Anthropology of Religion Unit

We invite proposals from the full range of ethnographic theories and methods exploring diverse traditions, regions, topics, periods, and standpoints from across the discipline. The steering committee has identified the following areas to be of particular interest for individual and panel submissions:

• The Anthropology of Freedom. With the year’s presidential theme being “Freedom”, we invite papers that seek to theorize, problematize, and otherwise critically examine what is meant by this term. How can anthropological perspectives help us understand how freedom is constructed and enacted under varying political, legal, and religious regimes? In keeping with our unit's ethnological aims, we are especially interested in proposals that examine how "freedom" is mobilized in cultural contexts outside of the Global North and in socio-political systems not rooted in classical Euro-American Liberalism. 

• Anthropology and the AAR. This year will mark the 25th anniversary of the Anthropology of Religion Unit’s work within the AAR. How have anthropological theories and methods contributed to religious studies as an interdisciplinary field? How has participation in the AAR shifted anthropologists' conversations around religion and religions?

• Sensorial Landscapes and the Senses. What can anthropologists of religion offer to the expanding scholarship on the senses? What theoretical lenses work best to situate these categories ethnographically?

• Anthropology of Food and Religion. (Potential co-sponsorship with Religion and Food Unit) What theoretical, methodological, and ethical innovations come from engaging in the anthropological study of religion through food and foodways? 

Further, we encourage panel proposals that use creative and alternative formats that elevate critical dialogue and engage multiple senses, for example:

• Flash Formats. An increased number of presenters are allotted ~7 minutes, followed by a robust, guided discussion. One suggestion would be to choose a (number of) significant term(s) or questions to which panelists can respond.
• Authors Meet Critics. We suggest up to three authors engage with one another’s recent books around common themes and questions.
• Sensory Props. Presenters engage with a material form that bears fieldwork significance, such as physical objects, visual images, and/or sound recordings.