Please see the announcement below. The “Religion and American Culture Caucus” of the American Studeis Association is looking for papers on “American Atheism.” Instructions on how to submit a proposal can be found below.

CFP: American Atheism

Participants are sought for a panel on American Atheism for the 2012

American Studies (ASA) Annual Meeting, to be held November 15-18 in San

Juan, Puerto Rico. Scholars from all fields are encouraged to consider the

topic broadly. Topics include atheism across time; transnational atheism;

politics and atheism; religious responses to atheism; atheism in the public

square; atheism in popular culture; atheism and race, class, and gender; and

others. Scholars outside of religious studies are especially encouraged to

submit proposals. Historical and contemporary topics are welcome.

 

The Religion and American Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association

is organizing panels for submission to the Program Committee of the ASA for

the 2012 Annual Meeting. While only the ASA Program Committee has authority

to select panels, the Caucus hopes to encourage participation in

religion-focused panels by scholars in all fields.

 

Presenters, chairs, commentators, and chair/commentators are sought for this

panel. Presenters can read traditional papers, lead discussions or

activities, share a lecture, present visual analyses, or share their

research in other ways in 15-25 minute presentations. Chairs introduce

panelists, manage presentation time, and facilitate discussion after the

presentations. Commentators provide feedback on individual presentations

and offer brief comments that synthesize findings. Chair/commentators

fulfill both roles.

 

With rare exceptions of non-academics who seek the approval of the ASA

program committee, all participants must be members of the ASA in order to

present, though membership is not required to submit a panel for

consideration. Membership costs vary according to income and employment

status. All participants must also register for the ASA Annual Meeting;

registration cost likewise varies. Please see the http://www.theasa.net for

information about cost of membership and registration. By submitting a

presentation proposal or volunteering to serve as chair, commentator, or

chair/commentator, you agree that, if your panel is accepted, you will join

the ASA if you are not otherwise a member and register for and attend the

Annual Meeting.

 

ASA Annual Meeting participants may appear on the program only once‹as a

panelist, chair, commentator, or commentator/chair. Please submit only one

presentation proposal or volunteer for only one role as submitting more than

one proposal or volunteering for more than one role will disqualify all

panels for which you volunteer.

 

Would-be presenters should submit a 2-page CV and a 500 word abstract with

title and your name to Religion and American Culture Caucus co-chair

Rebecca Barrett-Fox at rbarrettfox@bethelks.edu by December 15, 2011. These

should be submitted as MS Word documents or as PDFs. In addition, include a

list of 3-5 key words and any AV needs at the bottom of the abstract.

 

Scholars volunteering to serve as chairs, commentators, and

chair/commentators should submit 2-page CVs as well as a list of topics of

particular expertise and the role(s) in which they are willing to serve.

Senior scholars and those who plan on attending ASA anyway but not

presenting are especially encouraged to volunteer in these roles. Again,

this information should be sent to Rebecca Barrett-Fox at

rbarrettfox@bethelks.edu by December 15, 2011.

 

The Religion and American Culture Caucus will organize panels by January 1,

2012. At that point, potential panelists and chairs will be matched and

introduced to each other via email and encouraged to work together to draft

a 500 word panel proposal, which must then be forwarded by panel members to

the ASA Program Committee via the ASA¹s website. Panel submissions, which

will include the panel proposal as well as individual presentation proposals

and presenter and chair and commentator or chair/commentator CVs, are due to

the ASA by January 26, 2012. The ASA Program Committee will identify

accepted panels by early spring 2012 and will release the final schedule for

the Annual Meeting early in the summer of 2012.

 

Religion and American Culture Caucus members are proud of the many panels

focusing on religion that appeared in the Annual Meeting program in 2011 and

of the large audiences that these panels drew and hope to extend this trend

to 2012¹s Meeting. The Caucus seeks to support scholars as well as

journalists, activists, and others who work in this area, especially those

whose primary home is not in religious studies programs. If you are

interested in participating in the work of the Caucus, please visit

http://www.theasa.net/caucus_religion/. If you are considering submitting a

presentation proposal but would like support in developing or articulating

your ideas in writing, please email Rebecca Barrett-Fox at rbarrettfox@bethelks.edu for assistance.