Program Unit
In-person November Annual Meeting 2026
Animals and Religion Unit
Call for Proposals
In addition to this open call for papers, the Animals and Religion Unit is interested in organizing sessions around the following topics, with an eye toward the 2026 Annual Meeting’s presidential theme: Future/s - what is the importance of future thinking (futuring, as some would have it) in the work of religious scholarship in this time?
- Pedagogy: How can we use teaching about religion and animals to rethink ways that the future can be, especially at a time when the future looks pretty bleak? How are we teaching Animals and Religion in the classroom and beyond? How can teaching animals and religion help students critically reflect on the intersectional nature of injustices?
- Posthumanism or transhumanism: What can the study of religion and animals contribute to the increasing conversation around cross-species fertilization? In what situations is it important to preserve the species line? How does science fiction help us imagine post-human and trans-human animal futures?
- Artificial Intelligence and its impact on animals: How is the rapid deployment of AI impacting animals and their ecosystems?
- Animals, Gaza, and Genocide: How is the language of “animality” being used to justify war and genocide? How has the war in Gaza impacted species beyond humans, and how have animal activist communities responded? How might the study of religion and animals be used to rethink interspecies futures in war-torn communities?
- Competing Futures Around Human and Animal Health: What role and influence has the Make America Health Again (MAHA) discourse played in trying to reshape attitudes towards vegetarianism and veganism? How does the future that proponents of the MAHA agenda envision intersect with animals and religion? What impact does the MAHA delegitimization of the health sciences have on human/animal relationships?
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this Unit is to advance scholarship by providing a forum for scholars whose work addresses the study of animals and religion, and to engage religious studies scholars with the emergent field of animal studies. The Unit emphasizes the theoretical implications of attention to animals for the study of religion and a diversity of approaches, including, but not limited to:
- Cultural and comparative history of religions
- Critical theory
- Ethnography and anthropology of religion
- Descriptions of the role(s) religious/theological traditions have played in mediating representations of nonhuman animals
- Assessments of relationships between religious constructions of animals and those animals
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Carter | ccarter@mtso.edu | - | View |
| Katharine Mershon, Western Carolina… | kmershon@wcu.edu | - | View |
Review Process: Participant names are visible to chairs but anonymous to steering committee members until after final acceptance/rejection