CFP: Interdisciplinary Study of Religions

The Interdisciplinary Study of Religions (ISR) section of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) (http://wwwp.oakland.edu/ais/) aims to bring comprehensive, integrated insights from multiple disciplines to the study of religions as complex human phenomena.  Insights may be brought to bear on religions or religious phenomena from humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, along with other areas such as arts and professions.  Commonly religions are understood to include ideas and behaviors that engage super-human agency through diverse strands of human culture from history to the present-day. In a context of multiple approaches to such complex phenomena, this section seeks to establish and highlight critical interdisciplinary insights that may be overlooked or neglected by single discipline studies of religions.

The ISR section seeks panel, poster, and/or paper proposals on any interdisciplinary topic related to the study of religions — submitted as a 150-200 word abstract to [email protected] no later than 15 March 2018.  A reply regarding acceptance will be returned by 22 March 2018 to allow those that may not be included in the section to re-propose to the AIS conference at-large (not within the section) by the deadline of 1 April 2018.  Accepted proposals for the section will be submitted together to conference organizers by 1 April 2018.

Special interest is given to studies that discuss/employ/integrate two or more disciplines from across natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, and/or professions. In particular the ISR section of AIS seeks:

-topics that address religions or related phenomena in relation to this year’s conference theme of “Inter/diversities: Intersecting Race, Gender, Class, Abilities, Theories and Disciplines”
-problem- or case-based work on religions or religious phenomena that explicitly employs/integrates two or more disciplines;
-interdisciplinary methods, concepts, or media as applied to scholarship/research on religions or religious phenomena; and/or
-work explicitly engaging consilience and divergence in the study of religions, including mutual consilience and/or divergence between sciences and humanities/arts
-interdisciplinary study of religions and phenomenology
-interdisciplinary study of religions in conversation with immigration and pluralism

To submit a proposal, join the section, and/or be included in announcements, contact Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter at [email protected] — or simply join the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1499549833675663/

Section leaders / co-chairs: Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter (Oakland University); TwoTrees (Matthew Haar Farris, Northern Michigan University); April Manalang (Norfolk State University).