CURA Announces 2020-21 Fellows
The Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), an affiliated institute of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, has announced their 2020-2021 fellows for the interdisciplinary Colloquium on Religion and World Affairs run in cooperation with the BU School of Theology. CURA fellows are selected from across the BU community during a competitive application period every spring.
The 2020-2021 CURA fellows include:
- Alexandra Bayer, PhD Candidate, Graduate Program in Religion, College of Arts and Sciences.
- Erick Berrelleza, PhD Candidate, Sociology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
- Steven Bingaman, Graduate Student, School of Theology.
- Morgan Crago, PhD Candidate, School of Theology.
- Calynn Dowler, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
- Tyler J. Fuller, PhD Candidate, Graduate Program in Religion, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
- Kathryn Lamontagne, Lecturer, College of General Studies.
- Jennifer Lewis, PhD Candidate, School of Theology.
- Samantha Miller, Masters Student, Pardee School of Global Studies.
- Linda C. McClain, Robert Kent Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law.
- Leo (Mohammad) Moradi, PhD Student, Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences.
- Fernando Ona, PhD Candidate, School of Theology.
- Gabriel Paxton, Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Program in Religion, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
More informaton the 2021-2021 fellows can be found here.
The CURA Colloquium involves bimonthly meetings throughout the academic year to discuss working papers on a chosen theme, either written by CURA Fellows or invited scholars from outside BU. Meeting will be conducted on Zoom due to the coronavirus pandemic and will be open to the public to attend, so long as paper submissions were read in advance. At the end of the colloquium, CURA will collect a coherent group of papers into an edited volume or a themed edition of a relevant journal.
The theme for this year’s Colloquium is religion and communal interaction. Religion plays an important role in how communities across the globe interact. Religion can play a role in peacemaking or can foster social divisions. Religion is a major aspect of identity, and conflict both between and within religious communities is an important aspect of world affairs. Religion plays an important part in debates of definitions of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and race. In an election year, we are particularly aware of the role that religion can play in politics, as religious identity helps to shape various communities and how they interact with the political system. We invite proposals that explore various aspects of religion and the ways that it affects interactions between and within communities.
Learn more about the 2020-2021 CURA Fellows and the Colloquium on Religion and World Affairs here.
Founded in 1985, CURA was the first interdisciplinary research center in the United States focused on religion and global affairs. CURA seeks to build a community of scholars from BU and beyond with a shared interest in religion and world affairs. CURA joined the Pardee School of Global Affairs in 2015 and continues to sponsor collaborative research projects, public lectures, and gatherings for faculty, graduate students, and others, and to support the Pardee School’s curriculum in religion and global affairs. Learn more about CURA here.