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FAITH AND CHANGE IN COMMUNITIES OF PERIL by MALORI ANN MUSSELMAN A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of PolitiCal SCience and the Graduate SChool of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy DeCember 2020 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Malori Ann Musselman Title: Faith and Change in Communities of Peril This dissertation has been aCCepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of PolitiCal SCience by: Joseph Lowndes Chairperson Anita Chari Core Member Gerald Berk Core Member Marsha Weisiger Institutional Representative and Kate Mondloch Interim ViCe Provost and Dean of the Graduate SChool Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate SChool. Degree awarded DeCember 2020 ii © 2020 Malori Ann Musselman iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Malori Ann Musselman Doctor of Philosophy Department of PolitiCal SCience DeCember 2020 Title: Faith and Change in Communities of Peril While social and climate sCientists alike have attempted to present the crucial faCts of climate change, their urgent warnings have seemingly resulted in comparatively little politiCal aCtion. In this projeCt, I investigate the interseCtions of faith, environmental justiCe, and speCulative futures in both Christian and popular literature and media in the US. Utilizing analysis based in interpretive methodologies and my own experience as a politiCal educator and organizer, I analyze speCifiC narratives in works of faith and fiCtion—eaCh attempting to address environmental apocalypse, colleCtive struggles for survival, and the processes of building livable futures—as works of politiCal theory. I examine literary and cultural texts and consider ideas, values, beliefs, and strategies for surviving and adapting in the faCe of varying potent apocalypses. I speCifiCally explore narratives in sermons and sCriptural interpretations, novels, televised series, and podcasts as well as the strategies and processes presented to aChieve artiCulated visions of the future. Additionally, I examine how storyteller-aCtivists are defining and mobilizing speCifiC communities in the faCe of climate disaster. My projeCt provides a novel aCCount of the intriCate relationships between storytelling and propheCy, embodied experience, and on the ground politiCal organizing in the US. My research seeks to identify praCtiCal iv strategies in hopes of faCilitating movement through melancholiC lamentation and doom and into sustained, creative politiCal organizing. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Malori Ann Musselman GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon San Diego State University, San Diego, California California State University, Bakersfield, California DEGREES AWARDED: PhD, PolitiCal SCience, 2020, University of Oregon MS, PolitiCal SCience, 2015, University of Oregon MA, PolitiCal SCience, 2011, San Diego State University BA, PolitiCal SCience, 2008, California State University, Bakersfield AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: AmeriCan PolitiCs Culture & Identity PolitiCs Interpretive Methodologies Religion & PolitiCs Local PolitiCs & Community Organizing INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCE: Issue Based Organizing for Contingent FaCulty, AFT-WA, Summer 2019 States’ Rights and Wrongs, University of Oregon, Winter 2019 PolitiCal Organizing for Educators, GTFF/AFT-OR, Summer 2018 US PolitiCal Thought, University of Oregon, Fall 2017 State and Local Government & PolitiCs, University of Oregon, Winter 2017 Problems in US PolitiCs, University of Oregon, Spring 2016 DISCUSSION LEADER EXPERIENCE: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, University of Oregon Introduction to Traditional PolitiCal Theory, University of Oregon Introduction to US PolitiCs, University of Oregon Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Oregon PolitiCs of the Body, University of Oregon Problems in US PolitiCs, University of Oregon State and Local Government and PolitiCs, University of Oregon AmeriCan and California Government and PolitiCs, San Diego State University vi PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Campaign Manager, EleCt Laurie Trieger, Jan. 2020 to Nov. 2020 Organizer, United ACademiCs of Oregon State University, Feb. 2019 to Jan. 2020 Graduate Employee, University of Oregon, Sept. 2012 to June 2020 TeaChing Assistant, San Diego State University, Aug. 2009-Aug. 2011 Program Coordinator, First 5 Kern, Aug. 2008-Aug. 2009 PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS: Musselman, Malori A., Andrea P Herrera, Diego Contreras-Medrano, Dan MiChael Fielding, NiCole A. FrancisCo, Larissa PetrucCi. 2020. “Dissonant DisCourses in Institutional CommuniCations on Sexual Violence.” Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy, Vol. 41, Iss. 2: DOI:10.1080/1554477X.2019.1697120 Alison Gash, Daniel TiChenor, Angelita Chavez & Malori A. Musselman. 2018.“Framing kids: children, immigration reform, and same-sex marriage.” Politics, Groups, and Identities, Vol. 8, Iss. 1: 44-70, DOI:10.1080/21565503.2018.1441721 OTHER PUBLICATIONS: Fenton, Caela, Lisa Fink, Katrina Maggiulli, Alexis MCDonald, Malori A. Musselman, Nate Otjen, Turner Tobey, Adam Vernon. 2019. “Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena María Viramontes Common Reading TeaChing Guide.” University of Oregon. SY 2019-2020. PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS: Musselman, Malori. “Resistance and Response to Environmental Disaster: The Handmaid’s Tale and the Power of Storytelling.” Just Futures: SpeCulative Arts and Social Change Symposium. November 22, 2019. Corvallis, Oregon. Musselman, Malori. “Religion, Resistance and Response to Environmental Disaster in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.” AmeriCan PolitiCal SCience Association. August 31, 2019. Washington, D.C. Musselman, Malori and NiCole A. FrancisCo. “Art of Living Art: Materials of Transformation.” Western PolitiCal SCience Association. April 14, 2017. Vancouver, BC. Canada. Herrera, Andrea, Diego Contreras-Medrano, Dan Fielding, NiCole FrancisCo, Malori Musselman, Larissa PetrucCi. “Shifting DisCourses of Risk: OffiCial University CommuniCations Regarding Sexual Violence.” PaCifiC SociologiCal Association. April 9, 2017. Portland, OR. Yamin, PrisCilla, Erin E. BeCk, Angelita Chavez, and Malori A. Musselman. “Breaking vii DisCiplinary Silences on RaCe, Gender, and Sexuality.” Roundtable Conversation Hosted by Lisa Beard and the University of Oregon Department of PolitiCal SCience. May 19, 2016. Eugene, OR. Musselman, Malori A. “Planting Diverse Seeds: Faith-Based Environmentalism.” Western PolitiCal SCience Association. March 26, 2016. San Diego, CA. Musselman, Malori A. and Jen Seelig, University of Utah (Co-Hosts). “Interpretive Methods and Methodologies: The Methods Café.” Co-Sponsored by Qualitative Methods with DisCussants Dvora Yanow, Wagenigen University and Peregrine SChwartz-Shea, University of Utah. AmeriCan PolitiCal sCience Association. September 3, 2015. San FrancisCo, CA. Musselman, Malori A. “Prayer as Protest: EvangeliCal-based Environmentalism.” 2014 University of Oregon Graduate Student Research Forum. March 7, 2014. Eugene, OR. TiChenor, Daniel J., Alison Gash, Angelita Chavez, and Malori A. Musselman. “Children of Reform: The Transformation of Immigration and Gay PolitiCs.” Western PolitiCal SCience Association. April 17, 2014. Seattle, WA. Musselman, Malori A. “Regulation of a PolitiCized Canvas: Taking the Body from the State.” Midwestern PolitiCal SCience Association. April 6, 2014. ChiCago, IL. Musselman, Malori. Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies: “ACtivism Against Gender- Based Violence.” University of Oregon. Invited Talk. Musselman, Malori. Feminist Theory: “Cyborgs & Cyberfeminisms.” University of Oregon. Invited Talk. Musselman, Malori. Women and PolitiCs: “Women and Welfare in the US.” University of Oregon. Invited Talk. GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate TeaChing Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2012-2020 Center for Study of Women in Society, Travel, University of Oregon, 2017 William C. MitChell Research SCholarship, University of Oregon, 2015-2016 James Klonoski TeaChing Assistant Award, University of Oregon, 2015 Regina V. Polk Labor Leadership Award, Regina V. Polk SCholarship, 2015 Terhune SCholarship, San Diego State University, 2009-2011 Outstanding Graduate in PolitiCal SCience, CSU, Bakersfield, 2008 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project is rooted in many people and places and is truly a collective endeavor. I am grateful for the hours of input, guidance, and support from so many wonderful people, spaces, and places. Particularly, I want to acknowledge the San Joaquin Valley (Yokuts)— whose people, work, food, and faith directly led to this project. It was the simultaneously life-sustaining and deadly dust of the ground that shaped my concern for this Earthly environment. I am also deeply indebted to my family of origin. Your empathy and resilience in the face of unfathomable and repeated trauma showed me how to love and care for myself and others. Thank you for talking me through all my long drives, telling me the stories that sustained me, and for all the ways you shaped me and my ability to adapt, change, and survive. To my Mama and my Dad, it was your hard labor that taught me how to find my passion. To my Seastar, I love you forever. To my niblings, you are amazing and wonderful people and I love seeing how you shape this world. To my brother Chris, I wish I could have told you that your letters from prison are what gave me the courage to leave home and start the long, emotional trek north for graduate