After reading the Call for Papers, now is the time to submit proposals for the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group’s sessions at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting.

We have two topics this year:

What does Pagan studies offer to academic analysis and critique? How do historical constructions of “paganism” form or misinform contemporary Pagan hermeneutics? How do studies of Pagan practices contribute new notions of religion and/or new methods to understand lived religion? Can Paganism be read as a form of religiosity transcending Wicca? Can the study of Paganism illuminate difficult areas regarding the body, sexuality, the dead, celebrity “worship,” or material spirituality?

West Coast Paganism in the 1960s–1970s. Bay Area “occulture” versus British Wicca? Were there cultural predecessors — the German-derived “Nature Boy” movement, dietary reformers, sexual reformers, Beats, other occultists, and esotericists? What was the West Coast Pagan influence on grassroots organizing and democracy modeling in America? What was the influence of Alan Watts, Esalen, and the “California Cosmology” on Paganism? What theories of new religious movements were tested against West Coast Paganisms?

The meeting will be held  in San Francisco November 19-22, 2011.

All proposals must be submitted through the online system. If you are not currently an AAR member, you may create a temporary login ID and password.

The deadline is March 1.