Given the prominence of debates over classification in my classes I’m always on the look-out for a good e.g., something useful in getting us thinking about the interests driving classification systems and their practical effects — and, perhaps, illustrating how naming something as religion plays a role in all this.
continue reading“I’m Laughing at Clouds…”
You likely know the scene: a man in love, drops his sweetheart off at her place, then proceeds to sing and dance, despite the inclement weather.
continue readingThe Problem with the Primacy of Primary Sources
By Andie Alexander Andie Alexander earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and History in 2012. She is completing her M.A. in Religious Studies at CU Boulder. Andie also works as the online Curator for the Culture on the Edge blog. Over the past few weeks I have heard repeated talk of primary sources vs. secondary […]
continue readingStereotyping Gender: I’m 100% Masculine
By Andie Alexander Andie Alexander earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and History in 2012. She is completing her M.A. in Religious Studies at CU Boulder. Andie also works as the online Curator for the Culture on the Edge blog. Some weeks back, I saw several of my friends posting their results of this Gender […]
continue readingThe Problem with “Misrepresentation”
Anastasiya Titarenko is a rising Junior pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies and minoring in Educational Studies. She is currently living in Accra, Ghana, and will be spending the next six months traveling to Ukraine, Italy, and New Zealand. “YOU’RE going to AFRICA?!” “Wow, I’ve always wanted to go to Africa and help the […]
continue readingUnnatural Groups and Protests in India
Group identifications are not something inherent or automatic; they require work to construct and maintain, and that work only makes sense when those group identifications serve some interests, such as gaining access to power and resources. Currently in India, communities based on caste identification, specifically Jats in Haryana (a province in northern India near New […]
continue readingI’m Not That Superstitious
By Ian Alexander Cuthbertson Ian is a Cultural Studies PhD Candidate at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. His PhD thesis explores discourse surrounding lucky and protective objects in Montréal, Québec. The label ‘superstitious’ is not a neutral designation. Calling a belief or practice superstitious usually implies that belief or practice is irrational, deluded, […]
continue reading“It’s Absolutely Essential That You Continue, Teacher…”
The other day, my REL 245 class, concerned with investigating some of the background assumptions that make it possible for many scholars today to study religion in America in terms of choice — as if religious consumers are shopping in a competitive spiritual marketplace — took a look at Stanley Milgram’s famous series of psychology […]
continue readingMade Sacred Through Branding
What makes the “Capstone A” (central on the banners outside Manly Hall in my photo above) special? What makes people associate it with the University of Alabama? It is not something inherent in the font or colors that gives it a different significance from any other uppercase A. It has been a long-term, extremely successful effort at […]
continue readingYoung Southern Historians
Warner Thompson is a senior at the University of Alabama, who wrote the following for REL 490. He is a History major and a Religious Studies minor with future plans of Law School at the University. He was born and raised in Homewood, Alabama, and he is the oldest of three children. When I was […]
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