Dear SAR Community,
Welcome to the January 2026 edition of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) Newsletter. We wish all our members a joyful new year’s, and welcome to the Spring semester! As usual, if you have announcements or updates you would like included in the next newsletter, please feel free to send them my way.
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Section of the American Anthropological Association
January 17th, 2026
News and Announcements
SAR Mentorship Program
SAR is pleased to announce that we are piloting a new mentorship program this year. Senior scholars will be put in contact with early career scholars and graduate students in order to build connections within the association across geography and career stage. The primary goal of this program is to establish casual mentoring relationships through which people can share conference information, teaching insights, and publication tips. Mentor groups are expected to meet on a quarterly basis and will have opportunities to provide feedback on the experience. If you are interested in being placed with a mentor or mentee, please reach out to Dr. Hannah Howard at hgh17204@uga.edu and she will facilitate the connection.
SAR Business Meeting and Announcement of Winners at New Orleans AAA
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) Business Meeting held at the American Anthropological Association Meeting in New Orleans on November 21, 2025.
The highlight of the Business Meeting was the announcement of the winners of the Geertz Prize and Student Paper Prize. This year’s winner of the Geertz Prize is Zainab’s Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others Across Borders (University of California Press) by Emrah Yildiz. Honorable Mentions went to Seductive Spirits: Deliverance, Demons, and Sexual Worldmaking in Ghanian Pentecostalism (Stanford University Press) by Nathaneal Homewood and Paths Made by Walking: The Work of Howzevi Women in Iran (Indiana University Press) by Amina Tawasil.
This year’s winner of the Student Paper Prize was Dylan Renca (Boston University) for his paper “The Trouble of Nonhuman Beings: Virtue, Relationality and Power on Java in a Time of Islamic Revival.” The honorable mention went to Thomas Long (University of Manchester) for his paper “Black Churches, White Divisions: Race, Theology and the Debate over Critical Race Theory Amongst Baptists in Texas.”
Congratulations to all the awardees, and many thanks to the committee members for their hard work! At the Business Meeting our new SAR mentorship program was also announced – more on that soon. If you are interested in joining the mentorship program, please contact Hannah Howard at hghoward@bu.edu.
Happy holidays and have a wonderful break!
New Books and Articles
When Doing Good Isn’t Good Enough: How a Commitment to Justice and Solidarity Transformed Catholic Relief Services
Suzanne C. Toton
December 2025
Georgetown University Press
The Allure of Heavenly Mother, from South Korea to South Africa: Epistemological Authority at the World Mission Society Church of God
Douglas Bafford
Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 29(2):81-103
Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity: Theology, Politics, Ethics
Candace Lukasik and Sarah Riccardi-Swartz (ed)
November 2025 (forthcoming: available for pre-order)
Fordham University Press
Healing Ableism: Stories About Disability and Religious Life
Darla Schumm
November 2025
Rutgers University Press
Cleansing the Nation: India, the Hindu Modern, and Mediations of Gender
Raka Shome
November 2025
Duke University Press
Call for Proposals and Opportunities
AAR Book awards
AAR is now accepting book awards in several categories. Visit here for more details.
The fifth Critical Muslim Studies conference invites scholars, researchers and thinkers to engage with the theme of ReOrienting Futures.
Abstract Submission Deadline: 14th February 2026