Why Study Religion? is a video series in which the CSR asks its faculty, students, staff, and guests what is important to them about the academic study of religion and why more folks should consider pursuing it. Find out more about the Center and its initiatives HERE. To learn more about OSU’s Religious Studies Major, visit our website at THIS LINK.

Why does Alyssa Bedrosian, a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, study religion? Shurouq Ibrahim, CSR’s Graduate Research Associate, interviewed Alyssa to find out. Watch the video below for her response!

Shurouq: How would you answer the question: Why study religion?

Transcript:

Alyssa Bedrosian:

My research explores Catholic feminism and abortion rights activism in the United States and in Latin America. So, I am really interested in this relationship between feminism and religion broadly, and feminism and Catholicism specifically, and the potential of Catholic feminism and other religious feminisms to advance abortion rights.

What I have really found through my research is that most feminist scholarship tends to ignore religion and/or dismiss women’s religiosity. When feminist scholarship does address religion, it tends to focus on religious fundamentalisms without recognizing the plurality and diversity that characterize many religious traditions. And for me, this results in feminist scholarship and feminist activism that I think really falls short. Across the United States and Latin America, where my research is focused, most people identify as Christian, with women tending to be more religious than men. But, feminist scholarship continues to dismiss the religious beliefs and the religious practices of most people in the Americas.

Feminist scholar bell hooks talks a lot about the importance of building a mass feminist movement that is accessible and speaks to a lot of different people. And so, I think to do this, we need to start having nuanced conversations about religion and feminism.

Alyssa Bedrosian is a fourth-year Ph.D student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies and a 2024-25 Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme Graduate Team Fellow. Bedrosian’s interdisciplinary research explores feminisms in Latin America and the United States. Her dissertation examines twenty-first-century Catholic feminism and abortion rights activism in Mexico, Argentina, and the United States. 

Why Study Religion? is a video series in which the CSR asks its faculty, students, staff, and guests what is important to them about the academic study of religion and why more folks should consider pursuing it. Find out more about the Center and its initiatives HERE. To learn more about OSU’s Religious Studies Major, visit our website at THIS LINK.

Why does graduate affiliate Karin Ikeda study religion? Shurouq Ibrahim, CSR’s Graduate Research Associate, interviewed Karin to find out. Watch the video below for her response!

Shurouq: How would you answer the question: Why study religion?

Transcript:

Karin Ikeda:

I was born and raised in Japan, and Japanese people tend to think of themselves as not religious, and the word religion has a really bad connotation to it because of World War II. And also, there are modern movements that try to abolish superstitions, and…Oumu-Shinrikyo incidents in the 90s, [when] a religious cult…carried out a terrorist attack on thousands of people who were commuting via subway. And in Japan, religion and cults are almost synonymous, but we have a Buddhist and Shintoist tradition. We have rituals, festivals, and ceremonies embedded in our culture. For example, in New Year, I go to a shrine to pray for good health and fortune almost every year with my family. And when I had a university entrance exam, I bought a talisman from a shrine or temple to wish for good luck. We also have Christmas in Japan, and it’s quite popular to do weddings in a western style with a fake minister who is normally like a random Western guy. I always like to learn about new cultures from different countries, and religion has always been a fundamental part of it. And I find it fascinating that even though Buddhism and Shintoism are shaping the fundamental part of Japanese culture, and Christianity has a huge influence on our culture, we act like we’re so rational and not religious at all. Most younger Japanese people will do all the things that I mentioned, and they will fully believe that they’re not religious at all. I find it fascinating and that’s why I first was drawn to religious studies.

Karin Ikeda is an M.A. student in the Department of Comparative Studies. She is also a CSR Graduate Affiliate. With a background in religious studies, she is interested in contemporary spiritual movements in Asia and the U.S. and the reception of Asian religions in the U.S.