and performance. Attending to the mixture of creativity, religion, and spirituality in expressive practice, we invite papers from any discipline that address the various manifestations of performativity of Asian American religion, not preferring any particular mode of creative expression and not privileging any particular religious tradition.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Laura Snell and Albert Shannon Toribio by September 30, 2024.
Black Religion and Theology
Julius Bailey, University of Redlands, julius_bailey@redlands.edu
Aaron Grizzell, NorCal MLK Foundation, aaron@norcalmlkfoundation.org
The Black Religion and Theology Unit’s mission is to further the development of scholarly research and discussion about the black religious experience; encourage the broadening of Black religion as an academic endeavor; and engage in discourse, from the African diasporic perspective, about religious and theological expression. Following along with this year’s theme, which focuses on examining the complex intersections of religion, technology, and science, we welcome proposal submissions from two focus areas. The selected panelists can expect 15-20 minutes to present their work and to enable time for questions and audience responses.
Focus Area A: Artificial intelligence and generative technologies are changing the landscape of the modes and definitions of communication, imagination, connectivity, and, arguably, reality. Both religion and theology in African diasporic expressions have much to say on these matters. We welcome papers that delve into the challenges, opportunities, and innovative expressions that are being forged in this space.
Focus Area B: In many ways, the Black religious expression has been the vanguard through which social justice movements have forged new rights under law, and Black religious scholarship has been vital to building a bulwark against theoretical and methodological pushback in the academy regarding the grounding of these movements in the Black experience. We welcome papers that take an innovative look at modes of Black scholarship at the fulcrum of movements for justice, civil and human rights. This includes speculative and afrofuturist thought now at the forefront of many popular cultural expressions.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Julius Bailey and Aaron Grizzell by September 30, 2024.
Buddhist Studies
Jake Nagasawa, University of California, Santa Barbara, jnagasawa@umail.ucsb.edu
Alina Pokhrel, University of Virginia, alina.pokhrel@virginia.edu
“Religious Expression Across Buddhist Worlds”
The Buddhist Studies unit warmly invites scholars, practitioners, and artists to present their creative work that explores multifaceted dimensions of Buddhist thought and practice. We welcome interactive presentations, performances, songs, poetry readings with commentaries, and traditional paper presentations that explore Buddhist expressions of devotion, meditative wisdom, ethical cultivation, esoteric realities, or the significance of affective states across traditions and time and place.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Jake Nagasawa and Alina Pokhrel by September 30, 2024.
Catholic Studies
Samantha Kang, University of California, Santa Barbara, samanthakang@ucsb.edu
Nathan McWeeney, University of Southern California, mcweeney@usc.edu
This year, the Catholic Studies unit invites papers related to the AAR/WR’s 2023 conference theme: Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality. We welcome papers from various methodological and disciplinary standpoints and are particularly interested in papers addressing the twin notions of Catholicism as performance and performances of Catholicism as demonstrated in art, popular culture, and politics. We also hope to explore the intersection between Catholicism and tourism as it is encountered at popular travel destinations such as the California Missions, Notre Dame, Sagrada Familia or Vatican City.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Samantha Kang and Nathan McWeeney by September 30, 2024.
Christianity
“Joey” Alan Le, Independent Scholar, joeyalanle@gmail.com
The Christianity Unit seeks proposals that demonstrate the expression and embodiment of the Christian faith and spirituality as a performance in line with the Conference Theme, “Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality.” We are particularly interested in proposals that explore the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of the Christian religion, and we encourage real-world applications to be at the center of, or included in, the proposals.
Proposals of essays or works of art may include, but are not restricted to:\
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to ”Joey” Alan Le by September 30, 2024.
Disabilities Studies
Anjeanette LeBoeuf, Saint Louis University, anjeanette.leboeuf@slu.edu
Elizabeth Staszak, Independent Scholar, elizabeth.staszak@gmail.com
The Disability Studies Unit welcomes papers which engage with the Conference Theme of “Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality.” Our unit is also looking for papers which grapple with the questions of space, location, body, and perception. Some of the questions we are hoping to see in proposals are below:
Our unit encourages and welcomes proposals that are beyond traditional conference papers that challenge all our understandings of performativity and engagement.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Anjeanette LeBoeuf and Elizabeth Staszak by September 30, 2024.
Education and Pedagogy
Peter Romaskiewicz, UC Santa Barbara, pmr01@ucsb.edu
The Education and Pedagogy Unit is currently accepting a wide variety of abstracts for papers that relate to the 2025 AAR/WR Conference Theme: Performance of Religion, Faith, and Spirituality and specifically within the context of Education and Pedagogy. Our unit will give priority to those abstracts that address the theme but will also consider all proposals addressing other topics.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Chair Peter Romaskiewicz by September 30, 2024.
Goddess Studies
Kali (Meera) Tanikella, Graduate Theological Union, mtanikella@ses.gtu.edu
What Makes Us Human in the Time of AI?
In keeping with the 2025 AAR-WR conference theme of “Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality”, the Goddess Studies unit aims to delve into the question: What makes us human in the time of AI?
As we navigate the complexities of artificial intelligence and its impact on our lives, the study of goddess traditions offers a profound framework for understanding human embodiment, epistemic justice, and alternative epistemologies. We invite papers that address these themes through various perspectives, including but not limited to:
We encourage submissions that utilize contemporary media, performance, and interdisciplinary approaches to explore these questions. Papers may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Kali (Meera) Tanikella by September 30, 2024.
Graduate Student Professional Development
Kimberly Diaz, University of California, Riverside, kdiaz038@ucr.edu
For many academics, an integral part to their professional portfolio is the Curriculum vitae (CV). Latin for “course of life,” conventional standards for the CV only call for the most polished version of an academic’s journey. How can the CV be re-imagined in ways that go beyond an aesthetic and into transparency about the complexities of navigating academia? Is such re-imagination possible, especially given that as an industry academia demands efficiency? What alternative spaces, if any, hearten an academic’s vulnerability?
The Graduate Student Professional Development Unit invites scholars to submit proposals that (in-)directly relate to the aforementioned topics/questions or propose a new theme.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Kimberly Diaz by September 30, 2024.
Indigenous Religions
Delores (Lola) Mondragón, UC Santa Barbara, mondragon@ucsb.edu
The Indigenous Religions Unit seeks proposals that demonstrate the varied intersectional approaches that enrich, inform, and sustain Native American and Indigenous religious traditions and ways of knowing within communities that can further inform others of these rich traditions.
In keeping with this year’s theme of performing religions, faith, and spirituality—we welcome different ways of knowing that decolonize the environment and recenters the re-remembering of ceremonies—keeping in mind that we are not to here to be extracted from but that we share for the purposes of our mutual goals including Indigenous sovereignty, environmental dignity, and rematriation around the world.
All forms of knowledge sharing are welcome including songs, performances, and rituals that are mindful of who is being represented and who are the Elders that have been informed beforehand.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Lola Mondragón by September 30, 2024.
Islamic Studies
Souad Ali, Arizona State University, Tempe, souad.ali@asu.edu
The Islamic StudiesUnit is currently accepting a wide variety of abstracts for papers that relate to the 2025 AAR/WR Conference Theme: Performance of Religion, Faith, and Spirituality and specifically within the context of Islamic Studies. Our unit will give priority to those abstracts that address the theme but will also consider all proposals addressing other topics.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Souad Ali by September 30, 2024.
Jewish Feminism
Emily Silverman, Graduate Theological Union, ebinah@gmail.com
The Jewish FeminismUnit is currently accepting a wide variety of abstracts for papers that relate to the 2025 AAR/WR Conference Theme: Performance of Religion, Faith, and Spirituality and specifically within the context of Jewish Feminism. Our unit will give priority to those abstracts that address the theme but will also consider all proposals addressing other topics.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Emily Silverman by September 30, 2024.
Jewish Studies
Roberta Sabbath, University of Nevada, roberta.sabbath@unlv.edu
Alexander Warren Marcus, University of Pennsylvania, amarcus@fandm.edu
Emily Silverman, Graduate Theological Union, ebinah@gmail.com
Performing Judaism: Faith, Spirituality, and Creativity
This year, the Western Region conference of the American Academy of Religion is heading to Arizona State University, where we will be focusing on religions, faith, and spirituality. The Jewish Studies unit invites papers from any discipline that contributes to contemporary or historical issues around the performance of Judaism and Jewishness – broadly construed. Prayer, meditation, mystical practice, and public expression – along with music, dance, the production of ritual and cultural objects, and other artistic and creative acts – have always shaped the varieties of Jewish experience and identity, and they continue to do so. We also invite papers that examine the intersections of Judaism and Jewish performance with innovation and technology. We encourage participants to employ both traditional and experimental modalities in conducting and presenting their research.
The Jewish Studies Unit of the AAR-WR welcomes papers responding to any aspects of the above topics and questions, from all disciplines pertaining to the study of Jews and Judaism.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Roberta Sabbath, Alexander Warren Marcus, and Emily Silverman by September 30, 2024.
Latinx Religions and Spiritualities
Saul Barcelos, Loma Linda University, sbarcelo@llu.edu
Marlene Ferreras, La Sierra University, mferrera@lasierra.edu
The Latinx Religions and Spiritualities Unit invites papers related to AAR/WR’s conference theme, focusing on the diverse expressions and performances of religious practices among Latinx communities. We encourage critical engagement with the complexities of religious and spiritual experiences, exploring how these practices both shape and are shaped by broader social, political, and cultural contexts. This unit seeks to explore Latinx religions and spiritual traditions through examination of their historical trajectories, present-day practices, and future possibilities.
We welcome interdisciplinary perspectives and invite submissions that include (but are not limited to) empirical research, theoretical explorations, case studies, and comparative analyses.
Examples of proposed topics include (are not restricted to):
Pagan Studies
Dorothea Kahena Viale, Cal Poly Pomona, sacreddancer2@gmail.com
Candace Kant, candace.kant@gmail.com
The Pagan Studies unit invites papers and/or panels from any discipline that address how Paganism is performed in the 21st century. Possible topics are daily spiritual practices, the ways in which Pagans celebrate nature in marking the spokes of the Wheel of the Year, how the ethics of Paganism guide us as we interact with others, including how we form our political ideas, how we utilize artistic expression (music, dance, drumming and more) to enhance our spiritual practice, or how the production of ritual tools focuses the practice of paganism.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word version or PDF version) to Dorothea Kahena Viale and Candace Kant by September 30, 2024.
Philosophy of Religion
Mitch Hickman, University of California, Santa Barbara, mitchelehickman@ucsb.edu
Shakir Stephen, University of California, Santa Barbara, shakirstephen@ucsb.edu
We welcome all papers engaging with this year’s conference theme – “Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality” – as well as additional topics of interest in contemporary Philosophy of Religion. Topics of interest might include:
Psychology, Culture, and Religion
Casey Crosbie, Scripps College, caseygcrosbie@gmail.com
Katherine Kunz, Center for Religion and Cities, katherine@katherinekunz.com
Keeping with the annual theme of “Performing Religions, Faith, and Spirituality,” the Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit invites papers that explore how religion is “performed” and how these performances affect the interior and social worlds of believers and the larger society.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Casey Crosbie and Katherine Kunz by September 30, 2024.
Queer Studies in Religion
Marie Cartier, California State University, Northridge, ezmerelda@earthlink.net
John Erickson, Independent Scholar, jerickson85@gmail.com
The Queer Studies in Religion unit is searching for any and all Queer Content for the 2024 Regional Conference. We welcome topical presentations, papers, fully formed panels, poetry, performance art, ritual making, and presentations inside and outside of the academy which deals with the 2024 Elections and the ramifications. We are also interested in works that deal with any and all aspects of the rainbow identity.
We welcome joint sessions with other units especially during these challenges times for LGBTQ+ and other at risk and minority communities.
Lastly, The Queer Studies in Religion unit welcome papers that engages the general 2024 Conference CFP.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Marie Cartier and John Erickson by September 30, 2024.
Religion, Science, and Technology
Greg Cootsona, CSU Chico, gcootsona@csuchico.edu
Reed Metcalf, Fuller Theological Seminary, reedmetcalf@fuller.edu
Religion, science, and technology have overlapped with each other for centuries, with each element a crucial component of humanity’s existence. Of course, unprecedented advances in technology and scientific discovery in the last two centuries have had far reaching implications for how humanity thinks about, interacts with, and performs its religions. But while the rate of change has increased, these pressure points between religion, science, and technology are not new; the printing press, the Copernican Revolution, and even the invention of the codex all changed how humans have experienced and understood the metaphysical. Of course, the reverse is true as well: religions have often influenced how humans use or think about technology and science.
In this session, we invite papers that study the pressure points of how science, religion, and technology impinge on each other’s praxis. How has technology changed how people worship? How have religious convictions altered or restrained how people use technology? How have people begun to treat science like a religion, or their religion like a science? The possible lines of inquiry are as numerous as the ways that humans navigate between their tools, their understanding of the natural world, and their attempts to reach beyond their physical senses.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Greg Cootsona and Reed Metcalf by September 30, 2024.
Religion and Social Sciences
Meghan Tiller, University of Southern California, tiller@usc.edu
The Religion and Social SciencesUnit is currently accepting a wide variety of abstracts for papers that relate to the 2025 AAR/WR Conference Theme: Performance of Religion, Faith, and Spirituality and specifically within the context of Religion and Social Sciences. Our unit will give priority to those abstracts that address the theme but will also consider all proposals addressing other topics.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Meghan Tiller by September 30, 2024.
Religion and the Arts
Anna Hennessey, Graduate Theological Union, dr.amhennessey@gmail.com
Tamisha Tyler, Fuller Theological Seminary, tamisha.a.tyler@gmail.com
In line with AAR/WR’s 2025 Conference Theme, Performing Religion, Faith, and Spirituality, the Religion and the Arts unit this year explores performance and the arts, as well as religion and artistic expression more broadly. In light of the devastating situation this year in the Middle East, and in particular with the staggering loss of life that continues to increase in Palestine, as well as the issues of violent conflict, mass killing, and genocide in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we are especially interested in how art interacts with religion and genocide, religion and war, and religion and trauma, both in the present time and also historically across cultures, religions and peoples. Performance art related to representation of these events or to cultural healing and survival are encouraged.
We are also always open to coverage of topics on art and religion that are unrelated to this year’s unit CFP or to the general conference theme. We encourage the submission of papers that utilize interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and nontraditional approaches to research, as well as a traditional format for paper delivery.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Anna Hennessey and Tamisha Tyler by September 30, 2024.
Religions of Asia
Fadime Apaydin, University of California, Riverside, fapay002@ucr.edu
İhsan Çapcıoğlu, Ankara University, Turkey, ihsancapcioglu@yahoo.com
The Religions of Asia Unit invite scholars to explore how performance, in its broadest sense, shapes and is shaped by religious, spiritual, and faith practices within the diverse traditions of Asia. We particularly seek contributions that address the dynamic and performative aspects of religious practices and their impact on individual and community life.
Topics may address, but not limited to:
Submissions that engage with the broader conference theme are particularly encouraged. However, those are also welcome that connect with religions of Asia, even if they do not immediately interface with the conference theme.
We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and encourage scholars from various fields, including religious studies, anthropology, sociology, history, and the arts, to submit their proposals.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Fadime Apaydin by September 30, 2024.
Womanist/Pan-African
Valerie Miles-Tribble, GTU / Berkeley School of Theology, macsvmt@gmail.com
Sakena Young-Scaggs, Stanford University, revsystah@gmail.com
The Womanist/Pan-AfricanUnit is currently accepting a wide variety of abstracts for papers that relate to the 2025 AAR/WR Conference Theme: Performance of Religion, Faith, and Spirituality and specifically within the context of Womanist/Pan-African. Our unit will give priority to those abstracts that address the theme but will also consider all proposals addressing other topics.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Valerie Miles-Tribble and Sakena Young-Skaggs by September 30, 2024.
Women and Religion
Emily Silverman (Interim), Graduate Theological Union, ebinah@gmail.com
The Women and ReligionUnit is currently accepting a wide variety of abstracts for papers that relate to the 2025 AAR/WR Conference Theme: Performance of Religion, Faith, and Spirituality and specifically within the context of Women and Religion. Our unit will give priority to those abstracts that address the theme but will also consider all proposals addressing other topics.
Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Emily Silverman by September 30, 2024.
Panel: Religions of Asia Panel CFP:
Religions of Asia Unit
Co-chair, Fadime Apaydin, University of California, Riverside, fapay002@ucr.edu
Co-chair, İhsan Çapcıoğlu, Ankara University, Turkey, ihsancapcioglu@yahoo.com
The Religions of Asia Unit invite scholars to explore how performance, in its broadest sense, shapes and is shaped by religious, spiritual, and faith practices within the diverse traditions of Asia. We particularly seek contributions that address the dynamic and performative aspects of religious practices and their impact on individual and community life.
Topics may address, but not limited to:
Submissions that engage with the broader conference theme are particularly encouraged. However, those are also welcome that connect with religions of Asia, even if they do not immediately interface with the conference theme.
We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and encourage scholars from various fields, including religious studies, anthropology, sociology, history, and the arts, to submit their proposals.
Submit your Proposal Form to Fadime Apaydin (fapay002@ucr.edu) by September 30, 2024.
Refer to the conference CFP, which includes 23 more units: https://www.aarwr.com/call-for-papers.html
AAR-WR Website: https://www.aarwr.com/
We look forward with great enthusiasm to this conference to share exciting research, scholarship, and publication.
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