Campus & Community

CSWR hosts 27 fellows at Divinity School

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The Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at the Divinity School will host 27 fellows during the 2002-03 academic year. Established in 1958, CSWR fosters excellence in the study of world religions on the broadest scale and from many perspectives. International in composition and subject matter, CSWR facilitates the exchange of ideas growing out of scholarly research. The CSWR Senior Fellowship Program provides scholars with the time for investigation and access to the vast resources of the University.

In addition to its fellowship Program, CSWR hosts Dissertation Fellows, Doctoral Studies Fellows, and Fellows-in-Residence, all of whom are selected from a competitive pool of Harvard doctoral students. Additionally, CSWR provides Harvard seniors with the opportunity to participate through the Undergraduate Thesis Fellowship. Successful candidates are chosen based on the excellence of their proposed research in religion. Having its own residential, meeting, and study facilities, CSWR offers many of its fellows the option of residence at the center and a focal point for scholarly exchange.

The 2002-03 CSWR Senior Fellows and their research topics

Alanna Cooper, “Silencing the Periphery to Write a History of Jewish Peoplehood: The Jews of Bukhara, Yemen, Georgia, and Kurdistan Talk Back”

Michael Cohen, “Abuse of Power in Religion and Medicine: Legal and Ethical Perspectives”

Ellen Schattschneider, “Facing the Dead: Paradoxes of Resemblance in Japanese Spirit Marriage”

Barbara Potrata, “An Ethnographic Study of New Age Healing in Slovenia”

Philip Arnold, “The Mistaken Connection Between Wampum and Money in U.S. History”

Kevin Schilbrack, “Building Bridges Between the Philosophy of Religion and Other Approaches to Understanding, Explaining, and Comparing Religions”

Nancy Schultz, “Mrs. Mattingly’s Cure and Other Wonders: Roman Catholic Miracles in the Early 19th Century American Republic”

Tulasi Srinivas, “In(Dia)logue: Hinduism, Hierarchy, Memory, and Social Change in a High-Tech Indian City”

Monni Adams, “Ritual and Religious Practice in the Forest Zone of West Africa”

Doris Salcedo, “Artistic Representation of the Similitude Between the Political Space in Which We Dwell Today and the German Concentration Camps”

Michelle Gilbert, “Kingship, Power, and Religion in the Ethnically Diverse Kingdom of Akuapem in Southern Ghana”

Nimachia Hernandez, “Flux and Balance: An Approach to Understanding Native American Religious and Philosophical Differences”

Sven Haakanson Jr., “Religion and the Arts Initiative: Museum Partnership Project”

Terry Snowball, “Religion and the Arts Initiative: Museum Partnership Project”

Javier Guerrero, “Religion and the Arts Initiative: Museum Partnership Project”

Thomas Hill, “Religion and the Arts Initiative: Museum Partnership Project”

Benjamin Bagby, “‘Chant Wars’: A Musical Collaboration Between Dialogos and Sequentia”

Katarina Livljanic, “‘Chant Wars’: A Musical Collaboration Between Dialogos and Sequentia”

Olga Gorshunova, “Links Between Female Shamanic Ritual and Religion in Central Asia”

Diana Riboli, “The Meaning of Trance within Shamanism and the Chepang of Central Southern Nepal”

The 2002-03 CSWR DissertationFellows and their research topics

Desiree Martinez, “Collaborating to Protect the Past: The Relationship Between Native Americans, Archaeologists, and Government Officials When Dealing with Cultural Resources”

Raquel Ukeles, “Ritual Law in Islam and Judaism”

The 2002-03 CSWR Doctoral Studies Fellows and their research topics

Atalia Omer, “A Comparative Examination of Sociopolitical Dimensions or Radical Movements in the Context of the Contemporary World System of Nation-States and in Ethno-Religious Conflicts”

Mei Cha, “Self-Cultivation in Confucianism”

The 2002-03 CSWR Fellow-in-Residence and his research topic:

Alan Wagner, “Doctrinal Development of Early Chinese Buddhism”

The 2002-03 CSWR Undergraduate Thesis Fellows and their research topics:

Petra Rivera, “Images of Female Orishas in Cuban Popular Culture”

Gerald Williams, “Religious Rights and Rhetoric: Foundations of and Implications for War and Chattel Slavery in Sudan”

Additional information related to the particular research topic and affiliation of each fellow can be found on the CSWR Web site at http://www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr.