Mentor Areas
I'm a scholar who develops theoretical and philosophical approaches to emotion, material culture, secularism, religion, and science.
Description:
I’m interested in how religion works, and especially why religion is such a powerful force in our lives (and equally why we sometimes say that it is, when it actually isn’t). To explore religion, I use a number of different academic disciplines, including affect theory, material culture studies, evolutionary biology, and queer theory. Applying affect theory to religion clarifies it as something we do with bodies, emotions, and objects in the world as much or more than with frameworks of beliefs. However, it would be wrong to imagine that religion alone is determined by emotion. Atheism, science, and secular material culture can also be studied using these lenses.
In my current research I’m exploring the following:
*Affective approaches to material culture, especially Confederate commemoration as a force of white supremacism in the US.
*What we really talk about when we talk about the "meaning" of life.
*Conspiracy theory.
Preferred Qualifications
None but students are encouraged to take my courses Science and Religion and/or Sacred Stuff.
Details:
Preferred Student Year
First-year, Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Fall, Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.