Author-Meets-Critics Roundtable: Justin B. Stein, Alternate Currents: Reiki’s Circulation in the Twentieth-Century North Pacific

Responding to this year’s conference theme, “La Labor de Nuestras Manos,” this author-meets-critics roundtable focuses on a brand-new book about Reiki, the therapeutic practice that involves transmitting energy from the hands to heal self and others. Just as Reiki channels flows of energy, Justin B. Stein’s *Alternate Currents* (forthcoming from University of Hawai`i Press in September 2023) tracks transnational flows of people, ideas, and ritual practice throughout the “North Pacific Intersystem.” Matching the expansive scope of Stein’s wide-ranging and creative book, this panel will bring together specialists in Japanese, Asian American, and North American religions to discuss how a Japanese American woman turned Reiki into a global therapeutic practice.