Dear SAR Community,
Welcome to the July 2026 edition of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) Newsletter. I hope you all are having a restful summer!If you have announcements or updates you would like included in the next newsletter, please feel free to send them my way.
Shahana Munazir
PhD Candidate, Anthropology
UW-Madison
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Section of the American Anthropological Association
August 2nd, 2026
News and Announcements
SAR Mentorship Program
SAR’s new mentorship program is off to a strong start! We look forward to seeing what these relationships bring to the field. Because we have had so much interest from graduate students, we are particularly in need of senior scholars willing to participate. Through this program, 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. It is not meant to replicate the advisor experience. 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.
New Books and Articles
A Divine Season: Christian Nationalist Activism in Zambia
Naomi Haynes
August 17, 2026 (forthcoming)
Princeton University Press
Orthodox Christianity in America: An Introduction
Sarah Riccardi-Swartz and Candace Lukasik
Forthcoming 2027
Routledge
A Perturbed System: Religion and Climate Change from the End of a World
Susannah Crockford
July 2026
University of Chicago Press
Theologies of Remembering: Modernity, Ambiguity, and Transcendence in Islamic Indonesia
Verena Hanna Meyer
August 2026 (upcoming)
University of California Press
When is a Resident also a Pilgrim?: LDS Temple Attendance in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.
C. William Campbell
2026
Anthropological Quarterly 99 (1): 591-630. https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2026.a988714
“Claiming what is theirs by right: the elective affinity between the prosperity Gospel and Christian nationalism”
Naomi Haynes
Religion, June 2026
Sonic Relations: Devotion and Community in Turkey’s Eastern Borderlands
Stefan Williamson Fa
May 2026
Indiana University Press
Living in the End Times. Ritual, History, and Ethics in Romania’s Old Belief
Vlad Naumescu
April 2026
Indiana University Press
The Oxford Handbook of the Anthropology of Religion
Joel Robbins and Simon Coleman (ed)
January 2026
Oxford University Press
AAA Annual Meeting Registration now open
Save the date for the 2026 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, taking place November 18–22 in St. Louis, Missouri. This year’s theme, “On the Verge,” invites reflection on thresholds, uncertainty, transformation, and the possibilities emerging in moments of crisis and change. The early registration for the meeting is now open
Job Openings
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in South Asian Religions (2027-2029)
Dartmouth College
Deadline: Sep 16, 2026