Bio

I am a cultural and historical anthropologist who writes on Christianity.

My recent academic work has mainly centered around two book projects. My first book was published in 2013 with the title Mission Station Christianity: Norwegian Missionaries in Colonial Natal and Zululand, Southern Africa 1850-1890. My second project focuses on the Christian rituals, practices and arguments used by the so-called "mission feminists" in early-twentieth-century Norway. I examine how these (usually conservative) evangelical mission women gained such remarkable achievements for gender equality within Christian circles in the short term, and why their achievements seem to fizzle out in the long term. It has the provisional working title "Women and Words in Christianity."

In 2014 I joined the team of subject editors at Marginalia Review of Books. I commission reviews in the anthropology of religion, especially Christianity.

And I live in one of the USA's welcoming college towns - Athens, GA - with my husband Wayne Coppins (who works on the New Testament) and two very lively little girls. 
 

Education

2006 PhD Social Anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
2002 MSc Political Economy of Violence, Conflict and Development, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
2001 BA(Hons) International Development Studies, University of East Anglia

 

Contact

If you work on similar research topics, get in touch. I can be contacted on twitter @IngieHovland and via email at:
ingiehovland [at] gmail [dot] com