Stripper Spirituality

Ever wondered what spirituality is like for a stripper? Maybe, maybe not. But I am still willing to bet you'd be interested in the ins and outs of "stripper theology." 

In my newest post at #FaithGoesPop, I explore what theology and lived religion looks like for strippers. Drawing from both public comments, and an interview, with three strippers, past and present, who reflected on their work in New Orleans and Orange County, CA I relate stripper theology, as such, to a wider trend in American religion. 

Read more here or follow me @kchitwood for more #FaithGoesPop

NEW Essays: Global Islamic Reformism & Religion in the Black Atlantic

What does conservative Islam reformism look like in Yemen? In South Asia? In Egypt? In the United States? Do they differ in significant ways? Or, is Islamic reformism an unstoppable transnational religious force that erases all signs of local adaptation and innovation in its wake? In this essay I present a mosaic approach to assessing global Islamic reformism as a way to balance the contestation and agreement between translocal and local expressions of Islamic neofundamentalism worldwide. 

Read it at Academia.edu

As is evinced by the above paper on Islam, approaches are important. The "Black Atlantic" is a diverse and wide-ranging, trans-Atlantic, and multi-hemispheric discipline that requires careful thought and various approaches to apperceive the various religious currents at work across it. In this paper, I examine four approaches to religion in the Black Atlantic, paying special attention to Candomblé, Umbanda, sorcery/witchcraft, and Vodou. 

Read it at Academia.edu