Anne Blankenship
Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012
Minard 422G
Anne Blankenship comes from the glorious Pacific Northwest and earned her doctorate in American Religious History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, following an MA in Religion from Yale Divinity School. She teaches about all of the world’s religions, while her research investigates religious responses to injustice and relationships between national, racial, and religious identities. Her first book, Christianity, Social Justice, and the Japanese American Incarceration during World War II, received wide-ranging praise. She has received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Academy of Religion, and other institutions to work on her current project, a book tentatively titled Religion, Race, and Immigration: How Jews, Catholics, and Protestants Faced Mass Immigration, 1882-1924. In 2023, she assumes the role of editor-in-chief of the journal Religion Compass.
Areas of Interest
Religion & Social Justice, Immigration, Material Culture, Religion in the American West, Religion & Nationalism, Pilgrimage
What made you want to study religious history professionally?
Growing up, I always wondered what compelled people to join a religion. After taking more and more electives to answer that question, I realized that religion permeates our society whether we identify with a tradition or not. Through the lens of a historian, I explore how religion has influenced our nation and world.
What makes you excited working with students?
I love opening students’ eyes to different ways of looking at the world, whether that be from the perspective of a Muslim living in Iran, a Buddhist in Japan, or an American evangelical. I also enjoy when they discover the complex history behind today’s headlines, become savvier media consumers, and are able to share that information with others.
Current NDSU Courses
- World Religions
- “Cults” and New Religious Movements
- Religion & Politics
- Global Islam
- American Religious History
- History of Christianity
- New Testament
- The Fog of WWII, a study abroad program
You can find Dr. Blankenship's full CV here.