Japanese Religions Unit of the AAR invites proposals for the Annual Meeting in San Antonio, November 2023

Jessie Starling's picture

Dear colleagues,

I hope that H-Japan subscribers will consider submitting a proposal to the Japanese Religions Unit of the American Academy of Religion.  The annual meeting will take place November 18-21 in San Antonio, TX.   The deadline for the Call for Proposals is Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.  You can find the full proposal instructions here.

The Japanese Religions Unit invites papers sessions, individual papers, and roundtables that address all aspects of Japanese religious practice and thought. All time periods are welcome. To facilitate maximal exchange within and beyond Japanese religions, we prefer proposals that include explicit reflection on the study of religion more broadly. Creative formats are encouraged (film, organized discussion, pre-circulated papers/texts, workshop, etc.), as are co-sponsored programs with other units of the AAR or associated societies.

This year's AAR presidential theme is "The Work of Our Hands.” Proposals need not be limited to this theme, but they should reflect a robust engagement with scholarship on religion beyond the Japanese context.

Below are possible topics proposed by our members this year. We welcome proposals on other topics as well. Please contact the co-chairs if you are interested in participating in these proposals:

  • Religion in the aftermath of Shinzo Abe’s Assassination
  • Employment of Natural Elements, Ritual and Landscape
  • Sacred Mountains
  • Religious Space
  • Heretical Practices
  • Religious Experimentalism
  • Religious “Waste” and Reuse
  • Tokugawa Religions 
  • Unorthodox/unauthorized/unwelcomed practices at religious sites 

In submitting proposals, please follow the AAR guidelines carefully. 

Please feel free to contact the co-chairs of the Japanese Religions Unit with any questions (Jessica Starling at jstarling@lclark.edu and Takashi Miura at tmiura@arizona.edu).


Jessica Starling,

Associate Professor of Reigious Studies, Lewis & Clark College

Co-chair, Japanese Religions Unit