• Elaine Penagos joined the Religion Department in 2023 and teaches classes about Africana religious cultures. She received a BA in religious studies from the University of Miami, a MA in religious studies from the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion. She is a scholar of African heritage religions, especially Regla de Ocha, known popularly as Santería. Her research utilizes art, cultural aesthetic productions, narratives, and popular culture to examine how practitioners of Afro-Cuban religions engage in their (re)making of religion. Her writing has appeared in the journal of Genealogy, Practical Matters, the Wabash Center, the Hispanic Theological Initiative’s Open Plaza, and the Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Religions.

    • Emory University, Ph.D.
    • University of Denver, M.A.
    • University of Miami, BA

    • Afro-Cuban Religions
    • Religion and Art
    • Afro-Latine Religions in the US
    • Africana Religions

    • Africana Religions
    • African American Religions
    • Religion and Popular Culture
    • Religion and Material Culture