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I am a professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University and director of the joint Laurier-University of Waterloo PhD program in Religious Studies. I hold a doctorate in Sociology from York University. I have an MA in Sociology from York University and BA in Sociology from the University of Toronto.
My research focuses on Black Church studies in Canada, Caribbean religions in transnational and diasporic contexts, religion and popular culture and women’s and gender studies. I held a fellowship in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and served as a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School. I served as an academic consultant and appear in the award-winning documentary Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada (Travesty Productions, 2004). I have written numerous articles and chapters, in addition to the books I have authored and edited.
- 3M National Teaching Fellow (2014)
- CUFA Provincial Teaching Award (2007)
- Wilfrid Laurier University Award of Teaching Excellence (awarded June 3, 2004 at convocation)
- Wilfrid Laurier University, Faculty of Arts, Teacher-Scholar Award for 2003-2004 (awarded January 29, 2004)
Books
- The Black Church Studies Reader (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), co-editor
- Womanist and Black Feminist Responses to Tyler Perry’s Productions (Palgrave MacMillan, 2014), co-editor
- The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions (University of Illinois Press, 2013), contributing editor
- This Spot of Ground: Spiritual Baptists in Toronto (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008)
- Book review by Anthony Reddie in Black Theology
- Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007), co-author
Videos
- Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: Lawrence Hill in Conversation with Carol Duncan (YouTube)
- Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada (Travesty Productions, 2004) (Youtube)
Editorial Articles
Journal Articles
- 2018 “Spiritual Baptist Ritual Garments in Church and in Community,” in Charmaine Nelson (ed.), Towards An African-Canadian Art History: Art, Memory and Resistance. Concord, Ontario: Captus Press, 194-209.
- 2016 “’Out of the Bitter Sea’: The Black Church in North America in Transnational Perspective,” in Alton B. Pollard III and Carol B. Duncan (eds.), The Black Church Studies Reader. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan, 237-244.
- 2014 “Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Multiculturalisms and Black Christianities in Canada,” in R. Drew Smith, William Ackah and Anthony Reddie (eds.), Churches, Blackness and Contested Multiculturalism. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan.
- 2014 “It Aint’ Where You Comin’ from, Honey”: Class, Social Mobility, and Marriage in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, in L. Manigault-Bryant, T. Lomax and C. Duncan (eds.), Womanist and Black Feminist Responses to Tyler Perry’s Productions. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan, 107-123.
- 2013 “African Caribbean Gender and Sexuality,” in Patrick Taylor and Frederick Case (eds.), Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions, University of Illinois Press, 12-17.
- 2013 “Spiritual Baptists in St. Vincent,” in Patrick Taylor and Frederick Case (eds.), Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions, University of Illinois Press, 975-979.
- 2009 “From Hattie to Halle: Black Female Bodies and Spectatorship as Ritual in Hollywood Cinema,” in Anthony B. Pinn (ed.), Black Religion and Aesthetics: Religious Thought and Life in Africa and the African Diaspora. Palgrave-McMillan, 2009, 71-87.
- 2009 “Spiritual Baptists,” in Anthony B. Pinn (ed.), Encyclopedia of African American Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 375-380.
- 2008 “Visible/Invisible: Teaching Popular Culture and the Vulgar Body in Black Religious Studies,” in Nancy Lynne Westfiled (ed.), Being Black, Teaching Black: Politics and Pedagogy in Religious Studies. Nashville, Abingdon Press: 2008, 3-16.
- 2007 “Religion, Spirituality and Migration in Canada,” in David Divine (ed.), Multiple Lenses: Voices from the Diaspora Located in Canada. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 142-149.
- 2007 “Race, freedom and religion: The Church and slavery,” in Directions, a journal of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation/Fondation canadienne des relations raciales. Volume 4, Number 1, Summer 2007, 85-89.
- 2006 “From Force Ripe to Womanish to Womanist,” in Stacey Floyd-Thomas (ed.), Delving Deeper Shades of Purple. New York: New York University Press, 29-37.
- 2005 “Travessao: Migratory Subjectivity and History in an African-Caribbean Religion,” in Peter Farrugia (ed.). The River of History: Trans-National and Trans-Disciplinary Perspectives on the Immanence of the Past. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 197-215.
- 2005 “Hard Labour: Religion, Sexuality and the Pregnant Body in the African Diaspora,” in Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. 7:1: 167-173.
- 2004 “Patriarchy and Matriarchy,” in William H. McNeill, Jerry H. Bentley, David Christian, David Levinson, J. R. McNeill, Heidi Roupp and Judith Zinsser (eds.). Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, 2004, 1218-1232.
- 2003 “Spiritual Baptists in Multicultural Canada,” in Barbara A.C. Saunders and David Haljan (editors). Whither Multiculturalism? A Politics of Dissensus. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 205-224.
- 2003 “Black Women and Motherhood in Contemporary Science Fiction Film,” Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. 4.1: 45-53.
- 2002 “Mammy in the Erotic Imaginary of Anaïs Nin,” Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. 4.1: 146-155.
- 2002 “Madres de la Iglesia: la maternidad y la identidad en la iglesia espiritual bautista en elToronto,” (Mothers ofthe Church: Motherhood and Identity in the Toronto Spiritual Baptist Church), Del Caribe. Casa del Caribe, Santiago de Cuba,39: 39-42.
- 2002 “Claiming Memory: Women, Religion and Identity in the African Diaspora,” Making Waves: An Ecumenical Feminist Journal. Toronto: Women’s Inter-Church Council, Summer:15-19.
- 2001 “Aunt/y Jemima in Spiritual Baptist Experiences in Toronto: Spiritual Mother or Servile Woman?,” Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Cultural Criticism. 9: 97-122.
- 1998 “Dey give me house to gather in di chil’ren: Mothers and Daughters in the Spiritual Baptist Church,” Canadian Woman Studies Journal: Looking Back, Looking Forward: Mothers, Daughters, and Feminism, 20th Anniversary Issue 18/2-3:126-131.
- 1997 “‘So Carnally, So Spiritually’: Spiritual Baptist Women Speak of Mothering,” in Vox Feminarum: The Canadian Journal of Feminist Spirituality: Textures and Tensions: The Fabric of Women’s Relationships, Fall/Winter: 54-56.
Contact Info:
Office location: Dr. Alvin Woods Building, 2-114