Dear Friends,

In recent weeks, I held “blue sky” conversations with many of you—listening for how the AAR has mattered, and how it might evolve in this moment.

I heard how the AAR had become a community-making place when subfields were still finding their footing; how the AAR’s regions offered graduate students their first professional home; and how it has welcomed and supported a wide range of perspectives and persons.

I was encouraged to also hear that as we have grown, we have become more diverse, more committed to public conversation, and more conscious about our role as a premier humanities organization.

Many of you had candid suggestions too: how we might do better, and how we might pivot, partner, and pioneer in these challenging times. The kernel of commonality in all these conversations is the sense of belonging—experiencing the AAR as a place that fosters growth and opportunity, a place for forming and renewing friendships, and a hub for making connections for social justice work.

This solidarity is the fountain of our hope. Thank you for shaping the AAR.

We continue to ask how best to serve our 6,000 members, and to be mindful of our role amid threats to freedom and security, from department closures and the loss of faculty positions to silencing in general. At the same time, we must remain attentive to the tremendous cruelty unfolding across the globe. Never has our work at the AAR been more urgent.

So, I write to ask for your continued support.

As you know, we are sustained by our members. It is truly your support that keeps alive the things that matter most: our publications, our grants and awards, and the programs that connect us across the field. I’ve seen how much of these rest on the generosity and insight of volunteers and the tireless work and passion of our small staff, who make sure the AAR is responsive and resilient. In the past two years, we’ve opened new spaces for meeting and learning together: June Sessions online, year-round programming, the REL Toolbox and the Guidelines for Evaluating Public Scholarship, and more than two dozen webinars that have reached thousands with critical conversations about teaching, diversity, democracy, and advocacy. Upcoming webinars include “Teaching Controversial Topics: Immigration and Religion,” “The Role of Religion in Today’s Democratic Crisis.” Given the situation of the academy today, I have called for a special presidential session titled “Religious Studies Department & Program Closures: Insights, Strategies, & Steps.” The first in our new Fall Fridays Scholarship Series began with “Teaching with Native American and Indigenous Religions on Stolen Land.”

Your contributions also make it possible to extend memberships to colleagues in need, to stand with departments under threat, and to strengthen our collaborations with other organizations. Even our new website now carries forward the conviction that Religious Studies matters, offering reviews, resources, and reflections that keep our work current and refreshing in the wider world.

In order to sustain our collective endeavors, we are launching a Fall Fundraising Campaign. Some individual “AAR matchmakers” and members of the AAR Board of Directors have agreed to match up to $35,000 in the hopes of raising a total of $70,000. I urge you to contribute any amount that is possible for you so that we can meet our goals.

With immense thanks,

Leela Prasad

President, AAR

St. Purandar Das Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University