March 2017 – Studying Religion in Culture

Music for the Masses: Hindu Identity and Artistic Expression

March 28, 2017 by admin

TM Krishna and other musicians play a concert for the public in southern India. Keeley McMurray is a junior double majoring in English and Religious Studies with a minor in Theatre. The following post was written for Dr. Ramey’s REL 321 course, Religion & Identity in South Asia. Visual and performing arts continue to be seen as bold expressions of personal identity in modern cultures throughout the world. Despite the fundamental inclusivity of art as means of sharing and preserving […]

Barometers in the Field: Another Student Report from the Regional AAR

March 27, 2017 by admin

Sierra Lynn Lawson is an Anthropology and Religious Studies double major and a Spanish minor. She is from a small town in Wyoming and hopes to study the illegality of midwifery in Alabama as it relates to post-civil war identity formation. I was most pleased with my experience at the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR) because it provided me with the opportunity to see what is, and what is not, happening in the academic study of religion. […]

50th Anniversary Fun Fact #12

March 27, 2017 by admin

Although dating to 1932, in 2016-17 we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary, given how the Department was reinvented in 1966-7 — in keeping with how the study of religion was established then across public universities in the US. No longer confessionally-oriented and staffed by campus ministers, it became a cross-culturally comparative and interdisciplinary field. So all semester we’ll be posting some weekly fun facts from 1966 — not that long ago for some of us yet ancient history for others. […]

Outlawed Violation of Human Rights or Protected Religious Practice?

March 26, 2017 by Russell McCutcheon

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. […]

Study Religion: The Podcast Episode 2 “Turkey Ritual”

March 21, 2017 by Michael Altman

In this episode we think about the ways we categorize things as religion. The show begins with the ritual life of turkeys and what that tells us about the category “religion.” Then a few REL majors show us how the category “sacrifice” is all around us. Finally, host Michael Altman talks with Dr. Megan Goodwin (@mpgphd) about the new CNN show Believer and how religious studies can find a broader public audience. […]

“Yes, and I’ve Met His Dog”: A Student Report from the Regional AAR

March 21, 2017 by admin

Parker Evans is junior studying English and Religious Studies. He spends most of his time drinking coffee and making reading lists when he should be reading. The regional AAR, or SECSOR, was a fantastic chance for a professionalizing experience. Sierra Lawson, another REL major, and I arrived late in the afternoon, and between checking into the hotel and presenting my paper, I had just enough time to change clothes from my flight and eat dinner. I was the first presenter […]

50th Anniversary Fun Fact #11

March 20, 2017 by admin

Although dating to 1932, in 2016-17 we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary, given how the Department was reinvented in 1966-7 — in keeping with how the study of religion was established then across public universities in the US. No longer confessionally-oriented and staffed by campus ministers, it became a cross-culturally comparative and interdisciplinary field. So all semester we’ll be posting some weekly fun facts from 1966 — not that long ago for some of us yet ancient history for others. […]

On Beginnings: Part 24

March 14, 2017 by admin

This essay (serialized here across 24 separate posts) uses words and numbers to discuss the uses of words and numbers — particularly examining evaluations of university degrees that employ statistical data to substantiate competing claims. Statistical analyses are crudely introduced as the mode du jour of popular logic, but any ratiocinative technique could likely be inserted in this re-fillable space and applied to create and defend categories of meaning with or without quantitative support. Questions posed across the series include: […]

On Beginnings: Part 23

March 14, 2017 by admin

This essay (serialized here across 24 separate posts) uses words and numbers to discuss the uses of words and numbers — particularly examining evaluations of university degrees that employ statistical data to substantiate competing claims. Statistical analyses are crudely introduced as the mode du jour of popular logic, but any ratiocinative technique could likely be inserted in this re-fillable space and applied to create and defend categories of meaning with or without quantitative support. Questions posed across the series include: […]

On Beginnings: Part 22

March 13, 2017 by admin

This essay (serialized here across 24 separate posts) uses words and numbers to discuss the uses of words and numbers — particularly examining evaluations of university degrees that employ statistical data to substantiate competing claims. Statistical analyses are crudely introduced as the mode du jour of popular logic, but any ratiocinative technique could likely be inserted in this re-fillable space and applied to create and defend categories of meaning with or without quantitative support. Questions posed across the series include: […]

Studying Religion in Culture

Ongoing Discussions at the University of Alabama

Month: March 2017