This talk will use Albanese's forthcoming book Kaleidoscope to reflect retrospectively on her work as a historian of American religion. Charged in graduate school with the question "How do you dream America?" Albanese sketches out the golden futures and the nightmares that are intrinsic to the challenge. Especially, she focuses on the collision between on-the-ground pluralism and an ideology of white supremacy that has always thrived concurrently.
Catherine L. Albanese is J. F. Rowny Distinguished Professor Emerita in Comparative Religions in the Department of Religious Studies at UCSB. A past president of the American Academy of Religion, she is the author of numerous books, including A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion (2007) and The Delight Makers: Anglo-American Metaphysical Religion and the Pursuit of Happiness (2023). Her forthcoming book is the title of the current lecture.
This event is presented by the Walter H. Capps Center and the Department of Religious Studies.
February 21, 2026
5:00 PM
McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020)
UC Santa Barbara
