Midwest Region Print

2013 Midwest Regional Meeting

April 12–13, 2013
Ohio Northern University
Ada, Ohio, USA


The deadline for proposal submissions is January 7, 2013. The online submission system will be available soon.

The Midwest Region invites research presentation proposals related to the academic study of religion from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and encompassing a wide range of religious and cultural phenomena. This year, we especially invite proposals dealing with topics related to our conference theme, “Religion and Memory.”

Authors may submit 250–450 word proposals for individual papers or for panels of papers. Please submit your proposal using the online submission system by January 2, 2013 (link will be available on the Midwest Region’s website). If you have any questions about whether your proposal is appropriate for a particular Section, please contact that Section’s Chair. If you feel your proposal does not fit into any of our current Sections, you may submit it to the Special Topics Section.

Proposal submissions will only be accepted online. Please observe these restrictions:

  • You may submit up to two different proposals to a single Section.
  • You may submit up to two different proposals to two different Sections.
  • You may not submit the same proposal to two different Sections.
  • Please indicate if religious observances will make a Friday afternoon panel inappropriate for your participation.

Notice of acceptance/rejection will be sent out before the end of January.

Sections and Section Chairs

Arts, Literature, and Religion

Solicits proposals for papers and panels that examine the intersection of religion and the arts, broadly defined to encompass the visual arts, architecture, literature, cinema, theater, and dance in both their fine and vernacular manifestations.

We are currently seeking a Chair of this Section.

Ethics and Philosophy of Religion

Solicits proposals for papers and panels dealing with ethical theory, applied ethics, moral theology, and other topics related to religion and morality, as well as papers dealing broadly with the philosophy of religion, such as questions of religious ontology, metaphysics, and epistemology.

Dustin Byrd, Olivet College, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

History of Christianity

Solicits proposals for papers and panels that analyze any variety of Christianity from academic, historical, and social scientific perspectives. Proposals for papers that adopt theological, constructive, confessional, or faith-based perspectives should be submitted to either the Theology or the Ethics and Philosophy of Religion Section.

We are currently seeking a Chair of this Section.

History of Religions

Solicits proposals for papers and panels investigating any aspects of religions other than Christianity from a historical, anthropological, sociological, or other social scientific perspective.

Brian J. Clites, Northwestern University, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Islam

Solicits proposals for papers and panels focusing on any aspect of the Islamic tradition, including its texts, history, or practices. Proposals may focus on any time period and be from any disciplinary approach, so long as the topic is capable of engaging scholars of Islam.

Lauren E. Osborne, University of Chicago, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Religion and American Culture

Solicits proposals for papers and panels exploring social, cultural, and historical aspects of religion in the Americas, and of the United States in particular. Studies of religious traditions or ideas that are not specifically situated in, or related to, their manifestations in this geographical context are not accepted.

John Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Religion and Sacred Texts

Solicits proposals for papers and panels on the nature of sacred texts from a wide variety of religious traditions, especially those that study what makes these texts “sacred,” what makes them “texts,” and how they originate and function in their religious and cultural settings.

Steve Young, McHenry County College, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Religion, Ecology, and Culture

Solicits proposals for papers and panels that explore the dynamic interrelationships of religion, ecology (environment, nature, animals), and culture, including those that seek to understand religious responses to, and analyses of, the ways in which human and nonhuman species relate to their natural environments.

Hayley Glaholt, Northwestern University, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Religions of Asia

Solicits proposals for papers covering textual, ethnographic, or other historical and cultural studies of the religious traditions of South, Southeast, and East Asia, consisting primarily of (but not necessarily limited to) Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.

Michael Nichols, Saint Joseph's College, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Special Topics

Solicits proposals for papers and panels not appropriate for other Sections. Preference will be given to those proposals that focus on the annual conference theme or on teaching in religious studies. Proposals might include analysis of your classroom experience, but the topic might also encompass how religious institutions teach their traditions, how religion is handled in the public school system, or the media, as well as the practices and politics of the academy broadly considered.

Amy Carr, Western Illinois University, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Study of Judaism

Solicits proposals broadly inclusive of Judaism and Jewish tradition. Panels and proposals may address textual studies, history concerning any time period from the ancient to the modern, theology, sociology, or anthropology of Jewish subjects.

Sarah Imhoff, Indiana University, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Teaching Religion

Solicits proposals for papers and panels on teaching practices (syllabi, assignments, classroom activities), the use of innovative pedagogies, challenges relevant to teaching particular courses, advising and mentoring, or reflections on (the joys and challenges of) teaching in our field.

C. Hannah Schell, Monmouth College, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Theology

Solicits proposals for papers and panels in all areas of theology — broadly defined as critical reflections on the transcendent, the human relationship with the divine, and all related questions and issues.

We are currently seeking a Chair of this Section.

Undergraduate Students

Specifically designed for undergraduate students in the field of religious studies who wish to broaden their academic experience by presenting their research at a formal conference, this Section solicits proposals for papers by undergraduate students on any topic concerning religion.

We are currently seeking a Chair of this Section.

Women and Religion

Solicits proposals for papers and panels that explore the many ways that women imagine and construct religious identities, experience religion in their everyday lives, and interpret symbols, myths, and rituals. Other topics, including questions of methodology, in the study of women and religion are also welcome.

We are currently seeking a Chair of this Section.

Paper Competitions

There are three paper competitions at this year’s Regional Meeting:

  • Undergraduate paper competition
  • Graduate paper competition
  • Marion McFarland Taylor Award for Best Research Paper in the Area of Religion, Ecology, and Sustainability

Keynote Address

This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Flora Keshgegian, Church Divinity School of the Pacific.