Suzanne Owen received her PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 2007, where she also received her MA (specialising in South Asian religious traditions), and currently lectures on ‘world religions’. In between, she completed a PGCE and taught in a Rudolf Steiner-inspired small school in Gloucestershire for three years. For her PhD, she studied issues to do with non-native ‘appropriations’ of Native American spirituality and conducted fieldwork among Mi’kmaq communities in Newfoundland researching the sharing of ceremonies. This led her to her current research investigating indigeneity and the category ‘indigenous religion’. In addition, she is currently researching contemporary forms of British and Irish Druidry.

Varieties of Religious Experience (TRS1902)

Texts and Contexts 1 (TRS1402)

Method and Theory in the Study of Religions (TRS1802)

World Religions I: Texts and Traditions (TRS2802)

The category ‘indigenous religions’; contemporary Native North American religions and organisations; appropriation and inculturation; religious/cultural boundaries, including ethnicity; methodological issues in the study of religion, including research ethics and the ‘insider/outsider problem’.

Publications:

The Appropriation of Native American Spirituality (Continuum, 15^th December 2008)

 Book review: ‘From Primitive to Indigenous by James L. Cox (Ashgate 2007)’, BASR Bulletin 112 (May 2008), 28-9

Conference and seminar papers

Conference papers on Native American and First Nations themes, such as intertribal sharing of ceremonies, ‘indigenous’ as a concept, and pan-Native American spirituality given at the International Association for the History of Religions (Tokyo, 2005), Canadian Studies First Nations conference (Edinburgh, 2005), British Association for the Study of Religions (Bath Spa, Edinburgh, York St John, 2006-08), Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (Georgia, USA, 2008), New Spiritualities conference (Szeged, Hungary, 2008), and various departmental seminars (Religious Studies, Canadian Studies, Scottish Studies, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities) at Edinburgh University (2002-8).

2009    ‘Indigenous religious expressions? Mi’kmaq Tradition and British Druidry’, American Academy of Religion (AAR), Montréal, 7-10 November (requested by two journals – not yet submitted)

2009    ‘Sources of contemporary Mi’kmaq spirituality’, American Academy of Religion (AAR), Montréal, 7-10 November

2009    ‘Production of “Sacred” Space in the Mi’kmaq Powwow’ at the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) conference, Bangor, Wales

2009    ‘No Prayer Without Pain? Ceremonial Suffering Among the Mi’kmaq’, Native Studies Research Network (NSRN) ‘Indigenous Bodies’ conference, University of East Anglia, 8-10 July (requested for publication in Indigenous Bodies, edited by R. Tillet and J. Fear-Segal - submitted)

2009    ‘Performing Indigeneity in Newfoundland’, Narratives of Indigeneity conference, Birkbeck College, 22 May

2009    ‘Teaching Religions: can we cure the “World Religions” cancer?’ Critical Religion symposium, Stirling, 5 February (requested by Arts and Humanities in Higher Education journal – submitted and accepted with minor revisions).