2019 Annual Meeting- San Diego, CA

Friday November 22 – November 24

“The Field”: Assessing and Critiquing the Academic Study of Religion

Friday, November 22, 2019

Teaching the Field 
10:00 AM-11:50 AM Convention Center-23C (Upper Level East)
Main paper author: Leslie Dorrough Smith (Avila University)
Chair: Tommy Carrico (Florida State University)
Respondents:
Rita Lester (Nebraska Wesleyan University)
Ian Alexander Cuthbertson (Dawson College)
Leonie C. Geiger (University of Groningen)
Martha Smith Roberts (Denison University)

History of the Field
1:00 PM-2:50 PM Convention Center-23C (Upper Level East)
Main Paper Author: Russell McCutcheon (University of Alabama)
Chair: Melody Everest (University of Alberta)  
Respondents:
James Edmonds (Arizona State University)
D. Jamil Grimes (Middle Tennessee State University)
Andrew Durdin (Florida State University)
Rebekka King (Middle Tennessee State University)

The Role and Influence of Private Funding of the Field
3:00 PM-4:50 PM Convention Center-25A (Upper Level East)
Main paper author: Gregory Alles (McDaniel College)
Chair: Allison Isidore (University of Alabama)
Respondents:
Joshua Patterson (University of Georgia)
Michael J. Altman (University of Alabama)
John W. McCormack (Aurora University)
Natalie Avalos (University of Colorado-Boulder)

NAASR Reception 7:00PM-9:00PM
Location: Half Door Brewing Company, 903 Island Ave, San Diego, California 92101

Saturday, November 23, 2019

International Perspectives on the Field
10:00 AM-11:50 AM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua A (Third Level)
Main paper author: Rosalind I. J. Hackett (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Chair: Sierra Lawson (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Respondents:
F. LeRon Shults (University of Agder)
Tenzan Eaghll (Maidol University)
Vaia Touna (University of Alabama)
Yasmina Burezah (University of Bonn)

NAASR Business Meeting
Saturday, 1:00 PM-2:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 204B (Second Level)

Sunday, November 24, 2019

NAASR Graduate Student Workshops*

All graduate workshops held on Sunday, November 24, 2019 in Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202B (Second Level)

Session One: Job Workshop – 10:00 AM-11:00 AM 
Russell McCutcheon (University of Alabama) and Matt Sheedy (University of Manitoba)

Session Two: Academic Publishing for Graduate Students – 11:10 AM-12:10 PM 
Emily Clark (Gonzaga University) and Andie Alexander (Emory University)

Graduate Student Luncheon – 12:10 PM-1:10 PM 

Session Three: Navigating the Politics of Academia – 1:10 PM-2:10 PM 
Rebekka King (Middle Tennessee State University) and Richard Newton (University of Alabama)

Session Four: Alternative Careers for Religious Studies Scholars – 2:20 PM-3:20 PM 
Brad Stoddard (McDaniel College) and Emily Crews (University of Alabama)

*Scholars of all concentrations within the field of Religious Studies are welcome to join the workshop—whether a NAASR member or not. Space is limited, so application does not guarantee participation, although we intend to accommodate as many people as we can. To register, please email NAASR VP Rebekka King at rebekka.king@mtsu.edu by no later than October 18, 2019. In this request to register please include your current degree or professional career stage and identify which session or sessions you would like to attend.

NAASR Graduate Student Workshops CFP

NAASR Working Groups 2019
American Examples
             Organized by Michael J. Altman

Critical Considerations of “Race” in Religious Studies
             Organized by Emily Crews, Richard Newton, and K. Merinda Simmons

#naasr2019 • Nov. 22-24 • San Diego, CA

2018 Annual Meeting- Denver, Colorado

Friday November 16 – November 18

Critique in Context: Surveying Key Categories in the Study of Religion

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2018 
9-9:50am Executive Council Meeting
Director’s Row G (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown

10:00-11:50am Friday: Gender and Sexuality
Director’s Row H (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown
Megan Goodwin (Northeastern University)
Chair: Tenzan Eaghll (Mahidol University)
Respondents:
Tara Baldrick-Morrone (Florida State University)
Emily D. Crews (University of Chicago)
Jennifer A. Selby (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Tim Langille (Arizona State University)

1:00-2:50pm Friday: Class and Economy
Director’s Row H (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown
Suzanne Owen (Leeds Trinity College)
Chair: Andie Alexander (Emory University)
Respondents:
Johan Strijdom (University of South Africa)
James Dennis LoRusso (Princeton University)
Thomas J. Carrico, Jr. (Florida State University)
Neil George (York University)

3:00-4:45pm Friday: Citizenship and Politics
Director’s Row H (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown
Michael McVicar (Florida State University) 
Chair: Stacie Swain (University of Victoria)
Respondents:
Tenzan Eaghll (Mahidol University)
Jessica L. Radin (University of Toronto)
Lauren Horn Griffin (University of Oklahoma)
Daniel Miller (Landmark College)

NAASR Reception 7-9pm, Friday night
Co-sponsored by Equinox

The Gallery by Stout Street Social
Lower Level Courtyard by Marriott
934 16th Street, Denver, CO  80202

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2018

9:00-10:50am Saturday: Race and Ethnicity
Director’s Row H (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown
Richard Newton (University of Alabama)
Chair: Candace Mixon (University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill)
Respondents:
Craig Prentiss (Rockhurst University)
Robyn Faith Walsh (University of Miami)
Rudy Busto (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Martha Smith Roberts (Denison University)

1:00-1:50pm Saturday: NAASR Business Meeting
Director’s Row H (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

9:00-10:50am Sunday: Remembering Jonathan Z. Smith
Director’s Row H (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown
Chair: Russell T. McCutcheon (University of Alabama)
Panelists:
Stephanie Frank (Columbia College Chicago)
Sam Gill (University of Colorado Boulder)
James Tabor (UNC Charlotte)

Sunday Afternoon
NAASR Job Market Workshop
1:00-4:50pm
Director’s Row J (in the Plaza Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown

#naasr2018 • Nov. 16-20 • Denver, CO

2017 Annual Meeting, Boston

Friday November 19-Sunday November 21

“Subjects,” Annette Reed (New York University)
“Partitioning ‘Religion’ and its Prehistories Reflections on Categories, Narratives, and the Practice of Religious Studies”
10:00-11:50am, Friday, November 17—State Suite A at the Fairmont Copley Plaza
Respondents:
Adam Stewart (Crandall University)
M. Adryael Tong (Fordham University)
John Soboslai (Montclair State University)
Jennifer Selby (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Chair: Drew Durdin (PhD student, University of Chicago)

“Objects,” Matthew Baldwin (Mars Hill University)
“Objects and Objections: Methodological Reflections on the Data for Religious Studies”
1:00-2:50pm, Friday, November 17—State Suite A at the Fairmont Copley Plaza
Respondents:
Petra Klug (University of Bremen)
Holly White (Syracuse University)
Peggy Schmeiser (University of Saskatchewan)
Lucas Wright (UC Santa Barbara)
Chair: Kevin Schilbrack (Appalachian State University)

“Scholars,” Craig Martin (St. Thomas Aquinas College)
“‘[T]he thing itself always steals away’: Scholars and the Constitution of Their Objects of Study”
3:00-4:50pm, Friday, November 17—State Suite A at the Fairmont Copley Plaza
Respondents:
Vaia Touna (University of Alabama)
Martha Smith Roberts (Denison University)
Jason Ellsworth (Dalhousie University)
Joel Harrison (Northwestern University)
Chair: Ian Cuthbertson (Queens University)

Annual Reception (co-sponsored by Equinox Publishing)
7:00-9:00pm, Friday, November 17
Location: Lir, 903 Boylston Street (click here for a map)

“Theorizing Ancient Theories of Religion” (co-sponsored by Greco-Roman Religions)
9:00-11:30am, Saturday, November 18—Marriott Copley Place, Fairfield Room
Respondent: Nickolas Roubekas (University of Vienna)
Participants:
Jennifer Eyl (Tufts University)
Vaia Touna (University of Alabama, Panelist)
Jeffrey Brodd (California State University – Sacramento)
Chair: Gerhard van den Heever (University of South Africa)

Business Meeting
1:00-1:50pm, Saturday, November 18—State Suite A at the Fairmont Copley Plaza

“Roundtable: The State of the Study of Religion”
11:00-12:50pm Sunday, November 19—State Suite A at the Fairmont Copley Plaza
Participants:
Sarah Dees, Labor (Northwestern University)
Richard Newton, Teaching (Elizabethtown College)
Rebekka King, Departments (Middle Tennessee State University)
Greg Alles, Research (McDaniel College)
Chair: Aaron Hughes (University of Rochester)

“…But what do you study?”: A NAASR Workshop on Theory & Method in the job Market, Session I
1:00-2:50pm Sunday, November 19—Back Bay Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza

“…But what do you study?”: A NAASR Workshop on Theory & Method in the job Market, Session II
3:00-4:50pm, Sunday, November 19—Back Bay Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza

2016 Annual Meeting, San Antonio

Friday, November 18-Sunday 20

Friday

“Description,” Naomi Goldenberg (University of Ottowa)
10:00am-11:50am, Friday, November 18—El Mirador C East at the Hilton Palacio del Rio

Respondents:
Emily Crews (University of Chicago)
Ian Cuthbertson (Queen’s University)
Neil George (York University)
Dan McClellan (University of Exeter)

“Interpretation,” Kevin Schilbrack (Appalachian State University)
1:00pm-2:50pm, Friday, November 18—El Mirador C East at the Hilton Palacio del Rio

Respondents:
Mark Gardiner and Steven Engler (Mount Royal University)
Joshua Lupo (Florida State University)
Matt Sheedy (University of Manitoba)
Jennifer Eyl (Tufts University)

“Comparison,” Aaron W. Hughes (University of Rochester)
3:00pm-4:50pm, Friday, November 18—El Mirador C East at the Hilton Palacio del Rio

Respondents:
Lucas Carmichael (University of Colorado)
Thomas Carrico (Florida State University)
Drew Durdin (University of Chicago
Stacie Swain (University of Ottawa)

Annual Reception, Co-Sponsored with Equinox Publishing
7:00pm-9:00pm, Friday, November 18, at the Yard House River Walk

Business Meeting
1:00pm-1:50pm, Saturday, November 19—El Mirador C East at the Hilton Palacio del Rio

“After Nongbri: Was there Greek and Roman Religion in the Ancient World”
9:00am-11:30am, Saturday, November 19—Conference Room 14 at the Marriott Rivercenter

James Hanges, Miami University, Presiding

Presenters:
Frederick Brenk (Pontifical Biblical Institute), “Looking for the Concept ‘Religion’ in Ancient Greek”
Nickolas Roubekas (North-West University), “Before ‘Religio’? Etymological and Semantic Time-Traveling but only Within ‘Our’ Comfort Space”
Vaia Touna (University of Alabama), “‘Religion after Nongbri’: Locating the Past”
Craig Martin and Savannah Finver (St. Thomas Aquinas College), “On the Costs of Conceptual Anachronism”

Respondent:
Brent Nongbri (Macquarie University)

“Explanation,” Ann Taves and Egil Asprem (University of California—Santa Barbara)
9:00am-10:50am, Sunday, November 20—El Mirador C East at the Hilton Palacio del Rio

Respondents:
Spencer Dew (Centenary College)
Joel Harrison (Northwestern University)
Paul Kenny (SOAS, UK)
Erin Roberts (University of South Carolina)

2015 Annual Meeting, Atlanta

Friday November 20-Sunday 22

Friday

“On the Restraint of Theory,” Jason N. Blum (The American University in Cairo)
11:00am-1:00pm, Friday November 20—Hilton Downtown, Room 311 

Respondents
Michael Altman (University of Alabama)
Tara Baldrick-Morrone (Florida State University)
Richard Newton (Elizabethtown College)

“What the Cognitive Science of Religion Is (And Is Not),” Claire White (California State University – Northridge)
2:00pm-3:50pm, Friday November 20—Hilton Downtown, Room 311

Respondents
Monica Miller (Lehigh University)
Matt Sheedy (University of Manitoba)
Brad Stoddard (Florida State University/McDaniel College)

“Of Cognitive Science, Bricolage, and Brandom,” Matt Bagger (University of Alabama)
4:00pm-5:50pm, Friday November 20—Hilton Downtown, Room 311

Respondents
Rebekka King (Middle Tennessee State University)
Dennis LoRusso (Princeton University)
Robyn Walsh (University of Miami)

Annual Reception, Co-Sponsored with Equinox Publishing 
7:00pm-9:00pm, Friday November 20—Publik Draft House, 654 Peachtree Street NE

Saturday

“The High Stakes of Identifying (with) One’s Object of Study,” Merinda Simmons (University of Alabama)
9:00am-10:50am, Saturday November 21—Hilton Downtown, Room 311

Respondents
Stephen Young (Brown University)
Martha Smith Roberts (University of California – Santa Barbara)
Thomas Whitley (Florida State University)

Business Meeting
11:00am-12:00pm, Saturday November 21—Hilton Downtown, Room 311

Presidential Panel
1:00pm-3:30pm, Saturday November 21—Hilton Downtown, Room 311

Sunday

“…But What Do You Study?”: A NAASR Workshop on Theory & Method in the Job Market
1:00pm-2:30pm, Sunday November 22—Hilton Downtown, Room 407

NAASR co-sponsored SBL panel: When Is The Big Tent Too Big?
4:00pm-6:30pm, Sunday November 22—Location TBA

Panelists
Stephen Young (Brown University), “Is the Tent So Big that It Hides Ideology?”
Ipsita Chatterjea (Vanderbilt University), “Big Tent, Smaller Tents, Blue Tent, and the Specter of the Red Tent: What Is It that We Do as a Subfield and Does Anyone Outside of the Tent Know We Are Doing It?”
Pat McCullough (University of California—Los Angeles), “On Not Letting Confessions Tell Us What to Do: Reading New Testament Texts without ‘Origins’”
Sarah Rollens (University of Alabama), “Tents and Canopies: When the “Big Tent” Becomes a “Sacred Canopy” in Biblical Studies”

Responding
Ed Silver (Wellesley College)

2014 Annual Meeting, San Diego

Friday November 21-Monday 24

Friday

Executive Council Meeting

8:30 AM-9:20 AM—Hilton Bayfront-Aqua Boardroom

Author Meets Readers: Elizabeth Pritchard’s Religion in Public: Locke’s Political Theology
9:30 AM-12:00 PM—Hilton Bayfront-303

Panelists:
Winnifred Sullivan, Indiana University, Bloomington
Tyler T. Roberts, Grinnell College
Stephanie Frank, Columbia College-Chicago
Robert A. Yelle, University of Munich

Responding: Elizabeth A. Pritchard, Bowdoin College
Presiding: Craig Martin, St. Thomas Aquinas College

Lecture: Iconographies of Democracy and Representations of Religion
Yvonne Sherwood, University of Kent
1:00 PM-2:20 PM—Hilton Bayfront-303

Lecture: Politics of Knowledge in the Study of Religion
Kocku von Stuckrad, University of Groningen
2:30 PM-3:50 PM—Hilton Bayfront-303

Lecture: Revitalizing the Comparative Enterprise: A Building Block Approach to Complex Cultural Concepts
Ann Taves, University of California at Santa Barbara
4:00 PM-5:20 PM—Hilton Bayfront-303

Working Group: Culture on the Edge
4:00 PM-6:30 PM—location TBA
Members of the Culture on the Edge collective will be meeting with collaborators to discuss various ongoing projects.

Annual NAASR Reception, co-sponsored with Equinox Publishing
6:00 PM-8:00 PM—Analog Bar, 801 5th Avenue, Gaslamp District

Saturday

Panel: Strategies of Mythmaking at Christian Tourist Attractions
9:30 AM-11:50 AM—Hilton Bayfront-202B

Panelists:
Erin Roberts, University of South Carolina: “Mythic Formation at the Holy Land Experience”
Jennifer Eyl, Tufts University: “Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego…and Jesus?: Anachronism as a Constituent Feature of Mythmaking”
Steven M. Watkins, Northern Kentucky University: “Myth, Anachronism, and Fiction: The Creation Museum’s Production of Scientific and Biblical Misplacements”
James S. Bielo, Miami University: “How to Build an Ark: Intertextuality and Authority Among Creationist Artists”
Sean Durbin, Macquarie University, Sydney: “‘It is what it is’: Rhetoric of Legitimation and Authentic Identity Construction on a Christian Zionist Tour of Israel”

Business Meeting
12:00 PM-12:50 PM—Hilton Bayfront-202B
All members encouraged to attend

Presidential Panel: The Category of Religion in the Technology of Statecraft: Theorizing Religions as Vestigial States
1:00 PM-3:30 PM—Hilton Bayfront-202B

Introduction
Naomi Goldenberg, University of Ottawa

Respondents:
William Arnal, University of Regina
Craig Martin, St. Thomas Aquinas College
Kathleen McPhillips, University of Newcastle
Elizabeth Pritchard, Bowdoin College
Winnifred Sullivan, Indiana University
Presiding: Robert Yelle

Sunday

Working Group: Philosophy of Religion 1
9:00 AM-11:30 AM—Gaslamp Room 1, Omni Hotel
Working Group Leaders:
Terry Godlove, Hofstra University
Mark Gardiner, Mount Royal University
Scott Davis, University of Richmond

Working Group: Philosophy of Religion 2
1:00 PM-3:30 PM—Gaslamp Room 1, Omni Hotel
Working Group Leaders:
Jeppe Sinding Jensen, Aarhus University
Wesley Wildman, Boston University
Tim Knepper, Drake University
Bryan Rennie, Westminster College
Kevin Schilbrack, Western Carolina University

Workshop: Introducing Theory in the Classroom
2:45 PM-5:05 PM—Marriott Marquis-Solana
Workshop Leaders:
Tara Baldrick-Morrone
Rebekka King
Suzanne Owen
Matt Sheedy

Monday

Panel: Conceptual Issues in New Testament Scholarship (Co-Sponsored with the Society for Biblical Literature)
9:00 AM-11:00 AM—Hilton Bayfront-314
Panelists:
Sarah Rollens, University of Alabama: “Inventing Tradition in Thessalonica”
Ian Brown, University of Toronto: “Epistemology and the Production of History: “History” as a Discipline and Object in the Study of Early Jesus People”
Emma Wasserman, Rutgers University: “Gods, Religions, and Divine Exceptionalism: The Case of So-called Idolatry”Responding: Craig Martin, St. Thomas Aquinas College
Presiding: Jennifer Eyl, Tufts University

2013 Annual Meeting, Baltimore
November Friday 22 – Sunday 24

Executive Council Meeting

Friday – 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Hilton Baltimore-Calloway B

Panel 1: Roundtable Discussion
“Is There a Religious Mode of Production?: Economic Aspects of Sacrifice and Related Behaviors”
Friday – 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Hilton Baltimore-Blake

Panelists:
Gregory D. Alles
Gustavo Benavides
Robert A. Yelle

Presiding: Steven Engler

Panel 2: Critically Engaged: Graduate Pedagogy in the Introductory Classroom
Friday – 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Hilton Baltimore-Blake

Panelists:
Brad Stoddard: “Teaching World Religions without ‘World Religions'”
Tara Baldrick-Morrone: “Analyzing Religion as Social Formation in the Introductory Course”
Michael Graziano: “‘Classification’ in the World Religions Classroom”

Responding: Craig Martin
Presiding: Merinda Simmons

NAASR Members’ Reception, sponsored by Equinox Publishing
Friday – 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Pratt Street Ale House
206 Pratt Street

Panel 3: Theorizing Religion and Art
Saturday – 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Marriott Inner Harbor-University Ballroom 3-4

Panelists:
Bryan Rennie, Westminster College: “Religion and Art Behavior: A Theory and Test Case”
Stewart Guthrie, Emeritus, Fordham University: “Religion and Art: A Cognitive, Evolutionary Approach”
Merlin Donald, Emeritus, Queen’s University: “Religion, Ritual, and the Drama of Daily Life: The Continued Dominance of Mimetic Representation”
Regina Coupar, University of Toronto: “Ambiguity: How Visual Art Creates Space for the Evolution of Theology”

Presiding: Christopher I. Lehrich

Business Meeting
Saturday – 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Marriott Inner Harbor-University Ballroom 3-4

Presidential Panel: On Teaching Religion
Saturday – 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Marriott Inner Harbor-University Ballroom 3-4

Panelists:
Nancy Levene
Kathryn Lofton
Kurtis R. Schaeffer
Christopher I. Lehrich

Presiding: Craig Martin

Panel 4: MTSR 25th Anniversary Roundtable
Sunday – 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Convention Center-317

Panelists:
Steven Engler
Amir Hussain
Martin Kavka
Kevin Schilbrack
Michael Stausberg

Presiding: Aaron Hughes

Panel 5: Co-Sponsored by the Society for Biblical Literature
Revisiting “Community” in Early Christianity: Problems and Prospects
Sunday – 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Hilton Baltimore-Tilghman

Panelists:
Halvor Moxnes: “Imagining Early Christian Communities: Tracing 19th Century Roots of a Social Model”
Sarah Rollens: “The Kingdom Of God Is Among You: The Scholarly Fixation on a Q Community”
Richard Last: “Gaius, the Guest of Paul and the Whole Church (Rom 16:23)”
Stanley Stowers: “Imagining the Social Formations of Paul and His Romans”
AnneMarie Luijendijk: “The Concept of ‘Community’ and Papyrological Evidence: Oxyrhynchus and Antinoë as Case Studies”

Presiding: Robyn Walsh

2012 Annual Meeting, Chicago

November 17 – 20

Executive Council Meeting (P16-107)
Friday – 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
McCormick Place North-135

Panel 1: “If Ever a Wiz There Was: The Wizard of Oz and the Study of Religion” (P16-208)
Friday – 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
McCormick Place East-259

Panelists:
Michael Ostling, Queensland University
Tony Michael, York University
David Smith, Central Michigan University
Ken Derry, University of Toronto

Panel 2: “Politics, Religion, and the Possibility of Radical Political Theology after Liberalism”: Panel Discussion on the Recent Contributions of Jeffrey Robbins and Clayton Crockett (P16-313)
Friday – 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM
McCormick Place North-137

Dan Miller, Mount Allison University, Presiding

Panelists:
Catherine Keller, Drew University
Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Wesleyan University
Ian Ward, University of Maryland

Responding:
Jeffrey W. Robbins, Lebanon Valley College
Clayton Crockett, University of Central Arkansas

Panel 3: “Religion and Religions in Antiquity” (P17-115)
Saturday – 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
McCormick Place South-404A

Panelists:
Rob Campany, Vanderbilt University
Timothy Lubin, Washington and Lee University
Margo Kitts, Hawai’i Pacific University
Francesca Stavrakopoulou, University of Exeter

NAASR Business Meeting (P17-116)
Saturday – 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM
McCormick Place South-404A

Panel 4: “The Identity of NAASR and the Character of the Critical Study of Religion” (P17-203)
Saturday – 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
McCormick Place West-192B

Panelists:
Donald Wiebe, Trinity College
William Arnal, University of Regina
Aaron Hughes, University of Buffalo, SUNY
Julie Ingersoll, University of North Florida
Nicole Kelley, Florida State University
Russell McCutcheon, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

Panel 5: “Early Christianity as Graeco-Roman Religion” (P17-329)
Saturday – 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Hilton Chicago-PDR 1

Panelists:
Ian Brown, University of Toronto
Erin Roberts, University of South Carolina
Ryan Olfert, University of Toronto
Jennifer Eyl, Barnard College
Heidi Wendt, Brown University

NAASR Members’ Reception, sponsored by Equinox Publishing
Saturday – 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Exchequer Restaurant and Pub, 266 South Wabash Ave.
Both members and non-members are welcome.

NAASR co-sponsored AAR panels:

with the AAR Philosophy of Religion Section

“Historical-Critical Reflection on Formulating the Category ‘Religion'” (A18-255)
Sunday – 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
McCormick Place West-185D

Christopher Lehrich, Boston University, Presiding

Panelists:
Naomi Goldenberg, University of Ottawa
Robyn Walsh, Brown University
Christopher Roberts, Lewis and Clark University

with the AAR Anthropology of Religion Group

“Theory and Ethnography” (A18-313)
Sunday – 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
McCormick Place West-185D

Steven Engler, Mount Royal University, Presiding

Panelists:
George Gonzalez, Harvard University
Todd Berzon, Columbia University
Ashley Coleman, Emory University

2011 Annual Meeting, San Francisco

Executive Council Meeting

Friday, November 18, 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Room: Hilton Union Square-Yosemite C

Panel 1: “Curses and Blasphemy”
Friday, November 18, 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM Room: Hilton Union Square-Yosemite A

Chair: Frank Korom, Boston University

Gustavo Benavides, Villanova University: “The Violence of Religious Language”

Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, University of Zürich: “Controversial Mary: ‘Blasphemy’ between the Public Sphere and the Study of Religion”

Steven Engler, Mount Royal University: “Curses, Cures and Agency in Three Brazilian New Religions”

Respondent: Frank Korom, Boston University

Panel 2: “Hoc Est Enim Corpus Meum: Biopolitical Fantasies of Community Then and Now”
Friday, November 18, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM Room: Hilton Union Square-Yosemite A

Chair: Laura Levitt, Temple University

Jennifer Rust, Saint Louis University: “Political Theologies of the Corpus Mysticum: Schmitt, Kantorowicz and de Lubac”

Kathleen Biddick, Temple University: “The Flesh of Treason: Biopolitics of the Eucharist Then and Now”

Clayton Crockett, University of Central Arkansas: “Corpus, Body and Sense in Nancy, Deleuze and Charles H. Long”

Respondent: Jeffrey W. Robbins, Lebanon Valley College

NAASR Members’ Reception, sponsored by Equinox Publishing
Friday, November 18, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Restaurant Lulu, 816 Folsom Street, San Francisco

Panel 3: “The ‘Evidence’ of Religion in North America: A Round Table”
Saturday, November 19, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM Room: Hilton Union Square-Yosemite A

Chair: Thomas Tweed, University of Texas at Austin

Kelly J. Baker, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: “The Good, the Bad, the (Un)Dead: The Klan, Zombies, and the Problem of Legitimate Evidence”

Lauren F. Winner, Duke Divinity School: “Reading Recipes for Religion: Cookbooks and the Sensory History of American Religion”

Jennifer Hughes, University of California, Riverside: “The Object as Evidence in American Religion”

Laura Levitt, Temple University: “Juridical Evidence and the Question of History, Or Justice and Empiricism”

Business Meeting
Saturday, November 19, 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM Room: Hilton Union Square-Yosemite A

Panel 4: “Editors Meet Critics: After Secular Law by Winnifred Sullivan, Robert Yelle, and Mateo Taussig-Rubbo” (Stanford U.P. 2011)
Sunday, November 20, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM Room: Moscone Center 2024.

Coordinator/moderator: Rosalind I. J. Hackett (University of Tennessee)

Panelists:

Jason Bivins (North Carolina State University)
Elizabeth Castelli (Barnard College)
Janet Jakobsen (Barnard College)
Randall Styers (University of North Carolina)

Response by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan (University at Buffalo Law School ) and Robert A. Yelle (University of Memphis)

NAASR co-sponsored AAR panels:

with the Queer Studies in Religion Consultation

“Implications of Jasbir K. Puar’s Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times, for the Study of Religion”
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM Room: Moscone Center West-2010

Chair: Melissa M. Wilcox, Whitman College

Panelists:

Rosemary Hicks, Tufts University
Joseph A Marchal, Ball State University
Nayan Shah, University of California, San Diego
Brock Perry, Chicago Theological Seminary
Maia Kotrosits, Union Theological Seminary

Respondent: Jasbir Puar, Rutgers University

with the Cultural History of the Study of Religion Group and the Bible and Cultural Studies Unit of the Society of Biblical Literature

“Biblical Studies and the Modern Invention of ‘Religion’”
Saturday, November 19, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM Room: Marriott Marquis-Yerba Buena 9

Presiding: Tomoko Masuzawa, University of Michigan

Panelists:

Elizabeth A. Clark, Duke University
Karen L. King, Harvard University
Suzanne Marchand, Louisiana State University
Halvor Moxnes, University of Oslo
Brent Nongbri, Oberlin College
Yvonne Sherwood, University of Glasgow

2010 Annual Meeting, Atlanta

Special Extended Executive Council Meeting

Friday, October 29, 10:00 AM  to 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Hyatt Regency – Kennesaw.
Open only to members of the NAASR Executive Council and Advisory Committee.

Panel 1: “Theorizing Religion”
Friday, October 29, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM Marriott Marquis – International 4
Chair: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, University at Buffalo

• Ann Burlein, Hofstra University: “Knowledge is Made for Cutting: Using Foucault’s Birth of the Clinic to Re-Situate the Contemporary Prominence of Cognitive Science Accounts of Religion”
• Gustavo Benavides, Villanova University: “Linguistic vs. Discursive Grounds for the Systematic Neglect of Theories of Religion”
• Arthur McCalla, Mount Saint Vincent University: “Benjamin Constant: Theorist of Religion and Modernity”
• Respondent: Nancy Levene, Indiana University

NAASR Business Meeting
Saturday, October 30, 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM Marriott Marquis – International 8.
All NAASR members are encouraged to attend and vote for new officers.

Panel 2: “Talal Asad, Three Decades in Review: The Use and Abuse of Anthropologies of Islam, Genealogies of Religion, and Formations of the Secular”
Saturday, October 30, 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM Marriott Marquis – International 3.
Chair: Arvind Mandair, University of Michigan

• Ananda Abeysekara, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: “The Untranslatability of Religion, the Untranslatability of Life: What Remains Unthought about Talal Asad’s Thinking within Religious Studies”
• Markus Dressler, Istanbul Technical University: “From Sacred-Profane Binaries, Towards the Religo-Secular Continuum, and Back”
• Rosemary Hicks, Tufts University: “Asad, W.C. Smith, and Liberal Critiques of Individualist Ethics and Studies of Islam”
• Ruth Mas, University of Colorado at Boulder: “The Distanciation of the Secular”

Panel 3: “The Legacy of Lévi-Strauss”
Saturday, October 30, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM Marriott Marquis – International 3
Chair: Paul Johnson, University of Michigan

• Jens Kreinath, Wichita State University: “Bricolage and the Fractal Dynamics of Ritual: Claude Lévi-Strauss and his Legacy for the Study of Religion and Practice”
• Christopher I. Lehrich, Boston University: “Overture and Finale: Lévi-Strauss, Music, and Religion”
• Paul-Francois Tremlett, Birkbeck College, University of London: “Lévi-Strauss and Religious Studies”
• Respondent: Ivan Strenski, University of California at Riverside

NAASR at the Society of Biblical Literature:

“Translation, Anachronism, and Ideology in Scholarship on Early Christianity”
Saturday, November 20, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM Hyatt Regency – Edgewood
Willi Braun, University of Alberta, Presiding

• • Jennifer Eyl, Brown University: “Filling in the Semantic Voids and New Testament Translation”
  • Erin Roberts, University of South Carolina: “Considerations of Hamartia as ‘Sin’ in Proto Christian Texts”
  • Paul Robertson, Brown University: “De Spiritualizing Pneuma: Modernity, Religion, and the Consequences of Anachronism”
  • Heidi Wendt, Brown University: “Paganism Must Really End, and Not Because Theodosius Says So! Methodological Implications of the Term ‘Pagan’ in Modern Academic Vocabulary”

All papers will be 30 minutes.