Anthropology of Religion

The anthropological study of religion at the University of Toronto draws its strength from a large pool of anthropologists in the Department for the Study of Religion and the intersecting areas of the Department of Anthropology. Foregrounding  ethnographic methods, the field approaches contemporary expressions of religion as both locally situated and entangled with global processes, including the continued legacies of colonialism. Faculty also draw on the tools of historical studies, museum and heritage studies, legal studies, visual and material culture studies, media studies, gender studies, Indigenous studies, textual studies, and social and cultural theory. Current strengths include the anthropology of Christianity, anthropology of Islam, and anthropology of South Asia, as well as religion and law. 

group of people icon   With research interests in the Anthropology of Religion