Nicolette D. Manglos-Weber

Nicolette Manglos-Weber is an interdisciplinary sociologist who studies religious community life, focusing on how religion shapes politics and collective wellbeing. She has done research among faith communities in several countries of Anglophone Africa, among migrants to the US, and among US young adults facing stress and adversity. She works across scholarly fields of religion, political sociology, global migration, cultural sociology, and social ethics. She has published over a dozen academic articles and a book with Oxford University Press (Joining the Choir: Religious Membership and Social Trust among Transnational Ghanaians, 2018). In her writing and teaching, Dr. Manglos-Weber models an approach to social science research that takes culture and relationality seriously, and is deeply reflexive about morality, ethics, and positionality.

Dr. Manglos-Weber is currently studying Christian and Muslim leaders of community-based organizations in Uganda, who provide various types of care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The goal of this project is to highlight the innovative and interfaith nature of their caregiving activity; and show how it radically challenges paradigms of development politics that valorize capital growth, individualism, and one-size-fits-all solutions, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more about this project in Uganda, visit www.ugandacaregivers.com.

Dr. Manglos-Weber is passionate about promoting hospitality and care within the academy for students from all backgrounds. She is affiliated with the Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Community of Learning at BU STH. She lives with her family in West Roxbury, and loves all things related to food, nature, and ecological care (especially cooking, hiking, gardening, and long family walks). She tweets periodically from @ManglosWeber.

Selected Publications and Media

“Ghana’s Plans for a National Cathedral are Mired in Controversy and Delays but also Reflect Religion’s Strong Role in the Nation’s Identity,” The Conversation, August 15, 2023.

“US Talks Sanctions against Uganda after a Harsh Anti-Gay Law but Criminalizing Same-Sex Activities has Become a Political Tactic Globally”, The Conversation, June 22, 2023.

Manglos-Weber, Nicolette D. “Religious Life in African Societies,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa, R. Sooryamoorthy and E. N. Khalema, eds., published online, September 21, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197608494.013.16

Sociology of Religion podcast feature, April 22, 2021.

“The Contexts of Spiritual Seeking: How Ghanaians in the United States Navigate Changing Normative Conditions of Religious Belief and Practice,” Sociology of Religion, Volume 82, Issue 2, Summer 2021, Pages 133–155.

Manglos-Weber, Nicolette D. and Jade Avelis. 2019. “Expanding the Reflexive Space: Resilient Young Adults, Institutional Cultures, and Cognitive Schemas.” Sociological Forum 34(3):664-684. 

Manglos-Weber, Nicolette D. 2018. Joining the Choir: Religious Memberships and Social Trust among Transnational Ghanaians. Oxford University Press.

Manglos-Weber, Nicolette D. 2017. “Religious Transformations and Generalized Trust in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Social Indicators Research 133(2): 579-599.

Mooney, Margarita A. and Nicolette D. Manglos-Weber. 2014. “Prayer and Liturgy as Constitutive-Ends Practices among Black Immigrants.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 44(4): 459-480.

Manglos, Nicolette D. and Alexander A. Weinreb. 2013. “Religion and Interest in Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Social Forces 92(1): 165-194.

Richardson, Frank C. and Nicolette D. Manglos. 2012. “Rethinking Instrumentalism.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 19(5/6): 177-201.