We have great students here in REL. When they graduate they go off to do great things. (You can hear about some of the things our graduates do at our Grad Tales events.) We are proud of all of the REL majors that are graduating. Four of this year’s REL graduates are going off to pursue further academic work in graduate school: […]
Category: Student Blog
Posts in this category are written by, or are about, undergraduate students in the Department.
The “News” Askew
Image from Creative Commons: Public Domain The following is cross-posted from RELephantUA, the class blog for the REL Captsone Seminar. Be sure to check their blog for more great posts studying religion in culture. By Chris Beacham Yesterday afternoon, a swarm of protesters marched to the steps of the United States capitol to protest the undue influence of money in politics and corporate lobbying. The group peacefully approached the capitol building, and many were quickly arrested, including a journalist for the popular show “The Young […]
A Tired Old Joke
The following is cross-posted from RELephantUA, the class blog for the REL Captsone Seminar. Be sure to check their blog for more great posts studying religion in culture. By Liz Long In TV, the same jokes have a habit of popping up over and over again in different shows. Someone falls in love with their work partner. Someone has two dates to the same event. Everyone’s family is dysfunctional. They’re tiring, boring plots that we’ve seen several times before on […]
Showing Our Stuff
What do you get from a degree in Religious Studies? Throughout this semester, our students in the Capstone Senior Seminar have been applying questions that develop in the academic study of religion to a variety of issues, using social media from Twitter to Tumblr to illustrates the issues to a broad audience. Now it is time for posts to our class blog to roll out, starting later today and throughout next week. So, look for those posts at the class blog, and check […]
Jared Powell: One Outstanding Student Worker
So much of what happens to make REL into the wonderful department that it is happens because of our hardworking main office staff. The videos, the buttons, the events, and all the other things that make this department such a joy to be part of couldn’t happen without our student workers. Yesterday, one of those student workers finally got the recognition he deserves. Jared Powell, an REL major, a graduating senior, a future MA student in English, and a man […]
10 Tips for Attending an Academic Conference from REL Majors
This past weekend a group of REL faculty and majors traveled down I-20 to Atlanta to attend the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR), the regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion. Through the magic of Twitter, here is a list of tips for the next time you attend an academic conference. […]
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Enlightening or Entertaining: Kumaré
By Vincent M. Hills Vincent M. Hills is a now graduate of the University of Alabama who majored in History with a minor in Religious Studies. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. Kumaré is a very interesting “documentary”, but for many different reasons than most documentaries. The film did not wow viewers with interesting facts or show picturesque landscapes, it did however show a side of Western culture that is often the brunt of criticism from many […]
Elmer Gantry: The Trap of Hypocrisy and Greed
By Ashley Daugherty Ashley Daugherty is a senior majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. She is looking to work in Applied Business Anthropology. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. Elmer Gantry is a film that exposes hypocrisy and greed among religious leaders who seek to exploit gullible citizens looking for something in which to believe. This abridged version of Sinclair Lewis’s novel of the same name focuses on Elmer Gantry, a con man expelled from seminary school, […]
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Elmer Gantry and A Little About Race
By Sarah Griswold Sarah Griswold is a senior double majoring in Mathematics and Religious Studies. She spends her “free time” analyzing her favorite shows on Netflix, which of course winds up ruining them. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. “Elmer Gantry was drunk,” begins Sinclair Lewis’s 1927 novel. That’s how the movie Elmer Gantry begins too. The story is of Elmer Gantry who loves women and whiskey more than just about anything else. A fast-talking salesman, […]
When is it Spirituality and When is it Religion?
By Jeremy Connor Jeremy Connor is a music performance graduate from the University of Alabama. He is currently working full time in marketing and finance at West Alabama Wholesale in Newport, Alabama. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. The idea behind the movie, Kumare, is a simple, but interesting one. An American man with Indian heritage, named Vikhram, decides to conduct an experiment. He wonders if he can convince people that he is a ‘real guru’ […]
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