Skip to Main Content

    • Call for Papers

    Welcome to the 53rd Annual AJS Conference Call for Papers!

    Questions? Email Michelle Katz

    Dear Colleagues,

    As Vice President for Program, I am delighted to issue the Call for Papers for the 53rd Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. I hope you will join me at this year’s conference to be held December 19–21, 2021 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago. The sessions you propose are the heart of the conference, and we appreciate the investment of our members in making the annual conference such a stimulating and engaging gathering.

    As you will see, the AJS conference offers many ways to highlight cutting-edge scholarship, promote scholarly collaboration, network with diverse colleagues, and mentor future scholars. We have over twenty different divisions that reflect the diversity of our scholarship, and this year we will be highlighting several important themes across all divisions and introducing a new wildcard division, "Disability Studies."

    We have updated our submission-related web pages to make this process simple and clear. This Call for Papers contains detailed information about types of sessions, the submission process, and subject area divisions. Please see the three-step guide to start your submission process. The deadline for submission of proposals is Thursday, April 29 at 5:00 PM EDT.

    Before you start the process, please renew your individual membership for 2021. We require that all participants renew their AJS Individual Membership for 2021 in order to submit a proposal. In addition to being able to submit a proposal for the conference, other benefits of individual membership include:

    1. • Eligibility to apply for AJS members-only grants and awards.
    2. • Subscriptions to the peer-reviewed journal AJS Review, the magazine AJS Perspectives, and the email newsletter AJS News.
    3. • Access to AJS Professional Development opportunities, including career counseling, mentor program, workshops, and webinars.

    New this year!

    1. • New Wildcard Division: Disability Studies
    2. • Individual Paper Submissions: All individual Paper submissions will be considered for Panels; there will be no Graduate Student Lightning Sessions. 
    3. • If your session is not already complete or you are looking for a panel proposal to join, take a look at the current list of people and ideas looking for session matches, and submit your incomplete session or individual paper idea to be added to the list.
      **Please note: Sharing an idea for a panel or paper through this forum DOES NOT constitute a submitted proposal for the conference program. Only complete proposals submitted through the AJS Conference Submission Site will be considered for inclusion in the conference program.**

    For more detailed information about the conference, please see the Registration, Hotel, and Meals pages. If you have any questions about the program that are not covered in this Call for Papers, please feel free to be in touch with me at judd.18@osu.edu. The AJS staff will be happy to respond to any questions regarding membership, payment, and other organizational matters.

    Best wishes,

    juddR-web-2020

    Dr. Robin Judd
    VP for Program