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Religion and American Culture Caucus
Advisory Board: Kelly Baker, Tracy Fessenden, Mark Hulsether, Greg Jackson, Kip Kosek, Kathryn Lofton, Sally Promey
We are pleased to welcome you to the Religion and American Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association. We invite and encourage all ASA members who are interested in exploring the place of religion in American life, and promoting the study and teaching of religion within American Studies, to join.
In recent years scholarship in American religion has taken a decidedly American Studies turn, as older paradigms emphasizing institutional histories and dominant groups have given way to newer approaches that focus less on official religion and more on religion as it is lived and practiced. These newer approaches are multidisciplinary, encompassing, for example, popular culture, visual and media studies, material culture, and cultural geography, and often emphasizing themes of sexuality, gender, race, region, class, and transnationalism.
We hope the caucus will serve as a forum for scholars in American Studies—and those looking for an institutional home—to meet, generate future ASA panels, and discuss research and teaching in this rapidly changing field.
As a caucus we hope to not only address the needs of current ASA members, but to also encourage new members to join by providing them a home within the association. In addition to serving members whose work is primarily in the field of American religion, we also hope to serve as a resource for members whose primary focus lies elsewhere, but who find themselves addressing some aspect of religion in their work.
Please explore this site to learn more about what we do, including sponsoring panels, a best paper prize, and on-going collaborative projects related to research and teaching.
Contacts: Matt Hedstrom, hedstrom@virginia.edu
Community Blog
NYU Press: North American Religions Series
Announcing a NEW SERIES from New York University Press…
North American Religions Series
General Editors:
Tracy Fessenden (Arizona State University)
Laura Levitt (Temple University)
David Harrington Watt (Temple University)
Request for manuscript proposals
In recent years a cadre of industrious, imaginative, and highly intelligent scholars have focused their attention on North American Religions. The books and articles that they have produced have transformed the field. Scholars’ understanding of North American Religions is far more subtle, expansive, and interdisciplinary than it was just a couple of decades ago.
North American Religions will build on this momentum. The series will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on religion in the United States in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
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William James Symposium
The William James Society (http://www.wjsociety.org/) is planning a long-weekend symposium, August 13-16, 2010 (please note the changed date from earlier announcements), to honor the life of James on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his death. In the spirit of James, the symposium, “In the Footsteps of William James,” will be an opportunity to explore the local settings of James’s life and to reflect on James’s ability to encounter experience afresh and approach problems creatively.
The symposium will therefore have 2 dimensions and we seek presenters for both:
1. with the symposium taking place at Chocorua, NH, and Cambridge, MA, we call for presenters familiar with his life in either or both places who could serve as guides for the participants; there are some residents in both places that will already be serving this role, so our primary call is for our second dimension;
2. for a symposium as much about the public intellectual significance of James’s thought as his scholarly contributions, we call for presenters who can address issues of historic and contemporary relevance as illuminated by James’s life and work, for sessions to include topics such as these:
- The Pragmatist Turn, and its potential for reconciling disputes and fostering common sense in public discourse,
- Values Voters and Valuing Citizenship, on the uses of his theories for comprehending differences and encouraging listening, and his speaking out against social injustice,
- Educational Renewal, from James’s own classroom experiences to his talks to teachers and about education, to his potential to foster opening of minds,
- Spirituality and Belief, with James in anticipation of the endurance of religion and spirituality in secular settings and of theories for embracing differences of belief,
- Mental Health, from his theory of habits to his inspirations to help people with addiction and to encourage the research in positive psychology,
- Appraisals of James by his colleagues, friends, students, and successors in various fields.
Please send an abstract of 100 words and a brief description of qualifications to the William James Symposium Committee by January 15, 2010 to:
*Lynn Bridgers, Secretary-Treasurer of the William James Society: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); or 7705 Spring Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110
*Paul Croce, President of the William James Soceity: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); or Box 8274, Stetson University, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32720; or
*John Kaag: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); or Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 102 Olney Hall, Lowell, MA 01856
Presentations at the Symposium will be considered for publication in the Society’s William James Studies (http://williamjamesstudies.press.illinois.edu/)
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6th Annual Best Paper Prize Competition
The Religion and American Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association is pleased to announce its 6th annual best paper prize competition. Any paper presented at the 2009 ASA meeting in Washington, DC is eligible for consideration. The prize will be awarded to the paper that makes the most significant and creative contribution to the study of religion (broadly construed) and American culture.
For consideration, please submit your paper to Matt Hedstrom at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by Friday, October 23.
The winner will be selected by a national jury of scholars in the field, and announced at the Caucus business meeting at the ASA.
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William James Symposium
The William James Society is planning a long-weekend symposium, August 6-9, 2010, to honor the life of James on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his death. In the spirit of James, the symposium, “In the Footsteps of William James,” will be an opportunity to explore the local settings of James’s life and to reflect on James’s ability to encounter experience afresh and approach problems creatively.
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Exploring the Post-Secular
A conference at Yale University, April 3-4, 2009. For more information, contact David Kyuman Kim at:
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or
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