Sarah Riccardi-Swartz - Curriculum Vitae
Sarah Riccardi-Swartz
Ph.D. Candidate
New York University
Department of Anthropology
25 Waverly Place
New York, NY 10003
417.576.3128
riccardi@nyu.edu
www.riccardiswartz.com
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
American religion; Russian Orthodoxy; politics; gender; feminist studies; media; materiality;
disability; poverty; rural life; globalization; conversion; missions
COMPREHENSIVE EXAM AREAS
Media and Religion (Dr. Faye Ginsburg)
Material Religion (Dr. Fred Myers)
Russian Worlds (Dr. Bruce Grant)
EDUCATION
2017 Graduate Certificate in Culture and Media, Departments of Anthropology and
Cinema Studies (Tisch), NYU
2017 M.Phil., Department of Anthropology, NYU
2014-- Ph.D. Candidate (ABD), Department of Anthropology, NYU
2011-2014 M.A., Department of Religious Studies, Missouri State University
2006-2011 B.A., summa cum laude in the Honors College with departmental distinction,
Department of Religious Studies, MSU
FIELDWORK
2017-2018 West Virginia (Doctoral research)
2011-2014 Missouri (Master’s research)
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2019-2020 Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship in Religion and Ethics
2019-2020 NEH-Orthodox Christian Studies Dissertation Fellowship
2019 NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, Summer Fieldwork
Fellowship
2019 NYU Outstanding Teaching Award
2018-2019 Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship
2017 NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, Research Fellowship
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2017 NYU Annette Weiner Fieldwork Grant
2016 NYU Patricia Dunn Lehrman Fellowship for American Art
2016 NYU Dean’s Student Travel Grant, GSAS
2015 NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, Summer Pre-fieldwork
Grant
2015 NYU Dean’s Student Travel Grant, GSAS
2014-2017 NYU Dean’s Fellowship (three-year summer fellowship)
2014-2019 NYU Five-Year Opportunity Fellowship Program
2014-2019 NYU Five-Year MacCracken Fellowship (full tuition plus stipend)
2014 Fulbright/University of St. Andrews Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship
(one offered every four years) (declined)
2014 Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, honorable mention
2014 MSU Religious Studies Department Student Enhancement Grant
2013 MSU College of Humanities and Public Affairs Travel Grant
2013 MSU Graduate College Travel Grant
2012 MSU Graduate College Thesis Grant
2012 MSU Graduate College Travel Grant
2012 American Academy of Religion Marion McFarland Taylor Award for Best
Research Paper
2012 MSU Religious Studies Department Student Enhancement Grant
2011-2013 MSU Graduate Assistantship and Full Tuition Grant, (One of three chosen
competitively)
2011 MSU Religious Studies Memorial Award for Academic Excellence
2010-2011 MSU Honors College Scholarship
2010 MSU Honors College Department Honors Thesis Grant
2008-2011 MSU James P. Robinson Ecumenical Scholarship (renewed yearly)
2007-2008 AmeriCorps Education Award
2006-2007 MSU Midwest Campus Compact Citizen-Scholar (M3C) Fellows Program
PUBLICATIONS AND FILMS
Book Chapters
Published
2019 “Enshrining Gender: Orthodox Women and Material Culture.” In Gender and
Orthodox Christianity. Edited by Elina Voula and Helena Kupari, London:
Routledge Press.
2016 “Holy Pixels: The Transformation of Eastern Orthodox Icons.” In Digital
Orthodoxy in the Post-Soviet World. Edited by Mikhail Suslov, 261-284.
Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag.
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In Press
2019 “Head Coverings, Vaccines, and Gender Politics: Tensions Among Eastern
Orthodox Women in Digital Spaces.” Women and Orthodox Christianity, Edited
by Ina Merdjanova, Fordham University Press
Encyclopedia Articles
2016 “Architecture, Orthodox.” In The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United
States: Volume 5. 122-3. Edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark Lamport.
New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
2016 “Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.” In The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United
States: Volume 5. 1014-16. Edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark Lamport.
New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
2016 “Holy Order of Mans / Christ the Savior Brotherhood.” In The Encyclopedia of
Christianity in the United States: Volume 5. 1122-24. George Thomas Kurian and
Mark Lamport. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
2016 “Orthodox Churches.” In The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States:
Volume 5.1701-3. Edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark Lamport. New
York: Rowman & Littlefield.
2016 “St. Herman.” In The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States: Volume
5.1083-4. Edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark Lamport. New York:
Rowman & Littlefield.
Online Publications
2017 “Engaging with Appalachia’s Coal Crisis: Old Stereotypes and New Initiatives.”
Public Orthodoxy, ed. Nathaniel Wood.
https://publicorthodoxy.org/2018/11/15/engaging-with-appalachias-coal-crisis/
2014 “Sacred Waste.” In Discard Studies Compendium, eds. Max Liboiron, Michelle
Acuto, and Robin Nagle. http://discardstudies.com/discard-studies-
compendium/#Sacredwaste
2013 with Aaron Sokoll, “Embodiment in Orthodox Prayer and Spirituality.”
Reverberations, eds. Steven Barrie-Anthony, Jonathan VanAntwerpen, and
Candace West, found at http://forums.ssrc.org/ndsp/2014/07/02/embodiment-in-
orthodox-prayer-and-spirituality/
2013 with Aaron Sokoll, “Connective Implications of the Material Holy.”
Reverberations, eds. Steven Barrie-Anthony, Jonathan Van Antwerpen, and
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Candace West, found at http://forums.ssrc.org/ndsp/2013/10/09/connective-
implications-of-the-material-holy/
Journal Articles
2011 “From an Embryo to God’s Acre: A Turnerian Examination of Life in the
Moravian Choir System,” LOGOS: A Journal of Undergraduate Research 4: 167-
182.
2010 “‘Cheerless Asceticism’: How the New York Times Portrayed the Shakers from
1851-1899,” LOGOS: A Journal of Undergraduate Research 3: 102-109.
Book Reviews
2014 Robert L. Nadeau, Rebirth of the Sacred: Science, Religion, and the New
Environmental Ethos. The Journal of Ecocriticism 6 (1): 10-12.
2012 Gary Scott Smith, Heaven in the American Imagination. New York: Oxford
University Press, In Religion iFirst 1-3 (June 25, 2012):
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2012.697829
Films
2019 Living Bread (19 mins). Role: Director, Cinematographer, and Editor.
2017 Pixelating Holiness (15 mins). Role: Director and Editor. [Distributed by
Documentary Educational Resources, www.der.org] Screenings: Margaret Mead
Film Festival, American Academy of Religion, Australian Anthropological
Association.
PRESENTATIONS
Invited Talks and Lectures
2020 Invited Speaker, “Orthodox Constructions of the East,” Volos Academy for Theological
Studies, Volos, Greece.
2019 Invited Panelist, “Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity, and the Public Sphere,”
British Council Bridging Voices Project at Fordham University, New York.
2019 Invited Speaker, “Russia in the Global Culture Wars,” Berkley Center for Religion,
Peace, & World Affairs, Washington, D.C.
2013 Invited Lecture, “The History of Eastern Orthodoxy in North America” MSU,
Springfield, MO.
2012a Invited Lecture, “Eastern Christianity: Towards a Material History,” MSU, Springfield,
MO.
2012b Invited Lecture, “Eastern Orthodoxy: A Historical Overview,” MSU, Springfield, MO.
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2012c Invited Lecture, “Experiencing the Material: Understanding the Role of Iconography in
Eastern Orthodoxy” MSU, Springfield, MO.
2012d Invited Lecture, “Eastern Orthodoxy: An Overview,” MSU, Springfield, MO.
2012e Invited Lecture, “Sensing the Sacred: Veneration and Piety in Eastern Orthodoxy”, MSU
Springfield, MO.
2012f Invited Lecture, “American Orthodoxy in the 21st Century,” MSU, Springfield, MO.
2012g Invited Lecture, “Eastern Christianity: Histories and Traditions,” MSU, Springfield, MO.
2012h Invited Lecture, “St. John of Damascus and Byzantine Christianity,” MSU, Springfield,
MO.
2010 Invited Lecture, “Snippets of Eroticism: Examining the Lived Religious Lives of
Eighteenth-Century Moravians,” MSU, Springfield, MO.
Panels Organized
2014 Co-convener, “(En)gendered Power: The Crafting of Socio-Religious Female Identity in
Eastern Orthodox Christianity,” AAR, San Diego.
2013 Co-convener, “The Aesthetics of Identity: Material Culture, Race, Ethnicity, and Eastern
Orthodox Christianity,” AAR, Baltimore.
Papers Presented
2019a “Palace of Putin: Political Ideologies in Orthodox Appalachia,” AAR, San Diego.
2019b “Political Apostasy: Conversion to Russian Orthodoxy in the Trump-Putin Era,” AAR,
San Diego.
2017 “Pixelating Holiness (2017): Digital Orthodoxy in Appalachia,” AAR, Boston.
2015 “‘They’re Relics to Me’: Vernacular Religion in Ozarkian Orthodox Devotional
Practices,” AAR, Atlanta.
2014a “Enshrining Gender: The Role of Home Icon Corners in the Configuration of the Female
Orthodox Self,” Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge.
2014b “A Manifested God: Experiencing The Divine Through The Built and Natural Environs
of an Iconographic Earth,” Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge.
2014c “Enshrining Gender: The Role of Home Icon Corners in the Configuration of the Female
Orthodox Self,” AAR, San Diego.
2013a “Praying Through Windows, Peering through Window: American Icon Corners as
Connective Media,” MAAR, Ada, OH.
2013b “Capturing the Incorruptible: Saintly Bodies as Digital Relics,” AAR, Baltimore.
2013c “Commodifying Identities: The Role of E-Commerce in the Configuration of the
Orthodox Self,” AAR, Baltimore.
2012a “Living Between Heaven and Russia: Evoking and Embodying Spiritual Nostalgia in
Ozarkian Eastern Orthodoxy,” MAAR, Rock Island, IL.
2012b “An (Un)Orthodox View of Ethical Kashrut as Social Justice: Examining the Ideas of
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz Through a Maimonidean Lens,” MAAR, Rock Island, IL.
2012c “Living Between Heaven and Russia: Evoking and Embodying Spiritual Nostalgia in
Ozarkian Eastern Orthodoxy,” Religion and the Trans. . .Conference, Northwestern
University, Evanston, IL.
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2011 “From Embryo to God’s Acre: Examining the Moravian Choir System through a
Turnerian Lens,” Student Anthropology Conference, MSU, Springfield, MO.
2010a “Public Sinner, Private Saint: The Literary and Journalistic Portrayal of Emma Molloy
from 1851-1963,” MAAR, Rock Island, IL.
2010b “‘Cheerless Asceticism’: How the New York Times Portrayed the Shakers from 1851-
1899,” Student Anthropology Conference, MSU, Springfield, MO.
2010c “Tasting the Husband: Examining Sensual and Erotic Spiritual Language in Eighteenth-
Century Moravianism,” CSA, New Harmony, IN. (Selected unable to attend the
conference)
2009 “‘Cheerless Asceticism’: How the New York Times Portrayed the Shakers from 1851-
1899,” MAAR, River Forest, IL.
Panels Chaired
2020 Moderator, “Revival of the Female Diaconate in Eastern Orthodoxy,” Orthodox Christian
Studies Center, Fordham University, New York.
2019 Chair, “Religion and Politics: Autocephaly for Ukraine in Historical Context,” NSEEES,
New York.
2016 Chair, “Lived Orthodoxy,” AAR San Antonio.
2014 Chair and Respondent, “Contouring the (In)corporeal: Exploring Bodily Rituals and
Sensory Manifestations,” MAAR, Ada, OH.
Panels
2017 Panelist on the “Pregnant in the Field,” AAR, Boston.
2016 Panelist, “From Ground to Glory: Eastern Orthodoxy in Light of the Ontology Debates,”
AAR, San Antonio.
2013a Panelist, “Nostalgic Memories: Religious Sensory Objects as Reconnection,” MAAR,
Ada, OH.
2013b Panelist, “Crafting Icons, Creating Relics: Vernacular Folk Piety in Ozarkian
Orthodoxy,” Graduate Disciplinary Forum at MSU, Springfield, MO.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Summer 2019 Cornell University Teaching Assistant, Practicing Medicine-Summer
Urban Program, Dr. Sam Beck
Spring 2019 NYU Adjunct Instructor for Two Recitation Sections, Context and
Cultures: Caribbean, Dr. Aisha Khan
Fall 2018 NYU Adjunct Instructor for Two Recitation Sections, Culture, Power,
Society, Dr. Bruce Grant
Summer 2017 NYU Doctoral Mentor for Two Student Researchers, DURI
(Diversity Undergraduate Research Incubator)
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Spring 2017 NYU Adjunct Instructor for Two Recitation Sections, Context and
Cultures: Global Christianity, Dr. Elayne Oliphant
Fall 2016 NYU Course Assistant, Culture and Media I, Dr. Faye Ginsburg
Spring 2016 NYU Adjunct Instructor for Two Recitation Sections, Human Society and
Culture, Dr. Noelle Stout
2013-2014 MSU Graduate Assistant to Dean Victor Matthews,
College of Humanities and Public Affairs
Administrative, research, and editorial assistant; wrote a bibliography of
source material for Old Testament Studies
2011-2013 MSU Graduate Assistant to Dr. James C. Moyer
Religious Studies Department
Assigned to two sections of REL 101 per semester
(Literature and World of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bile)
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2016- New York Working Group on Jewish Orthodoxies, Fordham University in
conjunction with NYU and the American Academy of Jewish Research
2013 Yale University, Research Affiliate, Initiative for the Study of Material
and Visual Cultures of Religion (MAVCOR)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2018- AnthroCyBib, Co-Editor
2018- Anthropology Now, Digital Media Content Curator
2017-2019 American Ethnological Association, Digital Editorial Intern
2015 NYU Student Member of the Hiring Committee, Department of
Anthropology and Religious Studies
2012-2014 AAR Board member, National Graduate Student Council and Student
Regional Director
2011-2012 MSU President, Graduate Student Council
2011-2012 MSU Participant, Graduate and Teaching Assistant Mentoring Seminar,
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
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2011-2012 MSU President, Theta Alpha Kappa
2008-2009; 2010-11 MSU Vice President, Theta Alpha Kappa
April 2011 MSU Reviewer, General Education Task Force
2010-2013 MSU Student Liaison Officer, Religious Studies Club and The Equity and
Diversity Committee
2008-2010 MSU President, Religious Studies Club
LANGUAGES
Russian (Advanced proficiency)
Old Church Slavonic (Intermediate proficiency-reading)
German (Intermediate proficiency-reading)
Biblical Hebrew (Intermediate proficiency-reading)
Attic Greek (Intermediate proficiency-reading)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Academy of Religion
American Anthropological Association
Association for Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies
Society for Cultural Anthropology
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Society for Visual Anthropology
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