Feminists Talk Religion

In this special episode of Feminists Talk Religion, part of the ongoing Trans Studies in Religion and Feminism mini-series by El/yse Ambrose, contributors collectively reflect on the publication of a new discipline-defining text, Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Studies in Religion (edited by Melissa M. Wilcox), and discuss their contributions to the volume and key conversations in the study of religion through trans and queer lenses. Featured voices include Laurel Zwissler, Janet Jakobsen, Elizabeth Pérez, Kori Pacyniak, Justin Sabia-Tanis, Dani Dempsey, and Kathryn Phillips. This episode was recorded at the 2026 University of California Riverside Conference on Queer and Trans Studies in Religion.

In this first episode of our “Trans Studies in Religion and Feminism” series, Dr. Melissa M. Wilcox talks to us about blazing trails and creating space for queer and trans voices in the study of religion.Dr. Wilcox is Professor and Holstein Family and Community Chair of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author or editor of several books and journal issues, and numerous articles, on gender, sexuality, and religion. Her books include Coming Out in Christianity: Religion, Identity, and Community; Sexuality and the World's Religions; Queer Women and Religious Individualism; Religion in Today's World: Global Issues, Sociological Perspectives; and Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody. They are the co-editor of QTR: A Journal of Trans and Queer Studies in Religion. 

Listen to our conversation with Dr. Peter Mena, author of a book on Late Antique Christian Lives read through Borderland Theory. We discuss the hagiographical desert as a metaphor for identities, Latinex theories in Religious Studies, writing and publishing your first monograph. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge of violence and hate against Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders. Even so, anti-Asian racism remains largely invisible in academic, religious, and public spaces. On November 18, 2022, panelists at the SBL/AAR Annual Meeting in Denver, CO examined the complex ways feminist studies in religion are entangled with this problem and must decolonize in order to be effective in anti-racist work. Panelists also explored the ways Asian and AAPI feminist scholars of religion contend with race and racism in their scholarship. This panel session is a part of the ongoing anti-racism initiative of Feminist Studies in Religion, Inc., the organization of scholars that publishes the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Presided by Grace Ji-Sun Kim, other panelists include Rachel A. R. Bundang, Tamara C. Ho, Vijaya Nagarajan, and Najeeba Syeed-Miller.

What do we wish we'd known before starting a Ph.D. as an international student? In what ways can higher-education institutions better support international students and scholars? In Part 2 of this conversation, Esther Parajuli, a Nāga - Nepalese professor of Christan Theology in Kentucky, and Seong Huyn Lee, a Korean pastor and academic coach based in New Mexico offer insight into necessary changes for the international community. They are interviewed by Naiara Leão, a Brazilian Ph.D. student in the US and the UK. 

Listen to Part 1 of a vulnerable and sincere conversation about the ambivalences of being an international student or scholar: the joys and the pains, the language and cultural barriers, the fragmentation of our identities, and the wisdom that emerges from these experiences.The podcast explores all of these themes and more in an interview by Naiara Leão (a Brazilian Ph.D. student in the US and the UK) with Esther Parajuli, a Nāga-Nepalese professor of Christian Theology in Kentucky, and Seong Huyn Lee, a Korean pastor and academic coach based in New Mexico.

What does decolonization or even postcolonialism and anticolonialism mean for WOC in our respective fields? How can these concepts be used to explore shared goals or possibilities for solidarity and collective liberation? This episode debates how women of color are decolonizing their fields.

What is the purpose of a feminist scholarship? Is it possible to write about gender-based violence without being an activist against it? How can feminist scholarship produce socially engaged works?Departing from Hammer`s book, this group of scholars debate engaged scholarship and feminist practices.

In this episode, black queer femme performer, storäe michele (they/she), reflects on themes of uncomfortable truth-telling and intergenerational healing in their "practice in black femme freedom-making" through film. Learn more at www.storaemichele.com.

In this episode, Dr. Celene Ibrahim reflects on her experience as a chaplain, educator, and scholar. Ibrahim challenges us to combat stigma around mental health and pursue wellness through authentic and curious relationships--with religious texts and traditions as well as with our fellow persons and students.

In this episode, Isabel Mareş shares her passion for the arts, community engagement, religion, and storytelling with attentiveness to accessibility and grounding in nature.

In this episode, Reverend Brittany Powell shares her journey and insights into holistic being through empowered spirituality. Reverend Brittany helps us think about how family, faith, and culture are essential to facing our traumas and developing a more integrated self. 

In this episode, Monét Noelle Marshall-- director, playwright, actor, curator, cultural organizer, producer, filmmaker, and consultant-- shares her commitment to her art in connection with her spiritual and black feminist lineage. Learn more at http://www.monetnoellemarshall.com/.

For the first episode of our “Feminism, Religion, and Mental Health:” Mini-series, Chaplains Lynne Faust and Ilisia Kissner discuss their journey of becoming mental health chaplains and how identifying as feminist and womanist shapes their religious identity and work.  

For the first episode of our "Feminism, Religion, and Art" mini-series, Autumn Brown, self-described "mother, organizer, theologian, artist, and facilitator" discusses the intersection of her many identities, her storytelling process, and how feminism functions as a spiritual practice.

Dr. Nikky Singh describes her experience growing up in the academic world, moving from India to the United States, attending her first AAR conference, and reclaiming the liberative spirit of Sikh sacred texts.

Working at a meatpacking plant can be dangerous and exhausting. That is the reality of Latino and refugee workers in this industry, who turn to their faith to cope with the difficulties of the workplace. In this episode, Kristy Nabhan-Warren discusses her research with a community of mostly immigrant workers in the Midwest. We also talk about the surprises, messiness, and nuances that emerge in ethnographical research, and about feminist scholarship and teaching as a tool for liberation. 

Research, Teaching, Service: this is the quintessential academic triad. But what happens when we add COVID-19 to one's academic activity? From the personal to the political, three religion scholars—Susan Woolever (ABD), Dr. Amy Derogatis, and Dr. Mary Foskett—discuss the impact of COVID-19 on their work, their institutions, and their lives.

Three New Testament Scholars, A Womanist, A White Feminist, and an Indian Postcolonial Feminist, discuss the issues of our time and what it means to build a multi racial coalition within the academy to begin to dismantle the whiteness within our institutions, our scholarship, and the world.Dr. Sharon Jacob: Assistant Professor of New TestamentDr. Angela N. Parker: Assistant Professor of New Testament and GreekDr. Karri L. Whipple: Faculty Fellow in Global Works and Society

 This podcast features a FSR-sponsored American Academy of Religion panel from 2018 where panelists reflect on what they wish they’d know as students and early career scholars.

In this honest and deeply human podcast episode, Colby College senior, Tori Paquette, tells the story of how and why she left evangelicalism. For more on the subject, in Tori's own words, see the following blog: http://boldbrightbeautiful.com/not-evangelical/?fbclid=IwAR2SOL_DMkDAuLbcdgYOvw6a3hFVa4oUPTYL0g858Htz4m20wYyBAbTuPT8. Interview by Sarah Emanuel. 

This week's bonus episode interrogates the social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially towards the Asian and Asian American population in the United States. Within the U.S. the coronavirus disease has not only uncovered how human systems and treatment of the world have historically caused earthly harm, but also how social strain exposes cultural brokenness, agitates interpersonal animosity, and incites racist violence.

This podcast opens up space to talk about liberationist hermeneutics within the field of Religious Studies and the subfield of Biblical Studies. Some questions we ask include: what are liberationist hermeneutics? What are its lineages (within your respective speciality/area/focus)? What does it do? What does it limit? Can we be feminist scholars without maintaining a liberationist lens? Why/why not? Who gets to say? What are areas of tension or contention? What do you imagine are areas of promise within your discipline or religious study as a whole?

This podcast introduces narrative as crucial to the knowledge and support of feminist voices in the field of religious studies. This episode focuses on a scholar’s story including how who they are has shaped and/or helped determine their interests and feminist position, their emergence in the field, their hopes for the field, and their hopes for the direction of their work.

Feminists Talk Religion is a podcast elevating the stories, scholarship, conversations, and impact of feminists, especially women, in the field of religious studies and beyond. This introduction offers a conversational glimpse into the imagination behind and hope for the podcast.Co-hosted by Sarah Emanuel and Oluwatomisin “Tomi” Oredein