Program Unit In-person November Annual Meeting 2026

Religion and Memory Unit

Call for Proposals

Memories of Futures (not quite) Past 

With the AAR presidential theme asking us to consider the future, how do useable pasts shape the religious world and the scholars who study it? What pasts have been imagined in or left out of certain visions for the future? What futures do certain religious histories anticipate or foreclose? We welcome proposals on any period, geographic context, or religious tradition that explores how the future fits within the study of memory. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: 

  • Afro-Futurisms 

  • Nostalgia and Nationalism 

  • Manifest Destinies Past and Present 

  • Fascist Memories or Memories of Fascism  

  • Collective Memory and Resistance 

  • America 250 

We are interested in papers that explore the connection between religion, memory, and the future across religious traditions, geographic contexts, and time (both contemporary and/or historical). 

The Land Remembers 

Does memory require sentience? Can rocks, rivers, trees, and dirt be said to remember? How do landscapes hold the memories of what has happened on and to them? How do religious beliefs and practices about land shape commemorative practices, and how do landscapes shape religious notions of remembering? We are interested in papers that explore the connection between religion, memory, and land across religious traditions, geographic contexts, and time (both contemporary and/or historical). 

We also welcome papers, panels, and roundtables on other issues of religion and memory in any time period and any geographic context.  

Statement of Purpose

This unit considers memory’s role in the making of religions and the ways in which religions make memories. It explores the construction and representation of narratives of the past as memory in relation to religious practices, ideologies, and experiences. We encourage critical reflection on religion in relation to ideas of memory, heritage, and public history. We are interested in examining these topics across broad geographical areas, religious traditions, methodological practices, and historical eras.

Review Process: Participant names are visible to chairs but anonymous to steering committee members until after final acceptance/rejection