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Friends:
Greetings from the Luce Center in Atlanta! This month’s e-bulletin contains news about the Annual Meeting in Montréal; research grants; calls for contributions to JAAR; and other items.
With every good wish in this spring season, I offer you my thanks for your participation in the work of our Academy.
Jack Fitzmier
Executive Director
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ANNUAL MEETING
2009 Plenary Addresses and Panels
The 2009 plenary addresses for the Annual Meeting in Montréal have been announced:
Mark Juergensmeyer, 2009 Presidential Address: Beyond Words and War: The Global Future of Religion
Saturday — 8:00 pm–9:00 pm
Tariq Ramadan, Europe's Encounter with Islam
Sunday — 11:45 am–12:45 pm
Because we are meeting in Canada this year, Ramadan will be able to speak live to AAR attendees, unlike 2004 and 2006, when the United States State Department would not issue him a visa to attend the Annual Meeting.
In addition to the regular plenary lectures, the AAR is pleased to offer three Centennial Plenary Panels on the theme of the Globalization of Religion:
Islam and Modernity
Saturday — 4:00 pm–6:30 pm
Reza Aslan, University of California, Riverside, Presiding
Panelists:
Tariq Ramadan, University of Oxford
Nilüfer Göle, L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Robin Wright, Washington Post
Rethinking Secularism
Sunday — 9:00 am–11:30 am
Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara, Presiding
Panelists:
Charles Taylor, McGill University
José Casanova, Georgetown University
Craig Calhoun, New York University
Saba Mahmood, University of California, Berkeley
Global Perspectives on Religious Studies
Monday — 1:00 pm–3:30 pm
Vasudha Narayanan, University of Florida, Presiding
Panelists:
Azyumardi Azra, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Indonesia
Shrivatsa Goswami, Vrindavan, India
Koichi Mori, Doshisha University, Japan
Sylvia Marcos, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Mexico
Kim Knott, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Leadership Workshop
The Academic Relations Committee will begin a three-year sequence of workshops exploring the implications of the Teagle/AAR White Paper “The Religion Major and Liberal Education” in Montréal on Friday, November 6, 2009. This year’s day-long workshop, “Three Religion Majors Meet in a Café: What Do They Have in Common?” is led by Eugene V. Gallagher, Connecticut College, and will address five common characteristics the White Paper identified of a religious studies major: intercultural and comparative, multidisciplinary, critical, integrative, and creative and constructive. Participants will then explore the presence of these characteristics in the design of majors in different institutional contexts (small public, large public, private, and theological). The workshop will conclude with presentations and discussions about how we address these characteristics in ways attentive both to our responsibilities as educators and to the students and the reasons they are in our programs — which will be led by Patricia Killen,
Pacific
Lutheran
University
. Registration can be done when you register for the Annual Meeting. Since there is a limit of 75 people, we strongly encourage early registration. See the article on page 7 of the upcoming May issue of Religious Studies News for more details.
Sustainability Pedagogy Workshop
The AAR Sustainability Task Force is sponsoring a half-day workshop at the Annual Meeting in Montréal on Friday, November 6. The workshop, “Religious Studies in an Age of Global Warming: Transforming Ourselves, Our Students, and Our Universities,” will be led by Roger Gottlieb, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a task force member, and Stephanie Kaza, University of Vermont. Teaching the environmental crisis poses unique challenges and opportunities for higher education. The scope and extent of the threat demands that faculty inform themselves about a host of practical, theological, moral, historical, and political concerns that probably were not part of their original scholarly field. This workshop will explore these challenges and opportunities, giving participants the chance to examine their own responses to the environmental crisis, to engage with faculty concerning teaching resources, sample syllabi and course modules, instructional themes, and ways to connect with other academic departments and the wider campus sustainability movement. Registration can be done when you register for the Annual Meeting. Early registration is encouraged as the workshop is limited to the first 75 people. See the article on page 6 of the upcoming May issue of Religious Studies News for more details.
AAR/FTE Nurturing the Next Generation of Scholars Workshop
The
AAR
and The Fund for Theological Education will cohost a workshop for students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups who are considering the pursuit of a PhD or ThD in religion, theology, or biblical studies at the 2009 Annual Meeting. In addition to receiving information about the field of religious studies from scholars in the guild, participants will also gain insight into the doctoral application process. Faculty nominations and student applications will be required to attend this workshop. For more information, email doctoralinfo@thefund.org.
Sponsor an International Scholar
The 2009 Annual Meeting’s international focus is on Globalization of Religion in North America. For information on ways to help bring one of the six scholars to the Annual Meeting and to your institution, contact Jessica Davenport ( jdavenport@aarweb.org) for details. The scholars available for sponsorship are:
* Azyumardi Azra, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Indonesia
* Shrivatsa Goswami, Vrindavan, India
* Koichi Mori, Doshisha University, Japan
* Sylvia Marcos, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Mexico
* Kim Knott, University of Leeds, UK
* Nilüfer Göle, L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France
Help to Green our Annual Meeting Travel
The AAR is making it easy for members to purchase Renewable Energy Credits when traveling to the Annual Meeting. By simply clicking a box on the online registration page, members can choose to give $15 to NativeEnergy. The AAR’s Sustainability Task Force selected NativeEnergy because of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases while supporting its sustainability projects. NativeEnergy helps you to assist Native American, farmer-owned, community-based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits. These projects will displace electricity from fossil fuels and reduce other greenhouse gas emissions on your behalf, making up for the CO2 emissions you can’t avoid. We encourage you to make this inexpensive commitment to helping make our meetings more environmentally friendly. The AAR will collect the funds and purchase the offsets immediately before the Annual Meeting.
Annual Meeting Registration and Housing
AAR Annual Meeting Registration and Housing is now open! You must be registered to secure housing. “Advance” registration rates are in effect until September 15, 2009. Register today for housing, tours, workshops, and the
Annual
Meeting
Job
Center
. Online registration is fast and easy! Registration and housing forms for fax and surface mail are are also available. Please send them to the contacts listed on the forms.
Other Annual Meeting Announcements
Child care registration for the Annual Meeting is now open! KiddieCorp child care is a service subsidized by the AAR for members with families attending the Annual Meeting.
Check the Annual Meeting pages frequently to see news about
AAR
programming, Additional Meetings, things to do in Montréal, and much more!
Annual Meeting Program Planner
Update your mailing address now to receive a copy of the new Annual Meeting Program Planner, to be mailed in early June to all current members of the AAR. The Program Planner will contain full information for all AAR Annual Meeting sessions and a listing of the day, time, and theme for all Additional Meetings sessions. The Annual Meeting Program Planner is a great way to begin your Annual Meeting planning.
Make sure your membership address is listed correctly in the AAR member directory by logging in to your AAR account. Please allow 3–4 weeks for delivery. For more information on Annual Meeting publications, check out the May issue of Religious Studies News.
Additional Meetings
Institutions, departments, organizations, or persons who wish to hold a meeting during the Annual Meeting are invited to make an Additional Meeting Request. The Additional Meeting information will be listed in the online Program Book and the printed Annual Meeting Program Book available onsite in Montréal. Annual Meeting Job Center
Annual Meeting Job Center preregistration is currently open for both candidates and employers. To receive full benefits of the Job Center you must preregister by October 12, 2009. For more information, see http://www.aarweb.org/jump/jobcenter.
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APPLY FOR AN AAR INDIVIDUAL OR COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH GRANT
Each year the AAR awards grants of up to $5,000 for individual and collaborative research projects. The deadline to apply for a 2009 grant is August 1. For sustainability purposes, we no longer accept paper applications. All applicants must apply online through the AAR website. For additional information, see www.aarweb.org/programs/grants.
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JAAR CALL FOR PAPERS
The AAR at 100: A Centennial Reflection
The American Academy of Religion has been in existence for one hundred years. How has our understanding of religion changed in that time, and what can the past teach us about the future? We invite considerations of the implications of the trajectory of the AAR over the past one hundred years for future scholarship in the study of religion.
We are particularly interested in papers which address changes in the field of religious studies over the last twenty-five (or even one hundred) years. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
• The effect of the rise of academic interest in religion outside of religious studies;
• The resurgence of religion in the world and its implications for understanding the religions;
• The increasing internationalization of the field;
• New subfields that have emerged in the last twenty-five years;
• The increasing interdisciplinary nature of scholarship;
• Islam’s influence on the study of religion, or, the study of religion and its influence on Islam;
• The continual shift of the academic study of religion from theological schools to colleges/universities;
• The influence of social science methodologies (especially anthropology) on the study of religion;
• The flourishing of the science and religion dialogue, especially the nascent field of the cognitive neuroscience of religion; and
• The effect of philanthropic institutions on the study of religion.
JAAR invites proposals for a focus issue that explores what the AAR’s past can teach us about what will be, or should be, its future. Deadline for submission is December 1, 2009.
Please submit papers to:
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Department of Religious Studies
PO Box 400126
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4126
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CALL FOR AAR SERIES BOOK EDITOR
The Publications Committee seeks a book editor for the Teaching Religious Studies series, which is published in cooperation with Oxford University Press.
Further information on books published in this series can be found here.
AAR series editors help set editorial policy, acquire manuscripts, and work with Oxford University Press in seeing manuscripts through to publication. Further information on the entire Oxford/AAR book series can be found here. The required finalist interviews for the position will take place at the Publications Committee meeting, on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the 2009 Annual Meeting in Montréal, Canada. Further information on the Publications Committee can be found here.
The new editor will assume office on January 1, 2010, for a five-year (renewable once) term, and is expected to attend the two meetings of the Publications Committee: on the Saturday morning of the Annual Meeting and at the offices of Oxford University Press, in New York City, usually in mid-March.
This is a volunteer position. All applicants must be members of the American Academy of Religion. Please e-mail inquires, nominations (self-nominations are also encouraged), and applications (a letter describing interests and qualifications, plus a current curriculum vita) by Word or PDF attachment to Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Publications Committee Chair, at cduggan@shawu.edu. The application deadline is September 1, 2009. |
2009 MARTIN E. MARTY AWARD RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED
The Public Understanding of Religion Committee is pleased to announce James H. Cone is the recipient of the 2009 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Cone, the Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, will be interviewed by Cornel West at the Marty Forum held Sunday, November 8, at this year’s Annual Meeting in Montréal. The Public Understanding of Religion Committee encourages and solicits nominations for future Marty Award recipients. Nominations may be made online. Nominees need not be AAR members or academics.
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NOMINATE AN AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA SCHOLAR FOR 2010 ANNUAL MEETING
The International Connections Committee (ICC) invites you to nominate scholars from Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia, and Melanesia for sponsorship to the 2010 Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The International Focus for 2010 is Australia/Oceania, and the ICC has posted a form at www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/International for you to use to nominate a scholar to be considered for an invitation. The AAR typically sponsors a dozen scholars to attend and participate in the program of the annual meeting. Program Units are encouraged to think about scholars they’d like to see participating in their sessions, but the nomination is not limited to Program Units. Any member can nominate a scholar for consideration. Deadline for nominations is September 30, 2009. |
RECEIPTS FOR MEMBERSHIP AND ANNUAL MEETING
Did you know that you can generate a receipt for your membership dues from your membership account? Simply log in to My Account using your last name and membership ID number. Select “Your Renewal History” or “Your Giving History” to generate receipts for the desired year.
Annual Meeting Housing and Registration receipts are mailed to members along with their name badges, or generated immediately if you register onsite. To request a duplicate receipt, contact Experient at aarreg@experient-inc.com or call them at 1-800-575-7185 (+1-330-425-9330 if outside the United States or Canada). | |
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