Date of Award
August 2018
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Religion
Advisor(s)
Zachary J. Braiterman
Keywords
Activism, Intersectionality, Religious Studies, Theology, Womanism, Women's and Gender Studies
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities
Abstract
My thesis explores the methodological and political im/possibilities opened up by the incorporation of feminist theory and WGS into the study of religion. Drawing on intersectional feminist scholarship, my thesis will be organized around case studies of feminist and womanist scholarship in the study of religion and theological studies in order to examine the history of how feminist theory became institutionalized within the academic study of religion and theology, fields that are both masculine and hierarchical in structure, in order to locate the possible limitations this institutionalization has for creating space for political activism. In addition to religious studies, I will be drawing from theological studies because feminist approaches to scholarship on religion first appeared in theological works, while also drawing on works from different periods in time in order to discern shifting historical trends in feminist scholarship. My analysis of the scholarship in my case studies will take a comparative approach that is framed by the assumption that feminist scholarship is inherently political due to its focus on representation and power.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Hains, Hayden Elizabeth, "THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE FORMATION AND LIMITATION OF FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION" (2018). Theses - ALL. 261.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/261
