ADAM MICHAEL McGEE
Curriculum Vitae
Doctoral Candidate, African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Editorial Assistant, Transition, a publication of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Mailing address upon request
amcgee@fas.harvard.edu
302-233-3655 (mobile)
EDUCATION
Doctoral candidate (A.B.D.; dissertation defense: April 4, 2014)
Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Dissertation: “Imagined Voodoo: Terror, Sex, and Racism in American Popular Culture”
Academic advisor: Jacob Olupona
Areas: Haitian Vodou; African Diaspora Religions; Historiography of the African Diaspora; West and West Central African Religions; Cultural Studies; Ritual Studies; Intellectual History; Film Studies; Women, Gender, and Sexuality
A.M., African and African American Studies (2011)
Harvard University
Master of Theological Studies (2007)
Harvard Divinity School
Area of study: World Religions (Religions of the African Diaspora)
Honors Bachelor of Arts with Distinction (2004)
University of Delaware
Major: English, with a concentration in creative writing (poetry)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University. Boston, MA 2012
Adjunct Lecturer, Experimental College, Tufts University. Medford, MA 2012
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
2012 "Haitian Vodou and voodoo: Imagined religion and popular culture," Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 41:2, special issue on Haitian Vodou, guest eds. Terry Rey and Karen Richman (Toronto: Wilfred Laurier Press, June, 2012), pp. 231-56.
2012 “Dreaming in Haitian Vodou: Vouchsafe, guide, and source of liturgical novelty,” Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams 22:2, ed. Deirdre Barrett (American Psychological Association, June, 2012), pp. 83-100.
2009 “Constructing Africa: Authenticity and Gine in Haitian Vodou,” Journal of Haitian Studies 14:2 (Haitian Studies Association, Autumn, 2009), pp. 30-51.
Book Chapters:
2013 “Marasa Elou: Marasa, twins and uncanny children in Haitian Vodou,” Gemini and the Sacred: Twins and Twinship in Religion and Myth, ed. Kimberley Patton (London: I.B. Taurus, Spring, 2013). Forthcoming.
Online Publications:
2012 Blog author, Dreams of Ginen [http://dreamsofginen.wordpress.com]
Dreams of Ginen presents my scholarship on Haitian Vodou to a non-academic audience, with a particular goal of making it available to the Haitian Vodou community.
SERVICE
Junior Council Member, KOSANBA: The Congress of Santa Barbara, A Scholarly Association for the Study of Haitian Vodou, 2012-Present
Departmental Teaching Fellow, African and African American Studies and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University, 2012-Present
Member, Undergraduate Tutorial Board, Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS), Harvard University, 2011-Present
Manuscript Reviewer, Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreaming, American Psychological Association, 2011
CONFERENCES
Papers:
2012 “Hurston’s Vodou: A Critical Reevaluation,” Haitian Studies Association, York College, November 8-10, 2012.
2012 “‘Kreyòl pale, Kreyòl konprann’ (‘Kreyòl speaks, Kreyòl understands’): A few words on Haitian Kreyòl in the study of Haitian Vodou,” African Languages in the Disciplines, Harvard University, April 19, 2012.
2012 “Healing Dreams in Haitian Vodou: Toward a methodology for the study of dreaming in Sèvis Ginen,” Sacred Healing and Wholeness in Africa and the Americas, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, April 13, 2012.
2012 “Dreaming in Haitian Vodou: Vouchsafe, guide, and source of liturgical novelty,” Roots and Branches: New Directions in Haitian Studies, New York University, January 23, 2012.
Convener:
2008 Assistant convener, “Sacred Knowledge, Sacred Power and Performance: Ifá Divination in West Africa and the African Diaspora,” convened by Prof. Jacob Olupona on behalf of the Committee on African Studies, the Department of African and African American Studies, and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University, March 13-16, 2008.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor of Record:
“Peoples and Cultures: Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology,” Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University (Fall, 2012)
“African Diaspora Religions: Vodou, Pop Culture, and the Culture Wars,” Experimental College, Tufts University (Fall, 2012)
Principal Instructor:
“Theorizing Women in the African Diaspora” (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Junior Tutorial), Committee on Degrees in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University (Spring, 2012)
“Senior Thesis Workshop,” Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University (Full Year, 2011-12 & 2010-11)
Teaching Assistant:
“Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food,” Dr. Carla Martin, African and African American Studies & Anthropology, Harvard University (Spring, 2013). Head Teaching Fellow.
“Twins and Twinship in Religion and Myth,” Prof. Kimberley Patton, Harvard Divinity School & Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University (Spring, 2012)
“The Romance: From Jane Austen to Chick Lit,” Prof. Linda Schlossberg, Committee on Degrees in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University (Fall, 2011)
“The Shock of the Old,” Profs. Kimberley Patton and Michael Jackson, Harvard Divinity School and Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University (Spring, 2011)
“Weeping in the Religious Imagination,” Prof. Kimberley Patton, Harvard Divinity School and Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University (Spring, 2011)
“Realms of Power: Animals in Religion,” Prof. Kimberley Patton, Harvard Divinity School and Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University (Fall, 2010)
“Afro-Atlantic Religions,” Prof. J. Lorand Matory, Department of African and African American Studies and Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University (Fall, 2008)
INVITED TALKS
2010 Guest lecturer, “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology,” Prof. Elizabeth Crocker, Boston University Metropolitan College, November 29, 2010. Joint presentation with Manbo Marie Maude Evans on Haitian Vodou.
2010 Guest clergy, Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church, Danvers, Massachusetts, April 18, 2010. Joint presentation with Manbo Marie Maude Evans on Haitian Vodou.
2010 Guest presenter, 7/8 Grade “Neighboring Faiths” Sunday School, First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 2010. Discussed Haitian Vodou and popular representations of Vodou in film and media.
2010 Guest presenter, “Caribbean Religion and Culture,” Prof. Carol Duncan, Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfred Laurier University, Ontario, Canada, February 9, 2010. Discussed Haitian Vodou and the role of the scholar-practitioner.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2011 Editorial assistant and researcher for Prof. Jacob Olupona, Harvard University (May-October, 2011)
Edited manuscript on the subject of African religions and conducted research
2007-9 Research Assistant to Prof. Jacob K. Olupona, Harvard University
Assisted with planning courses, drafted public lectures, researched and wrote about the African immigrant religious community in the United States and African diasporic religious communities. Assisted in organizing a major international academic conference on Ifá.
NON-ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
2013-4 Editorial Assistant, Transition Magazine, a publication of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University I review all submissions, copyedit the publication, write promotional copy, solicit manuscripts, and assist the Managing Editor in the daily operation of the magazine.
OUTREACH AND FUNDRAISING
2010 “A Ceremony for the Dead: A Haitian Vodou memorial service and fundraiser for Partners in Health to honor those killed in the earthquake,” Andover Chapel, Harvard Divinity School, March 5, 2010. Organized with Manbo Marie Maude Evans, Sarah Rutherford, and Sosyete Nago.
2007 “Action de Grace: A Vodou Ceremony at Harvard Divinity School,” Andover Chapel, Harvard Divinity School, April 13, 2007. First public Vodou ceremony at Harvard University, organized with Manbo Marie Maude Evans.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Harvard GSAS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2012-2013
Summer Research Grant, Center for the Study of World Religions, 2006
Full Scholarship to Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Club of Delaware, 2005-2007
Eugene duPont Memorial Distinguished Scholar (full academic scholarship), University of Delaware, 2000-2004
Reverend Francis Alison Scholar, University of Delaware, 2002-2004
LANGUAGES
French: Read fluently
Haitian Kreyòl: Read and speak proficiently
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Haitian Studies Association
KOSANBA: The Congress of Santa Barbara, A Scholarly Association for the Study of Haitian Vodou
REFERENCES
Jacob Olupona
Professor of African Religious Traditions, Harvard Divinity School
Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Department of African and African American Studies
12 Quincy Street, Barker Center
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-8221 (office)
olupona@fas.harvard.edu
Kimberley Patton
Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion
Andover Hall 502
45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-3395 (office)
kpatton@hds.harvard.edu
Vincent Brown
Charles Warren Professor of History and of African and African American Studies
Director, History Design Studio at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University
Center for Government and International Studies, South Building Room S430
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-6155 (office)
brown8@fas.harvard.edu
Carol Duncan
Chair and Associate Professor, Religion and Culture
Wilfrid Laurier University
2-119 Woods Bldg.
75 University Avenue
West Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5
519-884-0710, ext. 3692 (office)
cduncan@wlu.edu
