VCU’s 2011-12 Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Lecture Series Announced

By Mike Porter

The School of World Studies in Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Humanities and Sciences has announced three lectures as part of the 2011-2012 Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies Lecture Series. 

Thomas A. Tweed, Ph.D., Shive, Lindsay and Gray Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, will speak on Thursday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in the VCU Student Commons Theater, 907 Floyd Ave. His lecture is titled “Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.”

Yvonne Haddad, Ph.D., professor of the history of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University, will speak on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in the VCU Student Commons Commonwealth Ballroom B, 907 Floyd Ave. Her lecture is titled “The Formation and Transformation of American Muslim Identity Post 9/11.”

And Elizabeth McAlister, Ph.D., associate professor of religion at Wesleyan University, will speak on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 4 p.m. in VCU Student Commons Richmond Salons, 907 Floyd Ave. Her lecture is titled “Music, Religion and the Haiti Earthquake – From the Rubble to the Telethon.”

Tweed’s historical, ethnographic and theoretical research, which includes six books and a six-volume series of historical documents, has been supported by several grants and fellowships, including three from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tweed's “Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion” was published by Harvard University Press in 2006. His most recent book, “America’s Church: The National Shrine and Catholic Presence in the Nation’s Capital, 1917-1997,” is a historical study of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. It was published earlier this year by Oxford University Press.

Haddad has conducted research on 20th century Islamic thought in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and Tunisia and has traveled extensively in the Muslim world. Haddad's current research focuses on Muslims in the West and on Islamic revolutionary movements.

Among Haddad’s many publications is “Not Quite American? The Shaping of Arab and Muslim Identity in the United States” and “Contemporary Islam and the Challenge of History.”

McAlister’s research focuses on Afro-Caribbean religions and Caribbean music, and race theory, with a focus on Haiti. McAlister is author of “Rara! Vodou, Power and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora,” a book and CD published by University of California Press in 2002 that is an ethnography of a musical, religious, and political festival in Haiti.

All three lectures are free and open to the public. Parking is available for a fee on a first-come, first-served basis at VCU’s Main Street Deck at the corner of Laurel and Main streets.

The lecture program is named in honor of Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, who headed the Catholic Diocese of Richmond from 1974 to 2003.

For more information, contact Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D., Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at VCU, at rachesnut@vcu.edu or 804-827-3408.