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Religions, Borders, and Immigration Seminar

Call for Proposals for November Meeting

Religions, Borders, and Immigration seminar invites papers for AAR 2024 - for our seminar's final year - with three primary foci:

  • How do gender and age (especially children and the elderly) impact those participating in forced migrations across diverse regions of the planet in the context of robust interreligious exploration? What constructive religious, theological, psycho-spiritual and socio-ethical implications can be drawn from exploring such intersections?
  • How might placelessness be understood and valued from (inter)religious/theological perspectives in migratory contexts where being “at home” is impossible or constantly deferred in situations where a permanent connection to “the land” or “place” is not a universal experience for persons on the move?
  • What are the possible impacts of praxis-focused interreligious networks for supporting those experiencing forced migration in the present climate where traditional institutional interreligious dialogue organizations are becoming ineffective?

In light of the Presidential Theme for 2024, we also invite contributors to reflect on the above three foci in the context of the following questions presented to the AAR membership by the President of the AAR: "The use of violence is directly related to the hierarchical understanding of beings and valuation of their lives. Has religion stood with those who are at the center or at the margin? Are the margin and the center dualistically fixed in our lives?"

Statement of Purpose

The overall purpose of this seminar is to promote interreligious and interdisciplinary collaboration on global migration from theological perspectives and how it begins to reshape the interpretations of the Ultimate reality, as it is envisioned in various religious traditions in dialogue with diverse traditions of ethics and pastoral responses to the refugee crisis. This seminar’s focus or theme is on the intersection of borders, migration, religious practices and how all of those are being reenvisioned and reinterpreted through dialogical theological reflection in interfaith perspectives. The work of the seminar addresses one of most critical issues of our time, and we believe that religion plays an essential role in understanding the meaning of these changes. This new seminar will continue to encourage different and creative approaches, such as comparative theology and theologies of religious diversity, to explore the meaning of our times.

Chairs

Steering Committee Members

Method

Other

Review Process

Proposer names are visible to chairs and steering committee members at all times