Religion Seminar Series, 2019–2020

Keynote Speaker

The Very Reverend Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School and Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary; she also serves as Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral. Author of Stand your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, she researches womanist theology, sexuality, and the black church.

Respondents

Dr. Terri Jett is Associate Professor of Political Science; affiliate faculty in both the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Program and the Peace and Conflict Studies Program; and Special Assistant to the Provost for Diversity and Inclusivity at Butler University. Her research interests include post-Civil Rights-era economic development and inclusive pedagogical practices.

Dr. James Logan holds the National Endowment for the Humanities Endowed Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies at Earlham College. He teaches in the Religion Department and directs the Program in African and African American Studies. He is the author of Good Punishment? Christian Moral Practice and US Imprisonment.

Keynote Speakers

Born on the South Side of Chicago, and trained in sociology at Langston University, Shamar Hemphill is an expert in civic engagement, community organizing, and youth development. In 2008, he began working for the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), and now serves as one of the organization’s Associate Directors.

Dr. Harriet Lewis is Senior Director at IMAN, where she provides oversight to community/economic development initiatives. Having served previously as Executive Director of organizations serving women, small business owners, survivors of domestic violence, and youth, she has been recognized for her work by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Note: Speaker change

Michael Nasir Blackwell has been an advocate for change as long as he can remember.  Having served 24 ½ years in prison, Nasir studied jurisprudence the entire time of his incarceration, and became a staunch advocate while incarcerated.  Nasir advocacy work within Illinois Department of Corrections focused around literacy, policy, and was co-founder of Danville Prison Veterans’ organization DANVETS, where Nasir served as commander for two years prior to his release in March of 2015. Nasir also served on the ACT (Awareness, Change, & Triumph) committee, where the committee was integral with increasing the graduation rate within Danville prison. Since his release, Nasir began working with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network as a Resident Coordinator, and is now a full-time organizer.

Respondents

Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kareem Bilal became a Muslim in 1975 and associates with various mosques in Indianapolis, particularly NurAllah. For more than a decade, he has used his experiences in life and faith to help promote personal and spiritual transformation among incarcerated men at various Indiana prisons.

Judge David Shaheed, JD, retired from the Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis in 2014. Named Advocate of the Year by the Indiana Minority Health Coalition in 2006, he has presided over Civil Court 1 and, before that, Criminal Court 14 (the Drug Treatment Diversion Court and Reentry Court).  

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Fleet Maull, CMT-P, is an author, certified mindfulness teacher, social activist, and peacemaker who founded the Prison Mindfulness Institute and the National Prison Hospice Association while serving a 14-year sentence for drug smuggling. A senior meditation and Dharma teacher, he is the author of Dharma In Hell and Radical Responsibility.

Respondents

David Culp is a Dharma Teacher at the Indianapolis Zen Center, which is part of the Kwan Um School of Zen, a Korea-based lineage of Buddhism. He has been practicing for approximately 18 years. For the past three years, he has been leading a Buddhist group at the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

Ven. Lobzang Dorje (a.k.a. Dr. Leon E. Pettiway) is an ordained monk in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Author of Honey, Honey, Miss Thang: Being Black, Gay, and on the Streets and Workin' It: Women Living through Drugs and Crime, he is Professor Emeritus in Criminal Justice at Indiana University.

Panelists

With doctorates in both Ethnomusicology and Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University, Dr. Elise Anderson conducts research on Uyghur music, exploring ways in which the Chinese state and ethnic minority elites have drawn expressive forms into political projects. She is a vocalist, musician, translator, and dancer who integrates scholarship, performance, and advocacy.

Dr. Timothy Grose is Assistant Professor of China Studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Author of Negotiating Inseparability, his research on Uyghur ethno-national identities has been published in the China Journal, Journal of Contemporary China, and Foreign Policy, and featured in the Economist, The Atlantic, and CNN.

Dr. Fenggang Yang is Professor of Sociology and the founding Director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University. Author or editor of more than a dozen books, his work on religion in China is also regularly featured in national and international news media outlets.