Elizabeth A. McAlister
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Yale University, M.A. 1990 & 1992, M.Phil. 1993, PhD 1995
Elizabeth A. McAlister | |
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| Born | 1963 |
| Education | Vassar College, B.A. 1985 Yale University, M.A. 1990 & 1992, M.Phil. 1993, PhD 1995 |
| Employer | Wesleyan University |
Elizabeth A. McAlister is a scholar of Religious Studies, and African-American studies, and feminist, gender, and sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.[1] She is known for her contributions in Afro-Caribbean religions, Haitian Vodou, Pentecostalism, race theory, transnational migration, Caribbean musicology, and evangelical spiritual warfare.[2][3][4]
After graduating from Concord Academy in 1981, McAlister earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Vassar College, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1985. She then attended Yale University for graduate school, supported with a McNeil Fellowship in Material Culture Studies. She received a Masters of Arts (M.A.) in African and Afro-American studies in 1990, an M.A. in history in 1992, an M.Phil. in American studies in 1993, and a PhD in American studies in 1995.[1]
Career
After receiving her Ph.D., McAlister worked as a post-doctoral fellow with the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis at Rutgers University from 1995 to 1996. In the fall of 1996, she joined the Religion Department at Wesleyan University. Since then, she has gone on to chair the university's African American Studies Department and the Religion Department.[5][6] She has also served as director of the Center for African American Studies at Wesleyan.[6] In 2008, she won the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching.[7] Her research has been funded with grants from The Pew Foundation, The Lilly Foundation, The Templeton Foundation Initiative on the Study of Prayer, organized by the Social Science Research Council. She also collaborated on building a digital archive of a Vodou temple in Port-au-Prince, called Espas Milokan, through the Princeton University Crossroads project.[8]
Research
Professor McAlister's first book and many articles focus on Afro-Caribbean religions, especially Haitian Vodou.[9] She studied Rara festivals in Haiti, creating a website based on her research to go along with her published book.[10][11] McAlister co-edited a scholarly volume arguing for the historical importance of religion in the racial formations of the Americas. She has also written a number of articles on American Christian Evangelicals, the New Apostolic Reformation and the Spiritual Warfare movement.[1]