Cristina Rocha

7

Articles

4

Comments

Professor Cristina Rocha, FAHA, is an anthropologist and the Director of the Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney University, Australia. She is a former President of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion (2017-2019) and was a Fellow at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study (2021-2022). She co-edits the Journal of Global Buddhism and the Religion in the Americas Brill series. Rocha has held Visiting Researcher positions at the University of Utrecht, King's College and Queen Mary College, CUNY Graduate Centre, and the Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity.

Her research focuses on the intersections of globalisation, religion, and (im)mobilities. She is the author of Cool Christianity: Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities (OUP 2024); the award-winning book John of God: The Globalization of Brazilian Faith Healing (OUP 2017); and Zen in Brazil: The Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity (Hawaii UP, 2006), among other publications.

Experience

  • 2019–present
    Professor, WSU
  • 2014–present
    ARC Future Fellow, The University of Western Sydney
  • 2014–2015
    Associate professor, UWS
  • 2011–2014
    Senior lecturer, UWS
  • 2009–2010
    Lecturer B, University of Western Sydney
  • 2006–2008
    ARC Post doctoral fellow, University of Western Sydney
  • 2008–2008
    Lecturer B, Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University
  • 2005–2005
    Lecturer , School of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU

Education

  • 2004 
    Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, PhD
  • 1996 
    University of São Paulo, Brazil, M.Phil. (by dissertation)
  • 1986 
    University of São Paulo, Brazil, BSocSc. School of Social Sciences

Publications

  • 2024
    Cool Christianity Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities, Oxford University Press
  • 2020
    Australian Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Arguments from the Margins, Brill
  • 2017
    John of God: The Globalization of Brazilian Faith Healing. New York: , Oxford University Press
  • 2013
    The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions (with Manuel Vasquez), Brill
  • 2011
    Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change (with Michelle Barker), Routledge
  • 2006
    Zen in Brazil: The Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity, University of Hawaii Press

Grants and Contracts

  • 2023
    "Buddhism in Australia: Buddhism in Australia: Wellbeing, Belonging, and Social Engagement’
    Role:
    CI (w/ J. Shi, A. Halafoff, K. Lam, S. Smith)
    Funding Source:
    Hsing Yun Foundation
  • 2022
    ARC Discovery: 'Australian Spirituality: Wellness, Wellbeing and Risks'
    Role:
    CI (w/ Anna Halafoff, Tyson Yunkaporta, Andrew Singleton)
    Funding Source:
    ARC
  • 2021
    ‘(Con)spirituality, Science and the 'COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: Material and Digital Practices’
    Role:
    CI (w/ Anna Halafoff, Andrew Singleton)
    Funding Source:
    International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society (INSBS)
  • 2019
    ARC Discovery: ‘The African Diaspora and Pentecostalism in Australia: New Perspectives on Materiality, Media and Religion
    Role:
    CI (with Richard Vokes, UWA)
    Funding Source:
    ARC
  • 2014
    Pentecostal Connections: Migration, Missionaries, Mobility and Media between Australia and Brazil
    Role:
    Future Fellow
    Funding Source:
    ARC
  • 2006
    Australian-Brazilian Connections: Mapping the Cultural Traffic in the Southern Hemisphere.
    Role:
    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Funding Source:
    ARC

Research Areas

  • Globalisation And Culture (200206)
  • Social And Cultural Anthropology (160104)
  • Migration (160303)
  • Religion And Society (220405)

Honours

Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities; Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Paris (2021-2022); Geertz Book prize for John of God: The Globalization of Brazilian Faith Healing (2019); Visiting Fellow at: Utrecht University (The Netherlands), Kings College (UK); CUNY Graduate Centre (USA); Queen Mary College (UK); Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity (Germany); Japan Foundation Fellow (Japan)

Contact Cristina for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision