North American Religions Unit
This Unit advances the study of religions in North America, broadly conceived (Mexico, the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, etc.), as well as the study of historical, social, and structural links between North American religions and those beyond North American boundaries.
We are committed to sponsoring sessions that explore fundamental questions and concepts that have shaped the field of American religion. We welcome proposals for roundtables, debates, workshops, performances, pre-circulated papers, and other creative formats that foster rich discussion connecting new research to ongoing discussions in religious studies and the wider academy. Although we do not sponsor author-meets-critics sessions focused on a single book, we welcome proposals that offer reflection on two or more works of scholarship on American religion.
We encourage the submission of both individual contributions and complete paper panels and roundtables, though we may reconfigure proposed panels to place them on the conference program. We strongly encourage those who submit proposals for paper panels and roundtables to include participants who are diverse in gender, race and ethnicity, and professional status. We are especially eager to support and receive proposals from junior scholars, especially graduate students and contingent scholars.
For our 2025 meetings in June and November, we welcome proposals on the following topics:
- Reflection on significant historical events marking milestone anniversaries, such as the 1925 Scopes Trial, the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, the 1965 killing of Malcolm X, and the 2000 Y2K scare
- Martyrs and martyrdom
- Exodus and emigration
- Normativity and the study of religion
- Health and healthcare access, including reproductive healthcare
- Campus politics, activism, and practices of engaged scholarship
- Any other theme in the field of American religion
Please ensure that all submissions are anonymous.
Purpose, Practices & Procedures: Purpose of an AAR Program unit: The purpose of program units is twofold: to provide a forum for dialogue and exchange among differing approaches and projects in the field and to provide opportunities for the discussion of work that does not fall within the agendas that find other expressions in the Annual Meeting program. Program units should provide significant time for presenting research in the major subfields of religion. Purpose of the North American Religions Program unit: The North American Religions Program unit exists to sponsor conversations about the field at thematic, theoretical, definitional, experimental or historiographical levels, in order to ask where the study of North American religions is going or should be going. Such conversations embrace the diversity of scholars, disciplines, methods and traditions that make up the field. Routine functions: The Steering Committee composes the Call for Papers for NAR sessions for the AAR Annual Meeting; reviews, shapes and accepts proposals for those sessions; reviews and reports on sessions; and communicates with the NAR constituency. Composition: The Steering Committee is made up of ten members, two of whom are elected by the members to serve as co-chairs. A Steering Committee term is three years, renewable for a second three years if everyone is amenable. The terms are staggered, so that there are continuity and change on the committee. During a total of six possible years, a member might serve a co-chair term, which is three years. A member elected to serve as co-chair has at least one full year’s experience on the Steering Committee. The co-chair elections are staggered as well, so that each new co-chair serves with an experienced co-chair. Responsibilities: The co-chairs take care of the business of NAR and moderate communication of the Steering Committee. All members of the Steering Committee make decisions on substantive matters. All attend the Annual Meeting and reserve Friday dinner for Steering Committee socializing, envisioning and business. All attend the NAR Business Meeting. Succession: Members of the Steering Committee are replaced by the following procedure: when there is a vacancy, after the Annual Meeting the co-chairs ask the NAR constituency (via email) for nominations. From among the nominees, the Steering Committee votes to elect a new member. The co-chairs maintain this “NAR Purpose, Practices & Procedures” document, make it available to the Steering Committee and the NAR constituency, and revise it as needed by vote of the Steering Committee.