Jain Studies Unit
The Jain Studies Unit welcomes proposals for the AAR's Annual Meeting June Sessions Online pilot program. This online-only conference will run from June 25-27, 2024, and panels will be either 60 or 90 minutes long. Panels can either be proposed for the Summer Session or the in-person annual meeting, but the same panel cannot be considered for both. The proposal deadline for both the Summer Session and the in-person meeting are the same. Please contact Gregory Clines (gclines@trinity.edu) or Ana Bajzelj (abajzelj@ucr.edu) for more information. The Jain Studies Unit encourages proposals to include voices that are diverse in terms of race, caste, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, age, socioeconomic status, geographic region, professional rank, and institutional affiliation.
This Unit began in 2009 in recognition of the burgeoning state of the field and its relative neglect in the AAR. Originating in India in the first millennium BCE, Jainism — historically as dominant a South Asian religious tradition as Buddhism and Hinduism and, in the light of current demographics, a disproportionately powerful presence in the cultural and economic life of India — is a world religion now extending far beyond South Asia to East Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia. Given the increasing focus of scholarly attention on Jainism both in India and around the globe, this Unit provides a venue in North America for scholars of Jainism to meet regularly and exchange ideas.