Race and religion in the Americas

Race and religion in the Americas
Rice University Press to publish new journal

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News Staff

The Journal of Race and Religion in the Americas has recently succeeded in one of the biggest challenges for any journal trying to get off the ground: it found a publisher.

Created by Rice University faculty, the journal is devoted to the study of race and religious experience in the American hemisphere,

Rice University Press recently announced it will publish the journal in print and on its unique online platform, made possible by Connexions. Through the innovative online format, the journal will be able to include sound and video recordings that will enhance the experience of the reader, providing concrete examples of the topics explored.

Founded by Anthony Pinn, the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and professor of Religious Studies, and Michael Emerson, the Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Professor of Sociology, the journal will be a venue for scholarship on race and religion within national boundaries and the challenges that exist in studying it.

“We have had conversations about the intersection of race and religion,” Pinn said, “Now we want to expand that conversation and include more people. We think the journal will give scholars in a variety of disciplines a place to come together and talk about these important issues.”

The first issue, due out in 2009, will be a collection of invited essays, but Pinn and Emerson expect the journal to remain flexible and evolve as the field grows.

“Work included in the journal will raise new questions about how race and religion interact,” Emerson said. “There is an opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration