Profile
Dr Susannah Crockford
Lecturer (Anthropology)
Amory 318
I am a lecturer in anthropology, specialising in environmental and medical anthropology and the anthropology of religion. Within Exeter University, I am an affiliate of the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, Egenis the Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences, the Magic Centre, and the Global Systems Institute. My first book, Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona, was published in May 2021 by the University of Chicago Press. It was a Finalist for the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, Analytic-Descriptive Studies in 2022. I am currently working on a second book, a multi-sited ethnography of climate change. My next research project will examine the ethics and politics of conspiracy theories in south-west England.
Research group links
Research interests
Environmental anthropology - climate change, 'anthropocene', oceans, forest fires
Medical anthropology - opposition to vaccination, wellness and 'alternative health' practices, naturopathy, public understanding of medicine
Anthropology of religion - new age spirituality, conspiracy theories, 'belief', Christian nationalism, shamanism, new religious movements
Digital ethnography - methodologies, online extremism, social media, disinformation
Field sites - Arizona, Missouri and Louisiana in the USA, Belgium, Sweden, and UK
Research supervision
I am happy to receive enquiries from students regarding any of my research areas
External impact and engagement
Media
- TV4 Sweden documentary, interview 2024
- Sacred and Profane podcast, interview 2022
- Straight White American Jesus podcast, interview 2021
- Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast, 2 pt interview 2021
- Straight White American Jesus podcast, interview 2021
- Classical Ideas podcast, interview 2021
- Conspirituality podcast, interview 2021
- The Religious Studies Project, podcast, panel discussion 2019
- BBC Radio Wales, “All Things Considered,” radio broadcast, panel discussion (file available on request) 2018
- The Religious Studies Project, podcast, interview 2018
- LSE US Centre, “The Ballpark Podcast,” interview 2018
- LSE US Centre, “The Ballpark Podcast,” interview 2017
- CNN India, “The UK Edition,” television broadcast, interview 2017
Public Scholarship
- “From Civil Rights Liberals to New Age Conspiracy Theorists — What Betty And Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Reveals About America,” Religion Dispatches, 2023
- “Pelosi Attacker’s New Age Spirituality and Belief in QAnon is No Contradiction,” Religion Dispatches, 2022
- "Conspiracy EP." Contribution to Machines in Between by John Lardas Modern, a Henry Luce Foundation funded project, 2023
- “Fireways: Entanglements Of Fire, People, And Environment In The Coconino National Forest, USA.” EnviroSociety, the online publication of the journal Environment and Society, 2022
- “Where the Path of Denial Leads.” Contending Modernities, the online publication of the Keogh School of Global Affairs, University of Notre-Dame, 2022
- "Whose House? Their House: Just Who Was Held Accountable for the 1/6 Insurrection is Telling." Religion Dispatches, 2022
- "The Power of Belief in Conspiracy Theories." Sightings, the online publication of the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School, 2021
- “The ‘Health Freedom Movement’ Enters the Covid Era by Disseminating Medical Disinformation.” Religion Dispatches, 2021
- “Q Shaman’s New Age-Radical Right Blend Hints at the Blurring of Seemingly Disparate Categories.” Religion Dispatches, 2021
- “How ‘Positivity’ Can Lead to Conspiratorial Thinking.” Religion Dispatches, 2021
- “Orders of Nature, Norms of Order.” The Immanent Frame, a digital publication of the Social Science Research Council, 2020
- “How Can We Learn When We Have No Future?” Footnotes, 2020
- “Currents of Knowledge, Waves of Grief in Ocean Science.” Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge, 2020
- “When is a Psychic or a Witch a Fraud? Reflections on Religious Fraud Investigations in North America.” The Religion Factor, 2018
- “What It Means to Deny Climate Change.” Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge, 2018
- “‘Better than the Walmart Parking Lot’: Valle, Arizona Epitomizes the Extreme Poverty that is the Dark Side of the American Dream.” LSE US Centre, 2018
- “Visa Overstayers in Northern Arizona Reveal Complex Motivation Behind Undocumented Migration.” LSE US Centre, 2017
- “Why Building a Wall on the U.S.-Mexico Border is a Symbolic Monument not Sensible Immigration Policy.” LSE US Centre, 2017
- “Surviving with Guns in Rural Arizona.” Anthropology News, online version, 2016
Modules taught
Biography
University of Exeter, Lecturer, 2022-
Ghent University, Belgium, Post-doctoral Reseacher, 2018-2020
London School of Economics and Political Science, PhD, 2011-2017
University of Amsterdam, MA, 2008-2010
University of Cambridge, MA, 2000-2003