Arizona State University –Tempe Campus
School of Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies
975 South Myrtle Avenue
P.O. Box 874302
Tempe, AZ 85287-4302
isobel-marie.johnston@asu.edu
EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies—Anthropology of Religion, (expected 7/2023)
Arizona State University: School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies
Committee: Joel Gereboff (co-chair), Gaymon Bennett, Adam Cohen, Marlon M. Bailey
WIP Title: Changing Statuses, Transforming Selves: Body, Ritual, and Selfhood within new-traditional immersion practices among North American Jews
Graduate Certificate in Gender Studies, (completed Fall 2019; will confer 5/2023)
Arizona State University: School of Social Transformation
Master of Arts in Religious Studies, 5/2016
Arizona State University: School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies
Committee: Joel Gereboff (co-chair), Gaymon Bennett, and Shahla Talebi
Thesis: The History of Niddah in America as Social Drama: Genealogy of a Ritual Practice
Bachelor of Arts in English Education (5/2003) Illinois State University at Normal
Bachelor of Arts in English (5/1997) University of Illinois at Urbana
TEACHING TOPICS
Ritual Studies
Jewish Studies
Religion and the Body
Religion and Healing
Anthropology of Menstruation
Sexuality and Religion
Religion, Women, and Gender Studies
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Faculty Associate/Instructor: School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
- REL/SGS 107 Religion and Globalization – Spring 2020 (hybrid), Fall 2020 & Spring 2023 (online)
- REL 100 Religions of the World – Summer 2021 (hybrid), Fall 2021 (on-site), Summer 2022 (on-site)
- REL 321 Religions in America – Summer 2021 (hybrid), Spring 2022 (on-site), Summer 2022 (on-site)
Teaching Assistant: School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
- REL 205 Life, Sex, and Death – Fall 2019
- REL 101 Religion, Culture, and Public Life – Fall 2019
- REL 207 Ritual, Symbol, and Myth – Fall 2018 & Spring 2019
- REL 201 Religion in the Modern World – Fall 2018
- REL 320 American Religious Traditions – Fall 2013, Spring 2021
- REL 321 Religion in America – Fall 2013, Spring B 2021
Student Worker IV: Jewish Studies
School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies – History Faculty, Arizona State University 2016-18
Managed Course website for:
- HST/JST 304 Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages, Spring 2017
- REL/JST/SOS 394 Religion and Ecology, Fall 2016
- REL/JST/SOS 394 Religion and the Environment, Spring 2016
- HST/JST 394 Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages, Fall 2015
- Research Assistant to Dr. Hava Samuelson (source collection and preliminary analysis)
- Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Arthur Green, and David Seidenberg, Spring 2018
- Medieval Christian and Jewish Textualization of Nature, Song of Songs, Spring 2017.
- Collected data on Israeli Environmental Organizations, Fall 2016.
- Researching the term “transcend” in Transhumanist literature, Spring 2016.
Grader: School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
- REL/JST 315 Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Fall 2018
- HST 303 World War II in Asia – Cultures of War, Spring 2014
SERVICE – UNIVERSITY
2019-present Graduate Student Representative – Society for the Anthropology of Religion
SERVICE – UNIVERSITY
2021-22 Graduate Professional Student Association, Assembly Member – Arizona State University
2021-22 Graduate College Student Advisory Board, ad hoc member – Arizona State University
2019-20 Humanities Network Steering Committee – Arizona State University
SERVICE- DEPARTMENTAL
2020-21 Interdisciplinary Committee, Graduate Student Council
School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies – Arizona State University
2014-15 Secretary, Graduate Association of Religious Studies
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
2014 Secretary, Organizational Committee for SHPRS Graduate Connection
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
2004-05 Responsible Use Task Force: Plagiarism Review Subcommittee
Woodstock School, India
2003-04 School Representative for District-Wide Curriculum Review
Standards &Benchmarks Development, Council Bluffs Community Schools, Iowa
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
National Council of Teachers of English
Kappa Delta Pi—International Honor Society in Education
American Academy of Religion
Association for Jewish Studies
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Ritual Studies
Jewish Studies
Religion and the Body
Religion and Healing
Anthropology of Menstruation / Menstrual Studies
Lived Religion
Sexuality and Religion
Women and Gender Studies
PUBLICATIONS – PEER REVIEWED
“Niddah as Index of Jewish Sexuality: a theoretical foundation for an anthropology of menstrual rituals”
Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 21:3 (Fall 2022).
Published online December 2022. Print publication forthcoming, 2023.
“Dressing the Part: Ethics of Insider/Outsider Attire for the Ethnography of American-Jewish Niddah”
Fieldwork in Religion: Special Issues Ethics in Fieldwork 12:2 (2018) 179-203.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
“Out of the mikvah and onto to a PhD” San Diego Jewish World January 5, 2021
“Study on mikvah use launched in US and Canada” Jewish Herald-Voice January 14, 2021
Blog posts on Religious Studies News — Guide for the Guild 2015-16
American Academy of Religion – Status on Women in the Profession Committee’s work-life balance project.
- “Balance is a Mindset” – March 20, 2015, premiere post for this year-long blog
- “Self-care Fundamentals” – April 30, 2015
- “Domestic Help: The Unmentionable” – February 25, 2016
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2022 “Culture-centered Demographic Variables: An alternative to race-ethnicity questions”
Association for Jewish Studies, Annual Conference, December
2019 “Feminism and the Menstrual Other”
Arizona State University – School of Social Transformation Graduate Student Conference, March
2018 “Niddah and Marriage as Conscious Mind”
American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November
2017 “Jewish Marriage in Corporeal Time: the rhythm and rhyme of Niddah”
Society for Anthropology of Religion Annual Meeting, May
2017 “Embodying Jewish Sexuality: Interpretations of Contemporary Niddah Practice”
University of Texas – Austin
Multidisciplinary Graduate Conference: Embodiment, Corporeality, & the Senses in Religion, April
2017 “Niddah Apologetics as a War Between the Sexes”
Arizona State University
Graduate Association of Religious Studies 2017 Symposium: Interactions and Resistances, April
2016 “The Menstrual Other: Reorienting Scholarship on Menstrual Rituals”
University of North Carolina—Charlotte
Graduate Conference on Religion and the Other, March
2014 “Jewish Purity Laws as a Template for Environmental Consciousness”
Northwestern University Department of Religious Studies
Graduate Conference on Religion and the Natural Elements, October
CAMPUS TALKS
2005 Academic Integrity as a Cultural Concept, Woodstock International School, Mussoorie, India
WORKSHOPS
2019 Attended Advanced Summer School for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Israel
FELLOWSHIPS & GRANTS
2022 University Graduate Fellowship / SHPRS Research Grant (twice)
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
Funding upgrade of storage hardware, coding software subscription, compensation
Prolific survey participants.
2021 University Graduate Fellowship / SHPRS Research Grant (twice)
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
Funding subscriptions to three web-based applications required for research
2021 SHPRS Research Block Grant
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
Funding attendance at qualitative analysis methods workshops
2020 University Graduate Fellowship / SHPRS Research Grant
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
Funding renewal of Survey Monkey research-level subscription needed to conduct dissertation research.
2019 University Graduate Fellowship / SHPRS Research Grant
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
Funding membership in the association for Jewish Studies (AJS) including attendance at annual conference in San Diego, CA.
2019 Great Students Graduate Fellowship
Arizona State University – Jewish Studies
Funding attendance at the Advanced Summer School for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Israel, July 2019.
2018 Great Students Graduate Fellowship
Arizona State University – Jewish Studies
Funding pilot research survey of menstrual practices in the Jewish community of Greater Phoenix
2018 University Graduate Fellowship / SHPRS Research Grant
Arizona State University – School of Historical, Philosophical, & Religious Studies
Professional development and travel funding: triad membership in American Association of Anthropologists (AAA) / Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) & Association of Feminist Anthropology (AFA) including attendance the SAR Biennial Conference in Toronto, Canada, May 2019
AWARDS
2015 Graduate Student Essay Competition
Arizona State University—Institute for Humanities Research:
“A Collective Vision: Manifesto for the Humanities in the 21st Century”
2002 Academic Essay Competition
Illinois State University— Council of Teacher Education:
“Diverse Goals, Common Routes”
COMPUTER / TECHNICAL SKILLS
Research: Survey Monkey, Prolific, Calendly, Zoom, Otter.ai, Dedoose, AutoMap, AntConc, ORA,
Instruction: Blackboard, Canvas, Packback, iClicker, Zoom
LANGUAGES
French, functional written and spoken
Biblical Hebrew, intermediate reading
RELATED PROFESSIONAL WORK
Licensed Teacher: Illinois Initial Secondary-09 Certificate 2083595 (inactive) endorsed for English, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Art.
- Winton Woods City Schools: K-12 Substitute Teacher 2006-08
- Trinity International School, Bangkok, Thailand 2005-06
- Woodstock School, Mussoorie, UA, India 2004-05
- Kirn Junior High School, Council Bluffs Community Schools, Iowa 2003-04
- Urbana High School, District 116, Illinois, K-12 Substitute Teacher 2001-03
- Customized instruction per IEP’s for the following special needs areas: Asperger’s, English Language Learners, various developmental limitations while still meeting the needs of gifted & talented students.
- Familiar with a variety of educational grade reporting software, Blackbaud, BlackBoard, Canvas
- Primarily taught Language Arts and English, and Drama (India); Thai History and Algebra I (Thailand).
Administrative Assistant in a variety of professional contexts including manufacturing, law office, medical insurance company, civil engineering firm, dinner theater, and food brokerage (1997-2002, 2008-2010)
Skills included multi-line phones, new hire training, customer service, scheduling of multiple locations and calendars, events coordination, multi-team communications, program copy and travel arrangements for visiting specialists, produced and updated policies and procedures.
Hospitality Industry: Hotel Desk Clerk and Shift Supervisor 1993-1997
Chancellor Hotel, Champaign, IL; Busey-Evans Residence Hall, Urbana IL; Illini Guest Rooms, Urbana, IL; University Inn, Champaign, IL.
Customer relations, new hire training, large group arrivals and departures, managed hotel shuttle services, security walk, mail sort and distribution, concierge services, coordinated with emergency personnel, and incident reporting.
REFERENCES
Joel Gereboff, PhD
Associate Professor, SHPRS Religious Studies
Arizona State University
975 South Myrtle Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85287
Joel.Gereboff@asu.edu
(480) 965-7738
Gaymon Bennett, PhD
Associate Professor of Religion, Science & Technology, SHPRS Religious Studies Faculty
Arizona State University
975 South Myrtle Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85287
Gaymon.Bennett@asu.edu
(480) 965-5778
Dr. Hava Samuelson
Director of Jewish Studies Program
Professor, SHPRS – History
Arizona State University
975 South Myrtle Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85287
Hava.Samuelson@asu.edu
(480)-965-7767