American Academy of Religion, Denver

From November 16th-20th 2018 Kurt Appel, Daniel Kuran, Marlene Deibl and Lisa Achathaler visited Denver, Colorado, in order to attend the American Academy of Religion, as well as a pre-conference entitled Re-Envisioning Religious Studies As A Global Discipline – A Pre-AAR Symposium that was held from November 15.-16. 2018 at the University of Denver and which was organized by Professor Carl Raschke.
At the pre-AAR symposium Thomas A. Carlson (University of California, Santa Barbara) gave the keynote talk.

Friday the 16th of November was placed under the title “Religious Studies in a Non-American Context – Perspectives of European Universities Programs and Research”. The sessions started with Yvonne Sherwood and Ward Blanton from the University of Kent (UK), who were followed by Alexander Maurits and Johanna Gustafsson Lundberg form the Lund University (Sweden). The concluding panel was designed by Kurt Appel, Daniel Kuran, Marlene Deibl and Lisa Achathaler, in which the Research Centre RaT was introduced to the participants, followed by short flashlights on how each of the presenters pictures the future of the Research Centre within the manifold challenges our future might hold from the perspectives of their respective research foci.

The following days up to November 20th were marked by having to make a choice between more than 1,200 events on where to participate – academic sessions, additional meetings, receptions, tours, and workshops that were offered mainly in the Colorado Convention Center, but also in many other locations widespread through the city.