We regularly spotlight members who are making waves in their departments, institutions, communities, or within AAR. If you would like to submit a member to be interviewed, please email communications@aarweb.org with the member’s name and a brief message on why they are a good candidate. Read more of our Member Spotlight interviews.
About Brett
Brett Krutzsch is the associate director of the Center for Religion and Media at NYU and editor of its award-winning online magazine about religion and society, The Revealer. He is the author of the book Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics from Oxford University Press, a 2020 Lambda Literary Award finalist for best LGBTQ nonfiction book of the year. He is the co-editor of the book Blessings Beyond the Binary: Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family from Rutgers University Press. A recipient of the Virginia Ramey Mollenkott LGBTQ Religious History Award, his writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, the Advocate, and the New York Times. He has been an AAR member since 2011.
What is your area of expertise or field of study?
I am a scholar of religion, sexuality, and LGBTQ politics in the United States. Much of my work explores issues of religion, sexuality, and gender in mass media. Additionally, both as a scholar and as editor of The Revealer, I am interested in how academics can share their expertise with a broad, public audience.
Why did you get involved with AAR, and how is your work aligned?
After my first year as a Ph.D. student, I participated in a week-long summer institute for queer scholars of religion. When the fall semester began, I found myself wanting to reconnect with those people and registered for my first AAR conference since I knew many of them would be in attendance. I was delighted to discover that the AAR hosts a large number of sessions with papers on sexuality and gender. Having a growing community of scholars who can reconnect every year is a gift.
What is your favorite AAR member benefit, and how has it helped your career?
The Annual Meeting. I look forward to it every year and enjoy the process of reading the online Program Book each November and deciding which sessions I will attend. Every year, I find sessions that are of interest to me as a scholar of religion and sexuality and as editor of The Revealer, scoping out exciting things other scholars from a variety of subfields are doing that could be of interest to a broad, public audience.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to a first-time Annual Meeting attendee?
No one is judging you for how you spend your time or keeping track of how many sessions you attend. The days are long. You can only do so much and you need time to rest and to connect with colleagues. I schedule time to meet with people over lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea/coffee. Those times, those conversations, and those people mean a great deal to me and can be as intellectually, professionally, and personally valuable as the sessions I attend.
What book is on your nightstand that you’re reading or intend to read in the future?
The Wedding People by Alison Espach, a humorous novel about an academic whose mental health has spiraled and who is rethinking her life choices. Relatable? You decide! (I also recently finished The God of the Woods, a mystery by Temple University professor Liz Moore, and greatly enjoyed it.)
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love living in New York City, so I regularly see Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, go to art galleries, eat at bakeries, try new restaurants, and stroll through the city’s many neighborhoods. My husband and I also love to travel overseas and enjoy planning our future trips abroad.
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