Ritual Studies Unit

The Ritual Studies Unit invites individual papers and full panel proposals from a variety of religious and cultural traditions exploring ritual in various local and transnational contexts. Proposals should engage with ritual theory in some way. This year, in keeping with the AAR’s presidential theme of Freedom, we want to explore more deeply what it means to hold, exert, or change the structure of power in ritual contexts. We are interested in sessions that experiment with new formats favoring increased interaction and discussion and we particularly encourage papers/presentations that involve actually doing ritual practices.

This year, for the in-person conference in November we especially invite individual papers and full panel proposals that explore the following themes:

• How Freedom Is Imagined in Ritual Contexts (rituals of liberation, freedom from demonic influences, financial liberty, etc.)
• Ritual Suppression (banned, disallowed, minimized)
• Bespoke Rituals (new, innovative rituals created by religious communities or leaders to fill a specific need) 
• Technology and Ritual (for a possible co-sponsored session with the Religion, Media, and Culture Unit): We invite proposals that investigate the use of technology, automation, or artificial intelligence in religious ritual or ceremony. Examples could include a robotic arm performing aarti in India, electric wheelchairs made available to the elderly or disabled in Mecca, or Mindar, an AI-robot priest in Japan. This session also welcomes discussions of aniconism and/or technophobia across religious and world traditions.
• Ritual and Large Events (for a possible co-sponsored session with the Religion and Popular Culture Unit): We invite proposals that examine the role of ritual in events that draw large crowds, such as concerts, sporting events, conferences, political rallies, and protests.
• The Sociology of Ritual (for a possible co-sponsored session with the Sociology of Religion Unit): We invite proposals that examine sociological approaches to ritual. Examples could include reassessments of major theorists, like Émile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz, or Catherine Bell; original studies of religious, spiritual, or secular rituals across a variety of contexts; or other topics related to the sociological study of ritual.

Whenever possible, our sessions will be formatted to encourage interaction and group discussion on the basis of concise, pre-circulated papers of approximately five pages submitted for circulation by October 15, 2025. Because at least 30 minutes of every session will be reserved for discussion, presentation times will vary in accordance with the number of speakers in the session.