University in Flames

Ecologies of Scholarship in the Study of Religion

Edited by Teemu Taira

Book cover: University in Flames

Extent: 218 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Religious Studies, Social Sciences 

Series: NAASR Working Papers

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(August 2026)

ISBN: 9781800507968

6.14 x 9.21 inches

Price: $32.00

In stock

Hardback (Published)

(August 2026)

ISBN: 9781800507951

6.14 x 9.21 inches

Price: $100.00

In stock

This volume asks, in what ways do specific educational, institutional, and broader social locations and environments inform perspectives on religion and the contours of scholarly debate?


Neoliberalism and authoritarian populism are some of the main forces endangering contemporary universities. This applies to the study of religion in several ways. The numbers of new tenured positions and students are going down in North America, but some departments suffer more than others. What is required is a careful reflection on the current working conditions and an examination of future of the field. This volume asks, in what ways do specific educational, institutional, and broader social locations and environments inform perspectives on religion and the contours of scholarly debate? Based on surveys and self-consciously personal observations of various university settings, explorations of research environments, and investigations of dissemination platforms, these personal contributions from different career stages exemplify the dynamic between forces shaping academia today and individuals navigating in their situation while constructing a better future for themselves and the field of study. Examining the elements that comprise the ecology of the field provides opportunities to sharpen our scholarly pursuits.

Table of Contents

1 University in Flames: An Introduction 1

Teemu Taira

2 A Different Type of Climate Crisis: Thinking and Teaching with Critical Interdisciplinarity When the University is on Fire 11

Leslie Dorrough Smith

Institutional Climate

3 Religious Studies is Not Natural; or, Climate Changes for the “Critical” Study of “Religion” 31

Matthew C. Baldwin

4 Imagining Religion: From Chicago to Topeka 58

Chris Jones

5 Navigating Shaky Ground: An Environmental Survey of the Study of Religion in Canada 70

Chris Miller

6 Religious Studies in the Built Environment of Higher Education in North America 86

Rita M. Lester

Research Environment

7 In and of the Research Environment: Mennonites, Latin America, and Religious Studies 93

Rebecca Janzen

8 Whither the Settler in the Transdisciplinary Study of Religion? 100

Stacie Swain

9 Historical Sites and Memory: Physical Sites as Research Environments 112

Allison Isidore

10 The Scholarly Built Environment 120

Sarah Dees

Dissemination Platform

11 Predatory Journals and the Middle Eastern Academy: Orientalism in Disguise? 127

Edith Szanto

vi • University in Flames

12 “Anticapitalist Manifesto” or “Social-Democratic Bedtime Story”? Diverse Platforms and Diverging Interpretations of Karl Polanyi’s

The Great Transformation 138

Thomas J. Carrico, Jr.

13 On Ghosts and Trees: The Supreme Court as an Arborescent, Haunted Dissemination Platform 148

Jacob Barrett

14 Displaying Religion: History, Holy, or Religion? 160

Trevor Linn

15 Platform Capitalism, Subjugated Knowledges, and the Myth of Pre-Mediated Scholarship 170

Lauren Horn Griffin

Sociocultural Location

16 Can We Be Self-Reflexive? Scrutinizing Our Sociocultural Position 179

Vaia Touna

17 Ethnography in a Fishbowl: Reflections on Scholarly Embeddedness 188

Mary Hamner

18 When Life Happens: An Exploration into Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Concept and Graduate Research 195

Xochiquetzal Luna Morales

19 Reflexivity, the Religious Studies Habitus, and Institutional Constraints 203

Sean McCloud

Index 207

  • Edited by Teemu Taira