In June 2026, CURA travel grantee Laura Anne Thompson traveled to Tunis, Tunisia, to participate in the conference Islamophobia: Maghrebi Perspectives, organized by the Institute of Research on the Contemporary Maghreb (IRMC). Thompson presented her new research on blasphemy and Islamophobia in the western Mediterranean in a panel examining blasphemy and hate speech. Her paper, […]
Former CURA Fellow Candace Lukasik traveled to Upper Egypt to conduct ethnographic research with Coptic Christian communities. Her fieldwork explores how news of U.S. immigration enforcement, including detention, deportation, and changing asylum policies, is reshaping local understandings of migration and opportunity. During the trip, Lukasik conducted interviews across several communities, gaining valuable insight into the […]
Mónica Isabel Rey, Adjunct Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies, Babson College and Wheaton College (MA) Date: May 2, 2025 | 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Location: Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Abstract: In the discipline of biblical studies the majority of research tends to focus on […]
Cody Musselman, Preceptor, Harvard University Initiative Date: April 25, 2025 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Location: Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Abstract: In recent years, scholars and cultural commentators have noted how online wellness and fitness forums have served as an entry point for political radicalization, […]
Laura Anne Thompson, Raphael Morrison Dorman Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University Date: March 28, 2025 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Location: Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Abstract: Relying on court documents, interviews, and public debates, this paper compares the prosecution of […]
Date: Friday, December 13, 2024; 12:00-1:30 PM Location:Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Presenter: Merav Shohet, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Abstract: This paper examines some of the narrative repetitions and silences of several octogenarian and nonagenarian elders who live(d) in kibbutzim near Israel’s northern borders with […]
Date: Friday, November 22 , 2024; 12:00-1:30 PM Location:Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Presenter: Callid Keefe-Perry, Assistant Professor of Public Theology, Boston College Abstract: Christian Nationalism (CN) has emerged as a significant force in contemporary American society, shaping public discourse, political agendas, and cultural conflicts. Existing measures […]
Date: Friday, November 8, 2024; 12:00-1:30 PM Location:Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Presenter: Special Guest: Ruth Braunstein, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut Abstract: American religion and politics have always been intertwined, but a major restructuring of the religious field starting in the 1950s […]
Date: November 1, 2024 | 12:00 PM – 01:30 PM Location: Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room) Keynote Speaker: Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Assistant Professor of Religion and Anthropology, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University Reading the paper in advance is required for attendance. […]
Presenter: Morgan Crago Melkonian, PhD Candidate, School of Theology, Boston University Abstract: In the 1930s, Brazilian Protestant leaders faced the challenge of proving their patriotism, freedom from foreign control, and overall benefit to Brazilian society. The time was one of political turmoil, and Brazilian Protestants found themselves as a religious minority, with suspicions foreign connections, […]