Sarah Pike, Ph.D. Indiana University.
Trinity 231
(530) 898-6341
spike@csuchico.edu

My training is in religion in America and my research and teaching blend ethnographic and historical methods and materials with an ongoing interest in popular culture. In my courses I explore the relationship between religion and ethnicity, identity and cultural expression. I am particularly interested in points of conflict and tension within and between religious communities. My teaching responsibilities have included RS 185 Religion and America's Ethnic Minorities, RS 153 The End of the World, RS 146 Religion and American Society, RS 188 American Indian Worldviews, and RS 280 the senior seminar, on topics including "Cults" and New Religions, Gender, Family and God, and Religion, Nature and Environmentalism in America.

My research has focused on new religious movements and I have written numerous articles and book reviews on topics including the New Age movement and the Burning Man festival. My ethnography of contemporary Pagan festivals, Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves was published by the University of California Press in 2001 and I am currently finishing a textbook on New Age and Neopagan religions for a Columbia University Press series on contemporary American religion. Another ongoing project of mine concerns adolescents and religion and is currently entitled "Dark Teens: Adolescents on the Margins of American Culture."

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