Call for Papers 2024

AAR/SBL Women's Caucus
AAR/SBL Annual Conference
in San Diego, November 23-26, 2024

AAR Theme: "Violence, Nonviolence and the Margin"

There are four Women's Caucus sessions open for papers at this year's AAR/SBL Conference.
Please see submission instructions for each separate session.

 

Deadline has been extended to March 8, 2024.

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If unable to enter the submission through the Papers system, e-mail the submission to: aar.sbl.womens.caucus@gmail.com 

 Click Here for the link to the PDF broader Call for Papers through AAR. 

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Session #1: Emerging Scholars: Violence, Nonviolence and the Margin

(CO-SPONSORED SESSION with Women and Religion Unit)*

The Women and Religion Unit and AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus invite submissions from graduate students and early career scholars of any age to present innovative research asking questions of gender and religion and its juncture with the conference theme “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin”. Scholars might want to examine connections between precarity and women’s experiences of all the various forms of physical and non-physical violence embedded in our societies, in our thinking, and in the language we use. We ask proposals to consider the following questions: How can women and women-identifying people respond to violence? How are women currently dealing with gendered violence legitimated by religion? Are there new approaches to resistance? Can responding to violence with violence solve the problems women face? And how can women envision nonviolence in the midst of such rampant violence? How are women bringing their faith or spirituality to nonviolent praxis? Intersectional approaches incorporating class, race, ethnicity, gender, and/or sexuality are highly encouraged.

*Please note to submit through the Women and Religion Unit and note "Women's Caucus/Women and Religion Emerging Scholars Session" in the proposal submission. https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/women-and-religion-unit 

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Session #2: New Books on Gender and Religion**

The AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus invites proposals from scholars who have published books on

gender and religion in 2023 and 2024. Authors will provide an overview of their books and share their research in theology, biblical studies, or religious studies, focusing on the intersection with gender, sexuality, and feminist and queer studies. These scholars will also share their experiences regarding strategies and mechanics for getting books on gender and religion published, make suggestions on how to overcome publication challenges in the guild, and offer advice to those seeking publication of their own book manuscripts. Because these are published books, this is not blind submission. For your proposal, please reply with the book title, book blurb, publisher, and a copyright of 2023 or 2024, along with a short bio.

**Please note "New Books on Gender and Religion Session 2024" and send proposal to aar.sbl.womens.caucus@gmail.com We are only accepting submissions via e-mail. 

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Session #3: Women's Biographies: African and Indigenous Women Centering Peace from the Margins

(CO-SPONSORED SESSION with Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit)***

African and indigenous women, in their varied life experiences, continue to tactfully navigate violence in its multilayered form. They have not only fought from their peripheries but also continue to advocate for nonviolence. Naming these forms of violence embedded structurally and systematically in cultures and religions characterizes the quest of African and indigenous women be they feminists, theologians, religious, or lay. Intersectional approaches and methodologies have been utilized to tease out peaceful and nonviolent strategies that counter multi-varied forms and ills of violence affecting women on the "margins". Distinct strategies unearthed continue to fuel and sustain African women's zeal for peace and nonviolence amongst all-earth communities. 

The purpose of the biographies panel of the women's caucus is to raise the visibility of scholars, leaders, and activists on the margins of imperial and kyriarchal institutions and decenter these institutions with knowledge models that face the challenges of today’s world. To this end, the panel invites proposals on distinct African and indigenous women’s (seers, prophetesses, theologians, and other categories) strategies of naming, navigating, and advocating for peace and nonviolence amongst all-earth communities. 

Proposals on this theme might consider the following areas:

[ ] Freedom fighters

[ ] Environmental Justice

[ ] Reproductive Bodily Autonomy

[ ] Women Ordination and leadership

[ ] Inclusive sexual identities

[ ] Philosophical epistemologies

[ ] Education and Scientific interventions

[ ] Animal health, among others.

***Please note "Co-Sponsored Session Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit and Women's Caucus" in the proposal submission. https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/co-sponsored-session-indigenous-religious-traditions-unit-and-womens-caucus

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Session #4: International Session, Women’s Caucus

(CO-SPONSORED SESSION with Religion and Migration Unit)*

For a co-sponsored session by the Women’s Caucus – International Section and the Religion and Migration Unit, we invite proposals focused on the intersection of religion, migration, and gender. The category of gender is central to any discussion of the causes, characteristics, and consequences of migration, violence, and non-violence. We welcome empirical as well as theoretical papers that explore the involvement of the category of gender into the dynamics of religion and migration, including topics such as:

Gender-based violence including sexualized violence, forced migration in past and current wars; the role of religion in limiting or legitimizing gender-based violence against people on the move; the uses and abuses of the category of gender in political debate and public discourse about migration in international and US-American contexts; gender relations in migrant families, division of labor, or social networks; feminist, queer theory and epistemology in the study of religion, gender and migration;  how gendered practices are maintained or challenged and deconstructed or reinstalled in migration contexts; "rethinking" of religion and migration to develop solutions to gendered issues that cause 'othering' violence.

*Please note "Co-Sponsored Session:Women's Caucus - International Section" in the proposal submission. https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/co-sponsored-session-religion-and-migration-unit-and-women's-caucus

PRESENTATION REQUIREMENTS

• All presenters must be AAR/SBL members and pre-registered for the conference by July 2024.

• Presentations will be 10-15 minutes in length.

• Notice of acceptance/rejection will be sent out by April 1, 2024. 

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Please contact us if you need more information or have resources that might be helpful to our members.

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