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Internships and Unexpected Relevance of REL Skills

January 4, 2022

Sonya Harwood-Johnson, originally from Grimes, Iowa, received her B.S. in Anthropology and Religious Studies, with a minor in Environmental Studies, from Iowa State University in 2020. She began work last month as a full-time International Programming Assistant at UA’s International Student and Scholars Services office; she will complete her M.A. in the study of religion at UA, as a part-time student, later in 2022. When deciding which university I wanted to apply to for my Master’s degree, Alabama’s Religion in […]

Announcing Uncivil Religion: A Digital Resource about Religion in the January 6 Attack on the Capitol

January 3, 2022

Following announcements from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the University of Alabama, the Department of Religious Studies is proud to announce a new digital resource produced in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s Center for the Understanding of Religion in American History Uncivil Religion uses publicly available digital media to trace the threads of religious symbols, ideas, discourses, and identities throughout the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Launching just days […]

REL News: Jackson Foster Awarded Marshall Scholarship

December 14, 2021

Established in the UK by the passage of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act, the Marshall Scholarship annually finances up to fifty young Americans to study for a degree in any field in the United Kingdom. Chosen for their leadership and ambassadorial potential, as well as their academic ability, Marshall Scholars are a living embodiment of the enduring special relationship between the UK and America. This year, the British government selected forty-one winners from over one-thousand university-endorsed applicants and REL is […]

Things You Didn’t Think You’d Learn in Grad School: Coding

October 20, 2021

Erica Bennett, now in her second and final year of the REL MA, is from Louisiana and earned her undergraduate degree from Millsaps College. Working with Prof. Touna as her supervisor, she is also a T.A. this semester for Prof. Simmons’s REL 100 and Prof. Altman’s research assistant on the American Examples grant. She is interested in studying new religious movements. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that our society revolves around, and cannot function without, technology. From Netflix party hangouts […]

Welcome to the REL Digital Lab (RELdl)

August 19, 2021

The new school year has started and the REL Digital Lab is open for business, under the leadership of Prof. Jeri Wieringa. Visit the new RELdl website to learn more about the Lab and how it will specifically support REL teaching and collaborative research. Note: the RELdl is not an open lab (i.e., for checking email, writing/printing essays, etc.). […]

Welcome Back!

August 16, 2021

Where did the last year go…? The new routine of remote and, when in-person, masked and socially distanced classes was so different from what we all were used to that our sense of time has really been thrown off; for while it may seem like an eternity ago, the start of the Fall 2020 semester, not to mention the swift move to remote classes to complete the Spring 2020 semester, also seems like it was just yesterday. And suddenly it’s […]

REL Update: Start of Fall 2021

August 10, 2021

With the start of Fall 2021 classes just a couple weeks away it’s time to send out an update to ensure that everyone in REL is on the same page for how the semester will start. New Mask Mandate If you have missed it, UA recently announced implementing a mask mandate on campus, to be regularly reassessed throughout the semester. All classrooms are back to full capacity, however, and the plexiglass has been removed from classrooms, though stand-alone plexiglass barriers […]

UA’s Fall 2021 Operations Plan

July 20, 2021

Below is the content (complete with links) of an email sent to all UA faculty and staff on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, discussing the university’s expectations around UA’s return to classes in the Fall 2021 semester. REL faculty and staff have taken the risks of COVID-19 very seriously since early in 2020 and we hope that all students, as they return to campus, comply with the various requirements and recommendations outlined below. ___________________________ The University of Alabama System released today […]

The Inquisition’s Baggage

June 24, 2021

Christopher Hurt is an REL alum who works in Los Angeles. He is best known for his work with the rock ‘n’ roll group, Jamestown Pagans. Have you ever seen Inquisición (film, 1977)? If you’re a lover of period-piece horror movies, like I am, then you’ll want to check it out. Mondo Macabro has a Blu-ray release that is standout. The subject matter calls to mind this data… Several years into his papacy John Paul II initiated a commission to […]

Fulbright Scholar Joining REL for 2021-22

June 2, 2021

We’re very pleased to announce that Dr. Oleg Kyselov, a senior researcher at the H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy in Ukraine, will be joining REL as a Fulbright Scholar from October until June. His own teaching covers a broad area, including the sociology and geography of religion along with a variety of topics in the history of religions, globalization, and methodologies. Among his most recent publications are: “Interaction Between Religion and Science: Comprehension of Ukrainian Scientific Atheists” in Studia […]

Studying Religion in Culture

Ongoing Discussions at the University of Alabama

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