Category: Public Events

Posts in this category discuss the Department’s various public events — whether announcing them, providing an excerpt from a speaker’s talk, or commenting on their significance and application.


New Titles in REL: Second Virtual Book Event (Zoom)

Cover art for Identifying Roots featuring a profile, Africa, and a slave ship.

Join us for another evening of conversation, this time hosted by REL’s own Dr. K. Merinda Simmons and celebrating the recent publication of another new title in REL, Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures, by Dr. Richard Newton. Due to pandemic protocols, our book events for Spring 2021 are virtual and open to guests both on and off campus. We invite you to join us virtually, via Zoom, on February 23, 2021, at 7 p.m. (US central time). […]

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New Titles in REL: Upcoming Zoom Event

Join us for an evening of conversation hosted by REL’s own Dr. Richard Newton to celebrate the publication of a new title in REL, Race and New Modernisms, co-authored by Dr. K. Merinda Simmons and Dr. James A. Crank (Department of English, University of Alabama) — a book that was a finalist for a 2020 PROSE book award (in the category of Literature). In past semesters we would have gathered in person at the local bookstore, Ernest & Hadley Booksellers, […]

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An Evening with Annette Yoshiko Reed

The Aronov Lecture brings to the University of Alabama renowned scholars of religion whose work can communicate lessons and insights relevant to the broader human sciences. One of our department’s two annual lectures, we are excited to host this year’s speaker, Dr. Annette Yoshiko Reed on the evening of Wednesday, October 21 at 7 pm (central time). […]

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American Examples: Adapting to a Fall 2020 and Beyond

When we announced the American Examples program, funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, we were super excited about the three workshops we would be offering in 2020. We were able to hold one of them in person in early March. Then the world changed, and, with it, our plans. Many of the REL faculty pitched in late in the spring and into the early summer to adapt to our new COVID reality by hosting a series of […]

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REL COVID-19 Update

It’s been an interesting few weeks in REL, to say the least; given the worldwide spread of COVID-19, the University of Alabama extended Spring break, asked students not to return to campus after it, and released a plan to alter how we finish the semester. Originally we planned to re-open main offices on the Monday after Spring break but the so-called limited business operation (LBO) of campus has been extended until Sunday, March 29 (with only essential employees allowed on […]

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Highlighting REL Undergraduate Research

It’s that time again: time to consider presenting your research at REL’s 7th annual Honors Research Symposium. Devoted to the work of our undergrad students, the annual symposium is chaired by REL M.A. students and is again organized by REL faculty member, Emily Crews. The event this year will again be held in Gorgas Library 205, all morning on Thursday, March 26 — we’ll announce the actual start time closer to the event, once we know how many students will […]

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A Call for Nominations

Last year we created a new award, given out at Honors Day 2019 for the first time: the Alum Recognition Award. It acknowledges the ongoing contributions to the Department that our graduates continue to make and/or the interesting challenges they tackle and notable accomplishment they make in their chosen professions and lives. All B.A. majors and minors who have graduated from the Department of Religious Studies, as well as those who have completed the REL M.A., are eligible to be […]

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Dr. Roshan Abraham: A Day Lecturer’s Origin Story

Dr. Roshan Abraham is our 2019 Day Lecturer. Prof. Newton was able to chat with him to learn a little bit more about his training and his scholarship. We’ve heard you’ll be talking about the Bible and comics. Comics often involve origin stories. What’s your scholarly origin story? I don’t really have a simple story about my academic training; I got to the study of religion through a very circuitous route. I’ll try to keep it brief. I did my […]

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REL MA Students Present at Culture Studies Conference

Today’s panel with REL MA students was part of the interdisciplinary culture studies graduate student conference, planned by a grad student committee and funded through the Department of American Studies at the University of Alabama. REL was represented on the planning committee by second year MA student Keeley McMurray, and it is taking place at the Bryan Conference Center on campus. […]

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