I looked through the faculty list of UCSB’s Sociology and Religious Studies departments. These are the professors I would be interested in working with, in this order
1. Roger Friedland, Ph.D., second link I am a sociologist who wishes to recuperate Dilthey’s project of the human sciences without losing the knowledges gleaned from causal, explanatory, comparative studies. I am interested in the ways in which the religious is being deployed in public life, particularly the case of religious nationalism. I am not a sociologist of religion, wanting rather to explore the position that the religious is always, already a constituent of social life. I am trying to develop an institutional approach to the study of religion, institutions not simply as valued organizational sets and types of practices, but as ontological performance He is on Sabbatical for two years. I don’t think I should even bother him, despite that his statement above is very close to what I think and am interested in.
2. Wade Clark Roof, second link For a sociologist of religion, California is an excellent setting in which to work. Here we have religious diversity on a scale unlike anywhere else in the world plus cutting-edge religious and spiritual trends. The new religious pluralism poses challenges for civic participation and unity – and thus invites the study of new, emerging styles of civil religion infused with global symbolism. Southern California offers opportunities as well to re-examine American religion without presupposing a strong ecclesiastical establishment – and thus raises questions about the meaning of the “religious” in its popular and institutional expressions. He is on Sabbatical for one year in Italy. But I will contact him because the sooner I figure out whether he is willing to work with me on a project (or whether he has one I can work on with him the better. Also besides professor Friedland he is the other person who is teachin “Sociology of Religion” courses. The information that upon his return he will teach them or not, will influence what classes I should/can take till then. I have to be very careful what to sign up for to fullfill the requirements. My preference would be to take classes in the topic I am most interested in, but if they won’t be offered, I have to take other ones.
3. Mark Juergensmeyer, second link I was assured that he is a very busy person. being the director of Global & International Studies, plus teaching in two departmenst, plus working on books. He is famous around campus and outside. If everything goes ass planned I will take a course (“Global Religion “) with him next quarter. and maybe after that I can approach him.
4. Geoffrey T. Raymond His Teaching Areas and Research Interests are: the organization of talk in interaction; Sociology of science and technology; Sociology of mass communication. If I’d work with him the technical aspect of the interest I mentioned above would be well covered. Maybe I should go this route. Because I am doublemajoring the Religious aspect woudl be quite covered at the other end.
5. Richard D. Hecht, Ph.D. I was trained as a historian of religions under the influence of Mircea Eliade through my teacher at UCLA Kees W. Bolle. I have become increasingly interested in the deep contextualization of religion in its lived environments and most centrally the intersections of religion, politics, and culture. My work is comparative and multidisciplinary, both of which are essential, in my opinion, to the larger study of religion. I am taking two courses with him this quarter, I will have my first class with him in half an hour. For one of the classes I will do the Honors contract if he allows it. His current research doesn’t eactly fit my interest though. (he is working on two books: Jerusalem: The Profane Politics of a Sacred Space and on Saved from Matter: The Religious Cultures of Contemporary Art. Further contenders
6. Phillip E. Hammond, Ph.D. As a sociologist I pay attention to religious organizations, to matters of church and state, and more broadly to religion and politics. I have a long-standing interest in sociological theory, and my work is chiefly with survey data, with historical interpretation a close second. At various times my focus has been on the law and judicial behavior, as is illustrated in my current research listed below. Looking through the catalog it seems that he is not teaching classes this quarter. I need to figure out whether he is still around, or just was left on the page.
7. Bruce Bimber My personal research primarily uses statistical methods of various kinds to identify and explain patterns in human behavior. The domains of behavior that interest me are public; they involve people’s engagement with one another in democratic processes. I focus chiefly on new media as a causal influence on behavior. Howard (R.) pointed him out to me. I guess I will just try to attend a lecture of his and chat with him to get to know whether he is interested in religious sociology at all.
8. Jon D. Cruz He wrote a book titled Nineteenth Century U.S. Religious Crisis and the Sociology of Music, but he doesn’t seem to be around now.