CFP: The American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting

"Papers that interrogate the intersections of religion, culture, and happiness, especially from non-Western, decolonial, feminist, or otherwise critical standpoints are welcomed. Possible questions include: How do different religious traditions conceptualize happiness, and what might be the implications for a global ethics? In what ways do colonial histories shape religious understandings of happiness?"

"The metaphor and notion of womb have been the focus of inquiry and theorization in many cosmological and philosophical systems. The Chinese classic Daodejing frequently alludes to the metaphor of the womb/vagina as the generative force of the cosmos (mother of all things), e.g., the spirit of the valley and the gate of the obscure she-best."

"The Arabic term for compassion/mercy raḥama comes from the root raḥm (womb). The Buddhist term for universal Buddha-nature, tathāgatagarbha, is literally the womb (garbha) of the thus-gone/come-one."

The American Academy of Religion is soliciting paper proposals for two specialized sessions at their annual meeting. The first session, "Happiness and Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion," examines how critical philosophical perspectives engage with religious and cultural traditions to understand happiness. It welcomes papers from non-Western, decolonial, and feminist standpoints exploring how different religions conceptualize happiness, how colonialism shapes religious understandings, and how gender, race, and class intersect with religious teachings. The second session, "Womb Cosmologies: A Cross-Cultural Conversation," co-sponsored with the Society for Asian and Comparative Religion, investigates the metaphor and concept of womb across cosmological systems, including Chinese Daoism, Arabic philosophy, and Buddhist thought.

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