Author Archives: Ricardo M. Barrera

2017 APSA Annual Meeting: New Directions in the Study of Religion and Politics

08/18/2017

Sat, September 2, 4:00 to 5:30 pm, Hilton Union Square, Franciscan C

Session Description

What do we mean when we talk about ‘religion and politics’ in political science today? This panel will pursue an interdisciplinary and post-separationist approach to religion and politics, bringing together political scientists from different subfields to present recent research and reflect on new directions in the study of religion and politics. Through this exchange, we hope to challenge key assumptions that each subfield brings to the study of religion and politics, both in the concepts and definitions that we use, as well as the events, theories, and historical developments that are deemed relevant to this field of study.

The four papers, to be presented by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Amy Gais, Matthew Nelson, and Elizabeth Pritchard, represent a diverse approach to the study of religion and politics. Hurd will discuss recent work on the politics of religion in the Genocide Convention. Gais will rethink the implications of the liberty of conscience in terms of religious conduct in the public sphere. Nelson examines the role of state-level administration procedures in the principle of freedom of religion with focused attention on conversions in Malaysia. Pritchard explores recent attempts to delineate the sphere of religion from politics, asking what is obscured by the insistence that religion is not fundamentally political? Despite their methodological and theoretical differences, these four scholars share a commitment to thinking carefully about the extent to which concepts in the study of religion and politics privilege (and inevitably, exclude) specific modes of religiosity, as well as specific modalities of politics.

Andrew Murphy will serve as the discussant for these four papers and Matthew Scherer will chair the panel. We include four paper abstracts.

2017 Annual Meeting!

American Religion, American Politics: An Anthology

08/08/2017

American Religion, American Politics: An Anthology
Joseph Kip Kosek (Editor)

Essential primary sources reveal the central tensions between American politics and religion throughout the nation’s history

Despite the centrality of separation of church and state in American government, religion has played an important role in the nation’s politics from colonial times through the present day. This essential anthology provides a fascinating history of religion in American politics and public life through a wide range of primary documents. It explores contentious debates over freedom, tolerance, and justice, in matters ranging from slavery to the nineteenth-century controversy over Mormon polygamy to the recent discussions concerning same-sex marriage and terrorism.

Bringing together a diverse range of voices from Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and secular traditions and the words of historic personages, from Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Frances Willard to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., this collection is an invaluable introduction to one of the most important conversations in America’s history.

Yale University Press
Publication date: 05/30/2017

Proposed outstanding scholar award

From the Chair:

One of the items to be voted on at the business meeting in September will be a proposal by the current Religion and Politics Executive Committee to introduce an outstanding scholar award. The proposed award would be presented to a scholar who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of religion and politics. This contribution should be through a combination of excellent and widely influential scholarship, policy input/impact, public engagement and service. The award would be presented bi-annually to begin with, with the option to move to annual in the future. The award would be made following review of applications by an appointed committee. The winner will be honored at the Annual Convention with a Plaque, a monetary award and a round-table symposium honoring their work. We propose that the first such of these awards would be given at the 2018 Annual Convention.

The award is intended as an addition to, not replacement for, the practice of awarding special ‘life time achievement awards’ for scholars who have made substantial contributions to the Section on the event of their retirement.

The Committee seeks to name the award after a woman and/or person of color and would appreciate suggestions/recommendations of suitable figures. Please send these and any comments or suggestions regarding the focus and articulation of the award to the chair e.k.wilson@rug.nl by 15 July 2017.

The proposal to introduce the new award as well as who it should be named after will be voted on at the 2017 Annual Business Meeting of the section, and will also be included as part of the online voting process. If the vote to introduce the award is affirmative, a call for nominations will be circulated in the Fall, following the annual convention, in time to include the symposium in program submissions for next year’s convention.

Thanks in advance for your comments and input.

Best wishes,

Erin

Call for Nominations for 3 openings on Executive Committee

From the Chair:

The Religion and Politics Section of the APSA is pleased to announce a Call for Nominations for candidates to stand in an upcoming election to serve a two-year term on the Executive Committee of the Religion and Politics section. Three vacancies will be filled in this election. Section members who wish to self-nominate as candidates should forward a one-paragraph biography, including their institutional affiliation, to the Section Chair at e.k.wilson@rug.nl no later than July 15, 2017.

Nominees who do not self-nominate will be asked by the Chair to consent to having their name on the ballot.

This Call for Nominations will close on July 15, 2017. The election will take place at the Annual Business Meeting held during the APSA Annual Convention in San Francisco on Thursday, August 31 2017, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Facility: Parc 55
Room: Cyril Magnin III.

Members who are unable to attend the business meeting in person will be able to vote for nominees via an online ballot from 1 August until 5pm on 31 August. Details of the ballot will be announced following the closure of nominations.

I look forward to receiving your nominations.

Thank you,

Erin Wilson
Section Chair, Religion and Politics, APSA