Jain Studies Unit
The Jain Studies Unit welcomes submissions for the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. If you have additional ideas for possible panels, please send a short provisional title of your topic to one (or both) of the Jain Studies Unit co-chairs, Gregory Clines (gclines@trinity.edu) and/or Ana Bajzelj (abajzelj@ucr.edu). We especially welcome suggestions for panels to be co-sponsored with other units and for panels that address the 2025 Annual Meeting’s Presidential Theme: “Future(s).” Finally, the Jain Studies Unit encourages proposals to include voices that are diverse in terms of race, caste, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, age, socioeconomic status, geographic region, professional rank, and institutional affiliation.
Please note that the Jain Studies Unit only accepts proposals for complete panels, roundtables, book discussions, etc. and does not accept individual papers. This is true for both the online summer session and the in-person annual meeting.
The following are proposed panel titles with contact information as of December 12, 2025. If interested in participating, please contact the listed person(s) directly. Additional panel proposals are welcomed. The Jain Studies Unit exclusively uses the AAR PAPERS system for all submissions.
November In-Person Meeting:
Jains and Politics (Samyak Modi, samyak.modi@ucr.edu)
Jain Pilgrimage (Bhumi Shah, bhumi.shah@email.ucr.edu)
Ethical and Moral Cultivation in Jain Thought (Alba Rodriguez,
alba.rodriguezjuan@email.ucr.edu)
Jain Goddesses (Anchit Jain, jnanchit@gmail.com)
Jains and Caste (David Silverberg, d.silverberg@columbia.edu)
Intertextuality, Interculturality, and Jainism (Christine Chojnacki, christine.chojnacki@utotonto.ca)
This Unit began in 2009 in recognition of the burgeoning state of the field and its relative neglect in the AAR. Originating in India in the first millennium BCE, Jainism — historically as dominant a South Asian religious tradition as Buddhism and Hinduism and, in the light of current demographics, a disproportionately powerful presence in the cultural and economic life of India — is a world religion now extending far beyond South Asia to East Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia. Given the increasing focus of scholarly attention on Jainism both in India and around the globe, this Unit provides a venue in North America for scholars of Jainism to meet regularly and exchange ideas.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ana Bajzelj | abajzelj@ucr.edu | - | View |
| Gregory Clines | gclines@trinity.edu | - | View |