Dr. Tisa Wenger

Biography

Tisa Wenger studies the intersections of race, religion, empire, and U.S. history, with particular attention to the cultural politics of religious freedom and the issues surrounding religion in Native American and colonized nations. Her book 'Spirits of Empire: Settler Colonialism Made American Religion' is forthcoming from the University of North Carolina Press in 2026. Wenger has published several significant works, including 'We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom' and 'Religious Freedom: The Contested History of an American Ideal', both from the University of North Carolina Press. Additionally, she co-edited the critical volume 'Religion and U.S. Empire: Critical New Histories.' She serves as the guest editor for a special issue of the Pacific Historical Review titled 'Religion in the Nineteenth-Century American West' published in Summer 2023. Wenger is also involved in co-editing the University of Kansas book series on Studies in US Religion, Politics, and Law, along with contributing to the journal 'Method and Theory in the Study of Religion'. At Yale University, she holds a primary appointment at the Divinity School and secondary appointments in American Studies, History, and Religious Studies, in addition to serving as the ADGS for the doctoral program in American Religious History.

Research Interests

Experience