North American Hinduism Unit

While we accept paper proposals, we strongly encourage paper proposals to respond to our CFP to increase chance of acceptance. We welcome and encourage full panel (paper or roundtable) proposals with a coherent theme that respond to one of the topics listed in the CFP and/or proposals which speak to the unit's priorities and the AAR presidential theme. We believe strongly in collaboration and welcome the opportunity to host cosponsored sessions. If you have any additional questions and/or are interested in submitting to a particular session listed below please contact Rupa Pillai (rupillai@sas.upenn.edu) or Dheepa Sundaram (dheepa.sundaram@du.edu). Contact the Chairs advance of submitting proposals if you have any questions or need assistance.

Con-spirituality, Orientalism and Fascism, Yogis, Cottage Industry Gurus—

The BJP and Hindus in the US have been making a concerted effort over the last 20 years to tie the practice of yoga exclusively to Hinduism. Concurrently, these two overlapping but distinct groups are also engaging in Islamophobic and casteist rhetoric, politics and actions that are bringing the fascist goals of Hindutva closer to fruition. Given this, what are the connections between the seemingly innocuous claims of cottage industry gurus, yogis and Hindus “simply wanting to reclaim their religion or decolonize their religion,” and the violence of fascism?

Transforming the Teaching of Hinduism in North American Universities—

In Religious Studies departments across North America, Hinduism is taught in standalone courses or within survey courses such as World Religions. As instructors of such courses, we frequently question our academic freedom in how we teach Hinduism. While we may have innovative ideas to disrupt orientalist approaches that have dominated the field, the structure of academia and outside forces increasingly influence how we teach Hinduism (i.e. the increasing precarity of the professoriate, impact of state and federal policies of curriculum, etc). This panel seeks papers that share struggles and dream possibilities to transform the teaching of Hinduism in North American universities. Papers might explore the following questions: How have curricular requirements by the state influenced how you teach Hinduism? What other issues limit your freedom to teach Hinduism?  And what pedagogical approaches can help our students to analyze power and inspire them to be engaged citizens?

Academic Freedom, Equity Practices, and the Study of Asian Religions in North America (roundtable session)

Inspired by the 2025 AAR Presidential Theme, this panel explores the state of academic freedom of scholars of Asian religions training and/or employed in North America. We are particularly interested in how nonprofit-designated organizations and practitioner-focused groups can impact, shape, and direct how Asian religions such as Hinduism are critically engaged in academic settings as well as scholarship and teaching within public-facing venues. Some questions that shape our thinking for this session: How does the proliferation of endowed positions impact the academic freedom of the scholars who hold them and the departments that house them? How do the composition of South Asian/Asian Studies and Religion departments impact and shape graduate admissions and thereby shape the field at large? What are the possibilities of pursuing public scholarship and how should scholars of Asian religionsbecome public scholars?  

Sikh-Hindu Relations in the North America: Contexts and Conflicts
Co-Sponsor: Sikh Studies Unit

Migration and labor histories, racialization and anticolonial movements, legacies of Partition and 1984, diasporic clashes and interreligious violence—Sikh-Hindu relations in North America are shaped by many contexts and conflicts. The North American Hinduism Unit and the Sikh Studies Unit invite papers that draw on archival, literary, ethnographic, and/or interdisciplinary approaches to the study of Sikh-Hindu relations in North America. Topics might include:1)  histories of migrant labor, racialization, immigration, and citizenship, 2) anticolonial movements, the Ghadar Party, Hindu-Sikh presence in California, 3) Sikh-Hindu religious practices, 4) impact of Partition (1947) and the 1984 Anti-Sikh violence on diasporic relations, 5) political formations and questions of sovereignty in the diaspora, 6) Sikh-Hindu inter-religious conflicts in North America.

Political Extremism and Rise of Asian American Religious Conservatisms
Co-Sponsor: Asian North American Religion, Culture, and Society Unit 

As we prepare for another Trump administration,, the impact on minoritized and marginalized communities will be significant. While such impacts, particularly in terms of migration, labor, and race have been discussed at length, the internal divisions within non-majoritarian communities in the US and in North America writ large is often lost. This session examines the rise of Asian American conservatisms, broadly construed. We seek to understand the various communities that identify as “Asian” and “conservative” within a landscape of conservative politics which embraces anti-immigrant sentiment and policies, finds common cause with anti-equity policies in education, and seeks to promote majoritarian (read: white) victimhood politics. Many of these policies are palatable within Asian American communities that view themselves as different or exceptional in relation to other immigrant communities.  For example, in response to the Heritage foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto, the Hindu American Foundation, a Hindu nationalist organization in the US, released its own document titled Hindu American Project 2025, seeking Trump’s endorsement. We welcome papers which address the rise in Asian American conservatisms, their racialized and minoritized positionalities within a political climate that is increasingly anti-immigrant, how they view affirmative action and other programs from which many Asian Americans benefit, and the intersection of conservative politics in the US and religious nationalisms within Asian American communities.