Suzanne Crawford O’Brien

Professor of Religion and Culture

Suzanne Crawford O'Brien

Phone: 253-535-8107

Email: suzanne.crawford@plu.edu

Office Location: Hauge Administration Building - 227-C

Curriculum Vitae: View my CV

  • Professional
  • Biography

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2003
  • M.A., Vanderbilt University, 1997
  • B.A., Willamette University, 1995

Areas of Emphasis or Expertise

  • Native American Religious Traditions
  • Religious Diversity in North America
  • Health, Healing, and Religious and Cultural Diversity
  • Religion and Ecology

Books

  • "Of Coyotes and Culverts: Salmon and the People of the Mid-Columbia River," Native Foodways: Indigenous North American Religious Traditions and Food (SUNY Press 2021) : View Book
  • "Bringing a Berry Back From the Land of the Dead: Coast Salish Huckleberry Cultivation and Food Sovereignty," Native Foodways: Indigenous North American Religious Traditions and Food (SUNY Press 2021) : View Book
  • Religion and Culture in Native America (Rowman and Littlefield 2020) : View Book
  • Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness Among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest (University of Nebraska Press 2014) : View Book
  • Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal (Praeger 2008) : View Book
  • Native American Religious Traditions (Pearson 2006) : View Book
  • American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia (3 Volume set) co-edited with Dennis Francis Kelley (ABC-CLIO 2005) : View Book

Accolades

  • 2014-2015 K.T. Tang Faculty Excellence Award for Research

Biography

Suzanne Crawford O’Brien’s area of specialization is Religion and Culture, with emphases in Native American religious traditions, and comparative studies of minority religious communities in North America, including religion and healthcare, gender and ethnicity, and religion and popular culture. Her research interests address questions of healing, place, and ecology, and how religious belief and practice can work to promote ecological and social justice in Ireland and in North America. Most recently, she published Religion and Culture in Native America (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020) an introductory textbook intended for undergraduate classrooms and general readers, written in collaboration with her mentor Dr. Inés Talamantez. Other publications include chapters in Native Foodways: Indigenous North American Religious Traditions and Foods (SUNY 2021), Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness Among Native Communities in Western Washington (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal (Praeger, 2008), Native American Religious Traditions (Prentice Hall and Laurence King, 2007), and the three-volume American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2005).

Publications in scholarly journals include “Talking Place: Ritual and Reciprocity at Holy Wells and Mass Stones in the Republic of Ireland,” (Journal of Ritual Studies); “Well, Water, Rock: Holy Wells, Mass Rocks, and Reconciling Identity in the Republic of Ireland,” (Journal of Religion and Material Culture); and “Gone to the Spirits: A Transgender Prophet on the Columbia Plateau,” (Journal of Theology and Sexuality).