Religion in America, Native American Studies, and the Environment.
I am an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the College of Charleston, with a focus on Native American religious traditions and religion and the environment. I received my PhD at Duke University in May 2018 and was the Ainsworth Visiting Scholar at Randolph College from 2018-2020.
I grew up in the West. The rich history and spectacular landscapes of the region have driven my research interests, which explore the way various religious actors understood and interacted with the natural world in American history. At Randolph, I designed and implemented a 12-credit experiential learning course in the American Studies Department exploring the Struggle for Native Lands in the American West. During the 2018 spring semester, my evaluations were among the top 5% of all undergraduate instructors at Duke University. I am passionate about teaching and mentorship; am committed to fostering academic excellence, creative problem solving, and inclusivity; and strive to embolden students to fulfill their potential in and outside of the classroom.
My first book examines the constructed nature of what it means to be American and how the lives and labor of those who did not fit the Anglo-American mold produced and transformed the nineteenth-century western landscape. No Eden: Religion and Labor in the American West (forthcoming) provides insight into the complex connections between religion and economic systems as well as between mainstream Protestant America and the religious and ethnic other from 1868-1914, in the Rocky Mountain West. Through three case studies, I refute the characterization of Native American, Mormon, and Catholic beliefs and practices as outliers or anomalies on the American historical and cultural landscape and foregrounds the always diverse history of the region. As my book argues, an American Eden never existed. I reveal how alternative modes of labor, land use and religion unsettled this white Protestant ideal. By looking to the voices often forgotten in religious history and marginalized in American history, my book highlights the manifold ways in which racial, ethnic, and religious difference defined the living western landscape.
Available by Email
keeganbl@cofc.edu
Teaching
Find out about my teaching philosophy and goals, explore sample syllabi, and read about my commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence.
