Call for Proposals

This Group invites individual paper, papers session, and roundtable proposals on the following two topics:

• The role of the media and/or ritual — both media and ritual being possibly variously construed — in shaping public perceptions of religions and religious figures. Included in this topic is the question of state control of the media/ritual and whether that control reflects public perception about specific religions, or religions in general, in Southeast Asia


• For a cosponsored session with the Comparative Religious Ethics Group, ethical issues relevant to communities, individuals, and nations of Southeast Asia. We encourage panel or paper proposals from scholars of ethics, historians of religion, anthropology, comparative religion, etc., on timely topics in the study of ethics and religion in this crossroads of Asia

Mission

Situated at the nexus of several civilizational influences — including Indian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern — Southeast Asia, as a region, remains understudied in terms of its relevance to the theoretical and methodological study of religion. This neglect is in part due to the tendency to reduce Southeast Asian religious systems to the named “world religions” often identified with other regions. As a result, indigenous practices are not viewed in terms of their conceptual and other linkages — and in some cases the dynamic interactions between those practices and the religious practices brought over by different classes of immigrants are frequently overlooked. However, and especially in the last fifteen years, exciting materials addressing different religious cultures in Southeast Asia have emerged. Hitherto, there has been little scholarly conversation at the AAR on Southeast Asia. And, perhaps even less commonly, are Southeast Asian religious cultures (e.g., Buddhist, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, “animist,” Chinese, and Pacific) put into conversation with one another. In light of this need in the field, we strive to provide a context for this conversation as well as to foster critical thinking about Southeast Asia as a region.

Anonymity of Review Process

Proposer names are anonymous to Chairs and Steering Committee members until after final acceptance or rejection.

Questions?

Vivienne Angeles
La Salle University
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Jason Carbine
Whittier College
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Method of Submission