Celebrating our Grad Students' Achievement at the Fire on the Mountain Conference
's Center for Media, Religion, and Culture (CMRC) hosted a conference, “Fire on the Mountain: Media, Religion, and Nationalism,” from Jan. 10-13, 2024. Organized by Center Director Nabil Echchaibi and Associate Director Deborah Whitehead, the conference explored the intricate relationship between media, religion, and nationalism in today's complex world. This was the tenth biannual CMRC conference, which seeks to fosters meaningful conversations on emerging issues in media and religion. Three graduate students from the Department of Religious Studies participated in the conference.
AJ Mullennix presented a paper titled “The Influence of White Supremacy Culture in a Presbyterian Church” in a session on “Christian Nationalism and White Supremacy.” This was their fourth conference presenting this research, and they were glad to get new feedback and questions that helped articulate [their] argument and findings. In a session on “Cosmopolitanism and Transnationalism,” Scout Wood presented a paper on “Media, Nationalism, and Transnational Religion in Wild, Wild Country,” focused on transnationalism and Orientalism in the Netflix documentary Wild, Wild Country. Scout gained valuable experience presenting at their first academic conference, something they are excited to take with them as they continue to apply for conference opportunities.
Hanna McElduff presented on “The Apocalypse in Evangelical Christian Media” in a panel on “Nationalism and Apocalypse.” Hanna appreciated the opportunity to network with scholars who are working on similar projects, and is interested to explore the work of other scholars who are studying the rise of Christian nationalism on social media. We congratulate all three students on their presentations and are excited to see where the inspiration from this conference takes them.
Conference Sponsored by:
Center for Media, Religion and Culture | College of Media Communication and Information | Media Studies | Women and Gender Studies | Center for Asian Studies | Religious Studies
Ethnic Studies Communication
