Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) Biennial Conference
Jun 21 - Jun 23
The Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) Biennial Conference will be held June 21-23, 2025 at U.C. Santa Barbara. SAR welcomes paper and panel proposals on ALL TOPICS in the Anthropology of Religion. At the same time, we do have a main Conference theme for 2025: Religiosities, Ecologies, and Environmentalisms in the Age of the Anthropocene.
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, Anthropology Department at SUNY Buffalo; she will speak on indigenous religious environmentalism in Peru.
For the first time, our SAR Biennial Conference will collaborate with the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC) https://www.issrnc.org/. The last day of our SAR Conference (June 23, 2025) will overlap with the first day of their Conference, also to be held at UC Santa Barbara. SAR members are free to stay on and attend ISSRNC panel sessions with no extra charge.
Anthropology needs to expand beyond the study of mere humans, for the effects of climate change and the pollution of our life-sustaining biosphere are impacting all living species, which are interdependent. This conference brings into play interpretive, scientific, and religious perspectives on forms of life in their cultural and natural environments. It promotes new ways of inquiring into the entangled relations between humans and deities, ancestors, ghosts, animals, insects, plants, and sacred natural formations such as rocks, rivers, and mountains. Across the globe, how do different religious communities, doctrines, and institutions play a role in the age of the Anthropocene?
