In-person November Annual Meeting 2025 Program Book

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Join a reproductive rights activist and strategic communications expert for an interactive media training for scholars of religion and abortion. Participants will learn practical strategies for interacting with journalists, including vetting media requests, understanding reporter terminology, preparing for interviews, and developing compelling messaging that communicates the complexity of your research. By analyzing interview clips and conducting interview practice sessions, attendees will refine their ability to reach diverse audiences through prepared remarks, video interviews, and audio-only conversations. While the workshop will be most helpful for scholars studying reproductive rights, it will also illuminate strategies for discussing politically charged topics while maintaining nuance and academic integrity. Participants will leave with concrete tools to confidently engage with media outlets and contribute meaningfully to public discourse on the intersection of religion and reproductive rights.

This interactive workshop, led by a multiethnic and multicultural team of three generations of scholars, aims to provide theoretical, practical, and pedagogical insight into teaching theology and religion in a trauma-informed manner. The tools and insights are deduced from an original qualitative research project that interviewed student and faculty at an R1 divinity school to learn about their experiences regarding trauma in the learning environment. Aspects of trauma-informed teaching will be modeled through the format of the workshop. Presenters will create a space for attendees to consider how trauma-informed teaching suggestions might be contextualized for their institution. 

This workshop is for anyone who is involved in (or interested in being involved in) programs/centers/institutes or initiatives related to religion and public life. It offers:

• insights into the 'state of the field' with established and emerging leaders working in a diversity of institutions
• networking, dialoguing, and peer-resourcing opportunities for  anyone involved in leading or supporting an institute, center, or program that engages with religion in public life.
• discussion of critical topics relevant to religion and public life, both substantively and practically
• resources on public scholarship, public programming, funding, and building institutional infrastructure for research, teaching, and other initiatives
• support for all stages of leadership, including early-career and non-traditional

This is an ongoing venue to share best practices, pool ideas, and develop collaborations. 

This workshop will support theological researchers to assess themes of power, reflexivity, agency, and accountability in their qualitative and ethnographic research projects. Writers, artists, students, instructors, and practitioners from diverse backgrounds are invited to explore strategies that challenge extractivist postures in ethnographic theology and qualitative research methods. Extractivist approaches foreground non-reciprocal knowledge acquisition that offers little to no benefit to those communities who are subjects of and/or partners in research and to the contexts from which academic and practical knowledge is mined. The workshop features interactive and small and large group discussions and foregrounds the conference theme of freedom by querying dynamics of ownership, access, interpretation and the afterlives of projects in ethnographic theological research as well as other relevant ecclesial and academic contexts such as conferences, classrooms, and congregations.

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This podcast workshop is designed for religion scholars interested in exploring the growing role of audio media in academic and pedagogical contexts. Participants will gain an understanding of foundational skills necessary to launch and maintain a podcast, including scripting, recording, editing, and publishing. In addition to hands-on training, the workshop will offer critical insight into the evolving pedagogical landscape, examining how podcasts can be used as powerful tools for teaching, public scholarship, and engagement beyond the classroom. Whether you're looking to integrate podcasts into your curriculum or launch your own scholarly series, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and confidence to get started.

Brought to you by the co-hosts of Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ), Dr. Bradley Onishi and Dr. Daniel Miller. SWAJ is downloaded 3 million times per year and has been assigned in courses at dozens of universities across the world. Joining Brad and Dan will be Dr. Leah Payne, creator of the award-winning PRX podcast Rock That Doesn't Roll and Spirit and Power: Charismatics and Politics in American Public Life. 

During this workshop, participants will explore a diversity of teaching practices, strategies, and activities that enable more accessible pedagogy through inclusive ways of being and thinking. The workshop includes a series of lightning talks on various issues and approaches related to access and disability within contexts of religious studies and theological education. Participants are invited to bring their own teaching materials (syllabi, learning activities, assessments, etc.) to this workshop. With these materials, participants will work in two distinct small groups to identify salient areas for new perspectives and change.