Call For Papers

“Religion, Technology, and Innovation”

The American Academy of Religion, Western Region 2026 Annual Conference will be held in person, with some hybrid capabilities.

AAR-WR Website: https://www.aarwr.com/

Please Note: For details on more than 20 other units, kindly visit the conference Call for Papers and submit your proposals directly to the respective unit chairs at https://www.aarwr.com/call-for-papers.html


CALL FOR PAPERS ---> "RELIGION OF ASIA UNIT"

IMPORTANT NOTE! The Religions of Asia Unit plans to propose an edited volume—primarily based on papers presented at the conference—to a reputable academic publisher. We are also pleased to extend this opportunity to high-quality submissions that engage our themes but cannot be accommodated on the conference program due to limited presentation slots.

Under the theme of “Religion, Technology, and Innovation,” the Religions of Asia Unit warmly invites scholars to explore how religious traditions across Asia have engaged with technological developments, adapted to innovation, and redefined spiritual authority, rituals, and ethical reflections in light of emerging possibilities.

Topics may include, but are not limited to (with a focus on Asian religions and traditions):

- Algorithmic authority and legitimacy in emerging movements
- Digital mediation and transmission of sacred texts and rituals
- Digital pedagogy and innovations in religious education
- Indigenous technologies and decolonial cosmologies
- Responses to artificial intelligence and biotechnology in Asian religious thought
- Sensory technologies in meditation, trance, and healing
- Technoscientific religion in Asian contexts
- Techno-utopias and eschatological imaginaries
- Transnational and diasporic spiritualities in digital spaces

We also welcome proposals that align with the broader conference theme.

Submit your Proposal Form (Word or PDF) to Fadime Apaydin (fapay002@ucr.edu) by October 31, 2025.

Note: Kindly find the Proposal Form at https://www.aarwr.com/call-for-papers.html

The planned third volume of „Studies on History and Memory Areas. Yearbook of the KL Plaszow Memorial Museum” („Studia nad Obszarami Historii i Pamięci. Rocznik Muzeum KL Plaszow”) is planned to be published in October 2026. The volume will focus on presenting an interdisciplinary approach to the topic of “life after life” in the historical camps operated during World War II, as well as memorials and museums.

We aim to publish articles explaining how former German Nazi labour, concentration, and extermination camps in Poland and generally in Europe were preserved, protected or used, and what differences existed in this respect between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc countries – considering e.g. the question of continued coercive functions of the camps, their use for current political purposes, and the commemoration policy.

Another topic of crucial importance to us is the transformation of post-camp areas into memorial sites: what were the methods used, what was the reception of those projects (by the former prisoners, witnesses of history, people of science and arts), and what was the public response, also from the local community. We also invite articles on the former camps as sites that pose challenges to those working in heritage preservation and archaeology.

We will receive articles for the Yearbook’s third edition until 15 December 2025.
Please send your text in the MS Word format to: redakcja@plaszow.org.

The authors of articles qualified for publication will receive remuneration.