Landscape
Landscape
An exploration of the changing religious landscape through a close study of Greater Boston, landmark religious centers, and select mapping projects across the United States
World Religions in Greater Boston
From the beginning, Boston has been at the heart of the work of the Pluralism Project. In 1990, some 25 students joined Diana Eck for a course at Harvard University on “World Religions in New England.” By then, the increasing cultural diversity of the U.S. resulting from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 had become noteworthy, but the religious dimension of that diversity often went unexamined. Each week, the class would visit religious communities in the Boston area and then meet to discuss what had been learned. From Sri Lakshmi Temple, located close to the starting point of the Boston Marathon, to New England’s first mosque, established in the shadows of the cranes of Quincy’s shipyards, we began to discover and document a religious landscape being transformed before our eyes. Out of this early research, the Pluralism Project was born; soon thereafter, the first edition of World Religions in Boston: A Guide to Communities and Resources was released.
A Changing Religious Landscape
The religious landscape of America is changing. In the past fifty years, new immigrants have arrived from all over the world seeking political freedom and economic prosperity. They have come with their cultural and religious traditions, their Qur’ans and Bhagavad Gitas, their rituals, prayers, and forms of meditation, their songs, dances, and arts. They have put down roots in American soil and created community centers and sacred spaces.
Select Mapping and Place-Based Projects
Mapping of the religious landscape now takes place across the U.S.—and with new lenses and innovative approaches. This list of mapping and place-based projects includes a selection of projects of note. We have also included a list of prior mapping projects, which may serve as models for new work. Both lists feature many former Pluralism Project affiliates and colleagues.
Queer Religion Boston: Mapping LGBTQ+ Religious Histories in the Greater Boston Area is an ongoing place-based historical research project that aims to map and chronicle the history of LGBTQ+ and religion in the region.
Texas Storyscapes is a digital community archive and oral history initiative that documents and preserves the stories of the many peoples and communities across Texas. We work to catalyze the power of stories to transform-- to amplify marginalized or historically excluded voices, empower Texans to tell their stories on their own terms, and democratize the historical record. We tell the story of multicultural, multireligious Texas through the voices and memories of its people.
List of Mapping Projects:
Digitizing Rochester's Religions
Diversity and Civic Life: Religions Texas
Hofstra Religious Mapping Project
Mapping Religious Diversity in Mississippi
Religious Diversity in Minnesota Initiative
ReligYinz: Mapping Religious Pittsburgh
Santa Clara University/Living Religion Collaborative/Mapping Religion
USC/Center for Religion and Civic Culture
Please contact us at staff@pluralism.org to suggest additions.
Each of these long-standing mapping projects also made important contributions to the field:
Land Acknowledgment
Harvard University is located on the traditional and ancestral land of the Massachusett, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. We pay respect to the people of the Massachusett Tribe, past, present, and future, and honor the land itself which remains sacred.