Institute of Cognition & Culture

Staff

PhD 1991 Cambridge; Professor
Cultural transmission, cognitive science of culture, religion and ritual; Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.

After carrying out two years of field research on a ‘cargo cult’ in New Britain, Papua New Guinea in the late eighties, Harvey Whitehouse developed a theory of 'modes of religiosity' that has been the subject of extensive critical evaluation and testing by anthropologists, historians, achaeologists, and cognitive scientists. He is currently the principal investigator of the ‘Explaining Religion’ project (EXREL), funded by the European Commission.

British Academy Networks Project on Modes of Religiosity
Cognitive Science of Religion Series 
Centre for Anthropology and Mind
Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford
 
 

Books:

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Single Authored Volumes

1995 Inside the Cult: religious innovation and transmission in Papua New Guinea, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 234pp, ISBN 0-19-827981-7 (cloth), 0-19-828051-3 (paper)

2000 Arguments and Icons: divergent modes of religiosity, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 204pp, ISBN 0-19-823414-7 (cloth), 0-19-823415-5 (paper)
   
2004 Modes of Religiosity: a cognitive theory of religious transmission, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 208pp, ISBN 0-7591-0614-2 (cloth), 0-7591-0615-0 (paper)

Edited Volumes:

2001 (ed.) The Debated Mind: evolutionary psychology versus ethnography, Oxford:
Berg, 229pp, ISBN 0-85-973427-8 (cloth), 0-85-973432-4 (paper)

2004 with Laidlaw, James (eds.) Ritual and Memory: Towards a Comparative Anthropology of Religion, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 224pp, ISBN 0-7591-0616-9 (cloth), 0-7591-0617-7 (paper)

2004 with Martin, Luther H. (eds.) Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, and Cognition, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 256pp, ISBN 0-7591-0620-7 (cloth), 0-7591-0621-5 (paper)

2004 with Martin, Luther H.  (eds.) Implications of Cognitive Science for the Study of Religion, Special Issue of Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol.16, No.3, ISSN 0943-3058 (print), 1570-0682 (online)

2005 with McCauley, Robert N. (eds.) The Psychological and Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity, special issue of Journal of Cognition and Culture, Vol.5 Nos.1-2, ISSN 1567-7095 (print), 1568-5373 (online)

2005 with McCauley, Robert N. (eds.) Mind and Religion: Psychological and Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 248pp, ISBN 0-7591-0618-5 (cloth), 0-7591-0619-3 (paper)

2005 with Martin, Luther H. (eds.) History, Memory, and Cognition, special issue of Historical Reflections/ Reflexions Historiques, Vol.31, No.2, ISSN 0315-7997

2007 with Laidlaw, James (eds.) Religion, Anthropology and Cognitive Science, Durham: Carolina Academic Press, ISBN 1-59460-107-0

Selected Articles

Journals articles

1989  "The Oscillating Equilibrium of Production among the Mali Baining" in Research in Melanesia, Vol. 13: 62-67.

1990    "A Cyclical Model of Structural Transformation among the Mali Baining" in Cambridge Anthropology, Vol. 14, No. 3: 34-53.

1991 "Cargoism, Millennialism, and Idealism" in Cambridge Anthropology, Vol. 15, No. 1: 70-84.

1991 ‘Leaders and Logics, Persons and Polities’ in History and Anthropology, Vol. 6,
No. 1: 103-124

1992 "Memorable Religions: transmission, codification, and change in divergent Melanesian contexts" in Man (N.S.) Vol. 27, No. 3: 777-797.

1994 "Strong Words and Forceful Winds: religious experience and political process in
Melanesia" in Oceania, Vol.65, No. 1: 40-58

1996 "Jungles and Computers: neuronal group selection and the epidemiology of representations" in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), Vol. 1, No. 1: 99-116.

1996     "Rites of Terror: emotion, metaphor, and memory in Melanesian initiation cults"
in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), Vol. 2, No. 4: 703-715. Reprinted in John Corrigan (ed.) 2004 Religion and Emotion: Approaches and Interpretations, Oxford: Oxford University Press

1998 "From Mission to Movement: the impact of Christianity on patterns of political association in Papua New Guinea" in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), Vol. 4, No. 1: 43-63

2000 “Ordine e disordine nella religione Melanesian” in Etnosistemi Vol. 7, pp 28-36

2001 “Transmissive Frequency, Ritual, and Exegesis”, in Journal of Cognition and Culture, Vol.1, No.2, pp 167-182

2002 ‘Religious Reflexivity and Transmissive Frequency” in Social Anthropology,
Vol. 10, No. 1, pp 91-103

2002 “Conjectures, Refutations, and Verification: towards a testable theory of modes of religiosity” in Journal of Ritual Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp 44-59

2002 “Modes of Religiosity: a cognitive explanation of the sociopolitical
dynamics of religion” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol. 14, pp 293-315

2004 “Modes of Religiosity and the Cognitive Science of Religion” in Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol.16, No.3, pp 321-335

2005 “Cognitive Historiography: When Science Meets Art” in Historical Reflections/ Reflexions Historiques, Vol.31, No.2, pp 307-318

2005 & McCauley, Robert N. “New Frontiers in the Cognitive Science of Religion” in Journal of Cognition and Culture, Vol. 5 Nos.1-2, pp 1-13

2008 “Modes of Religiosity” in The Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin, vol. 37, No. 4, pp 108-112.

2008 with Emma Cohen, Jonathan A. Lanman, and Robert N. McCauley “Common Criticisms of the Cognitive Science of Religion – Answered” in The Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin, vol. 37, No. 4, pp 112-115.

Articles in Books

1996 "Apparitions, Orations, and Rings: experience of spirits in Dadul" in A. Howard & J. Mageo (eds.) Spirits in Culture, History, and Mind, London: Routledge.

1996 "From Possession to Apotheosis: transformation and disguise in the leadership of a cargo movement" in R. Feinberg & K.A. Watson-Gegeo (eds.) Leadership and change in the Western Pacific, London: Athlone.

1996     "Indigenous Music and Ritual" and "A Synchretic Context: Mali Baining" in
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 9, Australia and the Pacific Islands, New York: Garland Publishing

2000 “Cultural Cognition and Psychopathology: anthopological perspectives” in J.
Schumaker and T. Ward (eds.) Cultural Cognition and Pyschopathology, Westport:
Greenwood

2001 “Introduction” in Harvey Whitehouse (ed.) The Debated Mind: evolutionary
psychology versus ethnography, Oxford: Berg

2001 “Conclusion: towards a reconciliation” in Harvey Whitehouse (ed.) The Debated
Mind: evolutionary psychology versus ethnography, Oxford: Berg

2002 “Implicit and Explicit Knowledge in the Domain of Ritual” in V.
Antonnen and I. Pyysiainen (eds.) Cognition and Religion: cross-disciplinary perspectives, London: Continuum

2003 “Why Do We Need Cognitive Theories of Religion?” in Timothy Light and Brian C. Wilson (eds.) Religion as a Human Capacity: a festschrift in honor of E. Thomas Lawson, Leiden: Brill

2004 “Toward a Comparative Anthropology of Religion” in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw (eds.) Ritual and Memory: toward a comparative anthropology of religion, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press

2004 “Theorizing Religions Past” in Harvey Whitehouse and Luther H. Martin (eds.) Theorizing Religions Past: archaeology, history, and cognition, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press

2005 “Emotion, Memory, and Religious Rituals: an assessment of two theories” in Kay Milton and Maruska Svasek (eds.) Mixed Emotions, Oxford: Berg

2005 “The Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity” in Harvey Whitehouse and Robert N. McCauley (eds.) Mind and Religion: psychological and cognitive foundations of religiosity, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press

2005 with Rebekah A. Richert and Emma Stewart “Memory and Analogical Thinking in High-Arousal Rituals” in Harvey Whitehouse and Robert N. McCauley (eds.) Mind and Religion: psychological and cognitive foundations of religiosity, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press

2006 “Appropriated and Monolithic Christianity in Melanesia” in Fenella Cannell (ed.) The Anthropology of Christianity, Durham, NC: Duke University Press

2006 “Terror” in John Corrigan (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion, Oxford: Oxford University Press

2006 “Cognition et religion” in Gérard Fussman (ed.) Croyance, raison et déraison, Paris: Odile Jacob Editions

2006 “Transmission” in Michael Stausberg (ed.) Theorizing Rituals: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts, Leiden: Brill

2007 with James Laidlaw “Introduction” in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw (eds.) Religion, Anthropology and Cognitive Science, Durham: Carolina Academic Press
   
2007 “Towards an Integration of Ethnography, History and the Cognitive Science of Religion” in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw (eds.) Religion, Anthropology and Cognitive Science, Durham: Carolina Academic Press

2007 “The Evolution and History of Religion” in David Parkin and Stanley Ulijaszek (eds.) Holistic Anthropology: Emergence and convergence, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
   
2008 “Cognitive Evolution and Religion; Cognition and Religious Evolution” in Joseph Bulbulia, Richard Sosis, Erica Harris, Russell Genet, Cheryl Genet, and Karen Wyman (eds.) The Evolution of Religion: Studies, theories, and critiques, Santa Margarita, CA: Collins Foundation Press.

In Press “Religious Universals and Religious Variation” in Ivan Czachesz (ed.) Religion and Cognition, Groningen Studies in Cultural Change Series, Leuven: Peeters.

In Press ‘Graeco-Roman Religions and the Cognitive Science of Religion’ in Luther H. Martin and Panayotis Pachis (eds.) Imagistic Traditions in the Graeco-Roman World, Thessaloniki: Vanias.

In Press “Religious Universals and Religious Variation” in Ivan Czachesz (ed.) Religion and Cognition, Groningen Studies in Cultural Change Series, Leuven: Peeters.

In Press ‘Graeco-Roman Religions and the Cognitive Science of Religion’ in Luther H. Martin and Panayotis Pachis (eds.) Imagistic Traditions in the Graeco-Roman World, Thessaloniki: Vanias.

Presentations

1989  "Millenarian Movements and Cultural Transformations", Social Anthropology Workshop, King's College, Cambridge (4 December)

1990  "The Cart and the Horse: accounting for Melanesian cargo movements", Departmental Seminar, Dept. of  Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (30 November)

1991 “Memory, Religion, and Change: two extreme cases from Papua New Guinea",
Intercollegiate Research Seminar in Anthropology, Dept. of Anthropology, London School of Economics (25 October)

1991 “From Possession to Apotheosis", International Conference in Honour of Sir
Raymond Firth, London School of Economics (19-21 December).

1992  "Seeking the Spirit of Authority: the role of attribution in possession and inspired leadership", 21st Annual Meeting of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania, New Orleans, USA (19-23 February).

1992    "The Politics of Revelation: the Pomio Kivung and the Taro Cult as alternative politico-religious regimes", First European Colloquium on Pacific Studies, Nijmegen, Netherlands(17-19 December).

1993  "Religions of Fear, and Religions of Routine", Departmental Seminar, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford (5 March).

1993 "Nationalism and the Indigenous Movements of Papua New Guinea", Spring Conference of the Anthropological Association of Ireland, Queen's University of Belfast (7-8 May).

1993    "The Role of Terror in Melanesian Religion", Departmental Seminar, Dept. of Social Anthropology,     Queen's University of Belfast (26 October).

1993    "Some thoughts on the relationship between cognition, emotion, and politics in Melanesian religion",     Departmental Seminar, Dept. of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester (22 November).

1993    "Modes of Ritual Action", Workshop: Cognition and Interaction in Ritual Performance, King's College, Cambridge (6-7 December).

1995 "Neuronal Group Selection and the Epidemiology of Representations" ESRC Research Seminar on Memory and Social Transmission, Queen's University of Belfast (16 May)

1996 "The Pomio Kivung of East New Britain Province, PNG", 25th Annual Meeting of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania, Hawaii, USA (7-11 February).

1996 "Jungles and Computers: neuronal group selection and the epidemiology of representations", Public Lecture at Western Michigan University, USA (15 February).

1996 "The Role of Missionization in Changing Patterns of Cognition and Political Association in Papua New Guinea", Third Conference of the European Society of Oceanists, Copenhagen, Denmark (13-15 December).

1997 "From Mission to Movement", Departmental Seminar, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St. Andrews (27 February).

1997 "Modes of Religiosity and Political Evolution in Melanesia", Departmental Seminar, Department of Social Anthropology,     University of Edinburgh (28 February).

1997 "Arguments and Icons", Nouvelle Approches de la Tradition, Ministere de la Recherche, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale, CNRS, Paris, France (21 March).

1997    "Christianity and 'Cargo Cults' in Melanesia", Words and Things: workshop on the
anthropology of Christianity, Department of Social Anthropology, University of
Manchester (16 May)

1997 "Mind, Evolution, and Cultural Transmission", Nouvelle Approches de la Tradition, Ministere de la Recherche, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale, CNRS, Paris, France (15 December)

1998 "The Organization and Transmission of Cosmology in Melanesia and Amazonia" Departmental Seminar, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (6 February)

1997     "Transmissive Modalities and Network-Formation in the Paliau Movement, Papua
New Guinea"  5th Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, Frankfurt, Germany (4-7 September)

1998 "Epidemiological Approaches to Ritual" International Conference on Biological and Cognitive Perspectives on the Transmission of Culture, School of Anthropological Studies, Queen’s University of Belfast (17-19 September)

1998 Modes of Religiosity in the European Reformation and the Missionization of Melanesia" Words and Things in the Anthropology of Christianity, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics (24-25 September)

1999 “Implicit and Explicit Knowledge of Ritual” Research Seminar on Anthropological Theory, London School of Economics (11 June)

1999 “Situating Human Nature” Human Nature in Question, British Association Annual Festival of Science, Sheffield (13-17 September)

1999 “Religious Reflexivity and Transmissive Frequency” Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (15-17 September)

2000 “The Effects of Transmissive Frequency on Memory for Ritual Actions and Exegesis”, Quinquennial Congress of the International association for the History of Religions, Durban, South Africa (31 July - 12 August)

2000 “Modes of Religiosity”, Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Houston, USA (18 –22 October)

2000 “Explaining Religion”, Keynote Lecture, Festival Seminar in Comparative Religion, University of Helsinki, Finland (1 December)

2001 “Memetics and the Epidemiology of Representations”, Inaugural Lecture for the AHRB Centre for the Evolutionary Analysis of Cultural Behaviour, University College London (16 February)

2001 “Modes of Religiosity” Public Lecture (televised), University of Vermont, USA (16 April)

2001 ‘Cognition and Ritual’, International Culture and Cognition Program, University of Michigan (12 May)

2001 ‘Modes of Religiosity’ Joseph Lister Award Lecture, British Association Festival of Science, Glasgow (6 September)

2001 ‘The Role of Emotion in the Transmission of Religious Rituals: assessing the evidence for two cognitive hypotheses’, CNRS-CREDO workshop on ‘Emotion, Memorization, and Knowledge Transmission, Marseille, France (14-15 September)

2001 “Memory and Motivation in Religion: some causes and consequences of alternative modalities of transmission’, Departmental Seminar, School of Oriental and African Studies, London (31 October)

2001 “Modes of Religiosity”, Public Lecture, King’s College, Cambridge (21 November)

2001 “Ritual, Emotion, and Memory”, specialist seminar for anthropologists, King’s College Cambridge (22 November)

2001 “Concluding Remarks” British Academy Networks Conference on Modes of Religiosity, King’s College, Cambridge (20-22 December)

2002 ‘Explaining the Social Morphology of Religion” CNRS seminar, Paris, France (15
March)

2002 ‘Ritual Unity: building nationalism in Papua New Guinea’, For God and Country, Spring Symposium of the Center for the Study of Religious, Virginia Wesleyan College, USA (26 March)

2002 ‘Transmission of Religious Concepts’ Minds and Gods: the cognitive science of religion, International Conference sponsored by the University of Michigan, Culture and Cognition Program, and the John Templeton Foundation, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (29 March)

2002 " Ritual, Emotion, and Cognition" Staff Seminar, School of Anthropological Studies, Queen’s University of Belfast (7 May)

2002 "Ritual, Emotion, and Memory: the case of high-arousal, low-frequency rites" International Seminar on the Anthropology of Memory, Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale of the Collège de France, Paris, France (11 June)

2002 “Modes of Religiosity: the evidence from Archaeology and Historiography” British Academy Networks Conference on Modes of Religiosity, University of Vermont, Burlington (1-6 August)
   
2002 “A Response to the Panel” Annual Meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Religion, panel on ‘Cognition and Culture: implications of the ‘modes of religiosity’ theory for the study of religion’, Toronto (23 November)

2002 “The Imagistic Mode: a response to the panel” Annual Meeting of
the SBL, panel on ‘Imagistic Traditions in the Graeco-Roman World’, Toronto (24 November)

2003 “Ritual, Trauma and Memory” Institute of Irish Studies Seminar Programme, QUB (27February)

2003 ‘Opening Remarks’ and ‘Closing Remarks’ British Academy and  Emory University Conference on ‘the Psychological and Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity’, Emory Conference Center (14-17 August)

2003 ‘The Ritual Form Hypothesis and the Theory of Modes of Religiosity’, Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Norfolk, Virginia (24 October)

2003 ‘Ritual, Transmission, and Memory’ Guest Lecture, Washington University in St. Louis (28 October)

2003 ‘Ritual Form and Ritual Frequency’ Annual Meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Religion, Atlanta (21 November)

2004 "Modes of Religiosity" Guest Lecture, Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Southern Denmark, Odense (30 March)

2004 “Rituals and Cognition” Keynote Lecture, Forskerskolen Religion/ Identitet/ Kultur Det Teologiske Fakultet, Aarhus Universitet, convened in Sandbjerg, Southern Jutland, Denmark (1 April)

2004 “Cognition and Culture” Inaugural Lecture, Larmor Lecture Theatre, Queen’s University Belfast (1 June)

2004 “The Evolution and History of Religion: Theorizing Religious Transmission” Annual Meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Religion, San Antonio (22 November)

2005 “The Evolution and History of Religion” The Matthew Vassar Lecture, Vassar College, New York (21 February)

2005 “Modes of Religiosity in the Graeco-Roman World: A Response to ‘Imagistic Modes of Religiosity in the Graeco-Roman World,’ Panels (1) and (2)”, Nineteenth World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Tokyo, Japan (29 March)

2005 “Re-Appraising the Modes Theory: some qualifications and extensions”
Nineteenth World Congress of the International Association for the History of
Religions, Tokyo, Japan (30 March)

2005 “Memory and Religion”, Memory Day, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast (19 May)

2005 “The Evolution and History of Religion”, the Marett Lecture, University of Oxford (16 September)

2005 “Cognition and Religious Transmission”, Public Lecture, Amphithéâtre Marguerite de Navarre, Collège de France, Paris (13 October)

2005 “Mind, Brain, and Religion” Oxford Centre for the Study of the Mind, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford (28 November)

2006 “Closing Remarks” Cognitive Development and Cultural Transmission Workshop, London School of Economics (7 January)

2006 “The Role of Emotion in the Transmission of Rituals” Swiss National Research Center in Affective Sciences, Geneva (2 February)

2006 “The Role of Emotion in the Transmission of Rituals” Public Lecture, Religion und Emotion Interdisziplinäres Forschungskolloquium, Collegium Helveticum, Zurich (3 February)

2006 “Darwin and the Scientific Study of Religion” Darwin Day Lecture, Walton Theatre, Trinity College Dublin (9 February)

2006 “Explaining Religion” Public Lecture, The Evolution and Human Adaptation Program and The Culture and Cognition Program Colloquium on Evolution and Culture, University of Michigan (17 March)

2006 “Religious Universals and Religious Variation” International Workshop on Religion and Cognition, Centre for the Cognitive Science of Religion, Groningen, Netherlands (6 April)

2006 “Evolutionary Psychology and the Anthropology of Religion”, Public Lecture, the British Academy, London (28 April)

2006 “Religion, Anthropology, and Psychology”, Departmental Seminar, School of Psychology, University of Oxford (21 November)

2007 “Cognitive Evolution and Religion; Cognition and Religious Evolution” Inaugural Address, Evolution of Religion Conference, Oahu, Hawaii (3 January)

2007 “Evolution and Religion” Culture and Cognition Seminar, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics (30 May)

2007 “Explaining Religion”, public lecture, James Martin 21st Century School, Philosophy Faculty Centre, University of Oxford (12 June)

2007 “A Cognitive Theory of Religious Innovation and Transmission” International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Vienna, Austria (24 July)

2007 “Religious Life at Çatalhöyük” Second Site Seminar in the Project on Spirituality and religious ritual in the emergence of civilization: Çatalhöyük as a case study, Çatalhöyük, Turkey (3 August)

2007 “Overview of EXREL Project”, Public Lecture, Faculty of Theology, University of Aarhus, Denmark (17 September)

2007 “Explaining Religion”, Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness and Society for Anthropology of Religion Invited Session on ‘Cognitive Theory of Religion’, 106th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (1 December)

2008 “Explaining Religion”, a filmed lecture by invitation only, Waynflete Symposium on Anthropology (with special guest Sir David Attenborough), Magdalen College, Oxford (3 May)

2008 “Explaining Religion”, Keynote Lecture, Religion and Cognition in Context Workshop, Aarhus, Denmark (1 June)

2008 “Explaining Religion”, Keynote Lecture, Eighth Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, Brno, Czech Republic (10 September)

2008 “Modes of Religiosity: A cognitive explanation” Invited Lecture (with honorarium), The Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (10 September)

2008 “Introduction to the Anthropology of Religion: The strange case of cargo cults”, Invited Lecture (with honorarium), The Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (11 September)

2008 “Testing the Theory of Modes of Religiosity”, Invited Lecture (with honorarium) The Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (12 September)

2008 “Explaining Religion”, Public Lecture (with honorarium¬), Green College, University of British Colombia, Canada (22 September)

2008 “Why do humans have religion?” Integrating the Humanities and the Sciences Conference, Peter Wall Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (27 September)

2008 “Explaining Religion”, Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual, Collaborative Research Centre SFB 619, ‘Ritual Dynamics’ International Conference, Heidelberg, Germany (1 October)

2008 “Explaining Religion”, Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness and Society for Anthropology of Religion Invited Session on ‘Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science’, 107th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco at the Hilton and Towers (20 November)   

2009 “Why Do Religions Differ”, Public Lecture, Department for the Study of Religions, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic (23 February)

2009 “Testing the Modes Theory Using Ethnography”, Research Seminar, Department for the Study of Religions, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic (23 February)

2009 “Explaining ‘Cargo Cults’”, Public Lecture, St Martin’s Community Centre, Camden Town, London (3 March)

2009 “Explaining Religion”, SPA/SAR Joint Biennial Conference
Asilomar, California (28 March)

2009 “Explaining Religion” EvoS Lecture, Binghamton University, New York (3 April)

2009 “Explaining Religion”, The Wiegand Lecture, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Canada (6 April)

2009 “Explaining Religion”, Lecture followed by extended discussion with the media at the Møller Centre, University of Cambridge (16 April).

2009 “Whence and Whither Social Anthropology”, International Colloquium to celebrate the 30th Aniiversary of the Fyssen Foundation, Grand Amphitheatre du Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (16 May)

2009 “Explaining Religion”, Keynote Lecture, 10th Anniversary Annual Inter-University Graduate Conference, ‘Culture, Cognition, and Construction’, London School of Economics (23 May)