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Mary Ann Clark

Educational Background

• Ph.D. Religious Studies, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 1999. Dissertation: "Asho Orisha (Clothing of the Orisha): Material Culture as Religious Expression in Santería," Dr. Edith Wyschogrod, Director. Awarded with distinction. Nominated for John W. Gardner Award in Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Master of Business Administration, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, August 1977, Organizational Behavior.
• Bachelor of Arts, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, 1971, English.

Publications:

Books

• Santería: Correcting the Myths and Uncovering the Realities of a Growing Religion. April 2007. Greenwood Publishing Group.
• Where Men are Wives and Mothers Rule: Santeria Ritual Practices and their Gender Implications. Published 2005: University Press of Florida, The History of African American Religious series.

Essays and Articles

• “Santería.” In Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, Volume 5 African Diaspora Traditions and Other American Innovations. Eds Eugene V. Gallagher and W. Michael Ashcraft . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 2006.
  
• "Santeria Sacrificial Rituals: A Reconsideration of Ritual Violence," The Pomegranate, 8.2 (November 2006): 133-145.
  
• "Godparenthood in the Afro-Cuban Religious Tradition of Santería," Journal of Religious Studies and Theology 22:1 (2003): 45-62.
• "You Are (Not) Shango: Jungian Archetypes in Contemporary Santería." Wadabagei. A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. 5 :1 (2002): 105–135.
• "¡No Hay Ningun Santo Aqui! (There are No Saints Here!): Symbolic Language within Santería." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (1 2001): 21-41.
• "Orisha Worship Communities: A Reconsideration of Organizational Structure," Religion, an Academic Press Journal, 30 (4 2000): 379-389.
• "Santería and Voudon." In The Encyclopedia of New York State, Peter Eisenstadt. Albany, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2002.
• "Santería, Material Culture." In Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions, edited by S. D. Glazier. New York: Routledge, 2000.
• "Seven African Powers: Hybridity and Appropriation" in The Material History of American Religion Project on-line Electronic Journal.
• "Santería." In Sects, Cults, and Spiritual Communities: A Sociological Analysis, edited by William W. Zellner and Marc Petrowski, 118-130. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998.
• "You Are (Not) Shango: Jungian Archetypes in Contemporary Santeria." Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, (March, 2000).
• "Secret Language of the Orisha." Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, (March, 1999).
• "Theological Displays on Santería Altars." Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, (March, 1998): 1-23.
• "The Santa Barbara Phenomena: Ambiguity in Yoruba-based Religion." Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, (March, 1997): 48-61.
• "Integrating the Net into the Religion Classroom: Some Notes from the Field." Religious Studies News, with Dr. Edith Wyschogrod and Elizabeth Burr, May 1995.
• "Like a Drop of Rain, Flowing to the Ocean: Death and Dying in Contemporary Neo-Paganism." Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, (March, 1995): 24-49.

Book Reviews

• Mason, Michael Atwood. Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Nova Religio 8:1(Summer 2004) 120-121.
• Grimes, Ronald L, Deeply Into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage. Nova Religio 9:2 (Nov 2005) 130-131.
• Mason, Michael Atwood. Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Anthropos Redaktion (forthcoming).
• Brown, David H. Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Nova Religio 8:1 (Jul 2004) 120-121.

Grants and Financial Awards

• University of Florida, Center for Latin American Studies,
  Rockefeller Residential Fellowship, Spring 2003. Religion in the Americas: Constructing Self, Community and Nation in the Age of Globalization
• Rice University Summer Travel Grants:
  New York City, 1998. Visit Santería religious houses.
  Cuba, 1995. Study the Afro-Cuban religions.
  
• Tuition Award presented by Rice University Religions Studies Department, 1993-1999.
• Graduate Stipend presented by Rice University Religions Studies Department, 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1997-1998, 1998-1999.

Languages

• German (reading)
• Spanish (reading)

Dissertation:

This project examines the material culture of Santería, tracing the chains of signifiers tied to religious artifacts understand of how the basic theological and philosophical ideas of its local practitioners are exhibited. It focuses on the following elements of the religion: the domestic displays which devotees maintain for their deities on a day-to-day basis, the altar displays created by devotees for the anniversaries of their initiation into the priesthood, and the body of the new initiates (iyawo). These spaces form a semiotic system that can be analyzed as a form of sacred writing.

This project uses postmodern philosophical and semiotic concepts as well as the work of Eliade, Turner, and Bakhtin to interpret the sacred spaces in the Santería tradition. It traces the way theological concepts from Africa are redefined and reinterpreted in the Americas so as to maintain a consistent conceptual system. Through a combination of participant-observation and individual interviews with many practitioners of Santería in the Houston area supplemented by research with the other, similar communities and available scholarly work it opens up new vistas in the study of this religion.

Defended with distinction February 1, 1999.

Dissertation Committee:

• Director: Dr. Edith Wyschogrod, Professor Emerita Religious Studies, Rice University.
• Dr. William Parsons, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Rice University.
• Dr. Elias Bongmba, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Rice University.
• Dr. Patricia Seed, Professor, History, Rice University.
• Dr. Joseph M. Murphy, Professor, Theology, Georgetown University.

Teaching Experience

University of Houston, Central Campus, Houston, Texas

Introduction to Religious Studies (undergraduate)
2002, 2004-2006

University of Houston, Clear Lake, Houston, Texas

Basic Texts III: Asia, Africa and Native America (undergraduate)
Introduction to the culture and literature of Asia, Africa and Native America.
2001-2005

Basic Texts I: Western Tradition to Renaissance (undergraduate)
Introduction to the early Western culture and literature.
2005-2006

Religion and Global Change (graduate, spring semester)
A graduate in sociology, anthropology and cross cultural studies examining societal and global change and the impact religion has in promoting change and responding to change.
2000-2002, 2004

Peoples of Africa (graduate and undergraduate, spring semester)
An anthropology course exploring the diversity of African peoples and culture through a variety of sources including ethnograpies, films, literature, and other types of narratives. Addresses life on the African continent as the way it has been portrayed by both anthropologists and African writers.
2000-2002, 2004-2005

Kingwood College, Houston, Texas

Introduction to Philosophy (undergraduate)
2000-2001

Rice University, Houston, Texas

Afro-Caribbean Religious Thought (undergraduate)
An exploration of the religious thought of the African-based religions of Caribbean (Santería, Voudu and Camdomble). Looks at the way they incorporate African ideas in an American environment and compares them to other religious expressions.
2000

African Religions in the Americas, (undergraduate with Elias Bongmba)
An introductory course mapping out the transplantation and development of African religions in the Americas.Includes readings and study of Santeria, Voudon, Candomble, Rastafarians and various revivalist movements with African connection. (Syllabus available from American Academy of Religion Syllabus Project.)

Academic Lectures (Invited)

Santeria Divination and Destiny, for Prophets and Prophecy class at Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana. 2003, 2004.

Introduction to the Study of Religion (undergraduate) at Rice University. 1995,1998, 2000, 2002

• Taught unit on religious rituals using a Palo Monte healing ritual filmed in Santiago, Cuba as an example. 1995.
•  Taught unit on new religions in America. 1998.
• Taught units on Santería and on possession trance. 2000, 2002.

Religion and the Social Sciences (undergraduate) at Rice University.
Taught unit on the trickster as Jungian Archetype and session on initiation. 1998.

African Myths and Rituals (undergraduate) at Rice University.
Presented an introduction to the initiation experience in Santería focusing on the extended liminal period of the iyawoage. 1998.

Mysticism: Texts and Methods (graduate/undergraduate) fat Rice University.
Taught unit on possession phenomena suggesting Santería trance possession as a type of mystical experience. 1996, 1999, 2000.

Death and Dying in Religion and Literature (graduate/undergraduate) at Rice University.
Taught unit on Espiritismo tradition in Contemporary Santería. Discussed Yoruba cosmology and its use of nineteenth century French Spiritism to honor and communicate with the ancestors and other spirits. 1996, 2001.

Issues in Religion and Postmodernism (graduate) at Rice University
Taught unit on the Internet as a Postmodern Technology. 1994.

Teaching Assistant, Rice University, Department of Religious Studies.

Death and Dying in Religion and Literature,(undergraduate) for Dr. Edith Wyschogrod. 1999
Responsibilities: Manage computer component of course. Students read traditional paper (textbook) and online articles on the Branch Dividians and the tragedy at Waco (see http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~reli391/) then reported on their research as well as critiquing the sources used. Also presented unit on the views of death expressed in Espiritismo.

Religion, Myth and Language (undergraduate/graduate) for Dr. Edith Wyschogrod. 1998.
Responsibilities: Manage computer component of course. Students divided into groups to produce web pages analyzing contemporary mythological figures using the theoretical reading assignments. Provided instruction on computer use, worked with groups as they design and produce their pages. See http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~reli393/. Also presented units on gift-giving in religion and non-verbal semiotics.

Religion and Culture (undergraduate) for Dr. Edith Wyschogrod.1997.
Responsibilities: Manage computer component of course. Student divided into groups to produce web pages analyzing cult groups using the theoretical reading assignments. Provided instruction on computer use, worked with groups as they designed and produced their pages. See http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~reli291/. Also taught section on de Saussure and semiology.

The Jonestown site produced by my students has been selected as a featured site in StudyWeb as their of the best educational resources on the web.

Religion and Culture (undergraduate) for Dr. Edith Wyschogrod. 1995 .
Responsibilities: Work with humanities librarian to provide student access to course newsgroup; provided Internet consulting to both professor and students; gave one lecture on using HTML to produce structured analysis of mythology.

Invited Presentations

• "Unraveling the Memorative Web of the Santería Altar Display." Orality And Literacy III: Memory conference sponsored by the Rice University Center for the Study of Cultures. October 2003.
• "Performing Theology: Santería Trono as Memorative Web." Religion, Globalization, and Identity in the Americas: Research Agendas for the Future, 51st annual conference of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. April 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.

Papers and Presentations

• “Santería Sacrificial Rituals: A Reconsideration of Religious Violence.” Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Indigenous Religions Section, November 2005.
• "Where Women Rule: An Explication of Santeria as a Female-Normative Religion." Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Women & Religion Section, November 2004.
• “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.
• “Where Men are Wives: Exploring Gender Ideology in American Orisha Traditions.” Annual meeting, African Studies Association, Philosophy and Religious Studies 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.
• When Men are Wives and Women are Kings: Using Santeria Ritual Practice to Deconstruct Notions of Gender." Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Women and Religion Section, November 2002.
• "You Are (Not) Shango: Jungian Archetypes in Contemporary Santería." Wadabagei. A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. (forthcoming).
• "'He Kills in the House and Kills on the Farm:' Religion and Violence from a West African Religious Perspective." Annual meeting, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, (AAR/SBL regional), Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas March 2002.
• "The Body-Mind Problem and the Question of Possession Trance." Annual meeting, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, (AAR/SBL regional), Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas March 2001.
• "Santería Altar Displays as Memory Palaces." Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Comparative Studies in Religion Section and African Religions Group, November 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).
• "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.
• "Syncretism, Acculturation and Hybridity: Santería through an Africanist Lens." African Studies Workshop, Houston, Texas, May 2000.
• "Santería Ritual Garments: A Cross-Cultural Analysis." The Female Principle: Eclipses and Re-Emergences," Conference on the Suppression of Femaleness in Human Cultures, University of Texas at Arlington, March 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 Ritual Garments: A Cross-Cultural Analysis." Annual meeting, National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies, Houston, Texas, February 2000.
• "Secret Language of the Orisha." Annual meeting, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, (AAR/SBL regional), Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas March 1999.
• "The Ways of Ashé: African Religion in the New World." Lyceum Program at San Jacinto Junior College Central Campus, 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). (Abstract available at http://www.phil.stmarytx.edu/SPCWhm.)
• "Material Culture as Locus of Memory: Theological Displays on Santería Altars." Annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies (AAR/SBL regional), Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas (March, 1998).
• "The Santa Barbara Phenomena: Ambiguity in Yoruba-based Religion." Annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies (AAR/SBL regional), Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas (March, 1997)
• "Making Saint: Liminality, Presentation and the Iyawo in Contemporary Santería." Annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, African Religions Group and Religions in Latin America and Caribbean Group (November 1996).
• "Integrating the Net into the Religion Classroom: Some Notes from the Field." With Dr. Edith Wyschogrod. Annual meeting, Society for Biblical Literature, Computer Assisted Research Group (November 1995).
• "Empirical Study of Neo-Paganism: Attitudes toward Death and Dying Using the Internet." Annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies (AAR/SBL regional) Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dallas, Texas (1995).

Interviews in Popular Media

• Interviewed and quoted in “Shrine found near bodies spurs voodoo probe,” (Dallas) WFAA-TV Channel 8, February 8, 2007
• Interviewed and quoted in “Santería mysticism enters online realm,” (Miami) Sun-Sentinel, July 23, 2005
• Interviewed and quoted in “Catching the Spirit: Afro-Latino Religions Brought to Light,” MiGente.com, March 11, 2005.
• Interviewed and quoted in “Something worked magic for assault defendant/Hints of Santeria popped up at trial; ‘high priest’ given probation,” Houston Chronicle, 12 February 2005.
• Interviewed and quoted in "Advice from Beyond the Grave: Behind Closed Doors, an Ancient African Religion Alive in York," York Sunday News, 24 February 2002, A2, A11.
• Interviewed and quoted in "Angeles Forest Sacred Site for Followers of Santería," Los Angeles Times, 12 January 2002, Religion Section.

Professional Associations

• American Academy of Religion, 1993-present.
• Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1994-present.
• African Studies Association, 2004.
• Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 1998-present.

Community Service

• Nominating Committee, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies (AAR Region), 2002.
• Secretary, Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, 1996-1999, 2000-2005.

Other Service to the Academy

• Fondren Library Research Education Committee, 2003-2005
• Basic Texts-to-WebCT working Group, University of Houston Clear Lake, 2004
• Respondent and referee for several book manuscripts and articles for Caribbean Diaspora Press.
• Editorial board, Sacred Cosmos, CUUPS Journal of Liberal Religious Paganism.
• Assistant, Psyche, Soma & Spirit: A Question of Healing, Houston Medical Center and Rice University, Houston, Texas. April 2001.
• Assistant, Religious Studies, Graduate Student Recruiting Project, webpage design and development, 2000-2001.
• Student Assistant, The Enigma of the Gift and Sacrifice. Rice University, Houston, Texas. March 1999.
• Student Liaison to American Academy of Religion from Rice University, 1996-1998.

Other Seminars/Workshops Presented

• The Sacred Me:  Living as though the God in All Life Mattered, September 19, 2004. Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, Houston, Texas
• Intro to Afro-Cuban Spirituality, June 9, 2002. Northwest Community UU Church
  
• Ways of Ashé: An Introduction to African Religious Thought. Six week series. Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, Houston, Texas (December 2000 &endash; January 2001).
• 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).
• 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).
• Ways of Ashé: An Introduction to Santería. Four-week series. St. Luke Methodist Church, Friendship Class. Houston, Texas (September 1998).
• Religious Exchange and Gift-Giving: Relationships in Motion. Sunday Service. Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, Houston, Texas (June 1998).
• Santería Sundays. Six-session series. First Unitarian Universalist Church, E.A.R.T.H. CUUPS group. Houston, Texas (January to October 1998). Four sessions presented to St. Luke's Methodist Friendship Class. Houston, Texas (September 1998).
• Meeting Yemaya, the Mother of the Waters. Workshop. Southwest Unitarian Universalist Women's Conference, Houston, Texas (February 1997).
• Speaking with the Dead: An Introduction to Afro-Caribbean Spiritism. Talk. Jung Center, Houston, Texas (August 1996).
• The Ways of Ashé: African Religion in the New World. Sunday Service. Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Autsin, Texas (December 1995); Thoreau Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Needville, Texas (February 1996); Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Houston, Texas (March 1996).
• Paganism 101: A Basic Introduction to UU Paganism. Four-day workshop. Southwest Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute, Lake Texoma, Oklahoma (August 1993, August 1994).
• Designing Rituals You Can Use. Workshop. Southwest Unitarian Universalist Women's Conference, Tulsa Oklahoma (February 1991); Dallas, Texas (February 1992); Shreveport, Louisiana (February 1994).

Employment History

• 2005-present, Coordinator, Council of Societies for the Study of Religion, Rice University, Houston, Texas
• 1999 to 2005, User Services Associate, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, Texas.
• 1977-1996 President, Redact Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Houston Texas.
• 1974-1977 Customer Service Representative, Scientific Products, Houston, Texas.
• 1973-1974 Personnel Assistant, Credit Bureau of Greater Houston, Houston, Texas