APARRI 2008: (Re)Defining Religious Studies: The Next Decade of APARRI

2008.August.7-9
Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA

 

2008 celebrates the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative. Our annual conference this year is an opportunity to look back over the achievements in Asian Pacific American religious studies during the past decade and to look forward to the new opportunities and challenges of the next ten years.

Since 1999, APARRI gatherings have been opportunities for scholars and community leaders involved in work on issues of Asian American and Pacific Islander religion to share research, exchange ideas, and build relationships in a relaxed, supportive conference setting. Emphasis is placed on the development of APA religious studies as a field, the encouragement of emerging scholarship, and the mentoring of younger scholars and leaders.

APARRI 2008 is organized by the PANA Institute (Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion) at Pacific School of Religion, with major funding from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. The conference is hosted by Pacific School of Religion and co-sponsored by the Graduate Theological Union, the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

APARRI 2008 poster

Click below to view:

This Web page will be continually updated with the latest conference details, presentation abstracts, and logistics information.

 

2008 CONFERENCE THEME

APARRI 2008 examines the role of APA religious studies in the broadening and redefinition of religious studies in the United States. For ten years, APARRI has served as a focal point and forum for different disciplinary approaches to the study of APA religions, and the 2008 conference is an opportunity for the community to assess the progress that has been made and to envision together new directions that the field may take.

Fumitaka Matsuoka, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA Institute) will give the keynote address at Plenary I on Thursday evening Aug/7. The title of his presentation is "Crossing Boundaries: A Dim Sum Approach to the Question of Peoplehood."

Plenary II on Friday afternoon Aug/8 will address the state of the field of APA religious studies from various disciplinary angles. And Plenary III on Saturday afternoon Aug/9, offered jointly with the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion, will address the voices and visibility of queer communities in APA religious studies. Concurrent sessions will showcase research-in-progress, and structured mentoring will be available for students and junior faculty members.

 

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Unless otherwise indicated, all conference activities will be held on the Pacific School of Religion campus, located at 1798 Scenic Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709.

Thursday.2008.August.7

5:00 PM Registration (PSR Chapel Foyer)
Dinner Reception (Bade Museum)
6:00 PM Conference Opening (PSR Chapel)
6:30 PM Plenary I: Crossing Boundaries: A Dim Sum Approach to the Question of Peoplehood 
Presenter: Fumitaka Matsuoka, Ph.D., Pacific School of Religion
8:30 PM Organizers' Introduction

 

Friday.2008.August.8

8:00 AM Continental Breakfast (Mudd Lobby)
8:30 AM Daily Orientation and General Introductions
9:30 AM Concurrent Session Block A: States of the Field in -

  • Religious Studies (Mudd 100)
    Moderator: Carolyn Chen, Ph.D., Northwestern University
  • Theology (Mudd 102)
    Moderator: Rachel Bundang, Ph.D., Santa Clara University
  • Textual Studies (Mudd 103)
    Moderator: Frank Yamada, Ph.D., Seabury-Western Theological Seminary 

12:00 N Lunch (Mudd Lobby)
Informational session with the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC) (Mudd 103)
1:30 PM Plenary II: Where is Asian Pacific American Religious Studies Today and Where Is It Headed? (PSR Chapel)

Panelists:

  • Jane Iwamura, Ph.D., University of Southern California
  • Anne Joh, Ph.D., Phillips Theological Seminary
  • Khyati Joshi, Ph.D., Fairleigh Dickinson University
  • James K. Lee, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Moderator: Rudiger Busto, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

3:30 PM Social Hour and Reception (Mudd Lobby)
4:30 PM Mentoring Sessions (Mudd Building)
6:00 PM Dinner on participants' own

 

Saturday.2008.August.9

8:00 AM Continental Breakfast and Daily Orientation (Mudd Lobby)
8:30 AM Concurrent Session Block B: Open-Call Papers

10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Concurrent Session Block C: Open-Call Papers

1:00 PM Lunch (Mudd Lobby)
2:30 PM Plenary III: Queering APARRI: Voices and Visibility of API LGBTQ Communities (A panel presentation jointly offered by APARRI and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion) (PSR Chapel)

Presenters:

  • Mike Campos, Graduate Theological Union
  • Elizabeth Leung, Ph.D., Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, Pacific School of Religion
  • Trinity Ordona, Ph.D., City College of San Francisco

4:30 PM Break
4:45 PM Closing Session (PSR Chapel)
6:30 PM Closing Banquet

 

REGISTRATION

Registration for APARRI 2008 is required, and registration may be completed either online or with a mail-in registration form. Discounted fees are available to Early Bird registrants (registration by Friday.2008.June.13) and to those who register for the entire three-day duration of the conference. THE EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY.2008.JUNE.13. (Standard registration begins Saturday.2008.June.14 and runs through Saturday.2008.August.9.) The registration fee schedule is as follows:

  • Registration for the entire conference: $50 ($70 for standard registration beginning Jun/14)
    Includes the following conference meals: Opening Reception, light breakfast on Friday Aug/7 and Saturday Aug/8, lunch on Friday and Saturday
  • Per-day registration: $40
    Includes conference meals on registered days.

    (Registration fees are non-refundable.)

Conference participants may register online or use a mail-in registration form. In-person registration at the conference is also available. (Please see below for additional information on the Closing Banquet, housing, and student travel stipends.

MEALS provided at the conference include the Opening Reception, a light breakfast on Friday and Saturday mornings, and lunch on Friday and Saturday. Registration fees cover all conference meals on the day(s) for which a participant is registered. Additionally, conference attendees are invited to join the traditional APARRI Closing Banquet ($20/person) at 6:30 PM on Saturday Aug/9.

CONFERENCE HOUSING at UC Berkeley's Foothill Residential Complex (2700 Hearst Avenue at Gayley Road, Berkeley, CA 94720) is offered to APARRI participants at subsidized rates. For more information on the accommodations, please visit UC Berkeley's Web page for Foothill. Subsidized housing fees for APARRI attendees are as follows:

  • Double room (per person rates are the same for one-, two-, or three-night occupancy)
    Student: $75
    Non-student: $95
  • Single room (per person rates are the same for one-, two-, or three-night occupancy)
    Student: $150
    Non-student: $190.

    (Housing fees are non-refundable after Friday.2008.Jul.25.)

 

STUDENT TRAVEL STIPENDS

Student travel stipends of up to $300 each (towards air fare and mileage only) are available in limited number on a first come/first served basis to students participating in all three days of the conference who apply for the stipends on their registration forms. Priority will be given to students presenting papers or moderating sessions. Students who are awarded the stipends will be notified and should submit their receipts for travel upon arrival at the conference. Reimbursement checks will be issued shortly afterwards.

 

PRESENTATION ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DETAILS

In addition to the plenary sessions at this year's conference, break-out sessions will be offered in three Concurrent Session blocks. Concurrent Session Block A on Friday morning Aug/8 is pre-arranged by the conference organizers and will involve discussions on the states of the fields in religious studies, theology, and textual studies. Concurrent Session Blocks B and C on Saturday morning August/9 offer occasions for sharing participants' research and works-in-progress. These latter sessions are "open call," and submissions of proposals for papers and presentations related to all aspects of Asian American and Pacific Islander religion are welcome.

Conference participants are encouraged to present individual papers and/or to organize moderated panels (of three to four participants) on their areas of study and engagement. Individual papers are allotted fifteen minutes each for presentation (followed by a ten-minute moderated discussion/question-and-answer period), and panels are allotted a total of one hour each (followed by forty minutes of engagement with the audience).

Abstracts must be submitted for all papers and panels, and THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY.2008.JUNE.13. Submissions will be considered by a review committee, and applicants will be notified of the committee's decision. Accepted abstracts will be posted on this Web site. While all presenters of individual papers are each required to submit an abstract, organizers of discussion panels need submit only a single abstract for their group. To submit an abstract, go to the Presentation Abstract Submission Form Web page, copy the page into an MS Word document, and submit the completed form as an attachment in an e-mail to Christopher Chua at cchua@psr.edu.

All abstract submissions are required to include the following:

  • The name of presenter/panel organizer, her/his institutional affiliation, and a contact e-mail address, which unless otherwise requested, will be posted with the abstract on this Web site, so that other interested parties may ask questions or engage the presenter/panel organizer on the topic
  • (For panels only: the names, institutional affiliations, and contact e-mail addresses of the panelists)
  • The paper/panel title
  • A brief one- to three-paragraph description of the paper/panel
  • A listing of audio-visual equipment needs.

 

MENTORING SESSIONS

A key component of APARRI is the nurture of younger scholars and faith community leaders, and the conference is deliberately structured to allow for extensive interaction of persons at different levels in the academy and in faith communities. At this year's conference we will have organized opportunities for students, junior faculty members, and junior-level faith-community leaders to receive mentoring from more senior personnel in their respective areas. Mentoring sessions will be held from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM on Friday Aug/8. Conference participants wishing to receive mentoring should select this option on their registration forms.

 

LOGISTICS INFORMATION

DATES/TIMES: APARRI 2008 begins with an Opening Reception at 5:00 PM on Thursday Aug/7, and the conference formally ends with the conclusion of the Closing Session at 5:30 PM on Saturday Aug/9. Participants are, however, encouraged to join the Closing Banquet at 6:30 PM on Saturday Aug/9. Socializing at this Saturday evening event has become an APARRI tradition.

CONFERENCE LOCATION AND DIRECTIONS: The primary conference site for APARRI 2008 is the campus of Pacific School of Religion (PSR) at 1798 Scenic Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709 (510/849-8200), one block north of the University of California, Berkeley campus. Click here for directions (driving directions, directions from Oakland and San Francisco International Airports, BART, and public transportation).

PARKING: Free parking is available for APARRI attendees throughout the duration of the conference in Pacific School of Religion's parking lot. The entrance to the parking lot is located on Scenic Avenue between Le Conte Avenue and Virginia Street, across from the University Christian Church.

HOUSING LOCATION: Conference housing is located at UC Berkeley's Foothill Residential Complex (2700 Hearst Avenue at Gayley Road, Berkeley, CA 94720). The housing location is within walking distance of the conference site. For more information please see the UC Berkeley Web page for Foothill.

 

CONTACTING THE CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

Questions about APARRI 2008 may be directed to APARRI's Program Executive Christopher Chua at 510/849-8210 or cchua@psr.edu.