Dr. Brenda Anderson is Associate Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies and Religious Studies at Luther College at the University of Regina. She has taught at Luther since 1994 as a sessional, instructor and now as tenured faculty. Brenda’s research and teaching focus generally on issues of women and sexualities in religion colonization and decolonization and violence against women, and specifically on Islamic feminism and on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. In 2008, she co-chaired an international conference on Missing Women in Canada and Mexico, out of which proceedings were published in 2010. She is involved with interreligious dialogue at the national and international level through The United Church of Canada and The World Council of Churches, for instance as delegate to conferences in Geneva, Switzerland, and Harare, Zimbabwe. In partnership with Regina Multi-Faith Forum, Brenda co-chairs the planning committee for the North American Interfaith Network Connect Conference, “Restoring Spirit through Sacred Listening” to be held on campus in 2015. Brenda serves a second term on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion. Brenda is co-investigator of a four year SSHRC Insight grant on New Muslim Public Spheres in the Digital Age. Her area of research is on intra and inter-religious dialogue and responsibilities include interviewing Muslims across the four western provinces. http://canadianmuslimsonline.uqam.ca/en/about/about.html.
Brenda has developed several new courses on campus, including “Sex and Sexualities in Religion,” “Missing Indigenous Women: A Global Perspective,” “Feminisms and Activism: Dancing Through the Minefields,” a study abroad course in Mexico on “Violence Against Women” and is a co-teacher in Luther’s Interdisciplinary Studies Program on globalization.
Courses Taught
- WGST 100 – Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
- WGST 200 – Feminist Theory
- WGST 280AG – Feminisms and Activism: Dancing Through the Minefields
- WGST 380AL – study abroad course on “Violence Against Women in Mexico”
- WGST 390 – Missing Women: A Global Perspective
- RLST 275 – Women and World Religions
- RLST 241 – Introduction to Islam
- RLST 290 & WGST 280 – Sex and Sexualities in Religion
- RLST 390AV – Women in Islam
- RLST 390AE – Muslim Women in Exile
- RLST 441AA – Discourse of the Veil
- IDS 101 – Global Citizenship
Current Research and Community Work
- Digital media studies and e-ethnographical work
- Feminist Interreligious Dialogue
- Missing Indigenous Women
- Feminist Theory & Activism, including qualitative research and narrative inquiry
- Brenda frequently shares her work with organizations and faith communities across the province
Selected Recent Academic Publications
2013. Covering Up on the Prairies: Gender, Muslim Identity and Security Perceptions in Canada, with Franz Volker Greifenhagen. In Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion in Europe and North America, eds. Emma Tarlo and Annelies Moores London: Bloomsbury, 55-72.
2010. Feminist Interreligious Dialogical Activism: The Hybrid Spaces and Bridges of Muslim-Christian Dialogue Today, doctoral dissertation, University of Regina.
2010. Torn from our Midst: Voices of Grief, Healing and Action from the Missing Indigenous Women Conference, 2008. Eds A. Brenda anderson, Wendee Kubik, Mary Rucklos Hampton, CPRC.
2006. Setting the Dialogical Table: Who is Invited? OR Questions of Identities, Motivations and Activism. Journal of Religion and Culture, 17.
2010. Book Review Journal of American Academy of Religion: Women & Christianity. Edited by Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan and Karen Jo Torjesen. Praeger Publishing.
2002. Book Review – Women and Christianity: Vol. II, Mary Alone. Studies in Religion. Vol. 31, No.2, p. 232.
2002. Book Review – Durre Ahmed, ed. Gendering the Spirit: Women, Religion and the Post-Colonial Response, ed. Durre Ahmed. Studies in Religion, Vol. 31, No. 3-4, p. 399.
Supervision of Honours and Graduate Students
Brenda supervises numerous Honours students in WGST, RLST and International Studies and sits on numerous graduate committees at all levels.