Photo credit: Janet Mallen

Dr. Melissa M. Wilcox
Associate Professor of Religion
Director, Gender Studies Program

Contact info:

Office: Olin 152                         Phone: (509) 527-5247                  Fax: (509) 527-5039
E-mail: wilcoxmm@whitman.edu

Office hours:

Coffee hour:

Tuesdays 4:00-5:00 - Come by and say hi!

Bio:

Ph.D. 2000, Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara

Click here for my current curriculum vitae.

My training is in sociology of religion, American religious history, gender studies/queer theory, and religious studies theory (especially the History of Religions school). I consider myself a sociologist of religion and a gender studies/queer studies scholar by trade. In general, my teaching and research interests center around the interactions of religion with gender and sexuality, and with a variety of forms of oppression and resistance. I am also interested in the cultural power of religious and quasi-religious narrative, especially as it affects internalized oppression and empowers resistance. Both of my earlier books - Coming Out in Christianity (Indiana University Press, 2003) and Sexuality and the World’s Religions (ed. with David W. Machacek; ABC-CLIO, 2003) - focus on these themes. My newest book, entitled Queer Women and Religious Individualism (also from Indiana University Press), examines the roles that spirituality and religion have played in the lives of queer women in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. I'm currently working on research on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Courses:

Here are the most recent syllabi for courses I currently teach (all are in .pdf format), along with book lists for upcoming courses. Note that my syllabi change each year, so these are approximations of what the next version of the course will look like.

Religion 107 / Soc 127 - Religion and Society (Spring 2010)

Religion 287 - Queer Religiosities (Also counts for Gender Studies credit; Spring 2009; next offered Spring 2011)

Religion 355 - Religious Intolerance in the Contemporary U.S. (Spring 2010)

Religion 359 - Gender, Body, and Religion (Also counts for Gender Studies credit; next offered Fall 2011)

Religion 387 - New Religious Movements (Spring 2009)

Gender Studies 100 - Introduction to Gender Studies (Spring 2010)

Gender Studies 380A - ST: Queer Theory (Fall 2008)

Gender Studies 490 - Senior Seminar (Fall 2008; next offered Fall 2010)

General Studies 145 - Antiquity (a.k.a. Fall Core)

General Studies 146 - Modernity (a.k.a. Spring Core)