Gender and Sexuality Studies

Biography

Dr. Mary Nyangweso is the J. Woolard and Helen Peel distinguished Chair in Religious Studies at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. Her area of specialization is gender as this relates to African religions, Christianity, and Islam. She has also taught courses such as World religions, Indigenous religions, Methods in religion, Religion and sexuality and Introduction to religion. Nyangweso received her Bachelor of Education degree from Kenyatta University in Kenya, a masters in religion at Moi University in Kenya, and a masters in theology at Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta Georgia and a Ph.D. at Drew University in Madison New Jersey.

She is author of Female Genital Cutting: Mutilation or Cultural Right? (Praeger, 2014), Female Circumcision: The Interplay Between Religion, Gender and Culture in Kenya (Orbis Maryknoll, New York: 2007) and coauthor of Religion, Gender-Based Violence, Immigration, and Human Rights, (Routledge, 2019). As a trained sociologist, theologian and human rights activist, she is not only passionate about gender equality and social justice, she embraces post-colonial and intersectionality frameworks in her research analysis.