American Academy of Religion

Jenna Reinbold, winner of the 2018 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Analytical-Descriptive Studies, discusses her book "Seeing the Myth in Human Rights" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).

Noah Salomon, author of "For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan's Islamic State" (Princeton University Press, 2016) and winner of AAR's 2017 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of analytical-descriptive studies, talks to Kristian Petersen about his fieldwork in Sudan, the attempts at a unified Sudan prior to the 2011 partition, and tradition of the Islamic nation-state.

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvious and religious studies faculty are exploring how graduate programs can - and should - prepare all alumni for multiple employment outcomes. This panel brings together faculty members from a variety of institutions to discuss some of the problems confronting their students and their programs as more people turn - by necessity and by choice - to nonacademic career paths. Cristine Hutchison-Jones, Harvard Law School, Presiding Panelists: - Molly Bassett, Georgia State University - Jason C. Bivins, North Carolina State University - Kathleen Moore, University of California, Santa Barbara This session was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 19.

This discussion explores the impact of religion and race on American populism across the ideological spectrum. Papers explore the interplay of religious and secular forces on the #BlackLivesMatter movement, including a theological exploration of the death of Michael Brown and an examination of how Millennial activists are blurring secular/religious boundaries. The session juxtaposes these topics with examinations of white conservative populist expressions. Papers explore populist elements within the Southern Baptist Convention that laid the foundation for white evangelicals to throw their support behind Donald Trump and among Tea Party women whose rhetoric centered around a vision of white Christianity fighting the legality of abortion. Robert P. Jones, Public Religion Research Institute, presiding Papers: - "The Reproductive Politics of Evangelical Tea Party Women and the Afterbirth of Trump’s America" Larycia Hawkins, University of Virginia - "Populism in the Southern Baptist Convention" Adam Hankins, DePaul University - "Critical Complexities: Religious-Secularity or Secular-Religiosity, and #BlackLivesMatter" Seth Gaiters, Ohio State University - "Seeing Jesus in Michael Brown: Theological Protest as the Performance of Purity in the Black Lives Matter Movement" Rima Vesely-Flad, Warren Wilson College This session was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 18, in Boston, Massachusetts.

For many of us who study or work in colleges and seminary campuses today it may be easy to ignore the vulnerable at our institutions. Yet the most vulnerable are often at risk or subject to discrimination and exploitation based on inequities of power, money, lack of social net, or means to voice their concerns about campus life and work. This panel examines what needs attention and the strategies that vulnerable people and their allies can use to decrease vulnerability and increase solidarity. Special attention is paid to the status of, and strategies being deployed by, the LGBT+ community, graduate students, people of color, low paid workers, and non-tenured faculty. Eddie S. Glaude, Princeton University, presiding Panelists and Papers - " 'Although the Doors Were Shut': Cultivating Courageous Community at the Borders of the Academy" Cameron Partridge, Saint Aidan's Episcopal Church, San Francisco - "It Doesn't Always Feel Good: Redefining Notions of Inclusion and Moving beyond 'Diversity' " Prea Persaud, University of Florida - "Solidarity within the Faculty" James Keenan, Boston College - "Ad Junk: Accounting for Different Vulnerabilities in Vulnerable Professional Positions" Hussein Rashid, Islamicate LLC - "Just Employment: Solidarity among Campus Workers" Kerry Danner, Georgetown University This session was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 18 in Boston, Massachusetts. It was organized by AAR Committees on Academic Labor and Contingent Faculty; Graduate Students; and LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession.

Deval Patrick is a politician, civil rights lawyer and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He is the only African-American to have served as governor of Massachusetts. Born to and raised by a single mother on the South Side of Chicago, Patrick attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. After graduating, he practiced law with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and later joined a Boston law firm, where he was named a partner, at age 34. In 1994, Bill Clinton appointed him as the United States assistant attorney general for the civil rights division of the United States Department of Justice, where he worked on issues including racial profiling and police misconduct. During his governorship, Patrick oversaw the implementation of the state's 2006 health care reform program; increased funding to education and life sciences; won a federal Race to the Top education grant; and raised the state's minimum wage from $8 per hour to $11 per hour by 2017. Under Patrick, Massachusetts joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Patrick is now a managing director at Bain Capital and currently serves as the chairman of the board for Our Generation Speaks, a fellowship program and startup іnсubаtor whose mіѕѕіоn іѕ to bring together young Israeli and Palestinian leaders through entrepreneurship. Deval Patrick is a politician, civil rights lawyer and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He is the only African-American to have served as governor of Massachusetts. Co-sponsored by the AAR and the Memorial Church of Harvard University. Eddie Glaude, Princeton University, presiding Jonathan L. Walton, Harvard Divinity School, presiding This audio was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 18 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Winnifred Fallers Sullivan is the recipient of the 2017 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Sullivan is professor and chair of religious studies, and affiliate professor of law, at Indiana University at Bloomington. Sullivan’s work focuses on the phenomenology of religion under the modern rule of law, and she is widely known for her critical studies of American law and jurisprudence about religion. She is the author of four books: Paying the Words Extra: Religious Discourse in the Supreme Court of the United States (1994), The Impossibility of Religious Freedom (2005), Prison Religion: Faith-based Reform and the Constitution (2009), and A Ministry of Presence: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care, and the Law (2014); and the co-editor of three volumes: After Secular Law (2011), Varieties of Religious Establishment (2013), and The Politics of Religious Freedom (2015). Beyond the religious studies guild, Sullivan’s public scholarship on religion and her work as an expert witness have had an important impact in courtrooms, prisons, military units, and government offices from city halls to the State Department. In this year’s Marty Award Forum, Laurie Patton, president of Middlebury College, will join Sullivan for an extended public dialogue about Sullivan’s life and work. Erik Owens, Boston College, presiding Panelists: - Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Indiana University - Laurie Louise Patton, Middlebury College The forum was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 19 in Boston, Massachusetts.

This panel analyzes the intensified colonization of academic spaces—both intellectual and physical—under the current presidency. How do we accurately map these changes and negotiate these spaces in an era of national “whitelash” from peripheral ideological and embodied spaces? How do we contend with the increasing marginalization and targeting of vulnerable populations? What strategies might scholars use to contribute to the ongoing process of decolonizing the academy? What are the potential ramifications of our non-action or complicity in this academic landscape? Munir Jiwa, Graduate Theological Union, presiding Panelists: - Hatem Bazian, Zaytuna College and University of California, Berkeley - Jasmin Zine, Wilfrid Laurier University - Mel Chen, University of California, Berkeley - Shanell T. Smith, Hartford Seminary This session was recorded at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 19 in Boston, MA.

Worried about the job market? Thinking that a career in higher ed no longer matches your interests and goals? Or just wondering about options? The American Academy of Religion's Applied Religious Studies Committee hosts a discussion on career paths outside the academy. Panelists discuss fields including: publishing and editing, freelance writing, nonprofits and foundations, government, religious communities, academic administration, and more; and current PhD candidates talk about their own experiences of exploring nonacademic career options in the context of their graduate studies. Panelists also explore the ways faculty, departments, and the AAR might better support scholars as they consider careers beyond the academy. Cristine Hutchison-Jones, Administrative Director, Petrie-Flom Center of Harvard Law School, presiding Panelists: - Jason Blakeburn, PhD candidate, McGill University - Regina Walton, Pastor and Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Newton (MA)and Counselor to Episcopal/Anglican Students Harvard University - Emily Mace, Chicago Digital Humanities Coordinator, Lake Forest College - Robert P. Jones, CEO, Public Religion Research Institute This roundtable and Q&A was held at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 18.

Lena Salaymeh joins Religious Studies News to talk about her 2017 AAR award-winning book, "The Beginnings of Islamic Law: Late Antique Islamicate Legal Traditions." Salaymeh is interviewed by Kristian Petersen. Her book won the 2017 Award for the Excellence in the Study of Religion in the textual studies category.