An anthropologist of religion shows how Coptic Christians navigate two competing realities: the narrative of Christian persecution abroad and the suspicion surrounding migrants in the contemporary US.
Lukasik writes about the contradictory position of those US Xns who advocate for the “persecuted church” but also vote maga.
“…my research shows how two realities - the narrative Christian persecution abroad and the suspicion surrounding migrants in the [US] - collide in the lives of Copts.”
This is very cool! Check out my @us.theconversation.com article in print!
Wow! I had no idea it was in print! Thank you for sharing—which paper is this?
Aram, come to Buffalo and let this forever Buffalonian show you how it is done.
china sajadian, debt and refuge: syrian farmworkers and the politics of displacement in lebanon www.sup.org/books/middle... hooray!
Check out Arab Americana, an awesome new journal founded by Dr. Edward E. Curtis IV! The journal is currently issuing a call for papers for their first issue.
www.psupress.org/journals/jnl...
Allah yebarik fek! 🙏🏼Hope all is well, Michael!
Many thanks to Mississippi State University for sharing the news on "Martyrs and Migrants" being awarded the Alixa Naff Prize in Migration Studies!
@nyupress.bsky.social
@khayrallahcenter.bsky.social
www.msstate.edu/newsroom/art...
Thank you, Phil, for tagging me in this! I received a comment to my @us.theconversation.com article arguing that, if evangelicals “saw” MENA Christians as persecuted Christians (in the US, or here in Palestine) then their responses would be different. That politics of perception is interesting to me
on limits: the critiques of homogeneity and the disclosure of traditions in secularism studies spectrajournal.org/articles/10.... looks great
Thank you for reading, Phil! 🙏🏼
Many thanks to @us.theconversation.com for the invitation to write this piece on "Martyrs and Migrants."
"American politicians talk about persecuted Christians abroad-but here’s what happens when those Christians migrate to the US."
@nyupress.bsky.social
@csraac.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/3mf3ezhr
Looking forward to my visit to Northwestern University at the end of April! Many thanks to Elizabeth Shakman Hurd for this very generous invitation.
Please join us if you are in the Chicago area!
@nyupress.bsky.social
@csraac.bsky.social
planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/640909
As bombs sink metallic toxins into the earth and destroyed oil refineries send chemicals into the air, coating whole cities, we are thinking of the many harms caused by war's environmental violence as well as its military force. We've been here before: www.culanth.org/fieldsights/...
An intriguing book sponsered by a colleague, which may be of interest to some here. Spiro Jabbour was a Syrian Christian deacon writing in the 70s and 80s who sought an encounter between theology and psychoanalysis. Aaron Eldridge translated and edited this book, and Omnia El Shakry blurbed it.
Thrilled to share this news and grateful to the @khayrallahcenter.bsky.social for this recognition!
@nyupress.bsky.social
I’m also very much looking forward to visiting the @uvmvermont.bsky.social next week for a book talk on "Martyrs and Migrants" @nyupress.bsky.social.
Here are the details:
Date: Tuesday, March 3
Time: 3:30–5:00 PM
Location: Lafayette 210
If you are in the area, I’d love to see you there.
Next Friday, I’ll be giving a book talk on “Martyrs and Migrants” in the Department of Religious Studies at UVA! Please join us!
religiousstudies.as.virginia.edu/candace-luka...
American #religion is changing, and we need more than hot takes and simple graphs. @USCCRCC is launching a multi-pronged effort to get better stories out there. Including journalism fellowships.
dornsife.usc.edu/crcc/stories...
#cfp We are seeking papers for both a pre-conference workshop for New England-based anthropology PhD Students and early career faculty (March 27) and paper proposals for two panels (all ranks) (March 28). Due by 02.23.2026. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Interested in the YSAR program? Check out some of the different things our past and current members are working on!
From book talks to podcasts, YSAR members are sharing their work in many ways!
Learn more about YSAR: raac.indianapolis.iu.edu/programs/you...
Looking forward to my talk at Yale University with the Middle Eastern and North African Cultural Community (MENACC) next month!
Many thanks to the @curabu.bsky.social for organizing this book talk and conversation in early March! If you’re in Boston, consider joining us: www.bu.edu/cura/2025/12...
Sinan Antoon’s ‘Of Loss and Lavender’
In this conversation over e-mail, Sinan Antoon talks about the novel, the fraught nature of collective memory, the process of self-translation, and the sort of “security checkpoints” a book must pass through in the process of translation.
Absolutely thrilled to be working with Leonard McKinnis on this project, “The Idea of Diaspora in the Study of American Religion”! Many thanks to the @aarweb.bsky.social for their support!
Worn papyrus with drawings of figures, symbols, and writing in Coptic. More here https://smarthistory.org/coptic-magical-text/
Coptic spell to Acquire a Beautiful Voice, 6th–7th century CE, Egypt, ink on papyrus, 37.3 x 25.4 cm (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven)
archives.yale.edu/repositories...
"[A MEMORY OF VIOLENCE's] analysis of early Christian conflicts has furthermore taken shape against the backdrop of ever more polarized U.S. political conversations..."
Read an excerpt with author's note from A MEMORY OF VIOLENCE by Christine Shepardson: www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/e...
#SCS2026
NEW MIDDLE EAST BRIEF: DISAPPEARANCE OR RECONFIGURATION? THE FUTURE OF MIDDLE EASTERN CHRISTIANS
@clukasik.bsky.social argues that focusing on population decline alone obscures how Christian communities are actively reconfiguring their presence and authority.
Read Here: brandeis.edu/crown/public...
