June 9-11, UC Berkeley
Submission Deadline: March 9, 2026
The Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative(APARRI) invites proposals to the 2026 conference, "Hope and Struggle: Navigating Today, Nurturing Tomorrow"
As we gather in this year of unprecedented social and political challenge, APARRI invites participants to reflect on sources of hope and struggle for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander religious communities. How have Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander scholars and religious communities grounded themselves in hope? How has hope anchored their collective struggle for meaning, fulfillment, and social change? When and where have we also witnessed the limits of that hope?
Particular sub-topics of interest on hope and struggle include:
- Praxis, e.g. how practitioners have actualized hope
- Spiritual and theological foundations from different traditions
- Resurgence of subversive, wayward and radical histories
- Popular culture and cultural productions
- Solidarity and partnerships in diasporic and transnational contexts
- Social change through the arts, including poetry, film, visual culture
- Movements for collective well-being, care and play
- Teaching in and outside the classroom, e.g. pedagogy and public scholarship ● The digital age; AI and its impact on religious communities
- Confronting climate, migration and economic crises
- Apocalypse and apocalyptic movements
- Struggles against unjust laws
- Different notions of hope across religious traditions
- Histories of, and lessons from, unfulfilled struggle or disappointing hope ● Transnational intimacies, narratives of repair
Learn more and submit here. Proposals are due March 9, 2026.