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Nancy Ammerman
Religion, Boston University

Project Title:
Narratives of Spirituality: North and South

This is a collaborative project between MARIAL and Professor Nancy Ammerman, who studies the sociology of religion at Boston University. The project will focus on the study of spiritual narratives in everyday life. Ammerman will work with Emory’s Tracy Scott, research assistant professor in the Rollins School of Public Health’s department of health policy and management. They will hire Emory students to conduct interviews in Atlanta. People in Boston will be interviewed as well.

The project will involve Boston University 's Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. The primary question is “how does religion find its way into the everyday life of Americans?”

Ammerman’s earlier research has found that boundaries between the sacred and the secular in American culture are permeable, and don’t always fit into neat categories. Therefore, a spiritual narrative could include a wide range of topics and may not necessarily involve a mention of God, she said. Spiritual narratives also may occur outside places of worship, such as work or home.

“We’re looking for the stories that bring together the spiritual aspects of a person’s life with work, family and other aspects of their life,” Ammerman said. She also will look at how religion, and religious experiences, are different in Atlanta and Boston.

Her project, funded by the Templeton Foundation, will involve 100 participants, half in Boston and half in Atlanta. A “religious life history,” such as whether they belong to a religious congregation or regularly attend religious services, will be taken for each participant. They will be asked to keep oral diaries about their everyday lives, such as what happened that day, what is going on at work and at home, and whether they participated in any religious activities on that day. Each participant will get a disposable camera so they can photograph spaces that are important to them.

Working with the MARIAL Center makes it possible to study spirituality in families, Ammerman said. “We will look for a single informant in the family. We will ask one person in the family to talk about what’s going on.”