In this panel, Profs. Knepper (Drake University), You (Minzu University of China), and Moyo (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) will discuss three photo-narrative projects about lived religion, all student-rooted, two involving international collaborations.

These projects began with A Spectrum of Faith, a student-written photo-narrative about lived religion in Des Moines, which was published in 2017 by the Drake University Press. Using Spectrum as a model, Profs. You and Knepper entered into a collaborative venture on lived religion in Beijing, with MUC students undertaking the research and writing, and Drake University professors, staff, and students engaging in translation, photography, layout & design, and editing. The fruits of their labor, Religions of Beijing, was published in 2020 by Bloomsbury. Using this project as a model, Profs. Moyo and Knepper have just begun a collaborative photo-narrative on religion in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, one for which UKZN students will do the research and writing, and Drake students will facilitate developmental editing during a Jan2023 travel seminar.