APARRI 2025 Call for Proposals

Past as Present: APA Religions, Renewal, and Collective Care

The Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI) is the largest and longest running interdisciplinary conference series in the United States addressing issues of religion and race in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Since 1999, APARRI gatherings have provided opportunities for scholars and community leaders involved in work on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander religions to share research, exchange ideas, and build collaborative relationships.

As we gather in this year of historic instability and uncertainty, we invite participants to reflect on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander pasts and presents and to consider how scholars and practitioners of APA religions can promote collective renewal and care during these troubled times. How might Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander scholars and religious communities draw upon our histories to work together toward these goals, not simply as individuals but as collectives and communities?

Particular topics of interest include:

  • Religion as a source of hope, rejuvenation, and renewal, especially for collective or communal care
  • Religion and the rebuilding of broken institutions, norms, and communities
  • Religious institutions and communities as champions of illiberal goals and policies
  • The role of art and storytelling in religious communities
  • Practices and rituals of grieving
  • Connecting haunted pasts and unsettled presents
  • Reflections on how religion might support or interact with authoritarianism, martial law, and other abuses of state power
  • How religious diversity and pluralism can counter white Christian nationalism
  • Ancestors and “spirits/ghosts” of those never found and buried
  • The role of collective memory and guardianship
  • Histories and contemporary social movements in which AA, NH, and PI groups have established solidarity efforts
  • How religious communities envision the future, collective vision work, renewal or liberation

While APARRI does not require an exclusive focus on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander religious communities, proposals that center and prioritize these are preferred.

Please note that there are 3 types of proposals you can submit. Please click on any tab below to learn more about the type of proposal:

These submissions can be on any topic relevant to the conference theme and call for proposals. If accepted, individual submissions will likely be organized into panels at the program committee’s discretion.

Presenters may organize their own panels around a common theme or topic. Given time limits, successful panels tend to have four individual presentations or fewer. This may include three presentations and comments from a discussant, or four presentations. Organizers and presenters should leave time for audience discussion and Q and A in planning their presentations.

These submissions are most suitable for advanced/revised dissertation chapters (beyond first drafts), articles nearly ready to submit for journal publication, and book proposals. Authors will spend 5-10 minutes introducing their work, followed by feedback from the respondent and audience. Workshop attendees are expected to read papers in advance.

For these workshops, full drafts must be submitted by May 26, 2025. Drafts should not exceed 25 pages, double-spaced, excluding footnotes or endnotes.Respondents will not read more than 25 pages of text. Although your pre-circulated paper might be accepted on the basis of your abstract, the committee reserves the right not to circulate submissions that appear to be first drafts or unpolished writing (and will remove you from the program if so).

Only conference registrants will have access to these pre-circulated papers.

Proposal Deadline: March 17, 2025 (11:59 PST)

Notification of Acceptances: April 11, 2025

Pre-circulated paper drafts deadline: May 26, 2025

Please check back for APARRI 2025 registration and housing information

SUBMIT FORM

Submission Guidelines

Please include the following information in your proposal:

  • Title of pre-circulated paper, panel, or presentation
  • Full name(s)
  • Affiliation(s)
  • Contact information (email, phone)
  • A 200-word statement describing your individual or group proposal
  • Indicate format of submission:
    • Pre-circulated paper
    • workshop
    • individual paper presentation
    • group panel (no more than four formal presentations, respondent or discussant optional)
  • Indicate your technology needs
    • projector (for laptop)
    • sound

The selection committee will review submissions and notify presenters by April 11, 2025.

Travel Support

Thanks to generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation and UC Berkeley, APARRI will be offering limited scholarships to cover domestic travel and lodging, with priority to graduate students, independent scholars, and contingent/adjunct teacher-scholars who present at the conference. Participants may apply for scholarships with their conference registration.

APARRI is a scholarly community advancing the interdisciplinary study of Asian Pacific Americans and their religions. We offer opportunities for collaboration, mentorship, and workshopping works-in-progress.

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