From the AAR North American Religions Section Steering Committee

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Here's an update from AAR North American Religions Section Steering Committee chairs Julie Byrne and David Watt:

The AAR Annual Meeting in Chicago is months away, but the Program Book is now online.  Here is a snapshot of the NAR line-up--with thanks to all of you who brainstormed for the call and submitted proposals.  As usual there were way too many great ideas to use everything, and wrenching decisions.  But we did try our best to shape a program and really look forward to hearing the varied contributions.

Thanks as well to co-chairs of all co-sponsoring and cluster-sponsoring program units--seven in total!

A17-105 Saturday 9:00-11:30am
(cluster-sponsored with Religion & Migration; North American Hinduism; ANARCS; Hinduism; and Space, Place & Religious Meaning)
Paper Session: E Pluribus Pluribus: Transnational Hinduism in North America

A17-304 Saturday 4:00-6:30pm
Panel Session: Author Meets Critics: Tracy Fessenden's _Culture and Redemption_
(followed by NAR business meeting)

A18-254 Sunday 3:00-4:30pm
Paper Session: Religious Exchanges and Transactions in North America

A18-309 Sunday 5:00-6:30pm
(co-sponsored with Religions, Social Conflict & Peace)
Paper Session: Immanent Critiques of Imperial Logic: Rhetoric, Violence and American Minority Religions

A19-213 Monday 1:00-3:30pm
Panel Session: Questioning Liberalism

A19-313 Monday 4:00-6:30pm
(co-sponsored with Contemporary Islam)
Paper Session: Islamic Traditions and Lived Religion in America

A20-106 Tuesday 9:00-11:30am
Paper Session: Beautiful Babies, Hidden Mothers and Plasticized Prisoners: The Display of Bodies and Theories of American Religion

In addition, we call your attention to a session of particular NAR interest, hosted by the Cultural History of the Study of Religion and Religion, Media & Culture:

A19-119
Monday 9:00-11:30
Panel Session: A Fabulous Rumor: Critical Interpretations of John Lardas Modern’s _Secularism in Antebellum America_

In other business--

The NAR business meeting is Saturday after the "Author Meets Critics" session on Tracy Fessenden's book, and we hope you can all attend.  The Steering Committee has formulated a (very short and simple) "policies and procedures" document, and we'll talk about it there.

Please do feel free to get in touch with me, David, or anyone on the Steering Committee for any reason, including if you know others who might like to be added to this low-volume list.

I'll write again closer to November!

All best,

Julie and David

with 

Wendy Cadge

Chip Callahan

Sylvester Johnson

Amy Koehlinger

Sharon Suh