Many of our graduates have had their dissertation research published into books. We encourage you to browse the collection of publications below, read a little about what our graduates are up to, and add these thought-provoking contributions to your own collections.
Amarnath Amarasingam | D. Mitra Barua | Denis J. Bekkering | Joanne Benham Rennick ;| Patricia Q. Campbell | William Rory Dickson | David Feltmate | Nick Shrubsole | Adam Stewart | Merin Shobhana Xavier
Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada
Postion: Assistant Professor in the School of Religion at Queen's University & Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue & Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.
Research Interests: Radicalization, terrorism, diaspora politics, post-war reconstruction, and the sociology of religion.
Publications: Author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada (2015), and the co-editor of Sri Lanka: The Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of War (2016). He has also written several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, has presented papers at over 100 national and international conferences, and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Politico, The Atlantic, and Foreign Affairs.
Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Transnational Asian Studies at Rice University's Chao Center for Asian Studies. Previously he has taught Asian Religions at the University of Saskatchewan and Cornell University, where he held a Robert H.N. Ho Buddhist Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Research interests: Religion and nationalism, identity politics, and the social scientific study of Buddhists in Bengal, Sri Lanka and Canada.
Publications: Author of Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism: The Transmission of Sri Lankan Buddhism in Toronto (2019). In addition to this book publication, he has contributed chapters to Flowers on the Rock: Global and Local Buddhisms in Canada, Religious Education in a World of Religious Diversity, Buddhism: Contemporary Studies, and The Buddhist World (ed. John Powers).
Religion in the Ranks
Position: Associate Professor of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has held academic appointments at St. Jerome's University in the University of Waterloo (Director of Beyond Borders 2008-2011), Laurier Brantford (Assistant Professor, Contemporary Studies 2011-2014), and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo (Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Business Economics, and the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, 2014-present).
Research interests: Globalization, leadership, social entrepreneurship, and international development.
Publications: She is the author of Religion in the Ranks: Belief and Religious Experience in the Canadian Forces (2011).
American Televangelism and Participatory Cultures: Fans, Brands, and Play with Religious "Fakes"
Publications: He is the author of American Televangelism and Participatory Cultures: Fans, Brands, and Play with Religious "Fakes" (2018). He has previously published work in Culture and Religion, Studies in Religion, and the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.
Living Sufism in North America
Position: Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Graduate Chair for the Religion and Culture Department at the University of Winnipeg.
Research interests: Contemporary Islam and Sufism.
Publications: Living Sufism in North America: Between Tradition and Transformation (SUNY 2015) explores the ways in which Sufi leaders in North America relate to Islamic orthodoxy, authority, and gender. Dickson has further coauthored an introduction to Sufism with Meena Sharify-Funk, Unveiling Sufism: From Manhattan to Mecca(Equinox 2017) and most recently, published Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture (Routledge 2018) with Meena Sharify-Funk and Merin Shobhana Xavier.
Knowing Body, Moving Mind: Ritualizing and Learning at Two Buddhist Centers
Teaching: Patricia has taught in the areas of eastern religions and ritual studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Mt. Allison University, and the University of Waterloo.
Publications: Knowing Body, Moving Mind: Ritualizing and Learning at Two Buddhist Centers (2011). Inspired by theories that suggest that rituals impart new knowledge or understanding, the book examines how introductory meditation students from non-Buddhist backgrounds learn through formal Buddhist practice. The study demonstrates that through meditation practice, the mind is experienced as both embodied and gestural, and that it develops new skills in much the same way that physical postures and gestures train the body.
Drawn to the Gods: Religion and Humor in the Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy
Position: Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Auburn University at Montgomery.
Publications: He is the author of Drawn to the Gods: Religion and Humor in The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy (2017). He is also a co-editor of the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture and works on a variety of topics including religion and popular culture, the sociology of religion, religion and humor, new religious movements, and religion and family.
What Has No Place, Remains: The Challenges for Indigenous Freedom in Canada Today
Position: Lecturer in Humanities, Religion, and Cultural Studies in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL). He has been working as a teaching-faculty at UCF since 2015 where he has been responsible for Introduction to Religion and Cultural Studies, World Religions, Encountering the Humanities, Native American Philosophy, and Senior Research Seminar, to name a few.
Research interests: Indigenous religions, religious freedom, Indigenous rights, secularization theory, religion and the law, religion in Canada, religious studies method and theory.
Publications: Author of What Has No Place, Remains:The Challenges for Indigenous Religious Freedom in Canada Today (University of Toronto Press, 2019).
The New Canadian Pentecostals
Position: Assistant Professor of Sociology at Crandall University, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Research interests: Canadian Pentecostalism.
Publications: Author of The New Canadian Pentecostals (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015) as well as a number of articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings for academic and professional audiences in Canada, Europe, and the United States.
Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism
Position: Assistant Professor of Religion at Queen's University's School of Religion.
Research interests: Contemporary Sufism, with regional interests in North American and South Asian Sufism. She is the author of Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism: Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and Contemporary Sufism (2018), and the co-author of Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics and Popular Culture (2017).