Contemplative Studies Print

Call for Proposals

This Consultation invites panel and paper proposals investigating contemplative practice and experience — tradition-specific and comparative — and utilizing various approaches to contemplative studies — anthropological, historical, neuroscientific, psychological, etc. Possible topics for this year include:

  • Comparative meditation
  • Contemplative practices of compassion/empathy
  • Contemplative practice, posture, and the body

We also welcome panel and paper proposals on other topics related to contemplative studies. Potential panel organizers are encouraged to contact our co-Chair Louis Komjathy prior to organizing a complete panel.

Mission

Contemplative studies is an emerging interdisciplinary field. It is in close conversation with other fields of inquiry such as cognitive science, consciousness studies, mysticism studies, neuroscience, psychology, and religious studies. This Consultation aims to strengthen and develop contemplative studies as an academic field of inquiry, especially in the context of religious studies and the AAR. We provide a forum for the investigation of contemplative practice and experience, considered inclusively and comprehensively; for critical discussions on the field itself, including theoretical and interpretive issues; and for the application of contemplative practice to academic life and university culture. The latter includes the possible contribution of “contemplative pedagogy” to teaching and learning. We thus aim to gather together currently diffused groups as well as dislocated, marginalized, and underrepresented individuals in the academy. To this end, we encourage research that is topical, tradition-specific, comparative, and cross-cultural. We also invite scholars to investigate contemplative practice and experience in ways that traverse and transcend the boundaries of traditions, disciplines, and research methodologies.

Anonymity of Review Process

Proposals are anonymous to Chairs and Steering Committee Members until after final acceptance or rejection.

Questions?

Louis Komjathy
University of San Diego
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Anne C. Klein
Rice University
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Method of Submission