Thomas Long

I am an anthropologist of religion and politics and a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. My research concerns the intersection of religion and politics in the U.S.A., focusing on how politicisation, polarisation, and ideological conflict shape contemporary religious life for evangelical Christians in Texas. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022–23 with Baptist churches in and around Austin, where I use the concept of “fracture” to think about how divisions are lived and negotiated within the Baptist community and in the broader national space. I examine how these fractures emerge around key areas of contestation, including Biblical interpretation, LGBTQ+ sexuality, Critical Race Theory, the role of women in the church, and transgender identity, showing how disagreement becomes a site through which faith, authority, and theology are continually reworked.

Alongside my focus on religious communities, I am also interested in contemporary U.S. politics. My forthcoming work includes an article for American Ethnologist’s Promised Futures series on polarisation and the exclusionary futures of “MAGA democracy,” and an article for the European Journal for the Critical Study of Religion on anti-trans conspiracy theories circulated by the global and U.S. right-wing. I have produced work on the ethical and methodological challenges of doing research with politically and morally divergent interlocutors, and am currently editing a special issue on this theme with colleagues at the University of Manchester, A. Szymczyk and J. Craig. I am always happy to hear from students and colleagues who would like to discuss U.S. politics, religion, or any of the themes raised by my research.

This semester I am teaching SOAN20852: Materiality and Representation. 

I have also taught on Introduction to Business Anthropology (SOAN10361), Power and Culture (SOAN10301), Key Ideas in Anthropology (SOAN10321) and Anthropology of Religion (SOAN20812) (GTA). 

Arthur Lewis 2.048                    

Mondays 2pm-3pm

Wednesdays 12pm-1pm

(Available In-Person or Online)