David Gordon, Spring 2009
Visiting Scholar from the History Department of Bowdoin College. "Ancestors of a Nation: the Political Imagination in Zambian History." His first book Nachituti’s Gift: Economy, Society, and Environment in Central Africa (University of Wisconsin Press 2006) was finalist for the Melville J. Herkovits Award for Best Book in African Studies and has been hailed as a major contribution to the field. His project based on current field research in Africa illuminates the political nature of seemingly religious practices and the religious nature of political practices, challenging the accepted narrative of political secularism. During his residence at Rice, Dr. Gordon will teach a course in the history department and will contribute to the African Studies Workshop.  

Carol Harrison, Spring 2009
Visiting Scholar from the Department of History at the University of South Carolina. “Restoring Catholicism in Post-revolutionary France: Gender, Belief, and Secularization.” Examining the intersections between faith, feminism, and citizenship, her research assesses the dual role of religion in shaping the lives of families and in limiting women’s citizenship in the aftermath of Revolutionary dechristianization. During her fellowship term, Dr. Harrison will teach a course in history cross listed with the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality.

Avery Kolers, Spring 2009
Visiting Scholar from the Philosophy Department of University of Louisville, Kentucky. "A Political Theory of Individual Responsibility." Emerging out of his first book, Other People's Land (forthcoming Cambridge UP), his current project undertakes to understand the significance of notions that ascribe responsibility to individuals within institutions—notions such as participation, complicity, and implication. The project asks when our moral agency is determined by a group rather than by ourselves. At Rice, Dr. Kolers will teach a course in the Philosophy Department.

Gerardo Marti, Fall 2008
Visiting Scholar from the Department of Sociology of Davidson College. “Congregational Diversity and Worship Music.” Author of Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church (Rutgers UP, in press) and A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church (Indiana UP, 2005), Dr. Marti will examine the intersection of race, religion and music in light of the desire among some church leaders to promote congregational diversity. He hopes to lay the groundwork for understanding what kind of music may accelerate racial and ethnic variety in churches. At Rice, he will teach a course on race and religious faith cross listed in religious studies and sociology. Click here to download the course flier for RELI 327.