Description

Saint Louis University (SLU) proposes a project that would seek to generate a detailed portrait of the complexity of religion in the city. The project will support field research at a wide variety of sites in St. Louis, overseeing the development of a scholarly database and web-based interface of interviews, community studies, biographical profiles, visual and audio content, and interactive maps that explore and chart lived religion in St. Louis over time.  Drawing on the tools of the digital humanities to comprehend religious life in a diverse range of urban spaces, the project will seek to elaborate a scholarly model that attends to the process of “translating lived worlds into digital objects.”
Building in part on existing site-specific initiatives established by two faculty members in SLU’s department of theological studies, the project will work closely with the university’s Center for Digital Humanities (formerly the Center for Digital Theology), developing work on religious life in St. Louis intended to unfold in three phases, each of which will engage in collaborations with community partners throughout the city.  In a first phase, faculty and student partners will conduct research on the variety of religious sounds, spaces, stories, and artifacts of the city.  Working with local archives, libraries and collections, researchers will develop historical and contemporary maps of religious life in St. Louis, and students will learn basic GIS skills that will allow them to create customized visualizations of this research.
Phase two will turn the project’s attention to various forms of religious performance, from ritual and meditative practices to performance art, film and public protest. Campus and public events will be planned around this theme, and partnerships established with local theaters, arts organizations and museums.  Project partners will include Forest Park, a prominent civic center that is home to The Muny (an open air municipal theater), the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Missouri History Museum.
A third phase will build on the previous two, turning to focus on the histories and legacies of diasporic and refugee communities in St. Louis.  Beyond better-known histories of French, German, and Italian Catholics, St. Louis is one of the most religiously diverse cities in the Midwest, home to the largest Bosnian population outside of Bosnia, Ethiopic Christians, South Asian Hindus and Buddhists, Holocaust survivors, the descendants of enslaved Africans, Syrian refugees, and undocumented migrants seeking sanctuary.  Engaging this remarkable religious diversity, in this phase the project will continue its previously formed community partnerships, while also establishing relationships with immigrant organizations and refugee societies, including the International Institute of St. Louis.
The Luce Foundation’s grant would provide support for web development and design, part-time administrative and research assistance, teaching and research fellowships, annual conferences and collaborative events with community partners, and regular meetings of an advisory group that will guide and reflect on the project’s work.