Malene Minor Johnson

Humanities in Leadership Learning Series (HILLS) Postdoctoral Fellow

Contact

malene.johnson@case.edu
216-368-3332
Clark Hall 405

Other Information

Degree: Ph.D.

Malene recently received her PhD from the Chicago Theological Seminary.
Her dissertation, *African Americans and Candomblé: An Africana Religious Critique of U.S. Neoliberal Culture from 1970-2000*, was situated at the intersection of race, religion and politics. While at CWRU, she will revise it for publication as a book and to develop an article, “Africana Religious Women and Transnational Activism,” which will explore Afro-Bahian and African-American women’s social and political activism through Candomblé. She also is researching the ways in which social media and digital platforms are being used to engage African Diasporic religious cultures. As scholar of African Diasporic Religions, Malene describes her work as historic and transdisciplinary. Building on a rich history of Black religious scholarship, her work continues to unpack the meaning making practices of African descended peoples as it seeks to bridge time and seemingly disparate/contradictory religions, cultures, concepts and structures, in order to expand the canon of Black religiosity and scholarship while also disrupting hegemonic worlds.

Malene earned her B.S. in Business Administration/Finance from Xavier University of Louisiana, her M.B.A. from Keller Graduate School of Management, and the Master’s of Divinity degree from the McCormick Theological Seminary.