Pagan Studies Call for Papers, AAR 2010
This post is for anyone who has not already seen the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group's call for papers for next year's AAR meeting in Atlanta posted on some e-list or other.
For details on paper submission, see the AAR's page for that meeting. Note that some information will not be posted until later in December.
The Contemporary Pagan Studies Group invites papers that address one of the following topics:
1. For session with Men's Studies in Religion Group, Pagan Masculinities: Male Identity, Gender Injustice and Power Relations. Who are the Pagan men, how is their understanding of masculinity constituted, and how are they affected by the emphasis on the feminine in Pagan spirituality?
2. Paganism, Ethnicity and Ultra-Nationalism. The Right has increased representation in the European Parliament and some of those elected are Pagans with concerns about boundaries, immigration and ethnicities. We welcome papers that investigate this growing phenomenon and the contentious issues that arise from it.
3. Idolatry and Tangible Sacrality: The Conversation Continues. This panel generated such excellent discussion at the 2009 meeting that we felt it important to explore it further.
4. For session with the New Religious Movements Group, papers on African-inspired religious traditions, such as Santeria, Vodun, Yoruba, and Candomble,
especially as those in the southeastern United States.
For details on paper submission, see the AAR's page for that meeting. Note that some information will not be posted until later in December.
The Contemporary Pagan Studies Group invites papers that address one of the following topics:
1. For session with Men's Studies in Religion Group, Pagan Masculinities: Male Identity, Gender Injustice and Power Relations. Who are the Pagan men, how is their understanding of masculinity constituted, and how are they affected by the emphasis on the feminine in Pagan spirituality?
2. Paganism, Ethnicity and Ultra-Nationalism. The Right has increased representation in the European Parliament and some of those elected are Pagans with concerns about boundaries, immigration and ethnicities. We welcome papers that investigate this growing phenomenon and the contentious issues that arise from it.
3. Idolatry and Tangible Sacrality: The Conversation Continues. This panel generated such excellent discussion at the 2009 meeting that we felt it important to explore it further.
4. For session with the New Religious Movements Group, papers on African-inspired religious traditions, such as Santeria, Vodun, Yoruba, and Candomble,
especially as those in the southeastern United States.
Labels: scholarship
posted by Chas S. Clifton at 4:49 PM Permalink
7 Comments:
The timing of that is really unfortunate...Both Oct. 30 and 31 are both "high holidays" in the traditions with which I'm affiliated, and thus somewhat off-limits in terms of doing something that would inhibit or prevent the all-important rituals from occurring when necessary. Otherwise, I'd totally propose something...
Have the AAR organizers taken this particular factor into account, and that holding the conference at that time might religiously disadvantage a whole potential section of possible participants?
Conservatively, we might expect 7,000 people at the AAR annual meeting.
How many of them do you think observe those particular holidays?
Hint: Maybe 50.
Last year there was an observance on Oct. 31, however, in the main conference hotel, which was the Chicago Hilton.
But that's exactly my point--even if it is only 50ish people out of 7,000, isn't that the very definition of doing something that could possibly exclude or discriminate against a minority? Would they have a conference dinner in which the only available option was pork? I seriously doubt it...
Some traditions don't just observe a festival like Samain for an hour or two in a ritual on the night of Oct. 31; the one with which I'm involved does all-night vigils, which is the traditional observance that many reconstructionists adopt for that festival. The idea of doing something like that at/during a conference is somewhat amusing, but at the same time, probably not workable...
The ritual on the 30th is in a different tradition, and it could potentially work to have it briefly on that night at the conference.
In any case, considering that the '09 conference was not on the weekend of those dates, but instead the following weekend, it seems to me very unfortunate that no one took this possibility into consideration.
Insofar as AAR is an *academic* conference, "discrimination against minorities' religious rituals" is not really an issue.
We are all grownups and capable of making our own arrangements.
There is no presumption--nor should there be--that scholars of religion are necessarily themselves religious in any particular way.
True, ome Muslims set up prayer rooms. Some Jewish and Christian denominational publishers close their book-show exhibits on Saturday or Sunday, respectively, although most of the publishers do not.
Besides, "real" Samhain--the astronomical cross-quater day--comes when the Sun hits 15 degrees of Scorpio, which is about a week after Halloween.
The link for the CFP from the website seems to return an error. I'm interested in proposing a paper related to the experiences of transgender men (FTM) in Goddess traditions. Do you have a working link, or would you perhaps email me the CFP? I'm at kereth at gmail dot com. It would be very kind and most appreciated.
The online submission process will not be totally ready until later this month, as I said.
As for the language of the CFP, that was it.
All proposals have to be submitted through the online system, so check back in a couple of weeks, following the links from MEETINGS > Current meeting > Call for papers.
I think the deadline will be around March 15.
Thanks, Chas--I didn't realize that WAS that CFP. I'm grateful that you posted it and that you comment on Bo's blog, because I'm sure otherwise I never would have seen it.
I feel a little nervous because my academic writing experience is all in other areas, but it's also really important to me to make visible the experiences of transgender men in contemporary paganism. I thought seeing more guidelines would help me decide if I really could take this project on or not.
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