Spouse of Art Gorski,
computer
consultant extraordinaire.
Recent Work
Articles on Espiristimo, Palo Monte, Rada,
Santeria,
and Santerismo for African American
Religious Cultures, 2009, ABC-CLIO, INC. More
Information.
Santería: Correcting the
Myths
and Uncovering the
Realities of a Growing Religion. 2007. Praeger
Publishers. More
Information.
“Santería” in
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America. Eds
Eugene V. Gallagher and W. Michael Ashcraft . Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers. 2006. More Information.
Where Men are Wives and Mothers Rule: Santeria Ritual
Practices and their Gender
Implications. 2005. University Press of Florida. More
Information.
Rockefeller
Fellowship at the Center for Latin American Studies and the
Religion in the Americans Program at the University of Florida. Spring
2003
Unveiling
of Trono as part of the University of Florida Center for
Latin American Studies 51st Annual Conference
“Ambiguities
in Santeria Possession Trance: Challenges to the Unitary and Gendered
Self.” Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Mysticism Group,
November 2004.
"Where
Women Rule: An Explication of Santeria as a
Female-Normative Religion." Annual meeting, American Academy of
Religion, Women & Religion Section, November 2004.
Current Teaching Assignments
University of Houston, Clear
Lake, Houston, Texas
Basic Texts I: Western Tradition to Renaissance
(web-based course). An Introduction to the early Western culture and
literature.
Yavapai College, Prescott,
Arizona
Introduction to Philosophy, a history of the Western philosophical
tradition
Comparative Religions, survey of world religions including indigeous
and
new religious traditions
Religion and the Modern World, looking at contemporaty religious events
through the lens of sociology of religion.
Recent Talks and Presentations
"There Is No Orisha As Lucky As The Stomach: Feasting and Feeding
within Santería Ritual Practice." Annual meeting, American
Academy of Religion, Religion and the Social Sciences Section,
November 2007.
“¡Hola Orisha! An Introduction to the Icons and Iconography
of Santería.” Presentation in conjunction with the exhibit Cuba Plástica: Recent Art from Cuba at
The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College of
Louisiana, Shreveport, LA, September 24, 2006.
"Santería Sacrifical Rituals: A Reconsideration of
Religious Violence." Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion,
Indigenous Religious Traditions Group,
November 2005.
“Ambiguities
in Santeria Possession Trance: Challenges to the Unitary and Gendered
Self.” Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Mysticism Group,
November 2004.
"Where
Women Rule: An Explication of Santeria as a
Female-Normative Religion." Annual meeting, American Academy of
Religion, Women & Religion Section, November 2004.
“Religious Exchange and Gift-Giving: Relationship in
Motion.” Annual meeting, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies,
(AAR/SBL regional), Association
for the Scientific Study of Religion,
Dallas, Texas March 2004
"Healing Rituals in the Suburbs: African-Based Healing
among Middle-Class Americans." Annual meeting, American Academy of
Religion, African Religions Group and Religions, Medicine, and Healing
Consultation Joint session, November 2003.
Syncretism, Acculturation and Hybridity: The Development of
Santería Altar Displays." Ritual and
Spirits: Religious Contact and Change in the Early Atlantic World,
a symposium at the Harn Museum of Art, Gainseville, Florida presented
by the History Department of
the University of Florida. October 2000.
"Spirit Made Flesh: Possession Trance as Radical Challenge
to Concepts of Personal Identity." Annual meeting of the American
Academy of Religion, Black Theology Group (November 2000).
"Santería Altar Displays as Memory Palaces." Annual
meeting, American
Academy of Religion, Comparative Studies in Religion Section and
African Religions Group, November 2000.
Introduction to Santería. Presented as part of the Pagan
Lecture Series, Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, Houston,
Texas (November 2000).
"Orisha on my Doorstep: A West African Pantheon in the
Americas." C. G. Jung
Educational Center of Houston, Texas, Inc. (May 2000).
"You Are (Not) Shango: Jungian Archetypes in Contemporary
Santeria." Annual meeting, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies,
(AAR/SBL regional), Association
for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas March 2000.
"Santería Healing: African Traditions in
Contemporary America." Houston Chapter of American Holistic Nurses
Association (AHNA) and The Institute of Religion. Houston, Texas (April
1999).
"Finding the Saints in Santería: The Place of
Catholic Figures in Afro-Cuban Religion." Christ Church Cathedral
(Episcopalian) Adult Education Series. Houston, Texas (April 1999).
Santería Sundays. A series of talks about the
religion and my research presented to the E.A.R.T.H. CUUPS group at
First Unitarian Church, Houston, Texas (January to October). Four
sessions also presented to St. Luke's Methodist Friendship Class,
Houston, Texas (Sept ember 1998).
"The Ways of Ashe: African Religion in the New World."
Lyceum Program at San Jacinto Junior College, Pasadena, Texas (October
1998)).
"The Invisible Made Visible: The Radical Interpenetration
of the Divine into the Human Lifeworld." Annual meeting Society for
Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Estes Park, Colorado (August
1998). (See http://www.phil.stmarytx.edu/SPCWhm
for abstract.)
"Making Saint: Liminality, Presentation and the Iyawo in
Contemporary Santeria." Annual meeting of the American
Academy of Religion, African Religions Group and Religions in Latin
America and Caribbean Group (November 1996).
Other Interesting Projects
Reading List. Several
people have asked me for a list of books they might read for more
information about the African Religions in the Americas. These books
should be generally available in the larger bookstores and libraries.
Death and Dying in Contemporary
Neo-Paganism: An exploration of the view of contemporary Neo-Pagans
around the issues of death and dying using the Internet for a portion
of the research. Annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on
Religious Studies (AAR/SBL regional) Association for the Scientific
Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas (1995).
African and Afro-Diaspora Religions:
New World (Caribbean, North and South America) and
African religious sites. Includes information on Santería,
Candomblé, other Orisha religions, Vodoun, and more.
American Pluralism Project
developed by Diana L. Eck at Harvard University to study and document
the growing religious diversity of the United States, with a special
view to its new immigrant religious communities.
Articles on Espiristimo, Palo Monte, Rada,
Santeria,
and Santerismo for African American
Religious Cultures, 2009, ABC-CLIO, INC. More
Information.