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American Academy of Religion |
Greetings from the Region President:Welcome to the Midwest Region of the American Academy of Religion! The national AAR is the premiere professional organization for the study of religion and is dedicated to fostering excellence in scholarship and teaching. Each year in November thousands gather for the AAR’s annual conference. One of ten regional groups within the AAR, the Midwest Region holds its annual meeting in late March or early April. Attracting scholars from across the Midwest and other regions, our meeting provides an opportunity to gather in a smaller and less formal setting than that of the national conference. Members come to the regional meeting to present their research, to enter into formal and informal exchanges with other scholars in the field, to learn more about teaching, and to keep current about other concerns in the field of religious studies. Members of the AAR who reside within the Midwest Region are automatically members of the Midwest Region and will receive our email announcements to the membership. But you do not need to be a member or reside within the region to attend or present a paper at the regional meeting. We encourage the support and participation of junior and senior scholars as well as students. Undergraduate students may present papers at the meeting through our Undergraduate Students Section. Graduate students can hone their professional skills through participating with scholars on panels in our thirteen other sections (see Section Chairs). Each year, the Midwest region issues special conference prizes to the best undergraduate paper, the best graduate paper, and the best paper attending to issues of religion and sustainability. The Midwest Region’s next annual meeting will be March 26-27, 2010, at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois Our theme this year is "Religion, Sex, and the Body." Our plenary address will be delivered by Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago Divinity School. We are very excited to have Dr. Doniger with us this year. Please see the Call for Papers or contact our Program Chair, Jacqueline Bussie, Capital University, jbussie@capital.edu, for further information. I hope you will consider joining us at the 2010 meeting. The deadline for paper or panel submission is January 1, 2010. All submissions are to be through the OP3 online submission process (available soon! in early December) linked from the Call for Papers page. Creative, unconventional, interactive session formats on the subject of "Religion, Sex, and the Body" or other topics are highly encouraged. But you can submit a proposal on any topic relevant to the academic study of religion. You can contact the relevant Section Chairs by email if you are uncertain which Section your paper would fit in best. We encourage you to get involved in the leadership of the Midwest region by attending the business meeting (held during lunch each year at our annual meeting), and nominating yourself or a colleague for an officer's or section chairs position (listed here, and announced during the business meeting as well as by email to the membership). You can consult our By Laws for more information. Please contact me with your ideas and suggestions. Thomas Pearson |
