The following exchange between Prof. Russell McCutcheon and Sierra Lawson, a graduate student in our MA program, reflects on the recent meeting of REL’s monthly journal reading group, part of our Religion in Culture MA. Russell: Sierra, in your undergrad here at UA you did a double major in Anthropology and Religious Studies, and I […]
continue readingLooking Over and Overlooking
Thanks @McCutcheonSays for this mention of my online syllabus, in his discussion of Janet Jakobsen’s piece on relhttps://t.co/EkJiVE3hPM — Malory Nye (@malorynye) October 1, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Malory Nye’s tweet, the other day, got me thinking… So I replied: For a while, now, I’ve had this feeling: as happens with any new and successfully reproduced social […]
continue reading“Both Sides”
I saw the above pic on a friend’s Facebook wall a few days ago — clearly lampooning President Trump’s recent comments following the violence a week ago at Charlottesville, VA, in which self-described white supremacists marched, protestors organized against them (one of whom, Heather Heyer, was killed when a car, driven by James Alex Fields, […]
continue readingUnderstanding Our Present Moment
My colleague tweeted the following the other day: If only there was an academic discipline that studied myth, history, and meaning-making that could say something about these monuments. — Michael J. Altman (@MichaelJAltman) August 17, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js It was a bit tongue-in-cheek to be sure, but it made a good point, I think, as he […]
continue readingIt’s Not about Your Culture or Heritage
Alexander Leonardo Tamez is a senior majoring in philosophy and religious studies. He resides in San Antonio, TX. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. “You know nothing of my work!” -Marshall McLuhan, as himself
continue readingThe Limits of the Field
Only recently did it come to my attention that one of the journals in our field now seems to understand itself in a curiously narrow way.
continue readingThe Hegemony of Normalcy and the Academic Study of Religion
Daniel Jones is a graduate student in the Department of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. His research focuses on critical discourse analysis of the intersections of religion, nature, science, and humanity. His research interests also pertain to theories of religion, culture, communication, and anthropology. “The hegemony of normalcy is, like other hegemonic practices, so […]
continue readingThe Right Question
The other day I received an email asking where, in my work, I think with the category religion instead of just thinking about it. It’s a common distinction; do we, as scholars, use the word religion, defined however we might define it, to name things in the world that we then describe, compare, interpret, and […]
continue reading“Who said names were supposed to be easy to say? What are you, a candy bar?”
Students in REL 237 are watching Avalon this week, a 1990 film about the changes that take place within a family of early to mid-20th century Americans who, like so many of our ancestors, came to this continent from somewhere else. “I came to America in 1914…, by way of Philadelphia. That’s where I got […]
continue readingA Response to “Responsible Research Practices,” Part 10: Peer Review
This is an installment in an ongoing series on the American Academy of Religion’s recently released draft statement on research responsibilities. An index of the complete series (updated as each article is posted) can be found here. As with the eighth and ninth points of the draft document, the tenth also strikes me as unproductively […]
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