American Academy of Religion

Dr. Mary E. Hunt has authored guidelines entitled Be Brief, Be Witty, Be Seated for presenting a conference paper that are posted on the AAR website. Come hear Dr. Hunt review and update the guidelines in a digital age. Join in a brown bag discussion on best practices an engaging conference presentation that will showcase you and your work to best advantage. Panelists: - Elizabeth Ursic, Mesa Comm...

In the face of increasing policy paralysis in Washington, regional and local governments have emerged as critical engines for progress on thorny issues from climate change and economic inequality to housing, homelessness, and racial equity. And despite the overall decline of religious affiliation in the United States, local policymakers increasingly are working closely with faith-based community p...

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvi...

Bissera V. Pentcheva, winner of AAR's 2018 Award for Excellence in Historical Studies for her book "Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium" talks about how digital technology, as applied to the ancient and medieval aural experience of the Hagia Sophia, makes it possible for historians to see, feel, and hear primary textual and liturgical sources in new ways.

Countering the narrative that Langston Hughes was uninterested in religion, scholar and author Wallace Best describes the poet as an "avid and eclectic churchgoer" who returned time and again to the question, construction, and meaning of salvation in American religious history. Wallace Best's book "Langston's Salvation: American Religion and the Bard of Harlem" won the 2018 Award for Excellence in...

Nancy Levene, professor of religious studies at Yale University, joins Kristian Petersen in a conversation about her book, Powers of Distinction: On Religion and Modernity, which won AAR's 2018 Award for Excellence in Constructive-Reflective Studies.

Lincoln Mullen, author of "The Chance of Salvation: A History of Conversion in America," joins Kristian Petersen in a conversation about the spectrum of religious identity in American history and how the phenomena of conversion is an opening which allows scholars to study a variety of religious groups—and their relationships to each other. Mullen is the winner of the 2018 Best First Book in the Hi...

This joint panel explores ways in which contingency may be constructive (and the ways contingent faculty work can be made more humane and viable) as part of a larger discussion about non-tenure-track and “alt-ac” paths. Lynne Gerber, Harvard University, Presding Panelists: - Simran Jeet Singh, New York University - Megan Goodwin, Northeastern University - Hussein Rashid, Barnard College - Matthew...

When humanities scholars talk about exploring and pursuing “alt-ac” and “post-ac” careers, two concerns often dominate the conversation: 1) Graduate studies in the humanities don’t prepare us for or aren’t relevant to non-academic career paths, and 2) We don’t know where to look for or how to apply for non-academic jobs. Whether you are a scholar thinking about non-academic careers or a faculty me...

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvi...

The panelists in this session showcase the work of current AAR-Luce Religion and International Affairs Fellows. Reflecting on their experiences in a variety of policy-shaping institutions, these four fellows will consider how their scholarly expertise has been applied outside the academy. How does knowledge about religion function outside traditional academic settings? What are the opportunities f...

Jenna Reinbold, winner of the 2018 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Analytical-Descriptive Studies, discusses her book "Seeing the Myth in Human Rights" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).

Noah Salomon, author of "For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan's Islamic State" (Princeton University Press, 2016) and winner of AAR's 2017 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of analytical-descriptive studies, talks to Kristian Petersen about his fieldwork in Sudan, the attempts at a unified Sudan prior to the 2011 partition, and tradition of the Islamic natio...

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvi...

This discussion explores the impact of religion and race on American populism across the ideological spectrum. Papers explore the interplay of religious and secular forces on the #BlackLivesMatter movement, including a theological exploration of the death of Michael Brown and an examination of how Millennial activists are blurring secular/religious boundaries. The session juxtaposes these topics w...

For many of us who study or work in colleges and seminary campuses today it may be easy to ignore the vulnerable at our institutions. Yet the most vulnerable are often at risk or subject to discrimination and exploitation based on inequities of power, money, lack of social net, or means to voice their concerns about campus life and work. This panel examines what needs attention and the strategies...

Deval Patrick is a politician, civil rights lawyer and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He is the only African-American to have served as governor of Massachusetts. Born to and raised by a single mother on the South Side of Chicago, Patrick attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. Afte...

Winnifred Fallers Sullivan is the recipient of the 2017 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Sullivan is professor and chair of religious studies, and affiliate professor of law, at Indiana University at Bloomington. Sullivan’s work focuses on the phenomenology of religion under the modern rule of law, and she is widely known for her critical studies of American law and...

This panel analyzes the intensified colonization of academic spaces—both intellectual and physical—under the current presidency. How do we accurately map these changes and negotiate these spaces in an era of national “whitelash” from peripheral ideological and embodied spaces? How do we contend with the increasing marginalization and targeting of vulnerable populations? What strategies might schol...

Worried about the job market? Thinking that a career in higher ed no longer matches your interests and goals? Or just wondering about options? The American Academy of Religion's Applied Religious Studies Committee hosts a discussion on career paths outside the academy. Panelists discuss fields including: publishing and editing, freelance writing, nonprofits and foundations, government, religious c...

Lena Salaymeh joins Religious Studies News to talk about her 2017 AAR award-winning book, "The Beginnings of Islamic Law: Late Antique Islamicate Legal Traditions." Salaymeh is interviewed by Kristian Petersen. Her book won the 2017 Award for the Excellence in the Study of Religion in the textual studies category.

What's it like to work in the US Department of State? How is academic knowledge about religion practical to public policymakers? What are the ethical implications of engaging?and of declining to engage?in such work? What seems to be the future of such work in this area. Three of the panelists recently completed a year or more as an AAR-Luce Fellow in the US Department of State: in the Office of Re...

Linda Sarsour is a working woman, racial justice and civil rights activist, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken and independent, Linda shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage. She is a Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed “pure New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn!” She is the Executive Director of the Arab American Associa...

The Reformed Theology and History Group and the Martin Luther and the Global Lutheran Traditions Group host a joint panel on the meaning of 'Reformation' and what implications the notion of 'Reformation' or 'reformations' has for us today—theologically or ecclesially. Panelists explore the relevance of 'reformation/s' for the contemporary context, including ways in which aspects of the Protestant...

This panel is on the different approaches scholars of religion are taking in presenting religion and the study of religion to a wider audience on television. Reza Aslan (Prayer in America, The Secret Life of Muslims, and Believer), Amir Hussain (The Story of God with Morgan Freeman), Candida Moss (Bible Secrets Revealed, Greatest Mysteries, and Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery), Vanessa Ochs (R...