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Katharine Gerbner

@ktgerbs.bsky.social

910 followers 320 following 81 posts

Historian of religion & race, archives, media/tech/comm, politics of education. History Prof & Dir. of Religious Studies @ University of Minnesota. Au: Christian Slavery (2018) and Archival Irruptions (2025). www.katharinegerbner.com

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 27

I'm excited to share that my new book ARCHIVAL IRRUPTIONS: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica is coming out with
@dukepress.bsky.social in October!

Book cover of Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks Pippa!

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 7d

I'm thrilled that my book is coming out this month, and even more thrilled to be on this fall lineup from @dukepress.bsky.social - so many amazing authors and titles! Check out the whole fall lineup here: dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/n...

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 13d

@dukepress.bsky.social is running a new book promotion, and Archival Irruptions is 30% off!

Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 14d

Save 30% on #NewBook "Archival Irruptions," by @ktgerbs.bsky.social, which traces how British colonial authorities in mid-eighteenth-century Jamaica came to criminalize Obeah, a religious practice held by enslaved Africans. #LatAmStudies #BlackStudies buff.ly/da0hJg3

Cover of Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica by Katharine Gerbner. Features an image of an old handwritten ledger or registry page with rows and columns filled with cursive names and annotations and what appears to be an ink smudge at the bottom. The title is overlaid in large black serif font with the subtitle below in smaller black text and the author's name is at the bottom. A vertical red stripe runs along the left edge of the cover.

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 15d

thank you!!

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 15d

Thanks so much! I'm a fan of your work :)

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you!! Me toooo

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 15d

With a new book coming out, I finally got around to updating my website. I'm thrilled with the new design - plus, my bio now includes the accurate number of children! (Last edit to my previous website was 7 years ago...)

Check it out! www.katharinegerbner.com

Katharine Gerbner, Historian of Religion

Katharine Gerbner is a historian who examines how religion shapes – and is shaped by – race, politics, and technology.

www.katharinegerbner.com

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 16d

Yours arrived before mine!!

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 16d

Nothing quite like opening an unexpected package and finding your own book inside!

The official pub date isn't until mid-Oct, but Archival Irruptions @dukepress.bsky.social is now real and in 3D!

Photo of the book Archival Irruptions by Katharine Gerbner

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · Sep 3

In "Archival Irruptions," @ktgerbs.bsky.social traces how British colonial authorities in Jamaica criminalized Obeah, a religious practice held by enslaved Africans. Read the introduction for free now. buff.ly/3JlgBEt

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 29

Come be my colleague at the University of Minnesota -- we are hiring! @umn-rels.bsky.social

The Religious Studies program at UMN is searching for a new TT position in Buddhist Studies. Please circulate widely!

Job posting for Buddhist Studies position at the University of Minnesota

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 28

Thanks Jenny!!!

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 28

Thanks so much!

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 27

Thanks Sarah!!

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 27

Duke UP just posted the Intro here for those who want a sneak peak: bit.ly/4mryPMy

bit.ly

Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Aug 27

I'm excited to share that my new book ARCHIVAL IRRUPTIONS: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica is coming out with
@dukepress.bsky.social in October!

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Ryan Abt (He/Him) @ryanabt.bsky.social · Jun 20

@ktgerbs.bsky.social provides an essential link in understanding the creation of racialized slavery. She demonstrates how Christians—intentionally & not—tied bondage to status as a Christian and, ultimately, how this tied assumptions about the heathen to enslaved Black people.

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Cover of Katharine Gerbner’s Christian Slavery

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Jul 28

My thoughts on @tomtweed.bsky.social's fascinating new book that retells American religious history through the lens of ecologies and technologies.

Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · Jul 3

A new history reconsiders who belongs in American religious history and what should count as religion

barnraisingmedia.com/religion-ame...

What Counts as American Religion?

A new history history offers a corrective to narrow visions of American religion that begin with Plymouth Rock.

barnraisingmedia.com

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · Jan 30

Now with explosion of AI:
LLMs draw upon existing cultural texts. They do not generate original ideas, but rather recycle old ones. How do inherent biases of these systems interact with the dynamics above?
What might that mean for individuals and society?

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Jan 29

This comments section is the first time I've felt even a shred of hope in eight days.

From the fednews community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the fednews community

www.reddit.com

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota @umn-rels.bsky.social · Jan 24

We are excited to announce our 2025 Roetzel Family Lecture! See the following poster for more details

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · Jan 19

Though I hear people say they may be over them, might be a good day to share 2 Starter Packs for #VastEarlyAmerica #VastEarlyAmericas! 1/ go.bsky.app/RDvzxbj

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Chloe Ireton @chloeireton.bsky.social · Nov 28

✍️Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic
💭 An intellectual history exploring how free & enslaved Black people in the early Atlantic conceptualized & contested ideas about slavery & freedom
🕰️Out on Dec 5th '24
🤫 already available online: www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

The image is the cover of the book, Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic by Cambridge University Press.

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Reposted by Katharine Gerbner

Victor Pickard @victorpickard.bsky.social · Dec 27

I just made an end-of-year donation to Free Press, a leading media reform organization at the forefront of critically important policy battles, from revitalizing public service journalism to defending a democratic internet. Their invaluable advocacy will be even more essential in the years ahead.

Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · Dec 24

Free Press has ambitious plans for 2025 to combat authoritarianism, fight for Net Neutrality, push back on cuts to public-media funding and more — but we can't do it without you. Donations help ensure we can fight for a just and equitable media system.

https://act.freepress.net/donate/eoy24-double/

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · Dec 27

Thanks! I am actually focusing primarily on the pre-1760 period -- it's a microhistory of the years 1755-1761, looking at the changing meaning of Obeah during that time period - using Moravian+legal archives. It ends with the criminalization process. And agreed re: parallels with the Iberian world