Investigating the Journey and Impact of Secondhand Religious Artifacts
Thrifting Religion seeks to identify and study the prominent messages, symbols, and images contained within religious objects found in thrift stores, resale culture, and its related practices. The goal is to present the stories of religious identity captured by this investigation through both traditional publications and creative research outlets
Dr Campbell’s aim is to tease out what is communicated about local religious beliefs and the specific religious practices present in a given geographical area.
This research involves doing ethnographies in local thrift shops, cataloging common religious items found in a database, investigating the origins of both exemplary and unique objects, and showcasing representative items online via Instagram and research exhibitions.
Thrifting Religion connects to Dr Campbell’s broader research on the different ways media and religion intersect, shape one another, and are expressed within contemporary culture.
Dr Campbell has uncovered many distinctive and noteworthy religious devotion and home décor artifacts, including a pope bobblehead and a voodoo doll.
While Dr Campbell’s current Thrifting Religion collection is dominated by examples of Protestant and Catholic Christianity, she has also found examples of Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, New Age, and various other religions present within Texas.
This research project enables Dr Campbell to reflect on the social impact of religions within both private and public sectors of society.
