Jacob Barrett (he/him) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Originally from Colorado Springs, he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Nebraska Wesleyan University (2020) and an M.A. in Religion in Culture from the University of Alabama (2022). His dissertation, “Intimately Governed: Sex, Religion, and the First Amendment,” employs queer theory to examine how religious freedom functions as a mechanism of governance in American politics, analyzing intersections of religion, sexuality, and citizenship.
Jacob has been deeply involved in AAR leadership since 2021. He currently serves on the Graduate Student Committee, where he spearheaded the Open Letter Series addressing graduate student challenges. He also serves on the Teaching Religion Unit Steering Committee and as Marketing and Publicity Director for AAR-Southeast.
At UNC, Jacob has taught extensively in Religious Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. His scholarship includes the article “Allowing Belief: Performativity, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the Governance of Belief Claims” in Implicit Religion (2022) and two forthcoming chapters in NAASR working papers volumes. Jacob also serves as a New Books Network host and previously worked for the North American Association for the Study of Religion.
