Online Program Book

This panel examines a number of broadly “yogic” (or “yoga-adjacent”) concepts and practices that have served as vehicles for the globalization of Indian esotericism and consequent negotiations of translation and hybridization, personal meaning, and cultural ownership. The esoteric, whether concepts or practices, is often regarded as by definition “hidden”—relying on networks of specialized knowledge and social belonging. Yet when it comes to modern transnational yoga, such concepts and practices are not only understood as universal but necessarily exoteric, as they enter into a global marketplace of spiritual consumption. The panelists foreground a historically diverse range of such examples, ranging from 19th-century translations of yogic texts, to 20th-century reinterpretations of kundalini, to contemporary workshops popularizing jyotish (astrology) as part of a “yogic lifestyle.”

Foucault’s 1978-79 interventions into the movements that coalesced into the Iranian revolution, his conversations with Iranian and regional intellectuals and figures, and the theoretical claims that both informed this work and emerged from it – perhaps especially the vexed notion of “political spirituality – are among the most misunderstood and controversial aspects of Foucault’s career. However, new scholarship in Foucault’s late project and the revolution itself, including richer understandings of the context and conditions of its emergence, have deeply complicated this picture. This panel will re-approach Foucault on Iran and Islam more broadly, in order to more clearly wrestle with his engagements with Islam and the Islamic world. Further, we will investigate the ways that Islamic traditions, contemporary movements, and intellectual currents challenge and complicate Foucault’s work within and beyond these specific interventions. Finally, we will ask how these particular conversations intersect with historic and emerging scholarship within all of these areas.

This panel brings together three different perspectives on violence in the history of Christianity in response to the AAR Presidential call to understand violence in relation to "the hierarchical understanding of beings and valuation of their lives." Papers examine Christian and Jewish accounts of violence during the First Crusade (1096-1099); the political thought and theology of Martin Luther in response to the German Peasants’ War (1524-1525); and patterns of institutionalized violence in contemporary American Evangelicalism. Looking at narratives and structures that enforced otherness of religious identity, class, gender, and sexuality will enable a deep, comparative investigation of continuity and change in the reifying of boundaries between the centers and peripheries of the Christian world.

This panel explores the role of faith traditions in addressing contemporary global challenges related to international development, environmental conservation, social justice, and peacebuilding. Through four papers, it investigates how faith-based perspectives and initiatives contribute to sustainable development, environmental stewardship, equitable social practices, and the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking. The panel examines diverse case studies, such as the environmental conservation efforts among Cambodia's Bunong community, the nuanced roles of Muslim-led humanitarian INGOs in conflict zones, the contributions of faith communities to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the work of religious sisters in combating human exploitation. By bringing together scholars, practitioners, and faith leaders, this panel fosters a rich dialogue on the evolving role of faith in addressing global challenges, highlighting the importance of understanding and inclusion of religious perspectives in international development agendas for a just, sustainable, and peaceful world.

For over 500 years, the women of Latin America have experienced violent patriarchal colonization that have sought to silence them and destroy their traditional beliefs and practices. This session highlights the stories of women who serve(d) as religious and political leaders in El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru. Our panel begins with two papers on El Salvador as Nahua-Pipil women and communities continue to resist and recover from state oppression and ethnocide. These papers explore Nawa-Pipil survivance through the ixpantilia, “speaking new worlds,” and through a consideration of public ceremonies. Our third paper examines the testimonio of Hilaria Supa Huamán of Peru, titled Hilos de mi vida (2002), and her emphasis on yanantin as an ontology of Andean complementary. Our final paper circles back geographically and historically to reclaim Indigenous women (Quetzalpetlatl, Coyolxauhqui, and Xochiquetzal) as religious leaders called “older sisters” within the Nahua and glyphic texts of Central Mexico.

This panel explores ways in which the intricate ties between law and violence play out in the sovereign figure of the state, particularly as questions of (in)security emerge at the center of modern political life. Panelists will analyze the underlying religious foundation that sanctions law/violence within the various domains of the state such as the secular civil disobedience movements, the U.S. elections, the counterinsurgent warfar against the Islamic communities in the U.S. and climate politics.

This panel examines how two “fellow travelers” of the Quakers, Charles C. Burleigh (1810-1878) and Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), theorized and practiced the relationship between pacifism and racial justice in their respective political projects. A broader discussion with an esteemed respondent will explore how Quaker attitudes toward racial justice transformed from the Civil War through the mid-twentieth century.

Contemporary romance is indelibly shaped by dating apps, social media influencers and reality television shows. The papers on this panel explore how romance, marriage and dating practices-- and the the religious norms that condemn or sanction them-- are transformed through the media of popular culture.