David Walker

David Walker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara, holding the J.F. Rowny Chair in Religion and Society. His research examines intersections of religion, technology, popular culture, and settlement policies in 18th–20th century America. He explores how concepts of 'American,' 'religious,' and 'history' were contested through Gilded Age institutions, land disputes, and entertainment spectacles like Barnum’s circuses and Houdini’s magic. His work also includes a cultural history of Mormon professional wrestling.

Education: Ph.D., Yale University

Research focuses on:

• Religion’s role in shaping American identity through bureaucratic systems
• Performance of religious doubt in Shaker communities
• Railroads’ influence on public perception of Mormonism
• Religion’s representation in media from 19th-century circuses to modern TV satire

His publications analyze how transportation networks and corporate structures shaped religious expression. Recent work connects banking practices to antebellum religious thought and examines Mormonism’s portrayal in film and television satire.

Awards: Winner of the Mormon History Association’s 2020 Best Book Award for Railroading Religion

Teaching includes courses on American religious history, religion and tourism, and critical theory in religious studies. Current projects investigate religion’s classification at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and performance of doubt in Shaker communities.