http://www.aarweb.org/About_AAR/Regions/Mid-Atlantic/call.asp
Mid-Atlantic Region
Call for Papers
Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting
Radisson Hotel at Cross Keys
Baltimore, MD
March 26–27, 2009
We encourage you to submit proposals for the 2009 AAR Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting on March 26-27, 2009, to be held jointly with the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Society for Biblical Literature (MAR-SBL). This year we will be returning to the Radisson Hotel at Cross Keys—two miles from Baltimore’s Penn Station, six miles north of downtown Baltimore, and eighteen miles from Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). We invite scholarly proposals in any area of religious studies. This year we are especially interested in proposals that address the 2009 conference theme, “Religious Studies & Sustainability: Conversations and Crossroads.” Our plenary speaker will be Dr. Rosemary Reuther, from the Claremont Graduate University and Claremont School of Theology. Paper proposals could address issues such as religious understandings of nature and the natural world, religion and ecological crisis/sustainability, religion and technological development, the intersection of religion and science, and other subtopics related to the theme.
Our 2008 conference in New Brunswick, NJ included sessions on the Academic Study of Religion, African Religions, African-American Religion, Comparative and Historical Studies in Religion, the History of Christianity, the Philosophy of Religion, Religion and the Arts, Religion and Psychology, Religion and Spirituality, Religion in America, Religions of Asia, Religious Ethics, Religion and Social Science, the Study of Islam, the Study of Judaism, Theology, and Women and Religion. You are also welcome and encouraged to propose new sessions, panel sessions, or paper sessions (see the guidelines at the end of this call for papers).
Proposal Submission
Please send proposals by email attachment to MAR-AAR Vice-President Devorah Schoenfeld at drschoenfeld@smcm.edu no later than December 1, 2008. You may submit no more than two proposals to the Program Committee. Since we review proposals as they arrive it is advantageous to send proposals as soon as possible.
Call for Section Chairs
The MAR-AAR is seeking volunteers from the region who are willing to serve as section chairs for the disciplinary subfields that comprise the sessions at our annual meeting. You can find a list of these sections above. As a section chair, you would be responsible for evaluating paper proposals and organizing the paper sessions and panels in your section. This is a rotating three-year term. If you are willing to serve the Academy in this capacity, please send your CV to MAR-AAR Vice-President Devorah Schoenfeld at drschoenfeld@smcm.edu, including in your correspondence your areas of expertise. Doctoral candidates in dissertation are welcome to apply, but may be asked to work in consultation with a more senior colleague.
Note about Registration Fees for Non-Presenters
Conference participants who are not presenting may register at a discounted rate of $10 for one day/$20 for two days. Note that presiding at a session is not considered presenting, and non-presenters who volunteer to preside at sessions will still be charged the discounted rate. Both presenters and non-presenters are encouraged to volunteer to preside at sessions. The preregistration form below has an area that you may check off if you are interested in presiding at a session.
Mid-Atlantic Regional Awards
As has become our custom, MAR-AAR will award the Kate Connolly-Weinert Prize of $200 to the most innovative proposal for a group session (or panel) dealing with peace issues or women's studies; the deadline for submission is November 15, 2008. To help foster graduate student participation, the Executive Committee of the MAR-AAR will again award the Robert F. Streetman Prize of $200 for the best student paper presented by an AAR regional member. Those interested in the Streetman prize should submit their entire paper by November 15, 2008 and clearly indicate they are submitting the paper for prize consideration.
Pre-Registration
Online preregistration is now live at the AAR Mid-Atlantic Region Web site.
Please utilize the AAR website for registration, as it saves paper and
helps the region fulfill our national AAR mandate to promote
environmentally sustainable gatherings. If necessary, however, a printable form is also available.
Hotel Information
The Radisson Cross Keys offers online hotel room registration at http://www.radisson.com/baltimoremd. In order to receive the discounted conference rate when booking online, use the promotional code MAARSB when prompted by the webpage.
Alternatively you may call Radisson at (888) 201-1718 to reserve rooms. Please indicate that you are attending our conference so that you can receive the conference rate. Discounted hotel rooms ($125) will be held until March 2, 2009. Since the normal room rate is $149 and only 40 discounted rooms have been reserved, we strongly encourage you to reserve rooms early.
Sustainability
As part of the American Academy of Religion’s commitment to host environmentally-sustainable meetings, we are asking participants to consider bringing reusable beverage containers and name badge holders from previous conferences in order to cut down on waste at the conference.
For any ongoing updated conference information please consult our website at http://www.aarweb.org/About_AAR/Regions/Mid-Atlantic/call.asp. Information will be posted as it is available during the upcoming academic year.