Dec. 20, 2017
Amy DeRogatis is a professor of religion and American culture in the Department of Religious Studies. DeRogatis is also the co-director of the American Religious Sounds Project, a collaborative digital initiative, supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.
I think of myself primarily as a teacher. I loved to be in the classroom as an undergraduate. The joy of learning together with other people. I knew that I wanted to become a professor.
I'm Amy DeRogatis; I'm professor of religion in American culture. I'm interested in the edges of religion as it works through sound.
What we aim to do in the American Religious Sounds Project is to leverage digital tools to ask some questions about what does religion sound like, and how is it practiced through the senses. When we look at religious groups we're always asking questions of identity. Who am I? What happens to me after I die?
Paying attention to religious sound — it's a very fluid look at religious practice that can't be
confined to a particular place. This is not a traditional study that looks at texts or considers institutions as defining religion.
Every student has a stake in the production of knowledge. For me, as a teacher, that's the success.