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Dr. Brian Howell
Associate Professor of Anthropology
On Faculty since 2001


Phone: (630) 752-5182
Fax: (630) 752-5294
Email: Brian.M.Howell@wheaton.edu


Education

Ph.D., Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2002
    Dissertation titled, "At Home in the World: Philippine Protestants and the Creation of Context."

M.A., Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1997

M.A., Cross Cultural Studies, Fuller Seminary, CA 1995

B.A., Social Studies, Wesleyan University, CT 1991

See Dr. Howell's complete vitae, 2009

 
Professional and Personal Interests
Dr. Howell's anthropological interests are centered in global Christianity, particularly Filipino Protestantism, as well as race-relations in U.S. Christianity. His courses deal with global Christianity, culture theory and inequality as well as anthropology in popular culture. Dr. Howell and his wife Marissa Sabio reside in Wheaton with their three children and are active church members. Some of Dr. Howell's hobbies include scuba diving, tennis and piano.

Courses Taught

Membership in Professional Societies
  • American Anthropological Association (AAA)
  • American Ethnological Society
  • Society for the Anthropology of Religion
  • Society of Urban and Transnational Anthropology

Research
Individual: Dr. Howell is currently revising his doctoral dissertation for publication. The dissertation, entitled "At Home in the World: Philippine Baptists and the Creation of Context" explores the understanding of place and context as it is experienced and created in several congregations of Baptists in the Northern Philippine city of Baguio. In addition to continuing his work on global Christianity, Dr. Howell is working on the process of "racial reconciliation" and the development of racial ideology in U.S. congregations and hopes to soon begin work on a project involving the role of short-term missions in the constructions of our discourse and understanding of non-Western Others.

Papers Published and/or Presented

  • Howell, Brian M. "They Call Me Joy: Philippine Protestantism and Popular Culture," co-authored with Anthony dela Fuente. The Journal of Theology and Film. Vol. 10 #2 (October 2006).
  • Howell, Brian M. "Believing Bureaucracy: Discourse and Identity in a Philippine Baptist Church" in Ruanni T. Tupas, ed., Languages, Discourses, and Globalization: Significations of Power in the Philippines (University of the Philippines Press: forthcoming).
  • Howell, Brian M. "Power, Ritual and Reconciliation: The Case of New City Fellowship", in Robert Priest and Alvaro Nieves, eds., Race, Ethnicity and Christian Faith (Oxford University Press: forthcoming).
  • Howell, Brian M. "Globalization, Ethnicity and Cultural Authenticity: Implications for Theological Education," Christian Scholars Review Vol. 36 (3), Spring 2006, 3-31.
  • Howell, Brian M. "Globalization as a Local Process: Philippine Baptist Identity at the End of the Twentieth Century," in Ian Randall, Toilo Pilli and Anthony R. Cross, eds., Baptist Identities: International Studies from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Centuries (Studies in Baptist History) (Paternoster Press: 2006), pp. 257 - 274.
  • Howell, Brian M. "Practical Belief and the Localization of Christianity: Pentecostal and Denominational Christianity in Global/Local Perspective"  Religion 33, (2003) 233-248.
  • Howell, Brian M. "Speaking of Global Christianity" Books and Culture, in press.
  • Howell, Brian M. At Home in the World: Philippine Baptists and the Creation of Context, Ph.D. diss., Washington University in St. Louis, 2002.
  • Howell, Brian M. Review of "Clash of Spirits: The History of Power and Sugar Plantation Hegemony on a Visayan Island" by  Filomeno Aguilar, American Anthropology, Vol. 102 (3), September 2000.
  • Howell, Brian M. "Plowing the Field: The Religious Field in a Presbyterian Church", Human Mosaic, Vol. 31 (2), New Orleans, LA: 1998.
  • Howell, Brian M. Review of "Philippine Localities & Global Perspectives" by Raul Pertierra, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 31 (4), November 1998.

Organized Sessions & Presentations

  • "Redemption and Progress: Analogies of Protestantism and Popular Culture in the Philippines" co-authored with Anthony dela Fuente. Presented at Pew Conference on World Christianity, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, July 3 - 7, 2001
  • "Globalization and Ethnic Identity: Implications for Theological Education in Asia" Keynote paper presented at regional meeting of Philippine Association of Bible and Theological Schools (PABATS), March 19, 2000, Manila, Philippines
  • "The Futures of the Anthropology of Protestantism", co-organizer and chair, session co-organized with Dr. James Peacock presented at the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November 19, 1997