About
Pamela Klassen is a Professor and Chair in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, with a cross-appointment in the Department of Anthropology. She has taught at the University of Toronto since 1997 and has been a full professor since 2011. Her academic leadership includes serving as Chair & Graduate Chair of her department (2020-present) and as Vice-Dean, Undergraduate & International in the Faculty of Arts & Science (2016-2020). In 2022-2023, she served as the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies at Harvard University.
Professor Klassen's research focuses on colonialism, treaties, museums, and public memory. Her work spans several interconnected areas:
- Anthropology of religion, secularism, and mediation (including digital humanities)
- Christianity, colonialism, and land in North America & Turtle Island
- Religion, ritual, and public memory (including museum studies)
- Religion, spirituality, and gender
Her scholarship demonstrates a consistent engagement with how religious practices, memories, and institutions intersect with questions of power, land, and identity in settler colonial contexts. Klassen's work often bridges historical and ethnographic approaches, examining both contemporary religious practices and their historical formations.
Professor Klassen's publications reveal a trajectory of increasingly focused attention on the intersections of religion, land, and colonialism, with recent work emphasizing Indigenous perspectives and decolonial approaches to religious studies. Her scholarship moves fluidly between theoretical interventions in religious studies and concrete engagements with public memory projects.
Scientific Awards & Honors
- 2022-2023: William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies, Harvard University
- 2019: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
- 2015-2020: Anneliese Maier Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- 2015: Northrop Frye Award of Excellence for Integration of Research and Teaching
- 2014-2017: Distinguished Visiting Professor in Anthropology of Modern Religion, University of Tübingen
- 2012: American Academy of Religion Award of Excellence for Spirits of Protestantism
Professor Klassen has successfully secured significant research funding, including the prestigious Anneliese Maier Research Award which supported her collaborative work with the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre. She has supervised numerous graduate students in religious studies and anthropology, with many going on to successful academic careers.
Professor Klassen leads several major collaborative projects including Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations, a digital storytelling initiative with the Rainy River First Nations, and Treaty Conversations, an educational resource about treaty relationships in Ontario. These projects exemplify her commitment to community-engaged scholarship that bridges academic research with public education and reconciliation efforts.
Research fields
