About
The CRCC Interdisciplinary Research Group is led by a small committee of scholars from diverse disciplines who work to advance the investigation of religions and religion-related topics by USC faculty and graduate students. With funding support from the Dean of the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Science, the group oversees the CRCC annual seminar, annual Working Groups, and an annual lecture. IRG also organizes scholarly conferences and public events related to religions. In addition, each autumn IRG offers research grants to USC faculty and advanced doctoral students.
Lisa Marie Bitel
Lisa M. Bitel is professor of history and religion at the University of Southern California. She chairs the CRCC Interdisciplinary Research Group. She studies the social, cultural, and religious history of medieval Europe. She has written four books about religion…
Lynn Swartz Dodd
Lynn Swartz Dodd was awarded a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA in 2002. She currently is a faculty member in Religion at the University of Southern California and directs the Archaeology Research Center. Her archaeological projects…
Richard Flory
Richard Flory is director of research in the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Associate Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California. His Ph.D. is in sociology from the University of Chicago, and his primary…
Macarena Gomez-Barris
Macarena Gomez-Barris (currently on leave from IRG) is associate professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity. Her research interests focus on memory, culture, and power. Her book Where Memory Dwells: Culture and State Violence in Chile, examines the memory…
Janet Hoskins
Janet Hoskins is professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. Her first book The Play of Time: Kodi Perspectives on Calendars, History and Exchange (winner of the 1996 Benda Prize in Southeast Asian Studies) was both an ethnographic…
Brie Loskota
Brie Loskota is the managing director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. In this capacity, she oversees the strategic planning and daily operations of an interdisciplinary research center that conducts 25…
Lori Meeks
Lori Meeks is associate professor of religion and East Asian languages and cultures. Her current research is centered on the social and cultural history of Buddhism in Japanese history. Much of her work has focused on clarifying the roles of…
Duncan Ryûken Williams
Duncan Ryûken Williams was born in Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father. After growing up in Japan and England until age 17, he moved to the U.S. to attend college (Reed College) and graduate school (Harvard University,…