Queer and Trans Studies in Religion in the 2020s: Defining the State of the Field

Melissa Wilcox
Religious Studies
UC Riverside


Participants

Sahin Acikgoz
Religious Studies
UC Riverside

Orit Avishai
Sociology
Fordham University

Kent Brintnall
Religious Studies
University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Aaron Brown
English
UC Riverside

Kelsey Cooper
Religious Studies
UC Santa Barbara

Kimberly Diaz
Religious Studies
UC Riverside

Learned Foote
Department of Religion
Rice University

Janet R. Jakobsen
Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Columbia University

Joseph A. Marchal
Religious Studies
Ball State University

Kori Pacyniak
Religious Studies
UC Riverside

Elizabeth Pérez
Religious Studies
UC Santa Barbara

J Selke
Religious Studies
UC Riverside

Max Strassfeld
Religious Studies and Classics
University of Arizona

Heather R. White
Religion and Queer Studies
University of Puget Sound

Nikki Young
Women's and Gender Studies and Religion
Bucknell University

Farah Zeb
Institute of Ismaili Studies

Adriaan van Klinken
Religion and African Studies
University of Leeds


The takeover of the US Capitol drove home for the collaborators in this working group the critical import of our project—to convene a group of emerging, mid-career, and senior scholars of queer and trans studies in religion in order to develop papers that will become the inaugural volume of a new journal in these closely linked subfields. From the biblical passages cited by some far-right protestors and Nancy Pelosi’s prayer to Saint Francis, to white nationalist claims that homophobia is a Jewish plot, to the complicated imbrications of religion, race, class, citizenship, and nationalism in the same sex marriage movement, recent events demonstrate the centrality of trans and queer studies in religion to the ongoing work of thinkers and activists both within and beyond the academy and speak to the urgency of a journal dedicated to these issues.

Learn more about the project in this Foundry interview with Melissa Wilcox.