Religion in Southeast Asia Unit
The Religion in Southeast Asia Program Unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) invites proposals for individual papers, paper sessions, and roundtables. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 6, 2026. For those interested in proposing organized paper sessions, we would encourage you to consider a 90-minute session. As part of our ongoing effort to promote greater inclusiveness in the topics and participants involved in our Unit’s activities, we encourage and invite proposals from scholars of all ethnic backgrounds, genders, professional ranks, and disciplinary perspectives. We will prioritize submissions from underrepresented groups and those who have not previously presented in this Program Unit.
With the AAR’s 2026 theme of 'Future/s' in mind, we are also seeking papers that consider the relationship between religion, social movements, governance, and freedom. Topics of interest suggested by 2025 meeting participants for the 2026 meeting in Denver, CO (November 21–24) include:
- Southeast Asian religions, ecologies, and environmental futures
- Experiences of and responses to Japanese empire and occupation
- Political theologies and visions for the future
- Religions in/and translation
Situated at the nexus of several civilizational influences—including Indian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern—Southeast Asia, as a region, remains understudied in terms of its relevance to the theoretical and methodological study of religion. This neglect is in part due to the tendency to reduce Southeast Asian religious systems to the named “world religions” often identified with other regions. As a result, indigenous practices are not viewed in terms of their conceptual and other linkages—and in some cases the dynamic interactions between those practices and the religious practices brought over by different classes of immigrants are frequently overlooked. However, and especially in the last fifteen years, exciting materials addressing different religious cultures in Southeast Asia have emerged. Hitherto, there has been little scholarly conversation at the AAR on Southeast Asia. And, perhaps even less commonly, are Southeast Asian religious cultures (e.g., Buddhist, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, “animist,” Chinese, and Pacific) put into conversation with one another. In light of this need in the field, we strive to provide a context for this conversation as well as to foster critical thinking about Southeast Asia as a region.