Religion and Science Fiction Unit

Individual papers and panel sessions are invited on the following themes:

• In response to the 2026 Annual Meeting theme, “Future/s,” we seek proposals and invite joint sessions that explore the future of religion/s beyond the global and into the expansive, unknown infinities of space. We welcome papers and panels on future space religion/s as imagined in speculative fiction across all media (film, graphic novels, short story, novel, television series, cosplay, etc.). We also welcome papers and panels that use speculative-fiction theories to project the “real” evolution/devolution/mutation of religion/s in space. How will time and space affect religion (theology, organization, experience, politics, race, etc.) in the long durée of humanity in interstellar space? We are especially interested in proposals that highlight how Asian religious traditions are transformed in—and transformative of—our understanding of space futures.
• We seek proposals on speculative fiction’s musings, extensions, and provocations regarding the future of “gender,” “family,” “love,” and “relationships.” We are particularly interested in Martha Wells’s series The Murderbot Diaries for its explorations of the futures of gender, love, friendship, family, and relationality.
• We continue to welcome proposals that apply speculative-fiction theory to provoke mutation and innovation in the study of religion.