Decoding Diaspora: Mapping J. A. Rogers' Mythic Africa Main Menu Table of Contents Explore and Navigate the Different Facets of the Decoding Diaspora project. Project An Introduction by Dr. Richard Newton Data Access the Data for Your Own Research Interpretations Use Digital Tools to Explore How J. A. Rogers Understood "Africa" Essays Experimental Studies Using the Data and Interpreations Featured Here References Project Bibliography and Recommended Readings Use and Permissions Terms and Conditions Governing the Creation and Use of the Project

Researchers and Community Partners

42151

Directors


Dr. Richard Newton is the project's Research Director and Principal Investigator. He is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. His research focuses on scriptures in social formation, the New Testament in Western imagination, African American cultural history, and theory and method in the study of religion. Newton is the author Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures (Equinox 2020), Editor of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion and curator of Sowing the Seed: Fruitful Conversations in Religion, Culture, and Teaching. 

Dr. Jeri Wieringa (2021-2023) was a project consultant during her tenure as director of the REL Digital Lab at the University of Alabama, where she served as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies from 2020-2023. Wieringa is a scholar who works at the intersection of American religious history, data science, and computational methods. In 2019, she published a digital dissertation under the auspices of George Mason University entitle, A Gospel of Health and Salvation: Modeling the Religious Culture of Seventh-day Adventism, 1843 – 1920.   


Project Leads

2021-2022



Holly Brand, Text Corpus Assistant
Marco Pflanzen, OCR Scanning and Metadata  Assistant
Leah Varnell, OCR Scanning and Metadata Assistant




2022-2023



Erica Bennett, Podcast Project Lead 
Carter Sheldon, Podcast Project Assistant



Casey A'Hearn, Data and Interpretation Lead
Hannah Alexander, Data and Interpretation Assistant

2023-2024

Casey A'Hearn, Data and Interpretation Lead, Computer Programming Lead
Hanna Alexander, Data and Interpretation Assistant, 3D Printing Exploratory Research Assistant  (Fall 2023)


Trevor Linn, Podcast Project Lead (Spring 2024)



Katelyn Rials, 3D Printing Engineer and Programming Assistant 


Cole Segura, 3D Printing Engineer and Programming Assistant

2024-2025



Drake Jones, Podcast Project Lead



Katelyn Rials, Musueum Curation Lead

 

 

Student Research Teams

Fall 2021, REL226: African Diaspora Religions, University of Alabama, Prof. Richard Newton
Spring 2023, REL226: African Diaspora Religions, University of Alabama, Prof. Richard Newton
Fall 2024, REL 502: Public Humanities, University of Alabama, Prof. Nathan Loewen

Financial Support




The College Academy of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (CARSCA) provides funding for faculty research, scholarship, and creative activity within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama.




The REL Digital Lab is a collaborative space for digital humanities work in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Community Partners

We are thrilled to have partnered with Scouting America Troop 90b to develop a module of Decoding Diaspora to assist Scouts in earning the Citizenship in Society Merit Badge. We look forward to expanding this opportunity to more Scouts in the future.






NAVIGATION

Table of Contents
Project
Data

This page references: