KineticsLive.com Presents…Religion and Hip Hop: The New Terrain

Ebony A. Utley, Ph.D. is an expert in popular culture, race, and romantic relationships. Her book, Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta’s God addresses all of the above by closely examining the juxtaposition-and seeming hypocrisy-of references to God within rap music.

In her other research, Utley examines how Americans talk about race and racism, asks probing questions about women’s experiences with infidelity, investigates beliefs about marriage, and explores the tenuous relationship between hip hop and love. Her writing has appeared in a variety of high-profile publications, including Black Women, Gender, and Families, Critical Studies in Media and Communication, Truthdig, Ms. Magazine, Religion Dispatches, and Women and Language.

In addition to national radio, print, and online appearances, Dr. Utley lectures at universities across the country and is an associate professor of communication studies at California State University Long Beach. She resides on the web at theutleyexperience.com.

Anthony B. Pinn is the Director of Research at the Institute for Humanist Studies and the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University. Pinn is also the founding director of the Rice University Houston Enriches Rice Education (HERE) Project. HERE seeks to explore and enhance in a creative manner the relationship between Houston and Rice University. He also served as the first executive director of Society for the Study of Black Religion and served as a member of Board of Directors/Executive Committee of the American Academy of Religion.

Pinn received the BA from Columbia University, and the MDiv. from Harvard Divinity School. Pinn also completed the MA and PhD at Harvard University. His teaching interests include liberation theologies, black religious aesthetics, religion and popular culture, and African American Humanism.

By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism (1995); (2001); and African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod (2004). Pinn’s role in humanist circles was recognized by the Council for Secular Humanism in 1999 with “The African American Humanist Award.”

Dr. Monica R. Miller is Visiting Assistant Professor in the department of Religious Studies at Lewis & Clark College where her research focuses on the intersections of religion & material/popular culture. Miller currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow with The Institute for Humanist Studies (Washington, DC) and is co-chair of a new AAR consultation entitled Critical Approaches to the Study of Hip Hop and Religion. Miller is also principal investigator of a large scale survey project in Portland, Oregon which explores religion in youth culture (Remaking Religion).

She is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Religion and Hip Hop and is currently at work on a second book entitled: Blacklandia: The Subtleties of Race in Portland (www.blacklandia.net – coming soon!).