Study of Islam Unit

This Unit encourages proposals in all areas of Islamic studies. Successful proposals will reflect theoretical and methodological sophistication and engagement with existing scholarship, along with innovative examination of Muslim practices, texts, and material culture in diverse contexts and geographies. In addition to individual paper proposals, we especially encourage the submission of coherent pre-arranged sessions involving multiple scholars, including traditional paper panels, roundtable or lightning sessions, or other creative presentation formats. We also encourage proposals with attention to classroom and public pedagogies.

It is an explicit requirement of our Unit for pre-arranged panels to incorporate diversity along the lines of gender, race, institutional context, and rank. 

If your proposal is accepted and you agree to be on the program, we expect you to show up to participate in your session at the Annual Meeting, barring unforeseeable exceptional circumstances. Please note that the Islamic Studies Program Units have a policy according to which no-shows may be barred from the program for the following year. 

In relation to the 2025 presidential theme on freedom, we are especially interested in proposals on:

• Palestine and Palestinian liberation: We are interested in a wide array of topics and approaches to this timely subject, whether contemporary debates over academic freedom and journalism, ethics and activism, history and political theology, etc. We are looking specifically for proposals that demonstrate how an Islamic studies perspective adds to our understanding of historic and contemporary Palestine. 
• Reflections on the entanglements of research, teaching, public scholarship, and activism. We are particularly envisioning a session that might bring together Islamic studies scholars with (non-academic) community-based leaders and activists. We envision rich dialogues that put these different levels of expertise and experience in conversation with each other. (If your proposal is accepted, we will work with the AAR to facilitate the attendance of non-academic participants.)
• The life and legacies of Malcolm X, in light of the 100th anniversary of his birth year.
• Muslim legacies in/of Boston
• Reproductive rights and abortion
• Climate change, environmentalism, and the anthropocene
• Teaching-specific readings on women and gender in Islamic Studies in the undergraduate classroom (co-sponsored session with the Islam, Gender, Women program unit)
  • For this session, we envision the presentation of a specific reading assignment (chapter or journal article length) that contributes to teaching gender in Islamic studies. We invite proposals that explain how the instructor has taught/is teaching a particular reading and what kind of assignment accompanies that reading. How does the assignment pedagogically enhance both the reading material assigned and the study of gender? Put another way, why this reading and why this assignment? How do they help an undergraduate better understand the issues surrounding gender and Islamic studies? In the proposal, please indicate the full citation of the reading and explain why you are interested in sharing it with others at the AAR.
• Graduate Student session: 
  • This special session will offer graduate students the opportunity to present for 5 minutes on their dissertation research, followed by short responses from other panelists and open discussion. If you are an advanced graduate student and interested in talking succinctly about your research in this session, please submit a paper proposal through the PAPERS system with the abstract and proposal the same text and length (maximum 150 words) and indicate that your submission is for this special session format at the top of the proposal.
• As always, we encourage submissions on topics of general interest, such as the Qur’an and hadith, Islamic law and ethics, philosophy and theology, mysticism, ritual, gender and sexuality, race and politics, and other areas. Furthermore, we encourage proposals dealing with Shi’ism within and across these areas, as well as other forms of Islam that have been rendered marginal or peripheral.