Dr Megan Robertson

Profile

I obtained my Ph.D. at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa where I explored the lived experiences of queer clergy in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Prior to this I completed my Honours and Master’s degrees in Sociology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa where I explored the ways in which race and gender are implicated in the institutional cultures of student residences and organisations at the university. I have previously worked as project leader and researcher in two civil society organisations in South Africa – both of which had a particular focus on social justice, gender and race. After obtaining my doctorate I also worked as a postdoctoral fellow linked to the South African Research Chair in Religion and Social Justice, and then as Senior Researcher in the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice – both at the University of the Western Cape. I am currently managing editor of the African Journal of Gender and Religion and co-chair of the Religion and Sexuality Unit in the American Academy of Religion.

Research interests

My research interests are in the fields of religious, queer, and African studies. I have a particular interest in how gendered, raced and sexed power operates in taken-for-granted ways in various religious institutions. I am also interested in exploring religion and art. I also have a burgeoning interest in exploring sexuality and religion/spirituality as embodied and performed in the lives and art of Black queer performing artists. My latest project focuses on the potential of the performing arts for (re)constructing the narrative of queerness in South Africa. I also have a keen interest in methodology and am always exploring ways of theorising and practicing queer and decolonial forms of ethnographic research.

• Sex and the Sacred: Queering Black Performing Arts in Cape Town, South Africa
• Sexuality and Religion Network in East Africa

Qualifications

• PhD in Religious Studies/Sociology of Religion, University of the Western Cape (2020)
• MA in Sociology, Stellenbosch University (2015)
• Honours in Sociology, Stellenbosch University (2013)
• BA in Humanities, Stellenbosch University (2012)

Professional memberships

• American Academy of Religion
• African Association for the Study of Religions
• Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Religion and Public Life
• Theology and Religious Studies