Elana Jefferson-tatum
Professor
Department of Religion
Tufts University
United States of America
Biography
Elana Jefferson-Tatum received her PhD in religion from Emory University in 2016. Her research investigates problems of translation and interpretation in the study of African religious cultures with an attention to theories and methods in the study of religion that participate in colonialist constructions of African and Africana sacred worlds as religiously other. Her current research specifically investigates Vodun religious-material cultures as productive sites for re-imagining "religion" as material, immanent, and natural. She is presently revising her dissertation project for book publication.
Research Interest
African and African Diaspora Religions Vodun Religious Cultures Race, Religion, and Colonialism Religion, Art, and Material Culture Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion Gender and Women’s Studies in Religion
Publications
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"Sacred Matters: Africana Religious Materialities in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas," American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 21, 2016.
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"Every Person has a Se: Towards a Vodun Philosophy of Personhood," American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 21, 2016.
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"The Violence of Translation: An Indigenous World-Sense & The Western 'Prostitution' of Dahomean Bodies," Journal of Africana Religions vol. 3, no. 3 (2015): 279-324.
