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<h1 class="gmail-page-header">Korean Religions Unit</h1><div><a href="https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/korean-religions-unit">https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/korean-religions-unit</a></div>
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Call for Proposals for November Meeting </h2>
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<p>The Korean Religions Unit welcomes proposals for paper sessions,
roundtable sessions, and individual papers. Proposals in all areas of
Korean Religions will be considered. This year, we especially invite
submissions to the subtopics proposed by interested AAR members, as
listed below. If you would like to contribute to one of the panel
proposals below, please contact the organizer(s) directly, and submit
your proposal at least two weeks prior to the AAR submission deadline
which will be on February 26, 2024, 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.</p>
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<p>Global Korean Buddhism: Transnational and Trans-denominational Change</p>
<p>Organizer: Jonathan Feuer (<a href="mailto:jonathan.feuer@yale.edu">jonathan.feuer@yale.edu</a>)</p>
<p>Historically, Buddhism on the Korean peninsula was deeply intertwined
with the greater East Asian Buddhist tradition, so much so that
identifying a “Korean” Buddhism is a problematic task. Since the late
19th century, however, nation-centered histories have distinguished
“Korean” Buddhism from other forms of Buddhism, for better or worse. In
reality, Korean Buddhism is not monolithic or insular, and, in recent
years, the footprint of Korean Buddhist organizations has grown around
the world. Buddhist teachings have been adapted to the dynamic,
transnational religious landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries. What
does Korean Buddhism’s place in the world Buddhist community reveal
about the religion? How has the “Koreanness” of Korean Buddhism been
retained, reformulated, or challenged when the religion leaves the
Korean peninsula? We would especially like to include (but are not
limited to) papers that address Buddhist denominations other than the
Chogye Order, such as the Ch’ŏnt’ae and T’aego Orders, or more
innovative Buddhist groups, such as Wŏn Buddhism.</p>
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<p>Marginal Religion in Korea</p>
<p>Organizer: John Grisafi (<a href="mailto:john.grisafi@yale.edu">john.grisafi@yale.edu</a>)</p>
<p>“Marginal religion” can refer to any religious movement, tradition,
or community—or subset within a religion—that is considered outside of
the mainstream or otherwise occupies a precarious status within society
or within its religious milieu. The concept includes minority religions,
new religious movements (NRMs), foreign religions and immigrant
religious communities, minoritized populations within major religions,
and other forms of marginalization of or within religion, yet offers a
theoretical and methodological lens to understand marginalization and
religion in a way that is inclusive of but beyond the scope of these
terms. How are religions marginalized in the diverse and complex
religious landscape of South Korea? What role does the state play? Is
all religion marginalized by the state in North Korea? Are foreign
populations in Korea marginalized due to religion? We seek papers that
address varying examples of marginal religion in Korea past and present,
including but not limited to the examples above, tying in with the 2024
annual meeting’s theme of “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margins,” to
offer novel insights and to generate conversation on the issue and the
concept and its importance for Korean religions.</p>
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<p><a href="https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/co-sponsored-session-comparative-studies-religion-unit-and-korean-religions-unit">Self-Cultivation in Korean Religions and Beyond</a></p>
<p>Organizer: Victoria Ten (<a href="mailto:yoneun@gmail.com">yoneun@gmail.com</a>)</p>
<p>The concept and exercise of cultivating the self, whether on the
level of emotion and cognition, body and action, community or cosmos,
can take divergent forms and direct toward dissimilar goals. These
theories and practices often lie at the heart of East Asian religions
but are not limited to religious domains. In Korea, mind-body practices
based on the cultivation of ki (氣 life energy) are promoted under the
name of ki suryŏn (氣修練). Similar practices worldwide are often
considered a part of New Age culture. Recently, ideas have emerged
within the scholarly community for conceptualizing various forms of
self-cultivation, and the calls for establishing it as a separate field
of study, not necessarily subsumed under the rubrics of religion,
mysticism, medicine, sports, or arts. To promote such developments,
case-studies of self-cultivation are required, comparing different
religious concepts and practices of the past and the present. We invite
paper proposals on self-cultivation broadly conceived, following
traditions perceived as old, newly-invented, or non-traditional in Korea
and other places. We hope that in time, such research will help
generate methodological and other tools for future evolution of
self-cultivation as a concept and discipline.</p>
<p>Any other papers that address the relationship between society,
culture, and religion as broadly construed can be submitted directly
through the AAR portal. Other inquiries can be directed to Sean Kim <a href="mailto:ckim@ucmo.edu">ckim@ucmo.edu</a>, or Liora Sarfati <a href="mailto:lsarfati@tauex.tau.ac.il">lsarfati@tauex.tau.ac.il</a>. In submitting proposals, please follow the AAR guidelines carefully.</p> </div>
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Statement of Purpose </h2>
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<p>This Unit provides a forum for the scholarly exchange of ideas on
the religions of Korea. It addresses all aspects of religions and
religious experiences of Korea — past and present and traditional and
modern. The Unit investigates Korean religions in all its diversity,
including social, cultural, historical, political, and philosophical,
giving full weight to the complexity of religious phenomena in Korea.
The Unit encourages conversations that compare aspects of Korean
religions with those of other religious traditions, as well as
theoretical conversations about religion that are grounded in Korean
religions. In order to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of
Korean religions, the Unit welcomes scholars from both in and outside of
Korean religions and fosters a dialogue among scholars from different
religious traditions as well as different disciplinary approaches to
religions.</p> </div>
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Co-Sponsoring </h2>
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<div class="gmail-views-field gmail-views-field-title"> <span class="gmail-field-content"><a href="https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/co-sponsored-session-comparative-studies-religion-unit-and-korean-religions-unit">CO-SPONSORED SESSION: Comparative Studies in Religion Unit and Korean Religions Unit</a></span> </div></li></ul></div> </div>
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