The Call for Papers for the 45th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies is now available on the AJS website. The online proposal submission site will be open for submissions beginning March 21, 2013; the deadline for submissions is May 8, 2013 at 5:00 pm.  The conference will take place December 15 - 17, 2013 at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, Massachusetts.  You will find detailed information about the conference on the AJS website, including a page to share ideas about sessions seeking participants and papers seeking sessions, as well as suggested themes for each subject-area division.

In addition to bringing back several conference features introduced last year, such as the graduate student lightning session, THATCamp Jewish Studies, and the Digital Media Workshop, the AJS is also pleased to announce several new conference opportunities, including:

• A revamped seminar format, aimed at bringing together eight to twelve scholars for two to three meetings over the course of the conference. The goal of this format is to allow for sustained discussion of a question or problem, and take advantage of the presence of a diverse range of scholars at the meeting.
• Performance/Analysis, an expanded space for the arts at the conference. This new format welcomes proposals of dramatic and musical performances, readings, and artistic presentations, to be followed by scholarly discussion with the performer/artist. The purpose of these sessions is to integrate the arts into the conference daytime program, and build connections between performers and the scholars studying their work.

AJS is committed to supporting wide participation in the conference and is currently raising funds to expand its Conference Travel Grant Program.  In particular, the AJS seeks to support untenured faculty, graduate students, and international scholars who receive little to no institutional support for conference travel.  Over the coming months, the AJS will email updates about Conference Travel Grant opportunities. If you wish to contribute to the AJS Conference Travel Grant Fund, please click here.