Call for Submissions

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION/SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE WOMEN’S CAUCUS: A HISTORY OF WOMEN CLAIMING VOICE

Women in Religion Biographies Series Volume 5

We are excited this year to highlight the stories of Women's Caucus members affiliated with the AAR-SBL who have navigated marginalized spaces in academia and helped to change the landscape of AAR-SBL.

Deadline is April 15, 2025.

Please e-mail the submission/proposal to: aar.sbl.womens.caucus@gmail.com

Click Here for the PDF of a tentative list with potential subjects

WikiProject Women in Religion: Who We Are

The WikiProject Women in Religion is an initiative to create, update, and improve Wikimedia content pertaining to the lives of cisgender and transgender women who are notable as scholars, activists and practitioners of the world's religious, spiritual and wisdom traditions.  Its purpose is to address the gender gap on the Wikipedia platform.  As of January 2024, the project has created or improved more than 300 Wikipedia articles and biographies.

WikiProject Women in Religion also works to increase content about women in the general scholarship. The goal is to provide secondary sources for Wikipedia editors and contributors to use to increase the content about women in religion on Wikipedia. To that end, we have supported the publication of three volumes of monographs, published by Atla Open Press and the Parliament of the World's Religions. Please visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Religion/Women in Religion series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Religion/Women_in_Religion_series.) for more information and for lists of the women featured in this series.

Volume 5: Description and Call requirements

Like the preceding volumes in the series, Volume 5 will include one to three theoretical chapters followed by eight to ten biographical chapters.  This volume focuses on the history of the AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus and the women who participated, as creators, leaders, members and more. As a practical effort to increase access to secondary sources about women involved in the AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus and to address the gender bias about women in leadership positions generally on platforms like Wikipedia, we are seeking biographies about women who (1) figure prominently as founders, leaders, activists, participants and supporters in the AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus; (2) reflect the diverse nature of such participants and the traditions they represent; (3) do not have a biographical entry on Wikipedia.

Original research including attention to primary sources such as interviews of living subjects, transcriptions of existing recordings, and historical documents is encouraged.  We are looking for an original analysis that makes a strong case for the subject’s notability in her local, regional, or global area of religious influence. The use of a theoretical lens including colonial critiques, queer theory, feminist and womanist theories, and deconstructive approaches to the concept of equity and support of women activists and scholars in the Academy is expected.  Since its convening in 1971, the AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus has been at the forefront of advocacy and support for women’s scholarship and leadership in the Academy.  This volume seeks to highlight and extend that work.

Biographies should include a theoretical focus on at least one of the following:

Ways in which the life and work of the subject illustrate strategies for increasing visibility and combating misrepresentation and disinformation on media platforms like Wikipedia and in the media generally.
Ways in which the life, work, and religious or spiritual practices of the subject challenge normative or patriarchal religious narratives.
Ways in which the life and work of the subjects serve as a model for addressing issues of marginalization, misrepresentation, and discrimination against women who participate in the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. For example, the discrimination against women across time in the Academy will be addressed in this volume.

Monograph Submission are due for consideration on April 15, 2025 

Submit a draft (2,500 word minimum, 8,000 word maximum), 12 font Times New Roman, double space, one-inch margins, proper CMOS intext citations, CMOS Works Cited page, with the following file name: Your Name, Paper Title, Women in Religion Series Monograph 5, submission.  Submissions are sent to Debbie Fulthorp (Co-chair of the AAR/SBL Women’s Caucus at aar.sbl.womenscaucus@gmail.com . 

Article acceptance takes place by April 30, 2025.