2015 Western Region Call for Papers

2015 Western Regional Meeting Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA March 20–22, 2015

2015 Call for Papers

Conference Theme: Open/ None

Chairs of the twenty-four units in our region have in various ways crafted calls for papers with specific interests or themes in mind for our 2015 conference. 

General Instructions

Deadline Extension: October 5, 2014 is the deadline for submitting proposals via e-mail to unit chairs for papers for the 2015 AAR/WR Conference. Proposals or abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length and, along with participant forms, should be sent as an attachment to unit chair(s) at the e-mail addresses provided below. If you are proposing a panel of three to four papers, please include short abstracts for each paper on the panel, and a short description of your panel theme. 

Individuals whose proposals are accepted must be members of the AAR before the conference date in order to present. 

For any questions regarding the call for papers please contact the program chair, Hester Oberman, at heoberman@msn.com

Asian American Religious Studies 
Today, Santa Clara County is home to one of the largest and fastest growing Asian communities in the United States. Furthermore, this region represents an increasingly diverse definition of "Asian America" in regards to ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, generation, politics, etc., and their respective intersections with religions and religiosity. Under this geographic setting, the Asian American Religious Studies section of the AAR/WR invites panels and/or individual paper proposals that highlight Asian American religious identity and diversity. We specifically seek scholarly work that addresses and/or complicates the concepts of transnationalism, orientalism, imperialism, diaspora, and resistance. In addition, we seek works from community leaders, religious leaders, artists, etc., whose work tangentially or directly concerns Asian American religious cultures. We invite submissions of panels with 3–4 papers, as well as individual papers. Please contact Jonathan Lee at jlee@sfsu.edu and Dean Ryuta Adachi at dean.adachi@cgu.edu with questions. Thank you. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Buddhist Studies
Buddhism and Magick
This is a call for papers exploring the crossroads of Buddhism and Magick. Both are complex and diverse spiritual paths, rich in history and comprised of many different traditions. Buddhism was imported from the East at the dawn of the twentieth century; and Magick has seen a revival Western societies beginning in the nineteenth century with the likes of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society, through the twentieth century in currents such as Thelema, Wicca, and Chaos Magick. They are gaining an influx of modernized Western adherents. What does this mean? Are we approaching a New Aeon of spirituality in the West? Where do these spiritual paths intersect, and what can they gain from one another? We are looking for papers examining this intersection. Examples would include analysis of the shamanic elements in Tibetan Buddhism inherited from Bon; the tradition of Yantra tattooing in Southeast Asian countries; the adoption of wrathful deities by subjective Thelemite practitioners. 

Two scholars that come immediately to mind on the topic of magic would be Susan Greenwood and Jeffrey Kripal. Selections from Greenwood’s The Anthropology of Magic were assigned in HUMA 620. The selections that we read argued for a model of the universe inclusive of reason and intuition. Kripal’s Authors of the Impossible and Mutants and Mystics, while not exclusive on the topic of magic, cover a great deal of topics related to magic and the paranormal. I have not yet read Authors of the Impossible, but Mutants and Mystics is pretty far out and well-researched—I highly recommend it. Other scholars whose names that I have come across on the academic study of magic are Tanya Luhrmann, Ronald Hutton, Alex Owen, Nikki Bado-Fralick, and Hugh Urban. There is also a collection essays, Pathways in Modern Western Magic, edited by Nevill Drury, aimed toward an academic audience. 

Here are some materials from the web: 
http://deeper-down-the-rabbit-hole.com/2012/12/episode-82-sam-webster-discusses-tantric-thelema/ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oABTn_Lbp60 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odNTqm3FHaE&list=PLyheH-sHmeaMPrm4e0STy21lGrRX45vHU

Please send as an attachment to Kenneth Lee at klee@csun.edu. Thank you.

Catholic Studies 
As 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate, the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions,” the Catholic Studies Section seeks paper and panel proposals that focus on any aspect of Catholicism's interaction with other religious traditions, including the ways in which Catholics have come to a new understanding of their own tradition through engagement with other faiths. Papers investigating this topic throughout any era of Catholic history are welcome, and they may employ either theological or religious studies methodologies. We are also interested in proposals exploring Nostra Aetate itself—its historical and dialogical significance, its postconciliar developments, its implications for religious pluralism and its impact on Catholic identity and issues of ”otherness.” 

Please send your proposal and participant form to cochairs Rico G. Monge rmonge@sandiego.edu and Lauren Horn Griffin lhg@umail.ucsb.edu. Proposals of panels are also welcome—please include abstracts for each paper as well as a short description of your panel theme.

Ecology and Religion
Diverse religious communities stand witness to current ecological realities with a variety of tools at their disposal: social, textual, theo/alogical, rhetorical, legal, practical, pedagogical, organizational, communicative, and symbolic, among others. These tools may frame contemporary environmental concerns, as well as epistemologies from eco-theology, ecofeminism, environmental justice, environmental education, ecopsychology, systems theory, environmental ethics, process theology, and myriad others.

The Religion and Ecology Section invites proposals that address any number of broader sustainability issues that intersect with religious and ethical notions, including but not limited to: food, climate change and energy generation, above 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide, carbon sequestration, fracking, mining, development, biomimicry, recycling and waste, plastics and the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, genetic modification of food plants and animals, toxicity, meat, arsenic in chicken, industrialized agriculture, subsistence, fish farming, land and water rights, forests, megafauna loss, globalization, transnational commerce and exploitative extraction, greening, green-washing, Gaia, anthropocentrism/speciesism, rights to cultural and ecological continuity, and the exploitation or well-being of particular communities of animals, plants, biomes, and peoples. These topics may be contextualized in continuity with past and future generations; with awareness of contemporary impacts on future generations of species, landscapes, and ecosystems; and with attention to communities' conceptual and practical regenerative capacities as they move towards ecological balance, health, sustainability, or other formidable goals.

Please be sent as an attachment to unit chair Joel Stoker at jstoker@asu.edu. Thank you.

Education and Workshops 
The Teaching Religion Section invites proposals addressing the question: How do we teach religious studies at the intersection of deep scholarship and a changing academy? Proposals on the following topics are particularly encouraged:

• Power and privilege in the twenty-first century classroom;
• Impact of adjunctification of academia on the religious studies classroom;
• Best practices in secondary-level religious studies; and
• Teaching religious studies with and for members of the military, veterans, and their families

Proposals for papers, panels, workshops and alternative formats will all be considered. Submit abstract, format description (e.g., paper, panel, workshop, etc.) and participant form to melissajames@sandiego.edu.

Ethics
The Ethics Section invites papers addressing questions surrounding the ethics of compassion as discussed by different religious traditions. Such questions might include: What is compassion?; Why is compassion valuable for the flourishing of religious and broader social communities?; How is compassion embodied in different professions such as medicine and business, and how does compassion help these professions thrive?; What other virtues do various religions think are connected to compassion and its embodiment in daily living?; How do we become compassionate people?; and are there limits to compassion in particular cases? Papers that focus on answering these and related questions may take a singular or comparative approach. While preference will be given to this theme, all papers on ethics are welcome!

Please be sent as an attachment to Chad Bogosian at chad.bogosian@yahoo.com. Thank you.

Goddess Studies
Whatever your methodology (archetypal, cultural studies, feminist, postcolonial theory, queer theory, race and ethnicity) or academic field (anthropology, archeology, literature, mythology, philosophy, psychology, religious studies), this panel seeks contributions to the importance of goddess studies within academia. From Egyptian goddesses to Catholic saints to the Haitian Vodou pantheon, we welcome a wide array of perspectives.

Please send submissions as an attachment to both cochairs: Angela Sells at comingintobeing@gmail.com and Lauri Ramey at Lramey@calstatela.edu. Thank you.

Graduate Student Professional Development
The Graduate Student Professional Development Section welcomes proposals on a range of topics including but not limited to: CV “hygiene,” honing a nonacademic résumé, preparing for interviews, surviving PhD exams and the dissertation, grant writing, syllabus building, teaching and learning, strategic thinking in the job market, networking, and specific action items for young professionals to succeed. We invite proposals for individual papers, workshops, or fully developed panels (2–4 papers) on related topics.

Exception to the one-paper presentation policy: If you are submitting a proposal on professional development, you are also eligible to present a research paper to another panel. You must indicate in your submission e-mail to which other unit you have applied.

Please send one-page proposals and participant forms to unit chair Sarah Robinson at mssarahrobinson@gmail.com. Thank you.

History of Christianity 
In recent years, historians have been focusing on “global Christianity,” looking at developments in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Particularly important today is the rapid rise of Christianity in the Far East including the explosion of Christianity in China and Korea.

However, perhaps Christianity in the “Far West” has much to offer as well. California may be the most diverse place on earth, with virtually every type of Christianity having a presence. Its movie industry has impacted American culture—and an emerging global culture—profoundly. Christianity in Hawaii has its own unique context: an Asian contingent, the tourism phenomenon, and a radically transient aura. Christianity in Utah is extremely unique with its fascinating Mormon and pioneer history.

Indeed the Far West has a vast array of issues that are relevant today: migration into Arizona; island Christianity in America’s Oceanic territories; Christianity in Sin City; rapidly emerging secularization trends; the new Hispanic majority in California; green movements; changing cannabis laws; relations between the Far West and the Far East; Asian missions (both to and from); consumerism; American Indian perspectives; how America’s desert region impacts Christianity; migrant farm workers; the dawn of modern Pentecostalism in Los Angeles; etc. A rich panoply of topics awaits us!

Please send submissions as an attachment to Enrico Beltramini at ebeltramini@ndnu.edu and Dyron Daughrity at Dyron.Daughrity@pepperdine.edu. Thank you.

Indigenous Religions 
Session 1: What is Indigenous?
This session will look to explore the category of 'indigenous' itself. Who/what counts as indigenous and who/what does not? In creating scholarly definitions of this sort, what are the merits and demerits of greater or lesser inclusivity within the category? Can colonizers become indigenous (e.g. is Mormonism an indigenous religion)? Does indigenous primarily refer to people or can it refer to beliefs and practices as well? Can a nonindigenous person practice an indigenous religion or even be considered an 'elder' within an indigenous tradition? If an indigenous religion is exported, is it still indigenous? If syncretism occurs due to interaction with a nonindigenous culture, is the belief system still indigenous (e.g. Maya/Christian syncretism)? Is there a link between the "authenticity" of a tradition and indigeneity? Are there any significant disparities between emic and etic uses of the term? What are the varieties of ways that scholars have used the term and what is the best way forward? What are the legal implications of definition? The goal of this session will be to think hard about our definitions, what analytical purchase they allow us in our research, and what other impacts our definitions make outside of academia.

Session 2: Indigenous Religions Worldwide
This session will focus on scholarly work being done on particular indigenous traditions both individually and comparatively. Proposals are encouraged from all areas of the study of indigenous religions including theoretical, ethnographic, ethnological, literary, and other approaches. Proposals are further encouraged relating to indigenous traditions around the globe and not solely from the Americas. Proposals can also include the adoption of indigenous traditions outside of indigenous contexts (e.g. the use of indigenous beliefs and practices in "new age" circles). 

Please send submissions as an attachment to Kevin Whitesides at kevinwhitesides@umail.ucsb.edu. Thank you and we look forward to receiving your proposals.

Islamic Studies 
The AAR/WR Islam Section encourages paper and panel proposals in all areas of Islamic studies for the 2015 annual conference. This year’s theme asks a broad question: How do different representations of Islamism (political Islam) continue to grow and transform through time (from the Muslim Brotherhood of 1928 to today’s ISIS)? We encourage papers dealing with historical and contemporary aspects of Islamism in an attempt to diagnose their origins and comprehend their deeper implications and widespread consequences, such as in and after the Arab Spring, Muslim experiences and institutions, global Jihadism, and other fields of local and/or regional religo-political activities. Interdisciplinary papers are encouraged. Successful proposals will reflect theoretical and methodological sophistication and promote deeper understanding of the issues that relate to Islamism’s place in public life along with thorough examination of Muslim practices. We encourage individual papers, or panels.

Proposals or abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length and, along with a participant form, should be sent as an attachment to Dr. Abdullahi A. Gallab, Arizona State University at abdullahi.gallab@asu.edu and Dr. Sophia Pandya, California State University, Long Beach at spandya@csulb.edu. Thank you.

Jewish Studies 
Jewish studies invites academic papers and visual and/or performance presentations for consideration for the 2015 conference. Any topic that is germane to Jewish studies including, but not limited to: Tanakh studies; Talmudic studies; multicultural studies within a Jewish context; Israel; the Hebrew Goddess; women and Judaism; current trends within the Jewish community as they pertain to music, dance, and other artistic expressions; the influence of social media on the spiritual life of Jews; and the Jewish Diaspora are welcome. Any work that deals with the wide range of Jewish studies within the context of religion, culture and society will be considered.

Please submit all papers to both Miri Hunter Haruach at eizorakdanit@yahoo.com and Roberta Sabbath at sabbathr@yahoo.com. Thank you. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Latino and Latin American Religion
This year the Latino and Latin American Religion Section seeks proposals addressing questions that are primarily self-reflective: What is Latino religion? What makes it unique? Additionally, how does Latino religion relate to the issues and debates surrounding immigration reform and asylum requests of political refugees? Can the academic study of Latino religion shed light on these or other issues relevant to the current American political landscape? Of course, as always, the Latino and Latin American Religion unit is open to creative proposals on other subjects of interest, including (but certainly not limited to):

• The ancient and/or contemporary non-Catholic, non-mainline Protestant elements of Latino religion (e.g., Native/Indigenous, Jewish, Buddhist, Confucian, Mormon/L.D.S., etc.)
• The relation of Latino religion to Latino cultural expression (e.g., art, theater, cinema, music, etc.)
• The so-called browning of America (i.e., demographic shifts)
• The apparent lack of interest in Latino religion within the academic study of religion
• The past, present, or future state of Latino religion and the academic study of Latino religion

Please be sent as an attachment to Paul Rodriguez (Claremont Graduate University) at paul.rodriguez@cgu.edu. Thank you.

Nineteenth Century 
The Nineteenth Century Unit provides a forum for the study of various religions around the world in the nineteenth century. This year we invite papers or panels that look at both new inventions and new interpretations of religious faith in the nineteenth century. How did rapidly changing circumstances force people of faith to adapt? How did those circumstances allow new faiths to develop? We also welcome papers that explore the impact of various new developments on religious faith, for instance, how religious leaders dealt with urbanization.

Please send your proposal and participant form via e-mail attachment to unit chair Christina Littlefield at christina.littlefield@pepperdine.edu. Thank you.

Pagan Studies
We are looking for papers that explore the active side of Paganism. How does your research enrich not only our Pagan societies, but also the larger world societies? What is the usefulness of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine? Where is the place of atheist/agnostic Paganism in healing our planet? How do we incorporate the concept of mythos in a logos world? Would this return to symbolic understanding of creation stories, religious texts, diverse tales of origins bring acceptance (not tolerance) of different points of view? This year, there is not a conference theme, so we are looking for papers that deal with these questions or others that you are working with. Be creative! Be thoughtful! Let’s help this section grow.

Please send abstracts to dkviale@csupomona.edu. Thank you! 

Philosophy of Religion 
The discipline of philosophy of religion, while originating in the European Age of Enlightenment, has recently begun to broaden its scope to examine non-Western (non-Abrahamic) religions. In what ways should our traditional mode of engagement with the subject change in studying belief systems that do not include a “creator-centric” vision?  How do we broaden the scope of our field to encompass all the religions of the world?  To this end, the Philosophy of Religion Section of the AAR/WR invites panels and/or individual papers that highlight multicultural philosophy of religion studies. Please be sent as an attachment Alison Jameson alison.jameson3@gmail.com. Thank you.

Psychology, Culture, and Religion 
This year the conference has chosen not to declare a theme in order to allow the broadest possible latitude for creativity amongst its sections. In that spirit, the Psychology, Culture, and Religion Section invites papers on any topic related to any or all of the terms contained in its name. We would be especially interested in papers that draw comparisons across cultures, among religions, or between stages of the life cycle.

As always, presenters must register for the conference prior to their presentation. Abstracts should be directed to the attention of the two section cochairs, Tim Helton at tim@timhelton.com and John Leech at john.leech@yahoo.com. Thank you. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Queer Studies in Religion 
Queer Studies in Religion seeks responses for its “Author Meets Critics” session dedicated to Dr. Marie Cartier’s book Baby, You Are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall. Cartier’s book argues that American butch-femme bar culture of the mid-twentieth century should be interpreted as a sacred space for its community. Baby, You Are My Religion explores this community as a site of a lived corporeal theology and political space and reveals that religious institutions such as the Metropolitan Community Church were founded in such bars. We welcome papers that are both responses to the book and that also offer insights into its importance and usage in the academy at-large.

Additionally, we seek papers that are focused on LGBTQIA, two-spiritedness, feminist spirituality, transgender issues, and third- and fourth-gendered people and their lives and experiences within religious and faith-based spaces. Finally, Queer Studies in Religion wants to emphasize any type of scholarship that explores queer (LGBTQIA) studies in religion from queer-identified or allied scholars both within and outside of the academy will be considered as part of the sessions.

Please send a 250-word proposal alongside the program participant form to Queer Studies in Religion cochairs John Erickson at jerickson85@gmail.com and Marie Cartier at ezmerelda@earthlink.net by October 5, 2014. We are eager and excited begin another great year in queer religious scholarship in the Western Region.

Pre-Conference Sponsored by Queer Studies in Religion and Queer Caucus — “Queer View”
Continuing from last year’s “A Night of Queery: A GLBTQ Film Festival & Panel Discussion” and years past, the Queer Studies in Religion and the Queer Caucus are again sponsoring a night of queer film and discussion Friday night before the conference. Directors and activists will be on hand to discuss their works. Details to be announced: evening start time, film lineup, and venues. Please check www.aarwr.org/queer-caucus.html for updates. 

If anyone in the AAR/WR has a feature or short they would like to have considered, please send your information and brief synopsis describing the work to Queer Board Advocate Leigh Ann Hildebrand at trinsf@gmail.com.

Queer Studies in Religion and Religions in America Joint Session
The Religion in America and Queer Studies in Religion Units for the American Academy of Religion Western Region seek papers that engage and explore the intersectionality and historical conversations of LGBTQIA individuals and religions and faith-based communities around the issue of gay rights and marriage equality. For example, we are very interested in papers that focus on individuals who have left the religious and faith-based communities they were born into because of the ongoing challenges resulting over the fight for gay rights not only in social, political, and cultural spaces but also religious ones. 

Please send a 250-word proposal alongside the program participant form to Queer Studies in Religion cochairs John Erickson (jerickson85@gmail.com) and Marie Cartier (ezmerelda@earthlink.net) and Religion in America cochairs Konden Smith (krsmith1@asu.edu) and Joel Stoker (jstoker@asu.edu) by October 5, 2014.

Queer Studies in Religion and Womanist and Pan African Studies Joint Session
The Womanist/Pan African and Queer Studies in Religion Sections for the American Academy of Religion Western Region seek papers that engage and explore the religious dimensions of violence and abuse of LGBTQIA individuals and the roles the church plays in promoting violence both in a Western context as well as abroad. We are particularly interested in how homophobia has become a traded commodity adversely affecting LGBTQIA communities in Africa through the promotion of violence and anti-homosexual laws based on religious doctrines seen in Uganda and Nigeria. We are also interested in the ways mainline churches are either welcoming or rejecting the presence of LGBTQIA individuals in the life of the church and how the ongoing fight for gay rights has affected those standpoints. 

Please send a 250-word proposal alongside the program participant form to Queer Studies in Religion cochairs John Erickson (jerickson85@gmail.com) and Marie Cartier (ezmerelda@earthlink.net) and Womanist and Pan African Studies chair Sakena Young-Scaggs (revsys@asu.edu) by October 5, 2014.We are eager and excited begin another great year in Womanist/Pan African and Queer Studies in Religious scholarship in the Western Region.

Religion and the Arts 
Religion and the Arts welcomes proposals for papers on any topic that addresses the relation of religion to visual art, music, dance, architecture, theater arts, video games, or other culturally significant aesthetic productions. We are always especially interested in perspectives from marginalized communities.

Please send a 250-word proposal as a Word document along with the program participant form to Dirk von der Horst at dirkster42@yahoo.com and Roy Whitaker at roy_whitaker@hotmail.com. Thank you.

Religions of Asia
Promoting inclusivity and excellence in scholarship, this section invites individual papers from a variety of religious and cultural traditions that explore all aspects of religions of Asia. We will consider all topics and themes, as well as both interdisciplinary and nontraditional approaches to research. We are especially interested in papers that address any of the following broad topics in the context of religions of Asia: interactions between art, music, religion, material culture, and ideology; rites of passage (birth, marriage, death, etc.); sacred spaces; the body as location for religious experience or ideology; religious and/or secular rituals or performances; gender and religion; global and transnational flows of people, ideas, and material culture; religion and ecology; sacred text; or storytelling and oral tradition. Please send abstracts as e-mail attachments to Charles M. Townsend ctown001@ucr.edu and Anna M. Hennessey dr.amhennessey@gmail.com. Thank you. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Religion and the Social Sciences 
This section examines the places of intersection between theology/religious studies and the social sciences. We invite proposals that speak to the ways in which religion and/or spirituality support resilience to trauma and/or institutionalized oppression. This topic is meant to be interpreted broadly, and we welcome creativity and diversity in the articulation of the relationship between the experience of trauma and the corresponding forms of resilience. Other paper proposals are welcome that fit with the section's purpose. Please send proposals to Krista Wuertz at krista.wuertz@cst.edu. Thank you.

Religion in America
For the 2015 conference, the Religion in America Unit seeks proposals that reflect on the category of religion in America itself. Under this rubric, we invite proposals that explore what constitutes “American religion” and elicit new understandings about the state of religion in America in the year 2015.

In addition, 2015 represents the 100th anniversary of D.W. Griffith’s controversial film, The Birth of a Nation, the birth of Booker T. Washington, and the lynching of Jewish American Leo Frank. It also marks the fiftieth anniversary of such pivotal American events as the commencement of American military involvement in Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty”, the opening of the final period of the Second Vatican Council, Griswold v. Connecticut, and the assassination of Malcolm X. With these events in mind, we invite proposals that recall the issues surrounding and induced by these events. Such solicited topics in American religions include race, religious marginality, violence and religion, religious transformation, religious education, religion and society, religion and poverty, religion and popular culture, religion and contraception/abortion, and religious dissidents.

We also encourage submissions that address any number of broader issues regarding religion in America including but not limited to: religious hybridity, subjugated voices, music, media, technology, social justice, gender, sexuality, environmentalism, politics, pedagogy, and science. We invite proposals from diverse academic perspectives including religious studies, theology, biblical studies, philosophy, sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, material sciences, archeology, history, and others to please e-mail a no more than 250-word proposal and the AAR Western Region 2015 program Participant Form to unit chair Dr. Konden Smith at konden.smith@asu.edu. Thank you.

Religion, Literature, and Film 
The Religion, Literature, and Film Section welcomes proposals that examine religion itself or themes related to religion as portrayed in current or contemporary literary works or viewed in current or contemporary films. We also welcome proposals that extend the ongoing discussion in this section as it relates to literary and film criticism and the academic study of religion. For the 2015 conference, RLF is especially interested in holding a session on Religion in French Literature and Cinema (with papers given in English), provisionally titled "‘Le Sacré Coeur—Roman et Cinéma." Current AAR members should send a proposal and a completed copy of the AAR/WR Participation Form via e-mail to the section chair, Jon R. Stone at jrstone@csulb.edu.

Womanist / Pan African
This group provides a forum for religious scholarship that engages theoretically and methodologically the four-part definition of a Womanist as coined by Alice Walker. We nurture interdisciplinary scholarship, encourage interfaith dialogue, and seek to engage scholars and practitioners in fields outside the study of religion. We are particularly concerned with fostering scholarship that bridges theory and practice and addresses issues of public policy in church and society.

• Session I: Signifying, Telling Stories, Testifying, and Witnessing
  This session seeks papers that explore the oral nature of Black life and Black women’s experiences in their faith traditions and cultural narratives. We want to explore the robust and intentional nature of women’s words and the power of narratives, stories, and personal history as sacred histories.

  We seek papers which address the intergenerational nature of womanism, feminism, and Black feminism and the transmission of cultural memory and herstories. We are interested also in performance and narratives which address the faith life of women of color and uses of performativity and performance theory in faith practices and pastoral care.

  We are open to papers which also address the impact of technological developments in contemporary narratives and sacred texts. We seek papers which address critical issues that bridge the church and society in the twenty-first century. We encourage voices from different disciplinary homes that include women's studies, philosophy, literature, critical theory, social ethics, and theology.

  Please send a 250-word proposal alongside the program Participant Form to Womanist and Pan African Studies chair Sakena Young-Scaggs (revsys@asu.edu) by October 5, 2014.
   

• Session II
  We encourage papers that critically reflect on the diversity of African and African American faith traditions and religious experiences. We seek contributions that explore the gendered, social, political, ritual, transnational dimensions of religious practice in the African Diaspora. We solicit proposals that examine how religion acts as an interpretive lens for critical concerns of identity, transnationalism, migrations, diversity, and colonialism.

  We are eager and excited begin another transforming and progressive year in Womanist/Pan African Religious scholarship in the Western Region.

  Please be sent as an attachment to Sakena Young-Scaggs at revsystah@gmail.com. Thank you.

Women in Religion
The Women and Religion Unit invites papers relevant to women and religion, including papers concerning women's roles in various religious traditions, religion and feminism(s), women's spiritualities, issues of gender and sexuality in religious traditions, race, class and gender, masculinity/femininity; women's engagement with and reinterpretations of sacred texts—whether women working within traditional religious communities, and women who are outsiders to those traditions, forging their own religious paths alone or in a community. Proposals on any other themes relevant to the issue of women and religion are also welcome.

Please send proposals to Dr. Souad T. Ali, interim chair of the Women and Religion Unit at souad.ali@asu.edu. Thank you. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

October 5, 2014 is the deadline for submitting proposals via e-mail to unit chairs for papers for the 2015 AAR/WR Conference. Proposals or abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length and, along with participant forms, should be sent as an attachment to unit chair(s) at the e-mail addresses provided below. If you are proposing a panel of three to four papers, please include short abstracts for each paper on the panel, and a short description of your panel theme. 

Individuals whose proposals are accepted must be members of the AAR before the conference date in order to present.