Officers of the AARWR
President
Abdullahi A. Gallab
Abdullahi A. Gallab
- Associate professor African and African American/religious Studies Arizona State University
- Research interests: Islamism and contemporary Islamic discourses and developments
- Author of Their Second Republic: Islamism in the Sudan from Disintegration to Oblivion (Hampshire, UK Ashgate Publishers) 2011
Past President
Jonathan H. X. Lee
Jonathan H. X. Lee
- Associate Professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University
- Received Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2009
- Research interests: Chinese/Chinese American Religious Studies; Asian/Asian American folklore and folklife; Peace Studies; Cambodian American Studies; Southeast and Sino-Southeast Asian American Studies
Editor-in-Chief, Chinese America: History and Perspectives
Vice President/Program Chair
Jason S. Sexton
Jason S. Sexton
- Lecturer at California State University Fullerton; Visiting Fellow, UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion; Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Law & Society; Editor, Boom California (UC Press)
- Research Interests: The interrelationship of theology and culture, with particular interest in California, the prison, evangelicalism, and religion. Author of The Trinitarian Theology of Stanley J. Grenz (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark) and co-editor of Theology and California Theological Refractions on California's Culture (Routledge)
Vice President Elect
Anna Hennessey
Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Faculty, Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley
Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara, 2011
Research interests: Religious, artistic, and philosophical dimensions of birth; Daoism and Chinese Religions; Non-religion and Secularity. Author of Religious Imagery in the Rituals of Birth: Ontology Between the Sacred and the Secular (Lexington Books, forthcoming)
Anna Hennessey
Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Faculty, Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley
Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara, 2011
Research interests: Religious, artistic, and philosophical dimensions of birth; Daoism and Chinese Religions; Non-religion and Secularity. Author of Religious Imagery in the Rituals of Birth: Ontology Between the Sacred and the Secular (Lexington Books, forthcoming)
Regionally Elected Coordinator
Brian Clearwater
Brian Clearwater
- Adjunct Assistant Professor in Religious Studies at Occidental College
- Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2014
- Research interests: Postcolonial Theory; Religion, Race, and Law in Native America; Indigenous urban diasporas
- His dissertation is “No Lock on the Tipi Door”: Extending Religion in the American Indian Urban Diaspora: Healing, Renewal and Decolonizing Spaces (2014)
Regional Representative - Arizona/ Nevada
Souad T. Ali
Souad T. Ali
- Associate Professor at Arizona State University
- Head of Classics and Middle East Studies and Director of Arabic Studies
- Author of A Religion, Not A State: Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq’s Islamic Justification of Political Secularism (University of Utah Press 2009)
Regional Representative - Hawaii/ Pacific Islands
Open position. Anyone interested in serving may be appointed by the board on an interim basis and will stand for election at the March 2019 AARWR annual meeting.
Open position. Anyone interested in serving may be appointed by the board on an interim basis and will stand for election at the March 2019 AARWR annual meeting.
Regional Representative - Northern California
Zayin Cabot
Zayin Cabot
- Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at California State University, East Bay
- He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Hawaii, and both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in East-West Psychology (emphasis on theory and method in religious studies) form California Institute of Integral Studies
- His first book, Ecologies of Participation: In Between Shamans, Mystics, and Divination is currently in preparation
Regional Representative - Southern California
Marie Cartier
Marie Cartier
- Dr. Cartier has a Ph.D. in Religion with an emphasis on Women and Religion from Claremont Graduate University
- Author of the critically acclaimed book Baby, You Are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall (Routledge 2013)
- She is a senior lecturer in Gender and Women’s Studies and Queer Studies at California State University Northridge, and in Film Studies at Univ. of CA Irvine
Queer Advocate
Anjeanette LeBoeuf
Anjeanette LeBoeuf
- Ph.D. Candidate, Women Studies in Religion at Claremont Graduate University
- Research interests: Popular Culture and Religion, South Asian Religions with emphasis on Hinduism, and Feminist and Queer Theory
- She is a permanent contributor to the academic blog FeminismandReligion.com
Women's Caucus Liaison
Yuria Celidwen
Yuria Celidwen
- Ph.D. candidate in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology at Pacific Graduate Institute
- Research interests: A graduate in Contemplative Science from the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science (2014). Ethics and Compassion within World Mythologies and Mystical Traditions from an interdisciplinary approach that joins reason and emotion, scientific inquiry and contemplative practices for social and environmental justice. She works as the chief production editor (Spanish) for the United Nations, New York.
Diversity Advocate
Sakena Young-Scaggs
Sakena Young-Scaggs
- IRC Doctoral Fellow, Women and Gender Studies Ph.D. Program
School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University
Research Interests:
Student Representative - Southern California
Student Director--Western Region Representative to the AAR Graduate Student Committee
Conference Manager (ex-officio, non-voting, not a board position)
Joseph Kim Paxton
Student Director--Western Region Representative to the AAR Graduate Student Committee
Conference Manager (ex-officio, non-voting, not a board position)
Joseph Kim Paxton
- Ph.D. student in Practical Theology at the Claremont School of Theology
- Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at Sierra States University
Research interests: Trauma and pastoral care, coping, spiritually-integrative psychotherapy, thriving, and group conflict.
Student Representative - Northern California
Andrew K. Lee
Andrew K. Lee
- Ph.D. student in Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Research Interests: medieval mysticism; historical theology; comparative religion
Student Representative - Arizona
Open position. Anyone interested in serving may be appointed by the board on an interim basis and will stand for election at the March 2019 AARWR annual meeting.
Open position. Anyone interested in serving may be appointed by the board on an interim basis and will stand for election at the March 2019 AARWR annual meeting.
Webmaster (ex-officio, non-voting, not a board position)
John Erickson
Ph.D. Candidate, American Religious History, Claremont Graduate University
Received Dual MA Degrees in Women's Studies in Religion and Applied Women's Studies from Claremont Graduate University in 2011.
Research interests: LGBT History, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Masculinity Studies, American Religious History, Government, Policy, and Religion.
John Erickson
Ph.D. Candidate, American Religious History, Claremont Graduate University
Received Dual MA Degrees in Women's Studies in Religion and Applied Women's Studies from Claremont Graduate University in 2011.
Research interests: LGBT History, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Masculinity Studies, American Religious History, Government, Policy, and Religion.