Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion Podcast: Recent Episodes
Profs. Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst and Megan Goodwin
Keeping it 101 is the podcast that helps our nerdy listeners make sense of religion. Why religion? Well, if you read the news, have a body, exist in public, or think about race, gender, class, ability, or sexuality, you likely also think about religion — even if you don’t know it yet. Let us show you why religion is both a lot more important and a little easier to understand than you might think. Put us in your earholes and let us show you why religion isn’t done with you — even if you’re done with religion.
Welcome to the first of our four episode miniseries on religion and adoption, which actually turned out to have five episodes because, well, there were just too many horrors to be neatly contained in an outline. We're starting off with some basics on adoption, including how different religious traditions do (or do not) engage in the practice. Plus a very special, very dark return of Primary Sources!
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more.
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
Welcome to our first ever book club episode, nerds! This one has it all: misandry, murder, and...martial religions?
Join us for a very wide-ranging chat about Lyndsay Faye's Jane Steele(and also our own research, because you know academics just can't help themselves).
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more.
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
Did you miss us? We missed you!
Life, as y'all know, uh... finds a way. But we have beaten life back long enough to bring you this update on the pod and what we have scheduled for this, our SEVENTH season!!
Look out for our first-ever book club (Jane Steele, by Lyndsay Faye), two miniseries (one on religion and adoption, one on how we wrote our forthcoming book, Religion Is Not Done With You), plus some one-off So Glad You Asked-style responses to listener questions about things like religion & tattoos AND a sneak peek into Megan's research on #CultsInc and the MOVE bombing.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more.
It's all happening, nerds. Welcome back!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
In which we are delighted to talk to the wonderful humans of Miami University Ohio about the ways calendars smuggle white christian supremacy into our everyday lives.
Recorded 2 April 2024
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
In which we chat with our new bestie at the Amplify Podcast Network, Stacey Copeland, about podcasting, public scholarship, and why killing joy is the best way to have joy come back bigger, stronger, and more vibrant than ever.
Be sure to check out all the other cool conversations Stacey is having with our fellow nerds for the audio blog series Amplified!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
WHAT A PREDICAMENT this year has been, nerds! 2023 was in many ways, uh, not our fave.
But we thought it would be good to end this chronological rollercoaster on a high note, so:
You are cordially invited to join us for a cozy winter Gothic misandrist queer murder book club moment! We're reading Lyndsay Faye's delightfully dark Jane Steele, and we think you should, too.
We'll be back at the end of January to chat about the novel. In the meantime, hit us up on social media with comments or questions so we can feature y'all on the pod! Pick up a copy at your local library or independent bookstore, as Levar Burton intended.
And as always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more.
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
THIS IS A RE-RELEASE, NERDS!!!*
hat's right -- there's STILL more to know about the world's second largest religion! Dr. Debra Majeed lends us her insight into Islam, gender, and agency.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
It is November, RELI nerds! And too many of you know what that means.
That's right: the American Academy of Religion's annual national meeting is once again upon us, just in time for price-gouging airfare and pre-Thanksgiving travel mayhem.
But it also means Megan and Ilyse are going to be at AAR together for the first time since 2019!!! And we're celebrating this momentous occasion by convening our first ever Keeping It 101 OFFICE HOURS.
Last season's awesome interns made us awesome stickers and other awesome swag, and all of it is yours for the showing up and asking. Let's all gaze upon one another's weary, beautiful faces and be glad we're still here.
We'll be on the patio of the Marriott San Antonio Rivercenter from 3-4pm CST on Saturday, 18 November.
Come through!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
THIS IS A RE-RELEASE, NERDS!!!*
Let’s see what the World Religions Paradigm looks like when we talk curating religion with Dr. Andrew Aghapour.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
THIS IS A RE-RELEASE, NERDS!!!*
In which we (mostly Megan) walk you through three things you maybe don't know about early Christianity:
- Christianity was kind of a mistake
- The New Testament is a messy bitch
- Christianity = imperialism
Keywords: BCE/CE, gospels, apocrypha, canon, epistles
Storytime: Becket, Waiting for Godot
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
THIS IS A RE-RELEASE, NERDS!!!*
In which Ilyse yells about nationalism and religion and why religion and politics are never really separate, whilst Megan agrees emphatically and consumes a bubbly beverage
Keywords: nationalism (especially religious nationalism); election
Storytime: we skipped it! it's summer
Homework: Ramaswamy's The Goddess and the Nation; Baker's The Gospel According to the Klan; and a bunch of other stuff -- come on, you know how we are.
Go to the show notes page at Keepingit101.com for our very, very long list of resources.
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
THIS IS A RE-RELEASE, NERDS!!!*
In which we build upon the work of Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw to think about how race-, gender-, and sexuality-based oppressions overlap and inform how our understandings of religion
Keywords: intersectionality, womanism, discrimination, oppression
Storytime: Audre Lorde, "An Open Letter to Mary Daly"
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
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Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
Did you miss us? We missed you! Tell us everything you did on your summer vacation, right after we tell you what we're up to this, our SIXTH season(??!?!).
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
After another year-long season, we wrap it up, talk about what’s next, & offer some highlights and reflections. Probably swears, too.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
More nerds than we can count asked why Ilyse is obsessed with calendars, so we distilled that into: are calendars neutral? They aren’t. End of episode?
This season, KI101 has had help from three—3!—incredible interns, Juliana Finch (sound design), Evie Wolfe (accessibility) and Rachel Zieff (social media). They’re on the mics this episode, talking public humanities, religion, and teamwork.
Strictly speaking, none of you asked about the Easter Bunny. A lot of you did, however, ask how Pagan rituals got appropriated into Christian mainstream holidays and, in turn, became global secular phenomenon. We unpack all of that (and Ilyse loses her composure epically) in this very special episode.
We’ve talked yoga before but since it keeps coming up—on the news, in our classrooms, with our friends—we’re talking about it again. Folks are still INCORRECT when we talk about yoga, when we talk about appropriation, and when we talk about how yoga is and is not appropriated.
Nerds, you’ve asked what we are consuming and what we are teaching, and we’ve got answers.
Lots of people do not care about sports, including Megan. But Ilyse is here to tell Megan that not-caring about sports is INCORRECT, since sports gives us a window into thinking about religion.
So many nerds wanted to know if religion was inherently bad, or inherently good, or the cause of wars, or the cause of abuse, or the cause of violence, or the cure to violence, or the reason for any number of problems, atrocities, and hardships. We decided to blend those into one question-smoothie and talk about whether or not religion is dangerous.
In which we (mostly Ilyse) yell about how it is possible to be so very INCORRECT about women choosing to get dressed in the morning.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more.
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Happy Gregorian new year, nerds. We recorded this episode before the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran's so-called modesty police. There are, of course, more resources in the shownotes, but we want to especially encourage you to check out the work of journalist Hoda Katebi, the Collective for Black Iranians, and the five-part series on modern Iranian history Profs. Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Golnar Nikpour did for the Dig Podcast.
If you are not yourself Iranian, we also encourage you to NOT make this uprising about your shit. Please don't cut your split ends on social media and call it solidarity, especially if you're not calling on your own country to end its targeting and oppression of Muslims. Iranian activists are leading. It is our duty to listen and learn from them, support them in whatever way they are asking us to support them, and otherwise get the fuck out of their way.
We’re SO GLAD YOU ASKED us why we study religion, why we do this podcast, why we care so much, and why we have alienated a good deal of our family, friends, and pets because we just can’t stop won’t stop talking religion.
Visit keepingit101.com for more!
Is this an episode that will live in infamy? Perhaps, because in it, Ilyse rails against the notion that fandoms can’t possibly be religious by talking Star Wars. May the force be with you, nerds, because the anger in this INCORRECT is so very real.
Megan & Ilyse have talked about chronic illness and disability in passing and in the gone-but-always-in-our-hearts Primary Sources segment, and we’re here to answer a question about how disability works with religion (and how disability studies fits within religious studies).
Find more at keepingit101.com!
In which we (mostly Ilyse) yell about how it is possible lo these many years after 9/11/01 to still be so darn INCORRECT about jihad.
Head over to keepingit101.com for show notes, transcripts, and more!
It’s spooky season, nerds, and we’re so glad you asked us about supposedly secular monsters, scary stories, ghouls and goblins. Shocking no one, we tell you that monsters are rarely just secular specters, and things that go bump in the night are often tied to religious imperialism.
Nerds, nerds, nerds. This is a doozy of an episode, in which we (mostly Megan) tell us why saying “drinking the kool-aid” is so totally not a funny popculture joke about being brainwashed but is instead utterly about race, religion, gender, and anti-Blackness. Saying it after you know more? Deeply INCORRECT.
This is the first SO GLAD YOU ASKED episode. We got a LOT of requests for this one! So today we can’t cite just one nerd, but we’re here to answer the question: “Religion and food: what’s THAT all about?”
Shownotes, transcripts, and more at keepingit101.com.
In which pod inspiration, icon, and aspirational bestie Dr. Hannah McGregor (that's Associate Professor Dr. Hannah McGregor to you, nerds) chats with us about her just published meditations on care, community, and learning: A Sentimental Education
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
This is our first INCORRECT episode, where we kindly but firmly insist that religion does more and different work than you might think that it does. In this one, we challenge some basic assumptions about religion and reproductive justice.
Expanded show notes, transcripts and more at keepingit101.com.
We’re back, dear nerds! New season, new funding, new formats. And we’ve got some explaining—and kicking off—to do.
100k downloads? what is HAPPENING?!?!!!?
You are, nerds, and we appreciate you so much. Thanks for listening.
In which we chat with the hosts of EnGender Conversations about podcasting, public scholarship, and why academic friendship is magic
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
We’ve been around the world and boy are our arms tired. What did we learn this year, nerds?
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Let’s see what the World Religions Paradigm looks like when we talk curating religion with Dr. Andrew Aghapour.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Freddie is our forever champions, but there’s so much more to know about the world’s oldest monotheism. Fulbright scholar and photographer Kainaz Amaria shares her experiences documenting the Parsi community of Mumbai.
Keywords: Parsi, faravahar, Ahura Mazda
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
We’re still working on letting go of desire — and we’ll never stop wanting to learn about Buddhism in Thailand with Dr. Tom Borchert.
Keywords: four noble truths; eightfold path
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Let’s talk about the history and reach of one of the world’s largest religions (and why we think about it as a religion at all), featuring the expertise of Dr. Dixuan Yujing Chen.
Keywords: Buddha, Theravada, Mahayana, buddhas, bodhisattva, devas
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
All IRMF has ever wanted was to live up to the example set by the inimitable Mr. Melvin James Kaminsky. Now’s her chance. Plus Dr. Shari Rabin shares her expertise on American Judaism and its complicated relationship with whiteness.
Keywords: Torah; Talmud; Ashkenazi; Yiddish; Ladino; Sephardi; Mizrahi; Maghrebi
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
What else can we say, nerds?
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
There is so, so much more to Christianity beyond the white U.S. mainstream you can’t help but hear about — and Dr. Jorge J. Rodríguez is here to teach us about it.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
That's right -- there's STILL more to know about the world's second largest religion! Dr. Debra Majeed lends us her insight into Islam, gender, and agency.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
And honestly, there's so much to know! Luckily Drs. Hussein Rashid and Kristian Petersen are here to share their expertise with us.
Keywords: Sunni; Shia/Shi'i; Sufism; caliph
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
"Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Approach to Studying Religion" (6 October 2021)
Being a live recording of our conversation with Dr. Jenny Wiley Legath for the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion at Princeton University. Thanks to Jenny, CCSR Director Jonathan Gold, and all the amazing folks at Princeton for having us!
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
What did you learn this season? Let’s find out as we apply the critique of World Religions to religion and law in the People's Republic of China.
Keywords: Uighurs; house churches; CAA
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
How are contemporary Hindus making sense of their history? Drs. Shreena Niketa Gandhi and Dheepa Sundaram walk us through the complicated and multiple ways lived Hinduism manifests.
Keywords: Dalit; Hindutva
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
A lot, is what. So very much. Dr. Arun Brahmbhatt helps us on a quick tour through the history of Hinduism(s).
Keywords: Hinduism/Hindu traditions; dharma; caste; avatar
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
We are, too! But Dr. Simran Jeet Singh is going to share his wisdom with us.
Keywords: guru, Guru Granth Sahib, gurdwara
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Learning more about Native religion(s) in what’s now the Americas, with the assistance of Dr. Abel Gomez.
Keywords: Indigenous; Mni Wiconi
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Is Shinto an Indigenous religion? Spoilers: it’s complicated. Dr. Jolyon Thomas breaks it down for us.
Keywords: Indigenous; appropriation; kami
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Well, you don’t. But luckily Drs. Fadeke Castor and Akissi Britton do, and they’re here to help us learn more.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
We hate the “world religions” paradigm but we’re stuck with it. So this season, we’re bringing you this problematic approach to studying religion with a side of snark and the assistance of lots of smart folks who know more about these religions than we do!
Homework: is all stuff we've assigned before. You can also go back and review the first few episodes from season 1 for extra credit.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
“Public Humanities, Public Jokes: An Interview with the Killjoys Behind Hit Religion Podcast 'Keeping it 101'” (11 March 2021)
Being a live recording of our conversation with Dr. J. Barton Scott for the Department of the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. Thanks to Bart and all the amazing folks at UT for having us! Watch the video recording of the event here.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
What have we learned this semester? Why did so many smart folks agree to talk to us about so many interesting topics? What happens next? You’ll have to tune in to find out, nerds!
Homework: Go walk some children in nature. Don't forget your sunscreen!
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Guest lecture chat with Prof. Ali Olomi, reigning king of Wednesdays, the smart+fun twitter thread, and host of the Head On History Podcast.
Keyword: jinn (duh)
Homework: Routledge Companion to the Qur'an, eds. George Archer, Maria M. Dakake, and Daniel A. Madigan (forthcoming Sept. 2021)
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
We (mostly Ilyse) show you why there’s way more to know about Islam and Muslims than the life of the Prophet or the latest travel ban.
Keywords: Qur'an, exegesis, hadith, sunnah, shariah
Storytime: from Shahab Ahmed's What is Islam?As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Neither of us are professionally or confessionally equipped to answer this question, so we’re bringing in Prof. Shaily Patel, Assistant Professor of Early Christianity at Virginia Tech and baller scholar of magic & religion.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Can you believe it's been a full freaking year of this mess? Ilyse and Megan do a quick round-up of how religious communities are responding to global crisis AND are re-joined by a very special guest.
Homework: still no, because still having a freaking pandemic. But maybe check out Love Island UK if you need a trashy distraction.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we (mostly Megan) walk you through three things you maybe don't know about early Christianity:
- Christianity was kind of a mistake
- The New Testament is a messy bitch
- Christianity = imperialism
Keywords: BCE/CE, gospels, apocrypha, canon, epistles
Storytime: Becket, Waiting for Godot
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Guest lecture chat with Prof. Anthea Butler, possibly the public face of why you need to care about religion in the US? Most recently the author of White Evangelical Racism(UNC 2021).
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we (mostly Megan) quickly survey the long and sordid history of white supremacy, American politics, and evangelicalism in what’s now the US.
Keywords: racism, white supremacy, evangelicalism
Storytime: Baldwin, from "Letter from a Region in My Mind"
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Guest lecture chat with Prof. Simran Jeet Singh, author of oh so many things, but most recently Fauja Singh Keeps Going, which both NPR and the New York Public Library listed as a top 2020 title.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we talk about why it's important for minoritized scholars to share what they know with the public, why it can be daunting and exhausting and dangerous to do so, and why we're so excited for writer/teacher/scholar/activist Dr. Simran Jeet Singh to join us next time.
Storytime: Sucharov, Public InfluenceAs always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which Ilyse and Megan provide a quick refresher on what we covered in seasons 1& 2 and set up the new format for season 3: intros to public scholarship, white evangelical racism in what's now the US, why early Christianity is way more complicated (and interesting!) than you might know, and why the study of Islam can, should, and does include djinns, magic, and astrology.
Storytime: Mary Hunt's WATERtalk, where she once again teaches us that "together, we are a genius."
Homework: check out the rad work of our season 3 guests & go follow them on twitter -- you won't be sorry.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
Friend of the pod and OG Religion Nerd podcaster Prof. Kristian Petersen made us this incredibly thoughtful compilation of "course evaluations" of the pod!
OUR EMOTIONS, Y'ALL
OUR EMOTIONS
Thanks to Prof. Petersen for pulling together and producing this episode, and to Profs. Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada, Tara Baldrick-Morrone, Richard Newton, Candace Mixon, Shobhana Xavier, Greg Soden, Molly Bassett, Diana Murtaugh Coleman, Simran Jeet Singh, and Shreena Niketa Gandhi for their generous contributions.
Keywords: course evaluations; intersectionality
Homework: if you're not already following KP on the tweeters, he's at @babakristian; get on it. And check out New Books in Religion and New Books in Islamic Studies, for real.
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we review this season's big take-away lessons, reflect on what's working and how we can improve, and get our collective Grinch on.
Homework: have fun!
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which Megan and Ilyse fangirl out at Prof. Weisenfeld, who generously shares her 101 on race, religion, and why historians ARE theorists (even when they think "theory" is some nonsense talk)
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
All aboard the Global Religion+Gender+Sexuality Are Complicated and Historically, Geographically, and Culturally Contingent Express! (We leaned hard into the train jokes for this episode.)
Storytime: Mahmood, from Politics of PietyAs always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we offer you a collage of historical examples about non-men doing religion and insist that all the people who do religion have gender
Keywords: patriarchy, exegesis
Storytime: Bynum, from Gender and Religion As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which Ilyse helps us think about the racialization of Muslims and why racialization of religions in not-the-US is both similar to and different from the American kind
Storytime: Aydin, The Idea of the Muslim WorldAs always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we shock and/or awe you with the ways Americans built race out of religion (also violence -- you know how we do)
Keyword: orientalism
Storytime: Abdul Khabeer, Muslim CoolAs always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we build upon the work of Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw to think about how race-, gender-, and sexuality-based oppressions overlap and inform how our understandings of religion
Keywords: intersectionality, womanism, discrimination, oppression
Storytime: Audre Lorde, "An Open Letter to Mary Daly"
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we are BACK, our Chili Babies! And bringing you a whole new season looking at the intersection(s) of religion, race, gender, and sexuality.
Keywords: social construct, race, racialization, gender
Storytime: Weisenfeld, New World A-ComingAs always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
In which we urge you to join us in using what we have to strike at racism: strike it down, strike at it, strike against it.
Join us in a #ScholarStrike on September 8th and 9th, 2020
PDF transcript available here
More info available in the show notes
In which Megan yells about Not Without My Daughter and why we should care about how American pop culture shapes our understanding of religion, whilst Ilyse tries to keep her from citing All The Things
Keywords: popular culture, pulp, American minority religions
Storytime: Goodwin, Abusing Religion
Homework: ditto
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, transcripts, & more.
In which Dr. Vicki Brennan blows our tiny little minds by teaching us what we miss when we don't listen hard to religion
Keywords: soundscape; acoustemology
Homework: Brennan, Singing Yoruba Christianity
As always, be sure to see the extended show notes for links, definitions, and other hidden gems at keepingit101.com!
In which Ilyse yells about nationalism and religion and why religion and politics are never really separate, whilst Megan agrees emphatically and consumes a bubbly beverage
Keywords: nationalism (especially religious nationalism); election
Storytime: we skipped it! it's summer
Homework: Ramaswamy's The Goddess and the Nation; Baker's The Gospel According to the Klan; and a bunch of other stuff -- come on, you know how we are.
Go to the show notes page at Keepingit101.com for our very, very long list of resources.
In which Megan yells about how the word "cult" gets used to discourage and police radical religious innovation while Ilyse tries to get a word in edgewise.
Storytime: JZ Smith, from Imagining ReligionHomework: Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. But go read them outside -- it's summer!!
Visit keepingit101.com for detailed show notes & more resources!
In which we review what we've learned and what we hope you've learned, dear listeners, in this, our very first season/semester of Keeping It 101
Storytime: Sylvester Johnson, African American Religions 1500-2000Homework: NAH, it's summer break! But we did make some recommendations for religion-related funtime readings.
In which we spill the T on "Drag Race," the prosperity gospel of RuPaul Andre Charles, and why queerness and religion aren't mutually exclusive.
Not a Race Chaser? Definitely check out the show notes for this episode - we have a bunch of images and videos to help you follow along. And after all, if you're not gagging over the lewks these queens are serving, you're only getting half the story, squirrelfriend.
Keywords: queer/ness, ball culture
Homework: it's our longest episode this season! So you know we assigned way too much. Start with Drew Konow's "Contouring for Christ" and Melissa Wilcox's Queer Nuns.
in which we chat with our dear friend and scholar-goals icon Omid Safi, Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University.
Homework: Radical Love, "Sufi Heart," and MLK's Riverside Church speech
In which we discuss who gets to choose their religious belonging, why "spiritual but not religious" gives us the agita, and how--even if you're not religious--religion is lurking under your floorboards.
Keywords: voluntarism, racialization, secular/ism, perennialism
Storytime: Jakobsen and Pellegrini, Love the SinHomework: LOTS, so check out the shownotes. But be sure to look for Patti Miller's Good Catholicseven if you skip everything else.
In which we give you a quick (okay, it's not that quick) rundown on where we're at in this challenging time, what religious communities are doing to respond to the crisis, and how COVID-19 helps us think about our own religiosity.
PLUS very special guest host joins us in the studio to talk about how she's responding to the Coronavirus in her community.
Homework: NOPE. It's a pandemic. Read or watch something fun and distracting! We have lots of recommendations in the shownotes.
In which we think about how personal religious commitments and practices get mediated by the state, why and how millions of Muslims make pilgrimage to Mecca every year, why the Archdiocese of Philadelphia thinks Megan is still Catholic, and why tiny Ilyse tortured her siblings with rice during Pesach
Keywords: religious; hajj; hagiography
Storytime: Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice
In which we talk about WHY we're still talking about "major," "minor," or "world" religions -- because despite those models being racist and imperialist and white supremacist, "religion" can also help minoritized religion access rights and legal protections.
Keywords: Native/Indigenous religions; social construct; agency
Storytime: Wenger, "We Are Guaranteed Freedom"
Homework: Dunbar-Ortiz, Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States; Denison, Ute Land Religion in the American West; Wenger, We Have a Religion; Lewis, Sovereign Entrepreneurs; King, The Truth about Stories; research #NoDAPL, Mauna Kea, and the Wet’suwet’en; read Debbie Reese on land acknowledgements; and find out who's land you're on
In which we discuss the imperialist history of "religion," and ask why it's so major that some religions get minoritized.
Keywords: imperialism;minoritization; structural/epistemic violence
Storytime: JZ Smith, "Religion Is Not a Native Category"
Homework: Tomoko Masuzawa's Invention of World Religions, plus Ilyse and Megan have both written shorter pieces on this topic. Check out the show notes for more info!
In which we discuss why we have to define religion in order to protect it, and who gets left out of those definitions & protections.
Keywords: disestablishment; free exercise
Show & tell: the Satanic Temple's statue of Baphomet
Homework: Sullivan's Impossibility of Religious Freedom; Barringer Gordon's Mormon Question; Cusack's Invented ReligionsPLUS the documentary Hail Satan?AND Ilyse has some resources for more inclusive school calendars -- check out our show notes for more info!
Our very first episode! In which we talk about what the heck religion is, why you should know more about it, and why it's probably more complicated than you think.
Keywords: prescriptive; descriptive; creedal; votive
Storytime: Bellah, from Habits of the HeartHomework: Nye, Religion: The Basics; Martel, Life of Pi; Walker, The Color Purple