Preliminary 2017 Annual Meeting Program (PDF)
Preliminary 2017 Annual Meeting Program (MS Word)
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This Unit was established in 1997 with the mission of providing a forum within the AAR for the academic study of Hinduism as a distinctive world religious tradition including, but not limited to the geographical region of South Asia. The Unit seeks to foster research on all periods and registers of Hindu texts and practices through the presentation of new data, critical analysis, and interpretative strategies, based on textual, sociohistorical, ethnographic, philosophical, theological, and theoretical studies. We are particularly interested in forging connections between the study of Hinduism and other areas of religious studies, and we welcome proposals from scholars in the field that can provide such connections.
For questions about the specific panels topics listed below, please contact the proposers through the emails provided. As always, proposals on other topics are also very welcome.
The Hinduism Unit is open to ALL submissions (from ancient to modern, from textual to ethnographic, from India to diaspora, etc.). However, proposals will be judged not only on their scholarly merits, but also on their ability to engage AAR attendees with the study of Hinduism. Panel topics that will draw only a select group of specialists are better reserved for other conferences. In order to expand the present study of Hinduism at the AAR, we encourage submissions to consider the best ways to attract audiences to our panels. This means bridging across sub-disciplines through co-sponsorships, posing theoretical or pedagogical questions that apply broadly to AAR attendees, and thinking with scholars in other sub-fields to gain multiple perspectives to a given issue.
The deadline for submissions via the AAR’s PAPERS system is TBA. At that time, we will accept only proposals for complete sessions, not stand-alone papers; we also encourage co-sponsored sessions. A standard AAR session has 5-6 participants: 3-4 paper presenters, a discussant or respondent, and a presider (150 minutes total). Current AAR policy mandates that one of our three allotted sessions be a shorter session of 5 participants, typically consisting of 3 paper presenters, a discussant, and a presider (90 minutes total). Please specify your preferred format in your submission. Again, if you are looking for others to organize a papers session, please feel free to reach out to colleagues on the RISA listserv.
• Non-Indians & Hinduism: conversion, passing, and performance (Amanda Lucia, amanda.lucia@ucr.edu)
• Aesthetics and ethics of Hindu devotion (Patton Burchett, peburchett@wm.edu)
• Aesthetics of politics in the Hindu tradition (Shubha Pathak, pathak@american.edu)
• Anchoring truths: use and deployment of the Veda (Steven Lindquist, slindqui@smu.edu)
• Yoga, science, & the occult (Patton Burchett, peburchett@wm.edu)
• Alternative Utopias: Ashrams, Publics, and Intentional Communities (Tim Dobe, dobetimo@grinnell.edu)
• Writing the Self: South Asian Autobiographies (Tim Dobe, dobetimo@grinnell.edu)
• Gandhian afterlives (Tim Dobe, dobetimo@grinnell.edu)
• Astrology in south Asian religions (Patton Burchett, peburchett@wm.edu)
• Regulating and representing Hindus in the US (Amanda Lucia, amanda.lucia@ucr.edu)
• Non-violence: Hinduism and beyond (Tim Dobe, dobetimo@grinnell.edu)
• Persecuted majorities/persecuted minorities: Hindu perspectives (Amanda Lucia, amanda.lucia@ucr.edu)
• Still Sanskrit? Redefining the role of traditional training in teaching modernity (Amanda Lucia,
• amanda.lucia@ucr.edu)
• Female gurus revisited (Karen Pechilis, kpechili@drew.edu)
• Ramanuja 1000th year anniversary (Gopal Gupta, ggupta@fgcu.edu)
• Hindu Deaths: rituals, relationships, rebirths (Amy Allocco, aallocco@elon.edu)
• The relationship between Philosophy and Religious Practice (Michael Allen, msa2b@eservices.virginia.edu)
• Female authority and ritual leadership (Nanette Spina, spinan@uga.edu)
Pre-conference Roundtable: “Teaching Tales: Narrative and Pedagogy in the Hinduism Classroom”
Friday, November 17, 2017, 3:30pm – 6:00pm
- 6 presenters
- 20 minutes each
- 30 minutes for discussion (Raj Balkaran, raj.balkaran@gmail.com)