Alexandra is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religions in American Culture specialization. Working under the guidance of Professor Margarita Guillory, Alexandra’s dissertation, “Catholic Culture Wars: Islamophobia and the Construction of Modern Catholic Identity,” analyzes how American Catholics use the presence of Muslims in the United States as a means of constructing their own identities vis-à-vis the construction of the Other.  She examines how white American Catholic narratives about Muslims in the United States inform, or are informed by, larger American discourses of race, gender, class, and citizenship. She holds a BA in International Studies (2016) and an MA in Religious Studies (2018) from the University of Missouri.

Alexandra is currently a fellow with the Social Science Research Council’s Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal Fellowship.