荣誉项目
杰克逊·汉森23岁
荣誉项目
在论文中, Hansen explores the influence of evangelicalism the on the development of conspiratorial notions and believers, 比如那些认为是QAnon理论的人.
He argues that "even Americans who do not identify themselves with evangelical churches have adopted these same mindsets that can be traced from American 宗教, and that our more 'secular' culture is imbued with an evangelical penchant for paranoia. 在整个项目中, I primarily trace the development of specific discourses derived from American evangelicalism, 包括个人主义, 对制度化权威的不信任, 对社会和政治参与的强烈渴望, 以及对超自然现象的强烈信仰."
Hansen said the best part of working on the yearlong project was fusing contemporary and historical research, as well as weaving theological studies into his more sociological-focused 宗教 courses.
最喜欢的宗教课
早期基督教的性别与性， 托德Berzon, Peter M. 小小宗教副教授. “正是这门课让我想要成为一名宗教专业的学生. 我真的很喜欢这个主题, and it was interesting to see how history and the present have touched each other.”
研究生的工作
美国司法部反垄断司律师助理.
Lia Kornmehl, 23岁
荣誉项目
Service Beyond Bars: How Correctional Chaplains Mediate the Movement of 宗教 in Prisons and Jails
为了她的荣誉人种学, Kornmehl interviewed nine chaplains working in US correctional facilities, the director of an Islamic educational nonprofit that works in prisons, 还有一个被监禁的牧师.
“在这个项目中，我基本上认为牧师, 哪些人学习不足，通常资金不足, 拥有独特的移动能力, 无论是身体上还是宗教上, 在高度静态的情况下, 寒冷的地区是监狱和拘留所,“那里的生活受到严格的监管和控制, from the food incarcerated people eat to their grooming regimens, 她说.
“但是宗教有着非常不稳定的本质,她接着说, “and religious connections that are made in jails and prisons are usually very weighty and meaningful, 包括牧师和被监禁的人.”
然而,, there is also an inescapable power dynamic between chaplains and the people to whom they minister. Her project examines how chaplains provide effective pastoral care despite this unbalanced relationship. “牧师, 处于刑罚和精神权力的交汇处, are most capable of introducing and sustaining life-affirming and dignifying care,她在论文中写道.
也许, 她补充说, we can view “chaplaincy as an imperfect way of generating meaning in a person’s life…to center the humanness and agency of the people who are incarcerated while being aware and conscious of the power dynamics. Because it is still prison and jail, and one person in the conversation is free and the other isn’t.”
最喜欢的宗教课
“This is really hard to answer because this department is so good! 我将列举其中两点: 反犹主义的历史, cotaught by 托德Berzon from the 宗教 department and Marilyn Reizbaum in English. 它绝对是一流的. 当它与COVID一起上线时，它甚至是一流的. I loved that I was able to appreciate a history that was fairly familiar to me in a lot of new ways and in an interdisciplinary way. 文学和宗教研究完全融合在一起."
第二个是 新兴宗教运动，由Josh Urich教授. That class—talk about a wacky, fun, engaging, confusing experience. It was about new religious movements, but throw in UFOs, throw in a lot of affect theory. 我从头到尾都很紧张. 同样，这是Zoom类. 它让我以一种不同的方式看待这个世界."
研究生学习计划
Next year Kornmehl has a Cambridge-Gates scholarship to study for a master of philosophy degree in theology, 宗教, 以及宗教哲学, 重点是宗教和冲突, 他在剑桥大学工作. 读 Lia Kornmehl, 23岁 Selected for Competitive Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
雷内·西斯内罗斯, 23岁
荣誉项目
Religious Negotiation and Identity Formation: 读ing Material 宗教 in Oaxaca’s “Guelaguetza Oficial”
Cisneros’s thesis examines 宗教 in southern Mexico, where his family is from. 他关注的是现代的公共节日和庆典, 尤其是一年一度的Guelaguetza official, 瓦哈卡的世俗民间舞蹈节. The state-sponsored celebration of Oaxacan identity intertwines Indigenous religious belief and Catholic practices.
“I argue that while some scholars often characterize modern religiosity in Oaxaca as being mostly extinct—especially after the conquest and after the revolution that brought in liberal modernizing forces and secularization ideals—there is still a place for 宗教 in public festivity and celebration. 也许是以更模糊的方式，但它仍然存在，”他说.
In 2022, Cisneros获得了Grua 'O 'Connell奖 from Bowdoin to travel to Oaxaca over winter break to do field research.
The 宗教 major was prompted to undertake the project to learn more about his family and ancestors. He was also puzzled when he read scholarly accounts suggesting that 宗教 had weakened in modern-day Oaxaca. 进行他的研究, he turned to indigenous scholars and others who argue instead that 宗教 is still alive and strong in the region, 但以一种新的形式出现.
“NAFTA and neoliberal global policies led to lots of people in Oaxaca not focusing on agrarian rural economies for their livelihoods anymore,转而依赖旅游业, 西斯内罗斯说. “为了吸引更多的国际和墨西哥游客, the locals emphasized their indigeneity—their cultural aesthetic, 庆祝活动, 和工艺.”
“我和乡下的萨满和土著牧师谈过, 我问他们发生了什么变化, 他们都说那是八九十年代, 随着嬉皮士和外国游客的涌入,他接着说. “一旦瓦哈卡人的收入开始增长, the government started taking notice and giving them money to build up that economy.”
西斯内罗斯说 his favorite part of the project was “being exposed to a wider array of perspectives and rigorous work by people who I don’t read about in class or are often ignored or looked over. 我接触到了一个全新的学术世界.”
最喜欢的宗教课
美国宗教史上的种族与宗教 与约书亚·乌里奇. “It helped me unpack the secular effects of 宗教—it’s not all just all ritual and belief, it has real world implications on policies and how people identify themselves and how they come to experience the world. it opened my mind to 宗教—that it can be more than theology and church history I could incorporate sociology and anthropology into the study of 宗教.”
研究生学习计划
Cisneros will return to New Jersey to spend time with his family and apply to NGOS in the New York City area that focus on housing rates and rent control. “I have tons of family in Queens, where there are lots of indigenous Mexican communities. So if I have a choice, I would want to stay in that area,” he said.