J. Brent Crosson

J. Brent Crosson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, with cross-appointments in Anthropology and affiliations with Latin American Studies and African and African Diaspora Studies. He teaches courses including Non-Human Agency, Religion and the Environment, and Science/Magic/Religion across multiple departments.

Dr. Crosson earned his Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz and has established himself as a socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in the intersections of religion, science, and politics in the Caribbean. His research examines how practices labeled as 'obeah' challenge and transform Western categories of religion, science, and law, particularly in Trinidad where he has conducted long-term ethnographic research.

Crosson's interdisciplinary research spans Africana Religions, Religion and Science, Caribbean Studies, African and South Asian Diasporas, Anthropology of Race, Science and Technology Studies, Energy, and Colonial Regulation of Religion. His work reveals how spiritual practices reframed as 'science' by practitioners unsettle established Western categories and reveal new perspectives on power, justice, and knowledge production in postcolonial contexts.

His publications demonstrate consistent focus on Trinidad as a critical site for understanding the intersections of religion, race, and energy politics, with particular attention to obeah practices, petroleum extraction, and spiritual work as forms of knowledge production that challenge Western epistemological boundaries.

• 2021 Clifford Geertz Prize from the Society for the Anthropology of Religion
• Shortlisted for the Albert J. Raboteau Prize for best book in Africana religions
• Question of the Social Sciences award from Small Axe journal
• Award-winning ethnographic poetry published in American Religion and Anthropology and Humanism

Crosson's research bridges religious studies, anthropology, and science and technology studies, developing innovative approaches like 'altered solidarities' that challenge conventional understandings of racial divisions in the Caribbean. His current project, 'The Other Anthropocene,' examines climate change, religion, migration, and energy conceptions, with particular focus on Trinidad as perhaps the world's oldest petro-state and its implications for understanding the climate crisis through Caribbean perspectives.