Biography
Thelathia "Nikki" Young is associate provost for equity and inclusive excellence and associate professor of women's and gender studies and religion at Bucknell University. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University, M.Div. and Th.M. from Candler School of Theology, and B.A. from UNC-Asheville. Her research focuses on the intersection of ethics, family, race, gender, and sexuality, and she is interested in the impact of queerness on moral reasoning. In addition to academic and popular culture articles, Nikki has published three books. The first, a solo-authored monograph, is titled Black Queer Ethics, Family, and Philosophical Imagination and was published in 2016 by Palgrave Macmillan. The second, a collaborative project with Drs. Eric Barreto and Jake Myers, titled In Tongues of Mortals and Angels: A De-Constructive Theology of God-Talk in Acts and Corinthians and was published in 2018 by Fortress Academic. Nikki’s latest book Queer Soul and Queer Theology: Ethics and Redemption in Real Life, written with Dr. Laurel Schneider, was published by Routledge in 2021. Nikki is currently working a new manuscript, tentatively titled We Plead the Blood of Freedom: A Transnational Ethics of Black Queer Liberative Practice.
Candidate Statement
My commitment to the AAR began during my graduate studies and has grown and developed through my experience as a professional within the field of religious studies. I have been active on the Queer Studies in Religion Group’s (QSIR) steering committee in the AAR since November 2010, and I served as the committee’s co-chair 2013-2019. I also served on the Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Task Force within the AAR (chairing 2016-2019), helping to recommend policies and good practices to assure the full access and academic freedom of LGBTIQ persons within the Academy and develop programs to enhance their status in the profession. In my role as a committee member, I participated in the bi-annual summit for this group in February 2016 and 2018 and served as chair of the Intersectionality sub-committee and was a member of Mentoring sub-committee. Currently, I serve on two committees within the AAR: The Committee for the Public Understanding of Religion and the Professional Conduct Committee.
I am both interested in and committed to supporting the development of scholars, teachers, artists, activists, practitioners, and explorers of religion and religious studies. In my experience, this work requires ongoing and productive conversations about how people navigate the many and varied contexts in which religious discourse takes place. It also calls for attention to the nuances of identity – marginalized and dominant – that shape those contexts and thereby influence the tenor of our shared field. As the Status Committees Director, I am ready to employ my expertise and experience in service of robust, intersectional, and productive representation of the Status Committees and the constituencies they represent.
My offer to continue serving in the AAR is borne of a belief that support for as well as , representation and amplification of minoritized members of our community comes not as a cost to the whole but instead as an investment in the shared benefit of excellence in inclusion and equity. Undoubtedly, my current employment at Bucknell helps inform my understanding of what it takes to foster and inclusive community, but it is my work and learning within the AAR that has provided the foundation.