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Before retiring from Laurier in 2017 I taught in the Department of Religion & Culture for 24 (glorious!) years. I now call Vancouver Island home, and continue to teach one Laurier online course (RE333, Food and Religion) that aligns with my ongoing research.
The main focus of my research is the role that food plays in people’s spiritual lives. I have conducted much of that research with my wife, Ellen Desjardins (a nutritionist and human geographer). Our fieldwork has taken us across Canada and to countries and communities around the world.
- Three teaching awards: 3M Teaching Fellow (2001), Wilfrid Laurier University’s Award for Teaching Excellence (2001), University of Toronto Undergraduate Teaching Award (1991).
- Desjardins, Michel. "Religious Food Guidance," in Canadian Journal of Food Studies. (2022)
- Desjardins, Michel. "Imagining Jesus with Food," in Crossing Boundaries in Judaism and Early Christianity. (2016)
- Desjardins, Michel. “The Desjardins Diet for World Religions Paradigm Loss,” in After ‘World Religions’: Reconstructing the Introductory Course in Religious Studies. (2016)
- Desjardins, Michel and Aldea Mulhern. “Living Sacrifice: Rethinking Abrahamic Religious Sacrifice using Field Narratives of Eid ul-Adha,” in Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. (In press.)
- Benham Rennick, Joanne and Michel Desjardins, eds. The World is my Classroom: Priorities for Globalizing Canadian Higher Education. (2013)
- Benham Rennick, Joanne and Michel Desjardins. “Towards a Pedagogy of Good Global Citizenship,” in The World is My Classroom: Priorities for Globalizing Canadian Higher Education. (2013)
- Desjardins, Michel. “Practicalities and Pedagogies: Implementing International Learning Opportunities for Students,” in The World is My Classroom: Priorities for Globalizing Canadian Higher Education. (2013)
- Desjardins, Michel and Ellen Desjardins. “The Role of Food in Canadian Forms of Christianity: Continuity and Change,” in Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History. (2012)
- Desjardins, Michel. “Religious Studies that Really Schmecks: Introducing Food to the Academic Study of Religion,” in Failure and Nerve in the Study of Religion. (2012)
- Desjardins, Michel. “Training the Next Generation of Teachers of Religious Studies: A Canadian Case Study,” in Religion. (2011)
- Desjardins, Michel. “Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses: A Forty-year Retrospective,” in Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses. (2011)
- Desjardins, Michel and Ellen Desjardins. “Food that Builds Community: The Sikh Langar in Canada,” in Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures/Revue des cultures culinaires au Canada. (2009)
- Desjardins, Michel and Harold Remus, eds. Tradition and Formation: Claiming an Inheritance. Essays in Honour of Peter Erb. (2008)
- Desjardins, Michel and Harold Remus. “Claiming an Inheritance,” in Tradition and Formation: Claiming an Inheritance. Essays in Honour of Peter Erb. (2008)