I’ve often used Borges’s wonderful little piece, “Borges and I” in classes, as a quick way into the debate on the death of the author. If you’ve not read it, it’s worth taking a moment to look it over. Tackle Foucault’s essay, or Barthes’s for that matter, on much the same topic too, if you’re ambitious. It’s worth your while, I think. […]
Read More from Hold Your Fire, Coz the Author is Already Dead
By Andie Alexander Andie Alexander earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and History in 2012. She is currently working on her M.A. in Religious Studies at CU Boulder. Andie also works as the online Curator for the Culture on the Edge blog. […]
Fragonard, A Young Scholar (Wallace Collection) “Thoughts are the precious seeds of which our universities should be the botanical gardens. Beware when God lets loose a thinker on the world—either Carlyle or Emerson said that—for all things then have to rearrange themselves. But the thinkers in their youth are almost always very lonely creatures. ‘Alone the great sun rises and alone spring the great streams.’ The university most worthy of rational admiration is that one in which your lonely thinker […]
Anastasiya Titarenko is a junior majoring in Religious Studies. She has spent the fall semester interning for a non-profit in Wellington, New Zealand. Classification matters. In North Dakota, it arguably permits the violation of one’s First Amendment rights. The First Amendment states that: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to […]
Read More from Legitimacy of Classification at Standing Rock
Seeing cheering crowds in Miami, first thing this morning as I checked my phone for overnight news, celebrating Fidel Castro’s death, made me think a little about our disdain when there were rumors of people cheering after the twin towers collapsed (Trump routinely cited this early in his campaign); when is death — or better, whose death — worth cheering, I wondered? But as the morning wore on and more news came out, my attention shifted to an issue that […]
Something happens every weekend before Thanksgiving. No, not the cupcake tune up game before the Iron Bowl. It’s the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the national scholarly society for the academic study of religion. This weekend many of the faculty from REL are headed to San Antonio for the meeting and they have some pretty interesting plans. […]
Read More from REL Heads to Texas for the American Academy of Religion
Tenzan Eaghll received his Ph.D. from the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, in 2016. He is currently an English Instructor at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok. For his publication and contact information see https://utoronto.academia.edu/TenzanEaghll Ecclesiastes 11 states, “Cast out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back.” Like all biblical passages, this sentence can obviously be interpreted in many ways, but for me it contains a […]
Read More from When Considering a Career in the Humanities, Think Globally
Madeleine Lewis is a senior studying mathematics and religion at the University of Alabama. They spend their time researching conspiracy theories, making tacos in a tiny kitchen, and inciting resistance in their peers, among other things. We’re asking some current REL students to finish a few sentences for us…. The first REL course I took at UA was: Religion and Literature: Authority, Authorship, and Canon with Dr. Simmons. One of the most curious things I’ve learned so far in one of […]
By Andie Alexander Andie Alexander earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and History in 2012. She is currently working on her M.A. in Religious Studies at CU Boulder. Andie also works as the online Curator for the Culture on the Edge blog. Hi, I’m Andie, and I’m an immigrant. But we’ll get to that. As I wrote this on Election Day in the U.S., I, like many of you I suspect, got very little work done. Instead, I was tuning in on […]
Read More from On Immigration, Identity, and White Privilege
Keeley McMurray is a junior double majoring in English and Religious Studies. When she isn’t writing papers or contemplating the meaning of life, Keeley loves to travel, listen to Jeff Buckley and make art. We’re asking some current REL students to finish some sentences for us…. The first REL course I took at UA was: Honor’s Intro to Religious Studies with Dr. Rollens. One of the most curious things I’ve learned so far in one of my REL courses is: […]