Religion in Culture Lunch

Prof. Herb Berg, of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, joined members of the Department on April 14, 2008, for a lunchtime discussion which focused not only on the topic of his article but also the peer review process used by scholarly journals--how it works and what it sometimes requires from authors.

At lunch, Prof. Berg--a specialist in the history of the Qu'ran as well as the more recent history of Islam within the African American community, discussed a predistributed article of his that was published in 2005 in the field's leading periodical, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

The article, "Mythmaking in the African American Muslim Context" (PDF), discussed the manner in which discourses on the past are used by communities to create social identity in the present. The essay had been presented earlier in the semester by a student in REL 419, which attracted some students from that class to attend lunch. Pictured above, Keke introduces Prof. Berg, with (to her left) Rhodes Berry, Megan Caniglia, and Corey Worman.

Chris Scott (left), secure behind his fort of box lunch wrappers and water bottles, while Rhodes (right) dives in for some Jason's Deli-iciousness.

Our guest seems happy to get a chance to eat. He had a busy day: later that afternoon, he attended Prof. McCutcheon's REL 480 before having dinner with Prof. Marouan, Jaci Gresham, and Angel Narvaez-Lugo. Prof. Berg started the day early with a breakfast with some members of the honor society.

Learn about Prof. Berg's public lecture...

Thanks to Prof. Steven Ramey, Donna Martin, and Betty Dickey for planning this event. Thanks also to Keke Pounds, President of the Theta Alpha Kappa for introducing Prof. Berg at lunch and to Jaci Gresham for documenting the lunch and lecture for future generations of web browsers.