Society for the Anthropology of Religion Annual Report 2002

Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Annual Report 2002

The SAR membership as of the December, 2002 report from AAA stoodat 574. This represents a growth in membership of nearly 25% over last December's report of 465.

In the spring elections, Michael Lambek was elected President-Elect, and Rebecca Lester as Secretary. Adeline Masquelier, Susan Kenyon and Vimal Bhatnagar (student representative) were elected to the Executive Committee.

At the AAA Annual Meetings in Washington, the section's invited and reviewed sessions were:

1) (Re)constituting pious subjectivity in contemporary Islam. (Invited)
2) Christianities, the Work of Imagination and Everyday Techniques of Self. (Invited)
3) Changing Role of Religion among the Chipaya of Southwestern Bolivia.
4) Christian Ritual and the Limits of Meaning.
5) Mobilizing Faiths: Radical Religious Movements, Class Identities, and Calls to Social Action.
6) Negotiating Women's Roles and Powers in the Practice of World Religions.
7) Piety and Modernity in the Islamic Diaspora.
8) Religious Ideologies: Institutional Imaginations and Contestatory Subjects in Pakistan.
9) Sacred Words and Emerging Markets: Islam, Spirit Possession, and Religious Experience in the 21st Century.
10) The Rise of Priestly Societies: Past and Present.

The Executive Committee was disheartened that despite our growing membership, fewer sessions than last year's 12 were accepted for the meetings in New Orleans, and some papers we had ranked highly were rejected by the AAA program committee. We trust that the AAA executive will examine this issue.

The SAR sponsored book series in the anthropology of religion, published by Palgrave, entitled "Contemporary Anthropology of Religion," and edited by Robert Hefner, published its first two volumes in 2002, by Thomas Csordas and Michael Lambek respectively. The SAR Executive Committee will submit a bylaw amendment for member approval in the 2003 elections that would make the book series editor an ex-officio non-voting member of the board.

The society convened its first stand-alone spring meeting in Cleveland, April 5-7. We recruited participation from colleagues in religious studies, with cooperation from the recently formed Anthropology of Religion Consultation within the American Academy of Religion. The conference was well attended and provided an excellent opportunity for interaction among scholars in the two disciplines. Last year's Roy A. Rappaport Distinguished Lecture in the Anthropology of Religion was delivered by Edith Turner, with commentary by Mary Douglas. The presidential address was given by Thomas J. Csordas, the SAR Immediate Past President. Plenaries included "Anthropology and Religious Studies: Encounter or Stand-Off?" and "Religious Conflict, Sectarian Violence, and Holy Wars." The program also featured a workshop on teaching the anthropology of religion. The organizing committee was composed of Thomas Csordas, Janice Boddy, and Stephen Glazier.

The society will convene a 2003 spring meeting in Providence on April 24-26 jointly with the annual meeting of the American Ethnological Society. The Roy A. Rappaport Distinguished Lecture in the Anthropology of Religion will be delivered by John D. Y. Peel, with commentary by Miriam Rabelo. Plenary sessions will include "The 'New Fundamentalisms': Disenchantment, Re-enchantment, or the Next 'Order o f Things?'," and "Spiritual Truths, Material Consequences: Dilemmas of Religion in the 21st Century." The presidential address will be delivered by Janice Boddy, current president. The organizing committee is composed of Susan Sered, Joel Robbins, Jill Dubisch, and Janice Boddy (AES liason).

The Executive Committee has agreed to work on an improved web site and facilities for intra-societal communication; we have also agreed to investigate the possibility of offering a book prize, and to cultivate closer ties with international scholars in our field.

Anthropology of Religion Section Officers 2001-02

Janice Boddy, President boddy@utsc.utoronto.ca
Michael Lambek, President-Elect lambek@utsc.utoronto.ca
Rebecca Lester, Secretary rjlester@artsci.wustl.edu
Andrew Buckser, Treasurer bucksera@sri.soc.purdue.edu

Executive Committee 2002-03

Tanya Luhrmann tluhrman@midway.uchicago.edu
Bruce Knauft knauft@learnlink.emory.edu
Joel Robbins jrobbins@weber.ucsd.edu
Susan Sered ssered@hds.harvard.edu
Marina Roseman mroseman@pacifica.edu
Susan Kenyon kenyon@butler.edu
Adeline Masquelier amasquel@tulane.edu
Vimal Bhatnagar vmb5@po.cwru.edu (student representative)

Editor for AN column
Simon Coleman s.m.coleman@durham.ac.uk

Web site Coordinator
Deborah Shepherd sheph005@tc.umn.edu

AAA 2003 Program Editor
Susan Kenyon kenyon@butler.edu

SAR 2003 Spring Meeting Program Committee
Susan Sered ssered@hds.harvard.edu (chair)
Joel Robbins jrobbins@weber.ucsd.edu
Jill Dubisch jill.dubisch@nau.edu
Janice Boddy boddy@utsc.utoronto.ca (AES liaison)

Book Series Editor
Robert Hefner rhefner@bu.edu

Nominations Committee 2003
Laurel Kendall lkendall@amnh.org
Adeline Masquelier amasquel@tulane.edu
Bruce Knauft knauft@LearnLink.Emory.edu

Janice Boddy,
President,
Society for the Anthropology of Religion

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