[UDPATE: The deadline has been extended until 5pm EST, March 6, 2013.—ed.]
In November we published the proposal for a new American Academy of Religion program unit—Secularism and Secularity. The group was approved in December and will hold its first official session(s) at the 2013 annual meeting in Baltimore. The call for papers is now available. Proposals should be submitted no later than March 1, 2013, per the instructions found in the call:
Over the course of the last few decades, theoretical reappraisals of the secular have tried in a variety of ways to destabilize and revalue the notion of the secular so that it no longer means simply the “absence of religion.” Yet vernacular uses of the secular frequently continue to orbit around that very understanding. With this in mind, we invite proposals for papers or panels that explore “the secular” at its various sites of construction. In concert with this year’s conference theme, we are particularly interested in proposals that critically engage public understandings of secularism as well as those that investigate the constitution of the secular in religiously plural publics, in multiple identity formations (especially among the so-called religious “nones”), and in and through a range of social practices (for example, those related to death and dying). In addition, for a possible cosponsored session with the Death, Dying, and Beyond Group, we seek proposals on secular approaches to death.
For more information about this call or about the group more generally please email: secularism.secularity@gmail.com.