The Religious Studies Project Master Archive

With over 350 episodes in our archives, we’ve seen many scholars discuss the issue of fieldwork and how their research goals have been modified by their time in the field. Today’s special episode featured clips from seven recent interviews with brief comments by Dave McConeghy. This “remix” is our first attempt to try to bring greater attention to the many different ways our podcast can be used in the classroom. We hope these clips might support a discussion of how fieldwork changes scholars and their scholarship. If you’d like to see more episodes highlighting past interviews to support specific research questions or pedagogical issues in the study of religion, please let us know by reaching out to one of our social media channels such as our Twitter or Instagram.

In this episode, Dan Gorman speaks with Christopher Cantwell and Kristian Petersen about their anthology Digital Humanities and Research Methods in Religious Studies (2021), which is part of DeGruyter’s “Introductions to Digital Humanities—Religion” series. They discuss the ethics and management of ongoing Digital Humanities projects, the opportunities afforded by mapping technology for understanding religious life, and the question of whether digital projects are recognized as genuine scholarship.

Need a preview? Take a look…

In this episode, Dr. Mitsutoshi Horii joins RSP co-editor Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book The Category of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Japan: Shūkyō & Temple Buddhism (Palgrave Macmillan 2018). What is ‘religion’? How and when did this term emerge in contemporary Japan? Tune in to learn more about how the classification of Temple Buddhism as religion is used in political, legal, and commercial contexts.

In the first Discourse! episode of the new season, RSP co-founder David Robertson is joined by Ting Guo and Jacob Barrett to discuss three stories in which classification matters. In the first, they look at the recent New York Times article which asks explicitly, “What counts as religion?” when it comes to vaccine resistance. In the second, they discuss how religious groups from conservative Jews to the Satanic Temple are challenging Texas’ abortion ban. In the third, they discuss how the image of Muslim women and the supposed religious nature of misogyny and authoritarianism plays into how states like Afghanistan are portrayed and managed by European and American powers.

Related Resources

• “Vaccine Resisters Seek Religious Exemptions, But What Counts as Religious?“
• “Why the Satanic Temple Backs Big Abortion“
• “Texas’ Abortion Ban Is Against My Religion. As A Rabbi, I will Defy It if Necessary“
• “Revisiting Aisha“
• “Explainer: How Dangerous Is Afghanistan’s Islamic State?“
• “Afghanistan | ‘Most of the women who wear the hijab are not oppressed’: Boushra Almutawakel, author of the image that went viral after the Taliban’s irruption“
• Do Muslim Women Need Saving? – Lila Abu-Lughod
• Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report – Saba Mahmood

Check out the video of this episode!

In this episode, Maxinne Connolly-Panagopoulus discusses the range of Dr. Carmen Celestini’s work on religious conspiracy theories, Christian apocalyptic thought its impacts on the American political system. and tracks some of the parallels between early and modern conspiracy theories. They cover early grassroots movements such as the Anti-Masonic Party and the Know Nothings, who sought to fight against what they perceived as a threat to Christian values from a New World Order. This is paralleled to QAnon and current theories which hold a similar distrust of the government, the media and beliefs of a Satanic New World Order. We then move to discuss The John Birch Society and how their form of improvisational conspiracism linked to contemporary right-wing mobilisation and the Christian Identity Organisation. Threaded throughout our discussion, we ask explore the motivations for joining such a movement and what keeps people there despite moving targets and failed prophecies. Finally, Carmen describes the state of the field of conspiracy movements today, and where she sees it going in the future.

Need a preview? Try this!

In this episode, Dr. Danielle N. Boaz joins the RSP’s Benjamin Marcus to discuss her new book, Banning Black Gods: Law and Religions of the African Diaspora (PSU Press 2021). Dr. Boaz explains a key concept she explores throughout the book: “religious racism,” and also describes similarities and differences in the ways that legal systems in a variety of countries — including Brazil, Canada, England, France, Haiti, South Africa, and the United States — treat African-derived religious traditions. She explains how and why the study of law furthers the study of African-derived religious traditions and vice versa. Learn more about Dr. Boaz’s work on Twitter at @religiousracism.

Need a preview? Try this!

Our June episode of Discourse! is the final episode of Season 10! Wow! It’s been a fantastic season, and we are so grateful for your support. For our final episode, Andie Alexander, Ishanika Sharma, and K. Merinda Simmons decided to dive into the current discourses on Critical Race Theory! After defining Critical Race Theory (CRT) and outlining a brief history of its emergence, they dive into some recent examples of how popular conceptions of CRT (contrary to the intersectional aims of CRT discourses) reify the dichotomy between individualism and structuralism. They discuss the recent Georgia and Alabama education resolutions, discourses around India’s caste system, the emergence and role of the Religious Right in America, and conclude with controversy around The 1619 Project. There’s far more to say but only so much time in an episode!

We have another video episode for you—take a look!

Join Savannah H. Finver and Dr. S. Jonathon O’Donnell for a timely conversation about the role of demonology in American political rhetoric. Savannah chats with Dr. O’Donnell about their interest in rhetoric around demons and how that interest translated into their first monograph, Passing Orders: Demonology and Sovereignty in American Spiritual Warfare (Fordham University Press, 2021). The two also discuss Dr. O’Donnell’s methodology, the importance of including interdisciplinary perspectives in religious studies projects, and discourse analysis as a theoretical framework. We wrap up our conversation with a discussion about what it means to engage in the “critical study of religion” from multiple perspectives and how Dr. O’Donnell sees their work fitting in—or not—to this larger project. What’s next for Dr. O’Donnell? Tune in and find out!

Need a preview? Try this!

Indigenous peoples have history. Though this fact might not pervade the collective imaginary in different countries, recognizing it is crucial for understanding the social processes that have shaped the current struggles indigenous peoples face in South America. In this direction, the sub-field that has contributed the most is ethnohistory, through the register of ritual practices, life cycle events, and the general way of life of an indigenous group in a given time in history.

In this episode, Boris Briones talks to RSP interviewer Sidney Castillo about his comparative research on the Mapuche and Selk’nam people of austral South America. His work delves into the indigenous religions of both groups, located in the southern regions of Chile and Argentina, where he did extensive archival research to reconstruct their history, beliefs, and practices, some of which are still present to this day.

An important point raised through the conversation is that these indigenous peoples have become systematically ostracized and exterminated by the state in both countries, resulting in the ethnocide of the Selk’nam, and the continuous marginalization of the Mapuche. Given this context, scholarly inquiry of this kind is of greater importance due to its potential for cultural, social, and political vindication in their respective countries. But this impact does not limit itself to academia, as Briones himself has carried out several initiatives for reaching to the general public in an effort to provide basic literacy on these matters. Such endeavor highlights the importance of moving beyond the ivory tower for supporting current struggles related to religion and indigenous peoples, a responsibility that we owe to the very people that aid us in our research in the first place.

Need a preview? Try this?

Sudan currently ranks in the top ten most at risk countries on the Fragile State Index. Yet despite decades of political instability and conflicts destabilizing the country, the aspirations for an Islamic state proved to be resilient, and an Islamist government of the Sudanese state continues to function. How are we to explain the resilience of this Islamic state when conventional wisdom seems to suggest it should have been an impossible project from its outset? Noah Salomon’s ethnography of the Islamic state in Sudan provides a window into the making of a modern Islamic state by focusing our attention on the Sudanese people that not only constitute it, but bring it to life through their poetry, spiritual devotions, and everyday lives.

Need a preview? Try this!

It’s a bumper episode of Discourse this month, as four (count them, four!) RSP editors sit down to discuss how the media are talking about religion this month. First, Breann Fallon, David G. Robertson, and Dave McConeghy introduce Andie Alexander as the RSP’s new Managing Editor, before we discuss mass COVID cremations in India, a new synagogue at the site of a Nazi massacre in the Ukraine, protests over a new telescope in Hawaiʻi, and the scandal over the remains of the victims of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia. It’s not our most lighthearted episode.

Watch the video of the episode:

Relevant Links for the Discussion

• “‘This is huge’: black liberationist speaks out after her 40 years in prison,” The Guardian
• “About MOVE,” On a Move
• Documentary on the MOVE Bombing, Let the Fire Burn
• “City of Philadelphia should thoroughly investigate the MOVE remains’ broken chain of custody | Opinion,” The Philadelphia Inquirer
• Babyn Yar Synagogue
• “Why the world must witness pictures of India’s mass Covid-19 cremations,” Vox
• “Why Native Hawaiians are fighting to protect Maunakea from a telescope,” Vox
• “Why Are Native Hawaiians Protesting Against a Telescope?” New York Times

What are the body languages Catholics use to express masculine devotion? In this interview with Prof. Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada about her recent book, Lifeblood of the Parish, the subject is Brooklyn, New York and its Italian Catholic parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Yearly the community celebrates San Paolino di Nola with a festival that culminates with the carrying of the giglio — a seventy-foot (21m) tall, four-ton tower. In her analysis, masculinity, devotion, and even Catholicism itself are made through labor and the process of “doing the work” from counting money to painting statues, getting tattoos, or lifting the giglio. By refocusing our attention on the embodied labor of masculinization and devotion, Prof. Maldonado-Estrada challenges what kinds of discourses and practices are most revealing for discussions of gender and piety.

Need a preview? Try this!

What are conspiracy theories? How do we distinguish the conspiracy theories from religion? And what are the effects of this categorization? In this episode, Andie Alexander chats with RSP co-founder David G. Robertson about the roles and effects of conspiracy theory discourses in the academy and more broadly. Robertson outlines the primary academic approaches to conspiracy theories and argues that we, as scholars, should be deconstructing these categories and taking seriously their implications in our social worlds. Ranging from early studies and current psychological studies on mental illness to the role of conspiracy theories in social governance, media, and ‘fake news’, Robertson demonstrates just how intertwined these discourses are in our modes of knowledge production.

Need a preview? Try this!

In this roundtable from the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney, we get a variety of religious studies approaches to subject of manifestos and their creators. Join Carole Cusack, Alana Louise Bowden, Ray Radford, Sophie Roe, and Anna Lutkajtis as they unpack the discourses surrounding manifestos and topics ranging from the consumerization of religion and Anders Breivik to the Unabomber manifesto and Artaud’s theatre of cruelty. It’s a fascinating conversation from a great group of scholars, so have a listen!

Not convinced? Try a sneak peak!

How were 4th century Christian martyr shrines locations for the negotiation of power and diversity? In this interview, Nathaniel Morehouse explains the contested nature of these shrines. With an eye to the context of the diverse Mediterranean world and its complex configuration of political and religious identities, Morehouse sees shrines as an excellent interface for understanding not only the theological issues that were paramount for Church Fathers of this era, but also the lives of worshippers. An excellent starting place for beginners looking to understand more about the world of early Christianity, this interview concludes with suggestions for further reading beyond Morehouse’s own work, Death’s Dominion and its emphasis on power, identity, and memory.

Need a preview? Try this!

As politics moves rightwards across Europe and the US, are we entering a period of pushback from conservative religious institutions against minority religions and secularism?

Join this month’s host Dan Gorman and guests Maxinne Connolly-Panagopoulos and Sidney Castillo to find out what connects Lil’ Nas X, Alabama’s yoga ban and Polish black metal. As with every month’s current events Discourse! episode, we take our material straight from the headlines. If you’d like to read along, here’s this month’s suggested reading list:

• Opinion | How Lil Nas X’s “Satan Shoes” brilliantly baited conservative Christians from NBC News
• Do Catholic responses to stem cell derived COVID-19 vaccines open a door to a new era in health care for LGBTQ and others? from Religion Dispatches
• Yoga can leave you injured, psychotic and a Hindu, Christian groups claim from The Guardian
• Nergal: the extreme metal musician fighting Poland’s blasphemy laws from The Guardian
• Gay and Lesbian Christians: Homosexual and Religious Identity Integration in the Members and Participants of a Gay‐Positive Church by Eric M. Rodriguez and Suzanne C. Ouellette in the JSSR
• Hinduphobia_and_Hinduphilia in U.S. Culture by Stephen Prothero from Stranger’s Religion: Fascination and Fear

What happens when scholars take seriously the human-focused study of religious practices? How might we study “sacred texts” while acknowledging that they are also human artifacts? Dr. Willi Braun, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, joins Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book Jesus and Addiction to Origins: Toward and Anthropocentric Study of Religion (Equinox, 2020) where he demonstrates that “religious” behaviors and practices are exceptionally ordinary and human and argues for a critical, human-focused approach to the study of religion.

Need a preview? Try this!

Listeners might also enjoy “Ancient Christian Origins: A Heterogeneous History” with William Arnal, another closely related episode on this topic by Sidney Castillo.

It has long been assumed the Evangelical opposition to climate activism was rooted in apathy caused by pre-millennialism. Robin Veldman‘s research says otherwise and locates climate skepticism within the broader trope of “embattlement.” Rooted in religious discourses that began in the 1970s and in America’s Culture Wars, Evangelical discourse has worked long and hard to present Climate Change as an elite, anti-Christian hoax. Facing mounting climate crises around the globe, how can those religious persons concerned about the environment understand and begin to change public opinion on climate change and generate a productive path forward? Listen and find out about The Gospel of Climate Skepticism.

What is tantra? Why are some practices classified as tantric while others are not? How might we rethink this term and its application? To begin answer these questions, Dr. Ellen Gough (Emory University) joins Andie Alexander to discuss her forthcoming book, Making a Mantra: Tantric Ritual and Renunciation on the Jain Path to Liberation (University of Chicago Press 2021), where she examines how the category of tantra has been understood historically in Indian religious traditions and explores the “tantricization” of Jain ascetic practices.

In this March 2021 episode of Discourse! we have a University of Sydney reunion with Professor Carole Cusack, Dr. Breann Fallon, and Ray Radford. Covering current affairs in Australia the Usyd team discuss three recent news items. The first item is framed around civil religion and nationalism: it’s the controversial upgrade of Australian Tennis Player Margaret Court AC MBE’s honours on Australia Day. What happens when we honor individuals whose views on sexuality, marriage equality, and gender are deeply controversial? Moving to the motorways, the second news item involves the demolishing of sacred Indigenous trees to accommodate a freeway expansion. This ongoing story reveals deep divides between stakeholders over the environment and Australia’s cultural heritage laws. Finally, in the most recent news piece, the group discusses legislation banning gay-conversion therapies in the Australian state of Victoria. In this instance, the bill explicitly names and bans religiously-informed conversion practices. Bringing the three items together, the episode turns to the notion of human rights as a significant thread running between all stories.

Dr. Ronit Y. Stahl is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California Berkeley. As a historian of modern America, Dr. Stahl focuses on pluralism in American society by examining how politics, law, and religion interact in spaces such as the military and medicine. Her first book, Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America (Harvard University Press, 2017), traces the uneven processes through which the military struggled with, encouraged, and regulated religious pluralism over the twentieth century. Just as the state relied on religion to sanction war and sanctify death, so too did religious groups seek recognition and legitimacy as American faiths. The chaplaincy incorporated new religious groups slowly, especially because blurred religious and racial categories confounded a military invested in racial segregation. Indeed, opening the chaplaincy to more faiths was neither accidental nor fully envisioned; rather, it emerged over decades of war through a combination of incremental decisions made by government officials and agitation from civilians. Hence war and military service placed chaplains at the center of debates that defined modern American life: questions about religious pluralism and sectarianism to be sure, but also racial justice and gender equality, imperial ambitions and global obligations, state-perpetrated violence and death, sexuality and family life, and, finally, legal rights and educational opportunities.

What do Muslims, Mormons, and Satanists have in common? They’ve all been minoritized in America through accusations of sexual abuse says Megan Goodwin. Focusing on the idea of “contraceptive nationalism,” Goodwin argues that allegations and instances of sex abuse have been used as markers of religious difference to present some groups as a threat to America. The projection of purity is a way we divide religions into “good,” safe traditions that align with normalized American understanding of sex and “bad,” dangerous traditions whose ideas about sex fall outside the mainstream. Though we know sex abuse is a real problem endemic to all societies, Goodwin’s work reminds us that sex scandals have serious rhetorical and discursive power in the U.S. and have played important roles in American cultural narratives that contribute to the marginalization of already vulnerable religious communities.

For more we heartily recommend Goodwin’s Book, Abusing Religion.

In this episode, Richard McGregor discusses his new book, Islam and the Devotional Object: Seeing Religion in Egypt and Syria with Candace Mixon. Why do scholars of religion have such a variety of incomplete and messy tools to “follow the objects”? Find out with the curious stories of devotional objects from Cairo and Damascus.

Two rationales inspired the book, McGregor notes. First, while there are “many impressive objects in the living practice of Islam,” the popular narrative is that Islam “is mistrustful and even hostile to images, representation, and sensory indulgences.” What can we do to resolve this difference? Second, our “imperfect tools for making sense of… objects of devotion” led him to consider the role of aesthetics and the complex histories of devotional materials, especially before and after the impact of colonialism.

Listen in to their conversation as they consider the limits of theological or religious agendas that encourage scholars to ask who controls our understanding of objects like the mahmal (a ceremonial palanquin used in the Hajj) when they resist neat models of signification?

At the height of the Jim Crow era in Chicago, Noble Drew Ali founded the Moorish Science Temple of America. Using the language of Islam, he articulated a new religio-racial identity that subverted the racially oppressive lens of “negro” that had been used for decades as a powerful legal tool to subvert the rights of people of color after the Civil War. Ali and his followers fought the legacy of Dredd Scott and other cases with their own legal premise: those descended from Africans would be better served by self-identifying as “Moorish.” In this interview with Spencer Dew about his book The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali, Dew presents such identity formation as the part of larger strategies of legal maneuvering that worked to give Black persons the full rights that had been denied to them as American citizens on the basis of race. “Citizenship as salvation” was the movement’s motto, and the union of the legal and racial was an opportunity to reimagine themselves through new frameworks that worked to change the circumstances and the categories that had been thrust upon them.

Environmental issues take center stage in this month’s episode of Discourse!, hosted by Michael Munnik with guests Suzanne Owen and Daniel Gorman Jr. How is the media covering the intersection of religion and the latest environmental issues? Listen and find out!

First the groups speaks on some of the differences in major news publications and their coverage of environmental issues. Opening with the broader issue of how such stories appear (or do not) in major news outlets, Suzanne Owen offers some discourse analysis. Who is covering environmental issues so regularly their masthead categories reflect that attention? This is a moment to acknowledge how some political affiliations on both the left and the right can make it harder to sell stories about both religion and the environment.

Despite those challenges, one issue pushing that intersection of politics, religion, and the environment into the front pages is the election of the United States’ second Catholic President, Joe Biden. Dan Gorman cites Elizabeth Dias’ article in the New York Times, “In Catholic Faith, an Ascendant Liberal Christianity,” as one place we’re seeing coverage of the role of Catholic environmentalism being discussed openly.

Such issues of identity and politics lead the group to talk about the ongoing Farmers’ Protests in India (and the twitterstorm involving Rihanna and Greta Thunberg). Noting that the location of the striking workers is predominantly Sikh, the group looks to larger issues of religious and national identity under President Narendra Modi.

Finally, Dan suggests that the Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest is one place where we can see significant attention being drawn to the union of environmental and religious activism. Is climate concern religious practice for progressive Jews in the U.S?