Abstract:

What does is mean to be a freak - a chimera - in the study of religion? What does it mean to be queer? This paper explores the effects of freakishness and queerness on hiring practices and academic success, arguing that those scholars who embody such forms of Otherness are particularly vulnerable to the insidious complaint of "lack of fit." The second half of the article considers the role of "freakish" and "queer" religions in the classroom, asking what value such religions can have for teaching and what role social justice plays in the pedagogy surrounding the teaching of (and by) freaks and queers.

Author: Melissa M Wilcox