Editor's Preface

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

Volume 14 Incarnations Article 1

4-15-2005

Editor's Preface

Marcia England University of Kentucky

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/disclosure.14.01

Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure

Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation England, Marcia (2005) "Editor's Preface," disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory: Vol. 14 , Article 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/disclosure.14.01 Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol14/iss1/1

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. Questions about the journal can be sent to [email protected]

editorial collective editorial board 14 Benjamin Agger, Sociology, issue University of Texas, Arlington James Boon, Anthropology, Brandon Absher Princeton University Steve Buttes Matthew Edney, Geography, Rebecca Carey University of South Maine Nancy Fraser, Political Science, Beth Connors-Manke New School for Social Research Sean Dummitt Cynthia Freeland, Philosophy, Annette McGrew University of Houston Dana Nelson Sander Gilman, German/Philosophy, University of Chicago Viva Nordberg Derek Gregory. Geography, Jason Payton University of British Columbia Stephanie Simon Peter-Uwe Hohendahl. German, Cornell University Sarah Tackett Anton Koes, German, Jeff West U.C.-Berkeley Douglas Kellner, Phil. of Education. issue editor: UCLA Dominick LaCapra, History. Marcia England Cornell University Maggie McFadden. Women's Studies. Funding: Appalachian State University Michael Palmer. Poet. University of Kentucky San Francisco Vice-President for Research Ma~orie Perloff. Comparative Literature, and Graduate Studies, the Stanford University Committee on Social Theory, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Anthropology, U.C.-Berkeley and the University of Barney Warf. Geography. Kentucky Student Florida State University Government Association Samuel Weber, German. Northwestern James A. Winders, History, Printing: Appalachian State University Meridian Communications, Irving Zeitlin, Sociology, Lexington, KY University of Toronto

© 2005 by disClosure and the cover photo: Committee on Social Theory Marcia England ISSN 1055-6133 disclosure Artists may retain copyright Arts and Sciences over contributions. No part of 213 Patterson Office Tower this work may be reproduced University of Kentucky or reprinted without written Lexington, KY 40506-0027 consent of both the dc-editor@lsv .uky .edu disclosure editorial collec tive disClosure and the author/ artist. www.uky.edu/AS/SocTheo/DisClosure a journal of social theory no. 14 disclosure a journal of social theory no. 14 incarnations

contents

editor's preface ...... 1

b-Rock Pieta 8 ...... 3

P.R. Dyjak Killing Angels ...... 4

John P. Bartkowski Faithfully Embodied: Religious Identity and the Body ...... 8

Jeff West and Thinking Critically about Science and Religious Claims Viva Nordberg to Science: disC/os11re Interviews 1fassimo Pigliucci ...... 38

Mike Newell Smoking Nuns ...... 60 Untitled ...... 61

Terri Ginsberg Balaga11 and the Politics of Israeli/Palestinian "Identity" ...... 62

Bob 1vfulligan kneeling on sharpened floors ...... 94 Gender Crunching: Parochial Style ...... 97

Barry Massoni Mohammad's Mountain ...... 99

Niame Haitian Vodou Possession and Zombification: Desire r and Return of tl1e Repressed ...... 100

John 1viartin Invocation ...... 126 No Safe Words ...... 127

Elke Streit de Oliveira T he !(now-About-It Trilogy ...... 128 Brian Connors-Manke Religious Sex...... 131 Crosses...... 132 list of contributors ········································· Jeff West and Intellectual Independence: JOHN P. BARTKOWSKI is Professor of Sociology at Nfississippi State Annette McGrew Islamism and the Decentering of Europe: University. Nfuch of his work examines the connections between religion, family, and gender. His most recent books include Charitable Choices: &ligio11, disClosure interviews S. Sayyid ...... 133 Race, a11d Poverry i11 the Post-I F/elfare Era (New York University Press, 2003) and The Promise Keepers: S eroa11ts, S o/diers, and Godb1 Men (Rutgers University Press, Brotherhood ...... 144 2004). Bartkowski is currently completing a book on Latter-day Saint teen Robert Oscar Lopez A Christian Boy and a Proud Man of Color ...... 145 religiosity. Ilis published articles have appeared in Sociology ofReligio11,]011malfor the S cie11tific Study of Religion, S ot:ial Fort:es, The Sociological Quarter&, Gender & Society, and Qualitative Sociology, among other journals. James Wren When I Grow Up ...... 154

book reviews Susan Buck-Morss b-Rock ' Thi~1king Past TetTor: Islamism a11d Critical Theory 011 the Left, STEVE BUTTES is a 11.A./ Ph.D. student in the Department of Hispanic reviewed by] ohn Michael Tilley ...... 156 Studies at the University of Kentucky. His main research interests are Dorothee Soelle nineteenth and twentieth century Latin American novels and poetry, with a ' The Silent Cry: Mysticism and &sista11ce focus on stereotypes, politics and the construction of national identity. . ' reviewed by Sarah E. Tackett ...... 159 BRIAN CONNORS-MANKE's broadcast journalism degree from The R.S. Sugirtharajah, Ohio State University has allowed him the opportunity of frequent travel, and his camera is usually part of the luggage. T11e last two years he's been a Post~olonial Criticism and Biblical I11tetpretatio11, Computer Stats Coordinator for ABC Sports College Football and he was a reviewed by Stephen M. Buttes ...... 163 member of the Monda.Ji Night Football production crew prior to that.

P.R. DYJAK is a poet who has earned a M.A. in English, a 1v1.F.A. in Poetry, a M.A. in Women's Studies, and is currently working on a Ph.D. in English at the University at Albany (SUNY). Her work has appeared in Kalliope, Di11e1~ Capn·ce, Passages North, and other national literary magazines and anthologies. In 2001, her poem "\Xloman \X/ithout a Counuy" was a finalist in the Sue Saniels Elk.ind Poetry contest of Kalliope: a jo11mal of 1110111e11's literature and 011. Her poem "Zero the Gloryl ess" was selected by Pierre Joris as the local winner of tl1e Phyllis Hurd Liston Poetry Prize, sponsored by tl1e American Academy of Poets 2003. Nfs. Dyjak is very interested in feminist spirituality, the web of life, and tl1e way religion teaches people to grant autl1ority to particular structures of power. Her poetics is driven both by concepts and the music of language.

TERRI GINSBERG has taught film, literary and cultural studies at Dartmouth College, Rutgers University, New York University, and the City University of New York. Her published essays appear in journals and editorial MIKE NEWELL is a 24 year old local painter from ~eorget.own, ~entucky, collections such as Violence a11d Amen'ca11 Ci11ema, Imagi11ary Neighbors, "Roma11ci11g who now resides in Lexington. His medium of choice ts acrylic, which he has The Margins?", Journal of Lesbian St11dies, Revie1v of Ed11calio11/Pedagogy/ C11//11ral been working with for approximately seven years. Studies, and I. She is co-editor (with Kirsten 1vfoana Thompson) of the volume, Perspectives 011 Genna11 Ci11ema, and author of a forthcoming VIVA NORDBERG is a Ph.D. candidate in Geography at the University of monograph on the global politics of Holocaust film." Kentucky. Her dissertation examines the history and use ~f life cycle, syste~s, and complexity metaphors in twentieth century geomorphic research, focusm.g ROBERT OSCAR LOPEZ is a professor of American, ethnic, and classical on how these metaphors have constructed and constrained resear~h. This literature at Rutgers University (Camden). Ile writes literary criticism, political project combines her academic interests of geomorphology and the history of columns, and fiction. His first novel, Demagog11e 2037, will be published by the science. Chibcha Press in 2005. His website is http://www.bronzepage.com. MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI is a professor of evolutionary biology a~ SUNY­ JOHN MARTIN is a native of Houston, Texas, where he grew up and Stony Brook on Long Island. I Iis research i.s on genotype-en:ironment attended college, absorbing something of the mythic attitude and the futuristic interactions, and he has published several technical an~ n~n -tec.~cal books aspirations of that place. He later moved to Chicago and spent nine years on biology and science, including De1!)1i1ig Evo/11tio11: Creat10~11s111, S c1e11tu1~1, and the haunting the gothic corridors of an urban graduate program. I Ie's now basking Nature ofSci ence. He can be reached on the web at www.ratlonallyspeaking.org. in the warm southern glow of North Carolina--where he's a visiting instructor of English at Wake Forest University--and finding some time, at last, to write S. SAYYID is University Research Fellow in 'Race', E~city and the poetry that's been wiggling under his skin. Postcolonialism at the University of Leeds. He is currently co-wntl.ng a book, Paradoxes of Racism. BARRY MASSONI is a Northern California photographer who specializes in near abstract nature photography. H:is web site ts ELKE STREIT DE OLIVEIRA was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1973. She http:/ / naturalabstraction.com. graduated in Law from Universidade Gama .Filho in 199~. SI:e also graduated in English and specialized in English Teachmg from Uruvers1dade Federal do ANNETTE MCGREW is a doctoral student in the English Department at Espirito Santo. Nowadays she works as an ~ng~sh teacher and ~anslator. She the University of Kentucky. She coordinates the Committee on Social enjoys reading Brazilian writers such as Clance Lispector and Chico Buarque. Theory's Graduate Student Working Paper Series. SARAH E. TACKETT is a graduate of Tulane University of Ne~v O~leans. She is currently studying for her Master's degree at tlle Uruvers1ty of BOB MULLIGAN is an educator in the field of special education with thirty­ Kentucky. She plans to further her study of English and Social Theory at the one years of teaching, consulting, and program administration to his credit. doctoral level. Sarah is native of Lexington, Kentucky, and spends her spare He has a Ph.D in Educational Psychology from Temple University time enjoying all the "freedom" that President Bush has allotted and academic publications in the areas of adults with learning disabilities, Emericans/Emerica. transition, and the social construction of disability. His poetry has appeared in the Schuylkill literary journal as well as the Poetseers and A Man Overboard online journals. MICHAEL TILLEY is a Philosophy Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky. He is primarily interested in social p~osophy, Kierkegaard, a~d Hegel. His research is directed toward developmg. a ?leory o~ co1nmuruty NIAME recently received her Ph.Din sociology at the University of Oregon. which is capable of resolving the conflict between solidanty and difference. She is currently adjunct faculty at the University of New Mexico. Her areas of expertise include the sociology of culture, social theory, the sociology of religion, and social movements. JEFF WEST is a doctoral student in Geography at the University of Marcia England Kentucky. His research focuses on Islam, politics, and the spatiality of the modem state. Editor's Preface God was big in '04. From the blockbuster success of Mel Gibson's The JAMES WREN is a former professor of Japanese language and literature and Passion of the Chtist in February to the red state/blue state divide in a physician in internal medicine and immmunogenetics, now retired because of November, religion came back into the American vernacular with a lupu ~, Parkinson's Disease, and a genetic seizure disorder. I Ie began writing crea~vely some tw~ years ago. "After finishing three doctoral programs and vengeance. Religion has experienced a resurgence of interest in practically deforesting the entirety of the woodlands of Northeast Asia " he Western popular culture and academia \vithin the past few years, while quips, "What else could I do but write!" "The finer arts of provocation" ~re at the rest of the world has long recognized the political, economic and the c~~ter of most of his r~cent. writings. I-laving relocated from Japan, social implications of religious identification. This incarnation of Hawa11, and more recently Califorrua, Wren now makes his home in the Deep disC/osure examines the role of religion in the production of identity South, round the 'burbs of Birmingham, Alabama. He is in his early forties .. ., from multiple perspectives, looking particularly at how the processes of or as best he can recall these days. religious identification are used to create, mediate, and resist social change. I feel an incredible personal connection to this issue. Even though I am now a staunch atheist, religion has been a huge part of both my academic and 'civilian' identity. Raised Catholic by my mother, I later converted to a non-denominational church \vhen my parents divorced and my father rediscovered religion. This church was later rocked by a series of scandals when the pastor and several elders of the church \Vere charged with sexual misconduct, reports of child abuse were alleged, and a congregation member murdered her child "to free her from demons." After I disentangled myself from this church, I still wanted to give religion a try. All throughout junior high and high school, I attended various churches \vith friends hoping to find a fit. While I eventually abandoned my search and opted instead for atheism, I was still fascinated by the topic, taking class after class on religion throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies. When I \Vas given the opportunity to edit disC/osttre's issue on religion and identity, I jumped at the chance. As always, disC/osure employs an interdisciplinary approach to its exan'lination of social theoretical issues. Our contributors come from disciplines that include Sociology, Biology, Education, English, Japanese Studies and Philosophy. We begin our investigation into religion and identity and its 1nany incarnations 'vith fractal art meant to stimulate the religious imagination. From here, "incarnations" begins England its journey into the construction of personal, familial, community and b-Rock national identities through a variety of mediums: poetry, prose, Pieta 8 photographs and paint. On behalf of the editorial collective, I welcome you to the latest edition of disC/os11re. (fractal) acknowledgments disC/osure is not possible without the effort of a number of people who sign up for a lot more than a semester's worth of work. I would like to thank the editorial collective for their support, enthusiasm and humor. Professor Dana Nels on, our faculty advisor, provided much­ appreciated advice and grounding during the beginning of this journey (we miss you). She taught us what it meant to be both critical and collegial. I would like to thank Professor Virginia Blum for the seemingly endless energy she pumps into the Committee on Social Theory and Chris Wolcott for answering question after question without complaint. Jeff West deserves a whoop-whoop for his editing endeavors. Thank you to Brandon Absher and Stephanie Simon, who had to deal with my anxiety over every editorial decision. Danny Mayer and I

The Committee on Social Theory, the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Student Government Association provided the funding for this issue of disC/os11re. Thank you for your support year after year.

Finally, and most sincerely, thank you to all our contributors for their hard work and creativity.

2 3