To return to the Welcome Page, please click here.
Preliminary Program Book (MS Word)
Floorplans of Annual Meeting Facilities (PDF)
Exhibit Hall Listing and Map (PDF)
Annual Meeting At-A-Glance (PDF)
For questions or support, email support@aarweb.org.
To return to the AAR website, click here.
The core goals of this Unit are as follows:
• Foster the application of queer theory and gender theory to the study of religion
• Encourage comparative study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues in religion
• Support the growth of bisexual studies and transgender studies in the field
We actively seek to explore the connections between queer theory in religion and complementary or overlapping fields of inquiry, such as postcolonial theory, critical race theory, disability theory, feminist theory, and cultural studies, among others.
We invite paper and session proposals on the themes of:
Queer studies and secularism (ie, queering secularism, queering as a secular project, decolonizing queer secularisms, etc.)
Queer temporalities and the "end the of the world" (ie rethinking the temporality of "endings"; apocalypticism ; escatology; climate change; worlds past; fugitivity, Afropessism, and Afrofuturity
Proposals for a prearranged session on the book, Melissa Sanchez, Queer Faith: Reading Promiscuity and Race in the Secular Love Tradition
With the Gay Men and Religion Program Unit and the Men and Masculinities Program Unit, we invite papers and session proposals for a potential joint session on the theme of Trans* and Female Masculinities, with the aim of interrogating and exploring trans* studies and religious studies. We invite contributions with different approaches (ie, theoretical, empirical, discourse-analytical, historical); that decenter Christianity and/or Global North-based expressions of trans* and religion; and engage or respond to recent issues in Transgender Studies Quarterly (2019) and Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2018). Possible paper topics might include: transpessimism; transphobia in religious traditions and politics; disability and crip theory; ritual, materiality, and aesthetics of trans and female masculinities; trans theologies and the divine; "transing religious studies"; futures and provocations for the field.
With the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL) unit on LGBT Studies: individual papers and/or sessions on the theme of Queer Studies in Religion and the work of Hortense Spillers, scholar of African American studies and American Literature.
With the Program Unit for Premodern Europe and the Mediterranean: paper and/or session proposals that address the theme of deconstructing premodern gender roles and/or gender binaries.
With The Ecclesiological Investigations Unit: paper and/or session proposals that explore and analyze the implications of LGBTQ membership and leadership within different Christian communities. The aim of this session is to feature a comparative analysis across different communities, congregations, and/or denominations in order to explore how queer people are changing not just structures but also the way that people think about religion, tradition, and/or "the church."
The unit is also exploring the possibility of a roundtable discussion among panelists invited by a diverse group of units to respond to the 2020 US election. Persons interested in being considered for this panel should contact the unit's co-chairs.