AAUW Fellow Sarah Dees, is an Assistant Professor of American Religions at Iowa State University. Dr. Dees is an ethnohistorian of religion, race, and culture in (and beyond) the United States. Her scholarship primarily focuses on the representation of Native American and Indigenous religions in political, scientific, and popular realms.
Research Areas
American Religions; Indigenous Religions; Religion and Museums; Religion, Race, and Empire; Method and Theory in the Study of Religion; Religion, Law, and Politics
Education
PhD, Indiana University, 2015
affiliations
- Editor, Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, & Belief
- North America Editor, The Database of Religious History | religiondatabase.org
honors, grants, & fellowships
- American Association of University Women | American Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2022-23
- American Academy of Religion | Regional Development Grant for SOARIA (Scholars of American Religion in Iowa), with Cara Burnidge, Michael Graziano, and Jeffrey Wheatley (2020)
- Iowa State University | Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Summer Research Grant (2020), Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Grant (2020), Publication Subvention Award (2020), Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Symposium Grant with PI Jeffrey Wheatley (2021)
- Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture | 2018-19 Young Scholar in American Religion (YSAR)
- National Endowment for the Humanities | NEH Summer Scholar, Museums: Humanities in the Public Sphere, Georgetown University (2019); NEH Summer Scholar, Problems in the Study of Religion, University of Virginia, (2014)
- American Philosophical Society | Phillips Fund for Native American Research (2014)
- U.S. Department of Education | FLAS <Foreign Language & Area Studies> Fellowship to study Quechua in Cuzco (2011)
- Indiana University (2009-2013) | Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Native American & Indigenous Studies Fellowship, Won-Joon Yoon Award for diversity & tolerance, College of Arts & Sciences Travel Award, Center for the Study of Race & Ethnicity in Society Travel Award, College Arts & Humanities Institute Travel Award, Indiana Graduate Student & Professional Organization Travel Award, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies Summer Field Research Grant, Religious Studies Department paper prize
- University of Iowa (2007-2009) | University of Iowa Executive Council of Graduate and Professional Students research grant & travel grant