Specialization Coordinator: Margarita Guillory
Students specializing in Religions in American Culture study historical and contemporary religious ideas, practices, institutions, performance, and lived experience. They also survey the diversity of religions in the U.S. and their contextualization in the broader cultural, social, and political settings of the modern world. Students work under the guidance of Stephen Prothero, Margarita Guillory, Adam Seligman, Anthony Petro, and Kecia Ali—and of other faculty in the departments of Religion, History, New England & American Studies, English, History of Art and Architecture, and in other units in the university. We train students to pursue innovative research in Religious Studies and to teach a variety of courses in religion and the liberal arts. We stress historical, textual, and ethnographic skills, engagement with theoretical analysis, and attention to visual and material culture.
Ideally, students will have some facility with at least one scholarly or research language upon admission (usually Spanish, French, or German) and will gain greater proficiency in that language and one other during the course of their studies.
Religion Department Faculty:
- Kecia Ali (Islamic law; women and gender; ethics; and biography)
- Margarita Guillory (American religious history, digital religion, and religion and popular culture)
- Anthony Petro (Religion and culture in the US; religion, medicine, and public health; and gender and sexuality studies)
- Stephen Prothero (American religions)
- Adam Seligman (Social and Political Theory, Ritual Studies, Community Development and Public Anthropology)
Affiliated Faculty: Christopher Evans (School of Theology), Dana Robert (School of Theology), Jon Roberts (Department of History)