New Directions for Studying and Teaching North American Religions

In this paper, I show how DREAM of Detroit, a Muslim neighborhood revitalization organization on Detroit’s West Side, encourages especially young non-Black suburban Muslims to perceive the material “ruin” of a disinvested urban area in new ways. If experiences of space and embodied feelings like “safety” are learned social products rather than features intrinsic to a physical environment, DREAM participants mobilize and inhabit a religious imaginary of “prophetic community” to feel the city as a space of safety, belonging, and Muslim kinship across patterns of racial and class segregation endemic to Metro Detroit. Drawing on recent interviews and participant-observation with DREAM leaders and participants, I bring together theories of place-making and racial affect with scholarship on religion, perception, and material culture to examine how participants develop new perceptions of (properly) Islamic space that challenge prevailing moral geographies in which urban space is a metonym for Blackness, danger, and aversion.

In the essay “Eastward Ho!”, published twenty-five years ago in the edited volume “Retelling U.S. Religious History,” Laurie Maffly-Kipp follows Orthodox Christian institutions across North America from west to east to illustrate what she calls “a world history of American religion” seen from the Pacific Rim. In this framework, Orthodox Christians number prominently within a dynamic, global history that looks outward from these shores, crossing oceans and linking continents, and which is contingent upon migration, globalization, and geopolitics. This paper reconsiders the methodological interrogations and scholarly impact of “Eastward Ho!” from two, interwoven perspectives. For the established field of American Religions, has its call for broader inclusion manifested a more nuanced view of Orthodox Christianity in its diverse North American contexts? And for the growing subfield of Orthodox Christian studies, what are the possibilities for adapting its model to suggest a global history of Orthodox Christianity seen from North America?

Much attention has been paid recently to public forms of engagement for scholars of religious studies. Podcasting, social media engagement, and writing for popular outlets have frequently been touted as effective methods for translating and sharing research and applying insightful analysis to contemporary issues. However, in today’s deeply segmented media landscapes, audiences for these venues tend to self-select around particular political, cultural, and religious orientations. In such environments, it is difficult for scholars and educators to engage with audiences that could benefit from exposure to critical thinking on issues related to race, religious diversity, and history. Historic tours offer a unique opportunity to bring together diverse gatherings of people in learning experiences. Methods of storytelling, site visits, and group experiences have the potential to evoke emotional connections and open up receptivity to deeper levels of religious literacy, and more thoughtful reflection on understandings of power and privilege.