June 2024 Newsletter

Dear Members,

Please find attached with this email the SAR newsletter for the month of June 2024. We value your involvement and contributions to the Society, and we’re excited to continue fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing within our community.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or contributions for future newsletters, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to connecting with you in our upcoming events and activities.

Hoping you have a restful summer!

Best,
Shahana Munazir
PhD Candidate in Anthropology, UW-Madison


Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Section of the American Anthropological Association

15th June 2024

News and Announcements

The Society for Anthropology of Religion (SAR) is pleased to announce the 2024 student paper prize competition, aimed at recognizing outstanding writing on religion by emerging scholars. Graduate students in anthropology or related fields from universities worldwide are invited to submit their previously unpublished, original work by August 1, 2024. The winning paper will receive a $250 cash award and may be recommended for publication in Religion and Society, while the runner-up will receive a $100 cash prize. Additionally, finalists will have the opportunity to participate in SAR’s mentorship program, pairing select graduate students with faculty mentors before the 2024 AAA meetings for feedback on revising their papers for publication. Winners and finalists will be publicly announced at a special reception and recognized at the SAR business meeting. For submission guidelines and further information, please contact Britt Halvorson (bhalvors@colby.edu), Candace Lukasik (cl2126@msstate.edu), and Michael Edwards (michael.edwards@sydney.edu.au). Submissions should be written in English, no more than 30 double-spaced pages, and emailed with the subject line “SAR Paper Prize Submission.” Limit one submission per person.

New Books and Articles

The impossibility of Muslim Boyhood
June 2024
Shenila Khoja-Moolji
University of Minnesota Press

Shâmaran: The Neolithic Eternal Mother, Love and the Kurds
May 2024
Dilsa Deniz
Rowman and Littlefield

“Religious Suasion,” Special Issue
Sam Victor & Danny Cardoza
April 2024
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Power Circuits: Asymmetries of Global Christianity
April 2024
Candace Lukasik and Jason Bruner
Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Engaged Buddhism in Mountain Monasteries: Templestay as Wellness Tourism in South Korea
Kyoim Yun
2023
Asian Ethnology

Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan
Annika Schmeding
November 2023
Stanford University Press

Holy Wells of Ireland: Sacred Realms and Popular Domains
Celeste Ray and Finbar McCormick (ed)
October 2023
Indiana University Press

Karma and Grace: Religious Difference in Millennial Sri Lanka
Neena Mahadev
October 2023
Columbia University Press

The Ethnography of Tantra
Carole Erika Lorea and Rohit Singh
October 2023

Spirit Wives and Church Mothers: Marriage, Survival, and Healing in Central Mozambique
Christy K. Schuetze
August 2023
University of Wisconsin Press

Call for Proposals and Opportunities

Workshop on Healing Ecologies and Medical Diversity: Ethnographic Approaches to Wellbeing, to be held at Sapienza University of Rome and online on 12-15 June 2024. The workshop is organized by Emily Pierini, Paul Stoller and Conerly Casey, in collaboration with the HEAL Network for the Ethnography of Healing, the Cas-e Center (FAU Erlangen), and Sapienza University of Rome’s PhD Programme in History, Anthropology, Religions. 

The Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) column in Anthropology News invites submissions that convey short stories about religion inspired by fieldwork, popular media, or current events. Accepted submissions will be published in 2024 and 2025.

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is excited to announce a fully online annual meeting in June 2024, in addition to their in-person meeting in November. The Online June Sessions of the Annual Meeting will be June 25-27, 2024. Read here for more details.