Ken Derry | University of Toronto (original) (raw)

Books (etc.) by Ken Derry

Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education , 2024

SPARK is a creative project initiated by the 2023 3M National Teaching Fellowship cohort. Maintai... more SPARK is a creative project initiated by the 2023 3M National Teaching Fellowship cohort. Maintaining that spark of joy, creativity, and delight in our work isn’t easy amidst the varied demands of our institutions and life. So here we have collected a series of personal stories, reflections, resources, and activities that might inspire discussion and the sharing of ideas. We hope that this collection ignites (or re-ignites) your own spark.

Religious Studies and Theology, 2019

A collection of essays and reflections on teaching and learning in the academic study of religion... more A collection of essays and reflections on teaching and learning in the academic study of religion, in honour of Michel Desjardins.

Cascade Press, 2018

The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens made a strong impression on fans. Many were excited... more The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens made a strong impression on fans. Many were excited by what they saw as a return to the spirit of George Lucas’s 1977 creation. Others—including several white supremacy groups—were upset and offended by key differences, most notably the shift away from a blond, blue-eyed, male protagonist. When the film was finally released, reactions similarly seemed to hinge on whether or not The Force Awakens renewed the “mythic” aspects of the original trilogy in ways that fans approved of. The Myth Awakens examines the religious implications of this phenomenon, considering the ways in which myth can function to reinforce “traditional” social and political values. In their analyses the authors of this book reflect on fan responses in relation to various elements of (and changes to) the Star Wars canon—including toys, video games, and novels, as well as several of the films. They do so using a variety of critical tools, drawing from studies of gender, race, psychology, politics, authority, music, ritual, and memory.

Articles by Ken Derry

Journal for Religion, Film, and Media , 2022

For many years now I have put a question on the final exam in various religion courses that asks ... more For many years now I have put a question on the final exam in various religion courses that asks students to apply ideas from the course to a short film screened during the exam. This is a film we have not watched or discussed before, so it is essentially new data for the class. In this article I discuss some of the challenges I encountered when I began using short films in exams and how I resolved them. I also discuss the many advantages of this approach, some of which I had anticipated (or at least hoped for), while others surprised me. These surprises include congruencies between using short films in exams and principles of trauma-informed pedagogy. The article includes specific examples from three courses of exam questions and films, and answers that three students provided.

Religious Studies and Theology, 2019

This is a story about the challenges and virtues of messiness for scholarship and teaching in aca... more This is a story about the challenges and virtues of messiness for scholarship and teaching in academia generally, and Religious Studies in particular. It begins when I was first hired to teach Introduction to the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto Mississauga. It continues with a discussion of research into how introductory religion courses are taught in Canada, and reflection on that research – which includes examples of student learning from a world religions summer course I have taught in Hong Kong since 2012. It ends with a consideration of the ways in which messiness has been a key component of Michel Desjardins’ own scholarship and teaching.

Religious Studies and Theology, 2019

An introduction to the special double issue of Religious Studies and Theology honouring Michel De... more An introduction to the special double issue of Religious Studies and Theology honouring Michel Desjardins and focusing on pedagogy.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2018

The past few times that I have taught my course on religion and film I have included a number of ... more The past few times that I have taught my course on religion and film I have included a number of Indigenous movies. The response from students has been entirely positive, in part because most of them have rarely encountered Indigenous cultural products of any kind, especially contemporary ones. Students also respond well to the way in which many of these films use notions of the monstrous to explore, and explode, colonial myths. Goldstone, for example, by Kamilaroi filmmaker Ivan Sen, draws on noir tropes to peel back the smiling masks of the people responsible for the mining town’s success, revealing their underlying monstrosity. Similarly, Mi’gmaq Jeff Barnaby’s debut feature Rhymes for Young Ghouls makes cinematic allusions to 1970s horror films in its depiction of the residential school system. In this paper, I will draw on these examples to discuss how examination of the monstrous in Indigenous films can help us to introduce students to the ideological power of myth, specifically in relation to colonialism.

Religion & Literature, 2016

Many critics have pointed out that when Christianity appears in Margaret Atwood’s work it is patr... more Many critics have pointed out that when Christianity appears in Margaret Atwood’s work it is patriarchal, authoritarian, closed, institutional, and repressive. Others have indicated the ways in which much of Atwood’s work endorses a perspective that could be considered implicitly or explicitly religious in other respects. This perspective most often involves a kind of personal “spirituality,” one that is anti-patriarchal, nature-centered, and humanistic—and definitely not Christian. In contrast to this dominant critical understanding, a handful of scholars have noted that, even though Atwood appears to promote a total break with Christianity, her writing in fact at times favors this tradition in certain ways.

Cat’s Eye offers an important example of a text that embodies this complex regard for Christianity, and that also demonstrates Atwood’s trademark use of mimesis. The novel’s religious ambivalence in fact becomes apparent specifically through an examination of its mimetic tropes. This examination is undertaken using two different theoretical approaches—which themselves incorporate considerations of Christianity—provided by the work of Homi Bhabha and René Girard. Bhabha’s model focuses on the relationship between colonialism and mimicry, while Girard’s is concerned with mimetic conflict and sacrifice. Examining Cat’s Eye through the respective lenses of these theories reveals that, although Cat’s Eye offers a critique of Christianity that in many ways mirrors Bhabha’s own, in the end the novel promotes a particular understanding—and affirmation—of the tradition that is fundamentally Girardian.

Journal for Religion, Film, and Media, 2017

There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and w... more There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and when we see what might be commonly understood as "religious tradition(s)" explicitly on display. Another is to think about superhero narratives themselves as "religious" , using this term as a conceptual tool for categorizing and thereby better understanding particular dimensions of human experience. This article takes a variety of approaches to understanding religion in relation to the recent television series LUKE CAGE (Netflix, US 2016). These approaches take their hermeneuti-cal cues from a range of disciplines, including studies of the Bible; Hip Hop; gender; Black Theology; African American religion; and philosophy. The results of this analysis highlight the polysemic nature of popular culture in general, and of superhero stories in particular. Like religious traditions themselves, the show is complex and contradictory: it is both progressive and reactionary; emphasizes community and valorizes an individual; critiques and endorses Christianity; subverts and promotes violence. Depending on the questions asked, LUKE CAGE (2016) provides a range of very different answers.

Journal of Religion & Film , 2017

This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film co... more This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film course. PBL is an open-ended, experiential approach to teaching, which requires students to engage with a real world problem in groups. While many university classes are based on a lecture format and variations of that format, PBL asks students to take greater ownership of their learning. The problem drives what students will learn, how they will learn it, and what they produce to assess that learning. Students in a fourth-year PBL class at the University of Toronto Mississauga were given the following problem: analyze developments in the field of religion and film over the past 20 years through the lens of the Journal of Religion and Film. All four groups of students in the course made significant discoveries in their response to this assignment, and two in particular stood out. These two groups examined patterns evident in how the topics of self-sacrifice and of music were (and were not) discussed in the journal.

The Hooded Utilitarian, 2017

http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2015/07/interpreting-oz/

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2014

Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calli... more Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calling for the death of all Native American people. These editorials have affected how both Baum’s novel and its 1939 MGM adaptation are interpreted. For some, the tale is a utopian vision that vindicates its author, while for others it clearly embodies Baum’s genocidal impulses. This essay explores this hermeneutical issue, arguing that The Wizard of Oz—like “religion” itself—can support opposing interpretations because the world it depicts is complex and contradictory.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2014

In this paper I discuss the constructive possibilities that nongrading opens up to us as teachers... more In this paper I discuss the constructive possibilities that nongrading opens up to us as teachers to achieve a number of pedagogical benefits. The specific context that I focus on – online discussion boards – is one that, miraculously, has in some ways made teaching *easier* for me. Renouncing grades will not by any means solve all of our pedagogical challenges, but in certain contexts, I definitely think this approach can help move us in good directions.

Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 2013

Although none of the articles in this issue on the topic of religion and humor are explicitly abo... more Although none of the articles in this issue on the topic of religion and humor are explicitly about teaching, in many ways all of them in fact share this central focus. In the examples discussed by the four authors, humor is used to deconstruct the category of religion; to comment on the distance between orthodoxy and praxis; to censure religion; and to enrich traditions in ways that can be quite self-critical. My response to these articles addresses each of the above lessons in specific relation to experiences I have had in, and strategies I have developed for, teaching a first-year introductory religion course at the University of Toronto.

Literature and Theology, 2002

A common feature of Canadian Native writing is mimetic violence, both between particular characte... more A common feature of Canadian Native writing is mimetic violence, both between particular characters and in relation to colonialism. This violence is further linked to Christianity, as Native writers rarely side with the majority of academics who see brutality and oppression as a complete aberration of religion. The following article considers such links as they occur in three critical Canadian Native texts, and how these texts consequently add a distinctive element to current scholarship concerned with religion and violence.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2001

When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo's The Killer... more When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo's The Killer, students in our religion and film class typically deny that such relations exist. Using René Girard's work on mimesis and sacrifice, we have argued that it is possible to see that religion and violence in Woo's film are virtually inextricable from one another. Because Girard's theories can clearly be criticized on their own account, and because their application to The Killer is not without problems, we have also used discussions of the film to raise general questions about the use of theory and the meaning of interpretation.

Journal of Early Christian Studies, 1996

Although The Epistle of Barnabas is a short and now relatively obscure early Christian text, it h... more Although The Epistle of Barnabas is a short and now relatively obscure early Christian text, it has received considerable critical attention. Almost all of this work has focused on the historical aspects of the document: date, authorship, social setting, etc. This kind of work is also done with great vigor and success on other early Christian writings, most notably the New Testament. Examination of the canonical sources, however, is supplemented by additional forms of investigation which consider the literary merits of the texts. One of the more important factors responsible for this situation is surely the low esteem in which the epistle is held.

While I might sympathize with some aspects of this picture of Barnabas, I would contend that it should not preclude examining the epistle for insights that are not specifically historical. Such insights in any given text often become apparent in moments of tension, moments which raise questions that lead us beyond the scope of the text itself. One of the more prominent examples of such a moment in Barnabas involves the use of stone imagery to describe Jesus. It is the tension in this imagery that I examine here.

Book Chapters by Ken Derry

Relation and Resistance: Racialized Women, Religion and Diaspora, 2021

In this essay I consider questions of diaspora, identity, and religion in Maria Campbell's *Halfb... more In this essay I consider questions of diaspora, identity, and religion in Maria Campbell's *Halfbreed* and Beatrice Mosionier's *In Search of April Raintree*. More specifically, my aim is to show the ways in which I have come to see these two texts by Métis women as implicating colonial religion in the diasporic situation of Indigenous people in Canada, and conversely pointing to Indigenous religions – and writings – as critical to the process of recovering a sense of home.

Reassembling Democracy: Ritual as Cultural Resource, 2020

In the fall of 2016, I had the tremendous privilege to see three powerful Indigenous movies at th... more In the fall of 2016, I had the tremendous privilege to see three powerful Indigenous movies at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): Maliglutit, Mahana and Goldstone. Each of these films in their own way arguably functions as medicine in Métis scholar Jo-Ann Episkenew’s sense of the term. In addition, they not only use the colonial medium of film to tell their stories, but all three movies represent a different take on the genre of the American western. They also feature characters using colonial tools and practices, together with Indigenous traditions and epistemologies, as part of their own process of overcoming the specific challenges they face. In this essay, I examine the ways in which these three films explore the Indigenous mixtures of traditional and colonial practices – reinvented rituals – that may help Indigenous peoples heal from the varying traumas of (ongoing) colonial violence.

Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education , 2024

SPARK is a creative project initiated by the 2023 3M National Teaching Fellowship cohort. Maintai... more SPARK is a creative project initiated by the 2023 3M National Teaching Fellowship cohort. Maintaining that spark of joy, creativity, and delight in our work isn’t easy amidst the varied demands of our institutions and life. So here we have collected a series of personal stories, reflections, resources, and activities that might inspire discussion and the sharing of ideas. We hope that this collection ignites (or re-ignites) your own spark.

Religious Studies and Theology, 2019

A collection of essays and reflections on teaching and learning in the academic study of religion... more A collection of essays and reflections on teaching and learning in the academic study of religion, in honour of Michel Desjardins.

Cascade Press, 2018

The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens made a strong impression on fans. Many were excited... more The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens made a strong impression on fans. Many were excited by what they saw as a return to the spirit of George Lucas’s 1977 creation. Others—including several white supremacy groups—were upset and offended by key differences, most notably the shift away from a blond, blue-eyed, male protagonist. When the film was finally released, reactions similarly seemed to hinge on whether or not The Force Awakens renewed the “mythic” aspects of the original trilogy in ways that fans approved of. The Myth Awakens examines the religious implications of this phenomenon, considering the ways in which myth can function to reinforce “traditional” social and political values. In their analyses the authors of this book reflect on fan responses in relation to various elements of (and changes to) the Star Wars canon—including toys, video games, and novels, as well as several of the films. They do so using a variety of critical tools, drawing from studies of gender, race, psychology, politics, authority, music, ritual, and memory.

Journal for Religion, Film, and Media , 2022

For many years now I have put a question on the final exam in various religion courses that asks ... more For many years now I have put a question on the final exam in various religion courses that asks students to apply ideas from the course to a short film screened during the exam. This is a film we have not watched or discussed before, so it is essentially new data for the class. In this article I discuss some of the challenges I encountered when I began using short films in exams and how I resolved them. I also discuss the many advantages of this approach, some of which I had anticipated (or at least hoped for), while others surprised me. These surprises include congruencies between using short films in exams and principles of trauma-informed pedagogy. The article includes specific examples from three courses of exam questions and films, and answers that three students provided.

Religious Studies and Theology, 2019

This is a story about the challenges and virtues of messiness for scholarship and teaching in aca... more This is a story about the challenges and virtues of messiness for scholarship and teaching in academia generally, and Religious Studies in particular. It begins when I was first hired to teach Introduction to the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto Mississauga. It continues with a discussion of research into how introductory religion courses are taught in Canada, and reflection on that research – which includes examples of student learning from a world religions summer course I have taught in Hong Kong since 2012. It ends with a consideration of the ways in which messiness has been a key component of Michel Desjardins’ own scholarship and teaching.

Religious Studies and Theology, 2019

An introduction to the special double issue of Religious Studies and Theology honouring Michel De... more An introduction to the special double issue of Religious Studies and Theology honouring Michel Desjardins and focusing on pedagogy.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2018

The past few times that I have taught my course on religion and film I have included a number of ... more The past few times that I have taught my course on religion and film I have included a number of Indigenous movies. The response from students has been entirely positive, in part because most of them have rarely encountered Indigenous cultural products of any kind, especially contemporary ones. Students also respond well to the way in which many of these films use notions of the monstrous to explore, and explode, colonial myths. Goldstone, for example, by Kamilaroi filmmaker Ivan Sen, draws on noir tropes to peel back the smiling masks of the people responsible for the mining town’s success, revealing their underlying monstrosity. Similarly, Mi’gmaq Jeff Barnaby’s debut feature Rhymes for Young Ghouls makes cinematic allusions to 1970s horror films in its depiction of the residential school system. In this paper, I will draw on these examples to discuss how examination of the monstrous in Indigenous films can help us to introduce students to the ideological power of myth, specifically in relation to colonialism.

Religion & Literature, 2016

Many critics have pointed out that when Christianity appears in Margaret Atwood’s work it is patr... more Many critics have pointed out that when Christianity appears in Margaret Atwood’s work it is patriarchal, authoritarian, closed, institutional, and repressive. Others have indicated the ways in which much of Atwood’s work endorses a perspective that could be considered implicitly or explicitly religious in other respects. This perspective most often involves a kind of personal “spirituality,” one that is anti-patriarchal, nature-centered, and humanistic—and definitely not Christian. In contrast to this dominant critical understanding, a handful of scholars have noted that, even though Atwood appears to promote a total break with Christianity, her writing in fact at times favors this tradition in certain ways.

Cat’s Eye offers an important example of a text that embodies this complex regard for Christianity, and that also demonstrates Atwood’s trademark use of mimesis. The novel’s religious ambivalence in fact becomes apparent specifically through an examination of its mimetic tropes. This examination is undertaken using two different theoretical approaches—which themselves incorporate considerations of Christianity—provided by the work of Homi Bhabha and René Girard. Bhabha’s model focuses on the relationship between colonialism and mimicry, while Girard’s is concerned with mimetic conflict and sacrifice. Examining Cat’s Eye through the respective lenses of these theories reveals that, although Cat’s Eye offers a critique of Christianity that in many ways mirrors Bhabha’s own, in the end the novel promotes a particular understanding—and affirmation—of the tradition that is fundamentally Girardian.

Journal for Religion, Film, and Media, 2017

There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and w... more There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and when we see what might be commonly understood as "religious tradition(s)" explicitly on display. Another is to think about superhero narratives themselves as "religious" , using this term as a conceptual tool for categorizing and thereby better understanding particular dimensions of human experience. This article takes a variety of approaches to understanding religion in relation to the recent television series LUKE CAGE (Netflix, US 2016). These approaches take their hermeneuti-cal cues from a range of disciplines, including studies of the Bible; Hip Hop; gender; Black Theology; African American religion; and philosophy. The results of this analysis highlight the polysemic nature of popular culture in general, and of superhero stories in particular. Like religious traditions themselves, the show is complex and contradictory: it is both progressive and reactionary; emphasizes community and valorizes an individual; critiques and endorses Christianity; subverts and promotes violence. Depending on the questions asked, LUKE CAGE (2016) provides a range of very different answers.

Journal of Religion & Film , 2017

This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film co... more This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film course. PBL is an open-ended, experiential approach to teaching, which requires students to engage with a real world problem in groups. While many university classes are based on a lecture format and variations of that format, PBL asks students to take greater ownership of their learning. The problem drives what students will learn, how they will learn it, and what they produce to assess that learning. Students in a fourth-year PBL class at the University of Toronto Mississauga were given the following problem: analyze developments in the field of religion and film over the past 20 years through the lens of the Journal of Religion and Film. All four groups of students in the course made significant discoveries in their response to this assignment, and two in particular stood out. These two groups examined patterns evident in how the topics of self-sacrifice and of music were (and were not) discussed in the journal.

The Hooded Utilitarian, 2017

http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2015/07/interpreting-oz/

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2014

Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calli... more Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calling for the death of all Native American people. These editorials have affected how both Baum’s novel and its 1939 MGM adaptation are interpreted. For some, the tale is a utopian vision that vindicates its author, while for others it clearly embodies Baum’s genocidal impulses. This essay explores this hermeneutical issue, arguing that The Wizard of Oz—like “religion” itself—can support opposing interpretations because the world it depicts is complex and contradictory.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2014

In this paper I discuss the constructive possibilities that nongrading opens up to us as teachers... more In this paper I discuss the constructive possibilities that nongrading opens up to us as teachers to achieve a number of pedagogical benefits. The specific context that I focus on – online discussion boards – is one that, miraculously, has in some ways made teaching *easier* for me. Renouncing grades will not by any means solve all of our pedagogical challenges, but in certain contexts, I definitely think this approach can help move us in good directions.

Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 2013

Although none of the articles in this issue on the topic of religion and humor are explicitly abo... more Although none of the articles in this issue on the topic of religion and humor are explicitly about teaching, in many ways all of them in fact share this central focus. In the examples discussed by the four authors, humor is used to deconstruct the category of religion; to comment on the distance between orthodoxy and praxis; to censure religion; and to enrich traditions in ways that can be quite self-critical. My response to these articles addresses each of the above lessons in specific relation to experiences I have had in, and strategies I have developed for, teaching a first-year introductory religion course at the University of Toronto.

Literature and Theology, 2002

A common feature of Canadian Native writing is mimetic violence, both between particular characte... more A common feature of Canadian Native writing is mimetic violence, both between particular characters and in relation to colonialism. This violence is further linked to Christianity, as Native writers rarely side with the majority of academics who see brutality and oppression as a complete aberration of religion. The following article considers such links as they occur in three critical Canadian Native texts, and how these texts consequently add a distinctive element to current scholarship concerned with religion and violence.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2001

When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo's The Killer... more When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo's The Killer, students in our religion and film class typically deny that such relations exist. Using René Girard's work on mimesis and sacrifice, we have argued that it is possible to see that religion and violence in Woo's film are virtually inextricable from one another. Because Girard's theories can clearly be criticized on their own account, and because their application to The Killer is not without problems, we have also used discussions of the film to raise general questions about the use of theory and the meaning of interpretation.

Journal of Early Christian Studies, 1996

Although The Epistle of Barnabas is a short and now relatively obscure early Christian text, it h... more Although The Epistle of Barnabas is a short and now relatively obscure early Christian text, it has received considerable critical attention. Almost all of this work has focused on the historical aspects of the document: date, authorship, social setting, etc. This kind of work is also done with great vigor and success on other early Christian writings, most notably the New Testament. Examination of the canonical sources, however, is supplemented by additional forms of investigation which consider the literary merits of the texts. One of the more important factors responsible for this situation is surely the low esteem in which the epistle is held.

While I might sympathize with some aspects of this picture of Barnabas, I would contend that it should not preclude examining the epistle for insights that are not specifically historical. Such insights in any given text often become apparent in moments of tension, moments which raise questions that lead us beyond the scope of the text itself. One of the more prominent examples of such a moment in Barnabas involves the use of stone imagery to describe Jesus. It is the tension in this imagery that I examine here.

Relation and Resistance: Racialized Women, Religion and Diaspora, 2021

In this essay I consider questions of diaspora, identity, and religion in Maria Campbell's *Halfb... more In this essay I consider questions of diaspora, identity, and religion in Maria Campbell's *Halfbreed* and Beatrice Mosionier's *In Search of April Raintree*. More specifically, my aim is to show the ways in which I have come to see these two texts by Métis women as implicating colonial religion in the diasporic situation of Indigenous people in Canada, and conversely pointing to Indigenous religions – and writings – as critical to the process of recovering a sense of home.

Reassembling Democracy: Ritual as Cultural Resource, 2020

In the fall of 2016, I had the tremendous privilege to see three powerful Indigenous movies at th... more In the fall of 2016, I had the tremendous privilege to see three powerful Indigenous movies at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): Maliglutit, Mahana and Goldstone. Each of these films in their own way arguably functions as medicine in Métis scholar Jo-Ann Episkenew’s sense of the term. In addition, they not only use the colonial medium of film to tell their stories, but all three movies represent a different take on the genre of the American western. They also feature characters using colonial tools and practices, together with Indigenous traditions and epistemologies, as part of their own process of overcoming the specific challenges they face. In this essay, I examine the ways in which these three films explore the Indigenous mixtures of traditional and colonial practices – reinvented rituals – that may help Indigenous peoples heal from the varying traumas of (ongoing) colonial violence.

‘Survivance’ Beyond Canons: Mapping Canadian First Nations Literatures, 2008

Many Americans, and a few Canadians, have realized that our criticism of America is often not wit... more Many Americans, and a few Canadians, have realized that our criticism of America is often not without a good deal of irony. Thomas King is such a person. King has shown a great interest in American-Canadian relations; as an American married to a Canadian, and who has written and taught in Canada for almost twenty years – to the extent that he is regarded, by Canadians, as a major Canadian author – his interest and insight is not surprising. As the son of a Cherokee father and a Greek/German mother, it is perhaps also not surprising that King should be similarly concerned with Native/non-Native relations. I will thus consider this triad in King’s writings – American, Canadian, Native – in the light of a particular question of self-righteousness. This question, crudely put, is as follows: Can Natives condemn non-Natives without calling up the same irony as when Canadians condemn Americans?

Teaching Religion and Violence, 2012

Considerations of religion and violence are often particularly useful for discussing the ways in ... more Considerations of religion and violence are often particularly useful for discussing the ways in which people make sense of their world. Both terms are loaded, as it were, and many students have strong — at times intractable — opinions on the relations between them. But the very strength of these opinions can be used as a lever to uncover key preconceptions and shed some critical light on what supports them. Certain films may facilitate this process, sometimes in surprising ways. In this essay I discuss a variety of ways in which I have used different movies as pedagogical tools to raise some relatively complex questions about religion and violence.

A Concise Introduction to World Religions, 2015

World Religions: Western Traditions (Fourth Edition), 2014

Journal of Religion & Film, 2023

A review of Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (2023), directed by Robert McCallum.

Journal of Religion & Film , 2023

A review of Hey, Viktor! (2023) directed by Cody Lightning.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2023

A review of Limbo (2023), directed by Ivan Sen.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2022

A review of This Place (2022), directed by V.T. Nayani.

Journal of Religion & Film , 2022

A review of Stellar (2022), directed by Darlene Naponse.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2022

A review of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), directed by Rian Johnson.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2021

A review of Where Is Anne Frank (2021), directed by Ari Folman.

Journal of Religion & Film, 2018

A discussion of the 2018 film Black Panther in relation to notions of apocalypse and colonialism.... more A discussion of the 2018 film Black Panther in relation to notions of apocalypse and colonialism. This is one of a series of reviews of Black Panther published in the same issue of the Journal of Religion & Film.

https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol22/iss1/42/

Journal of Religion & Film, 2017

A review of Waru (2017), directed by Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi, Casey Kaa,... more A review of Waru (2017), directed by Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi, Casey Kaa, Awanui Simich-Pene, Chelsea Cohen, Katie Wolfe, and Paula Jones.

https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol21/iss2/21/

Journal of Religion & Film, 2017

Journal of Religion & Film, Oct 2016

An introduction to ideas about religion in relation to the 41st Toronto International Film Festival

Journal of Religion & Film, Oct 2016

Journal of Religion & Film, Oct 2016

A comparative review of Gimme Danger (2016), directed by Jim Jarmusch, and Leehom Wang's Open Fir... more A comparative review of Gimme Danger (2016), directed by Jim Jarmusch, and Leehom Wang's Open Fire Concert Film (2016), directed by Homeboy Music, Inc.

http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol20/iss3/17/

Journal of Religion & Film, Oct 2016

Journal of Religion & Film, Oct 2016

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (volume 10), 2015

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (volume 13), 2016

Religious Studies Review, 2020

A brief pedagogical review of Jo-Ann Episkenew's Taking Back Our Spirits.

Religious Studies Review, 2018

A brief pedagogical review of Malory Nye's *Religion: The Basics*.

Journal of the American Academy of religion, 2013

SPARK: Reflections from the 2023 3M National Teaching Fellows Summit , 2024

Pretty much from the first moment I stepped into a classroom as a TA in grad school, I have loved... more Pretty much from the first moment I stepped into a classroom as a TA in grad school, I have loved teaching.

But teaching is also difficult, for all kinds of reasons. I often find myself struggling to keep my spirits up in the face of all this. I need to regularly be reminded to do things that help bring back my sense of joy in teaching.

One approach that works well for me is to simply try to include some fun and silliness in what I do. And to make space for students to do this also.

Teaching and Learning as Treaty Peoples, 2022

A description of (and reflection on) my experiences teaching with Indigenous films in different c... more A description of (and reflection on) my experiences teaching with Indigenous films in different courses at the University of Toronto.

Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies, 2020

Long long ago, before we had ever heard the terms "coronavirus," "social distancing," or "flatten... more Long long ago, before we had ever heard the terms "coronavirus," "social distancing," or "flattening the curve," I decided that a key assignment in the Introduction to the Study of Religion (RLG101H) would involve students visiting a religious site about which they knew as as little as possible. While there, they would participate in activities with members of that community, making as many observations as possible about these activities, the people, and the space in which everything took place.

UTM Teaching & Learning Collaboration Newsletter, May 2020

Undergraduate students often have misconceptions about our office hours. Many worry that they mus... more Undergraduate students often have misconceptions about our office hours. Many worry that they must have particularly thoughtful or deep questions to bring to office hours, and the prospect of visiting a professor in their personal office can be intimidating. From the instructor’s point of view, office hours can provide deeper connections with students (particularly from large lecture classes), offer opportunities for targeted individual feedback, and build students’ confidence with course material.

In order to address these asymmetrical attitudes toward office hours, we – three instructors from Historical Studies, Mathematics, and Visual Studies – have been experimenting with holding our office hours in public spaces such as cafés and student centres. In short, we have rebranded traditional office hours as “public office hours” and, in our collective experience, this change has three key outcomes: it promotes equity, diversity and inclusion; fosters community and collaborative problem solving; and reduces common hurdles to help-seeking behaviour among our students.

In this note, we discuss common student misconceptions surrounding traditional office hours; suggest how public office hours can be more equitable; relate our experiences with the collaborative and communal aspects of public office hours; and conclude with a brief account of our own histories with public office hours, showing that they can be of use to instructors and students across the disciplines.

My syllabus for RLG401H, taught in the winter 2016 term.

Journal of Religion and Film, Sep 30, 2023

Journal of historical studies, 2020

This is a film review of Goldstone (2015), directed by Ivan Sen

This is a comparative film review of Gimme Danger (2016), directed by Jim Jarmusch, and Leehom Wa... more This is a comparative film review of Gimme Danger (2016), directed by Jim Jarmusch, and Leehom Wang\u27s Open Fire Concert Film (2016), directed by Homeboy Music, Inc

Schüren Verlag eBooks, 2017

Journal of Religion and Film, 2001

When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo's Th... more When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo's The Killer, students in our religion and film class typically deny that such relations exist. Using René Girard's work on mimesis and sacrifice, we have argued that it is possible to see that religion and violence in Woo's film are virtually inextricable from one another. Because Girard's theories can clearly be criticized on their own account, and because their application to The Killer is not without problems, we have also used discussions of the film to raise general questions about the use of theory and the meaning of interpretation. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol5/iss1/3/

Journal of Religion and Film, Oct 1, 2016

This is a film review of The Patriarch (2016), directed by Lee Tamahori.

This is a film review of Waru (2017), directed by Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maih... more This is a film review of Waru (2017), directed by Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi, Casey Kaa, Awanui Simich-Pene, Chelsea Cohen, Katie Wolfe, and Paula Jones

When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo\u27s The Kil... more When asked for their views on the relation between religion and violence in John Woo\u27s The Killer, students in our religion and film class typically deny that such relations exist. Using René Girard\u27s work on mimesis and sacrifice, we have argued that it is possible to see that religion and violence in Woo\u27s film are virtually inextricable from one another. Because Girard\u27s theories can clearly be criticized on their own account, and because their application to The Killer is not without problems, we have also used discussions of the film to raise general questions about the use of theory and the meaning of interpretation

Journal of Religion, Film and Media, May 1, 2017

There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and w... more There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and when we see what might be commonly understood as "religious tradition(s)" explicitly on display. Another is to think about superhero narratives themselves as "religious" , using this term as a conceptual tool for categorizing and thereby better understanding particular dimensions of human experience. This article takes a variety of approaches to understanding religion in relation to the recent television series LUKE CAGE (Netflix, US 2016). These approaches take their hermeneuti-cal cues from a range of disciplines, including studies of the Bible; Hip Hop; gender; Black Theology; African American religion; and philosophy. The results of this analysis highlight the polysemic nature of popular culture in general, and of superhero stories in particular. Like religious traditions themselves, the show is complex and contradictory: it is both progressive and reactionary; emphasizes community and valorizes an individual; critiques and endorses Christianity; subverts and promotes violence. Depending on the questions asked, LUKE CAGE (2016) provides a range of very different answers. http://www.jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/article/view/79

Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 2013

Although none of the articles in this issue on the topic of religion and humor are explicitly abo... more Although none of the articles in this issue on the topic of religion and humor are explicitly about teaching, in many ways all of them in fact share this central focus. In the examples discussed by the four authors, humor is used to deconstruct the category of religion; to comment on the distance between orthodoxy and praxis; to censure religion; and to enrich traditions in ways that can be quite self-critical. My response to these articles addresses each of the above lessons in specific relation to experiences I have had in, and strategies I have developed for, teaching a first-year introductory religion course at the University of Toronto.

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2014

Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calli... more Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calling for the death of all Native American people. These editorials have affected how both Baum's novel and its 1939 MGM adaptation are interpreted. For some, the tale is a utopian vision that vindicates its author, while for others it clearly embodies Baum's genocidal impulses. This essay explores this hermeneutical issue, arguing that The Wizard of Oz-like "religion" itself-can support opposing interpretations because the world it depicts is complex and contradictory.

Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 2013

https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/BSOR/article/view/17914

King, and Basil Johnston. The mimetic violence examined is both social (the colonial attempt to r... more King, and Basil Johnston. The mimetic violence examined is both social (the colonial attempt to remake the colonized into a reflection of the dominant culture) and personal (inter-Native conflict in which participants mirror one another in their struggle for a mutually covetted object). In order to investigate the former, I rely on the work of Homi K. Bhabha on colonial mimicry and hybridity; to examine the latter, I employ René Girard's model of mimetic desire and violence. The principal academic contexts to this work are the study of Native literature and the academic study of religion, including the sub-field of Religion and Literature. After reviewing the relevant literature in these fields, and examining mimetic violence in key texts by the Native authors listed, I make several concluding points. First, I argue that a causal link between colonial violence and inter-Native mimetic violence is evident in the category of Native literature labelled by Thomas King as "polemical." This includes Campbell's Halfbreed, Culleton's In Search of April Raintree, and King's own Green Grass, Running Water. Second, I find that Johnston's Moose Meat & Wild Rice and Indian School Days generally take care to separate colonial mimesis from Native mimetic conflict. This work fits King's "associational" category of iii Native literature, and the disconnect evident in Johnston's stories between the two forms of mimesis might stand as a defining feature of this category. Third, I assert that in none of the Native literature examined is religion viewed in a positive, idealist manner that assumes in its "true" manifestation it cannot be the cause of violence, which is the position taken by most religion scholars. I argue that the emphasis the Native texts place on the historic, material actions and effects of Christian individuals and institutions complements similar work being done by a minority of academics in the study of religion. Fourth, I propose possible avenues for the further investigation of mimesis in Native literature, which would use/focus on: metaphor-centred hermeneutical models; trickster figures and theories; and the conception of both Native and colonial identity. Finally, I argue that critics of Native literature have tended to idealize Native cultures, and that inter-Native mimetic violence offers a humanizing corrective to this perspective. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Although there are so many people I need to thank, it is easy to know where to start. This dissertation literally begins and ends with Kelly Jay. She was with me on my first day of graduate school and my last. There is not a word or a thought in this project that has not been considered and approved by Kelly, and I cannot imagine its existence without her. To repay her love, support, and heroic patience, there are not enough Hakka pakoras in the world. My parents Carol and Bob, and my brother Mark, have given me so much love and encouragement that I have often felt that I could do anything. Of my other relations, Diane Howe, Muriel Hill, and my grandmother, Violet Hendy, were especially caring, helpful, and engaged. My persistence and final success in completing my Ph.D. is due in very large part to the wonderful family I have been so lucky to have. And then there is my second family, Agnes, Ron, and Tracy Jay. They have taken me in as if I were one of their own. I can no longer imagine a time when I was not part of their lives, and I suspect they cannot imagine a time when this thesis was not a part of theirs. I thank them for the smottebollen and the Harvard, for plays at the Lighthouse and parades at Harvest Fest, and-most of all-for Lake Erie perch. I have been blessed with an almost unbroken stream of extraordinary teachers. Of these, the following stand out:

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2014

Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calli... more Ten years before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced two editorials calling for the death of all Native American people. These editorials have affected how both Baum’s novel and its 1939 MGM adaptation are interpreted. For some, the tale is a utopian vision that vindicates its author, while for others it clearly embodies Baum’s genocidal impulses. This essay explores this hermeneutical issue, arguing that The Wizard of Oz—like “religion” itself—can support opposing interpretations because the world it depicts is complex and contradictory.

This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film co... more This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film course. PBL is an open-ended, experiential approach to teaching, which requires students to engage with a real world problem in groups. While many university classes are based on a lecture format and variations of that format, PBL asks students to take greater ownership of their learning. The problem drives what students will learn, how they will learn it, and what they produce to assess that learning. Students in a fourth-year PBL class at the University of Toronto Mississauga were given the following problem: analyze developments in the field of religion and film over the past 20 years through the lens of the Journal of Religion and Film. All four groups of students in the course made significant discoveries in their response to this assignment, and two in particular stood out. These two groups examined patterns evident in how the topics of self-sacrifice and of music were (and were not)...

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (volume 13), 2016

King, and Basil Johnston. The mimetic violence examined is both social (the colonial attempt to r... more King, and Basil Johnston. The mimetic violence examined is both social (the colonial attempt to remake the colonized into a reflection of the dominant culture) and personal (inter-Native conflict in which participants mirror one another in their struggle for a mutually covetted object). In order to investigate the former, I rely on the work of Homi K. Bhabha on colonial mimicry and hybridity; to examine the latter, I employ René Girard's model of mimetic desire and violence. The principal academic contexts to this work are the study of Native literature and the academic study of religion, including the sub-field of Religion and Literature. After reviewing the relevant literature in these fields, and examining mimetic violence in key texts by the Native authors listed, I make several concluding points. First, I argue that a causal link between colonial violence and inter-Native mimetic violence is evident in the category of Native literature labelled by Thomas King as "polemical." This includes Campbell's Halfbreed, Culleton's In Search of April Raintree, and King's own Green Grass, Running Water. Second, I find that Johnston's Moose Meat & Wild Rice and Indian School Days generally take care to separate colonial mimesis from Native mimetic conflict. This work fits King's "associational" category of iii Native literature, and the disconnect evident in Johnston's stories between the two forms of mimesis might stand as a defining feature of this category. Third, I assert that in none of the Native literature examined is religion viewed in a positive, idealist manner that assumes in its "true" manifestation it cannot be the cause of violence, which is the position taken by most religion scholars. I argue that the emphasis the Native texts place on the historic, material actions and effects of Christian individuals and institutions complements similar work being done by a minority of academics in the study of religion. Fourth, I propose possible avenues for the further investigation of mimesis in Native literature, which would use/focus on: metaphor-centred hermeneutical models; trickster figures and theories; and the conception of both Native and colonial identity. Finally, I argue that critics of Native literature have tended to idealize Native cultures, and that inter-Native mimetic violence offers a humanizing corrective to this perspective. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Although there are so many people I need to thank, it is easy to know where to start. This dissertation literally begins and ends with Kelly Jay. She was with me on my first day of graduate school and my last. There is not a word or a thought in this project that has not been considered and approved by Kelly, and I cannot imagine its existence without her. To repay her love, support, and heroic patience, there are not enough Hakka pakoras in the world. My parents Carol and Bob, and my brother Mark, have given me so much love and encouragement that I have often felt that I could do anything. Of my other relations, Diane Howe, Muriel Hill, and my grandmother, Violet Hendy, were especially caring, helpful, and engaged. My persistence and final success in completing my Ph.D. is due in very large part to the wonderful family I have been so lucky to have. And then there is my second family, Agnes, Ron, and Tracy Jay. They have taken me in as if I were one of their own. I can no longer imagine a time when I was not part of their lives, and I suspect they cannot imagine a time when this thesis was not a part of theirs. I thank them for the smottebollen and the Harvard, for plays at the Lighthouse and parades at Harvest Fest, and-most of all-for Lake Erie perch. I have been blessed with an almost unbroken stream of extraordinary teachers. Of these, the following stand out:

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2014

When asked to review this book, I was a little hesitant to do so, because my familiarity with the... more When asked to review this book, I was a little hesitant to do so, because my familiarity with the Star Wars franchise is limited at best. Yet I would now argue that extensive knowledge of the Star Wars mythology is not a prerequisite for engaging with this text in a meaningful way, as issues raised by the contributors provide key insights into the discipline of religious studies as well as the intersection of religion and media which are useful in a broader context, including questions of canonization, collective memory, legitimacy, race, and gender. And perhaps one of the most exciting questions addressed in the book (for me!) is the role of music in myth-making. Ken Derry's preface offers an introduction to the volume and he emphasizes the need for fun in scholarship. He contends that we as scholars ought to take ourselves less seriously in certain ways. The "enduring appeal" (11) of Star Wars is linked to the fun one derives from creating meaning through engagement with the films, music, and characters. Derry's concurrent use of theory and humour in the opening section is both fun to read and theoretically rigorous. The first chapter, by John C. Lyden, argues that both the Original Trilogy and the newer films demonstrate moral and political ambiguity as the lines between villain and hero are blurred. Lyden challenges previous arguments that Star Wars has a singular political message. The main point of the chapter is that the political meaning of the franchise will be variously interpreted by the