Sophie Bjork-James
Assistant Professor of the Practice in Anthropology | Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, UNITED STATES
Expert on the U.S.-based religious right and the white nationalist movement, particularly online communities.
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Biography
Sophie Bjork-James has engaged in long-term research on both the U.S.-based Religious Right and the white nationalist movement. She is working on a book manuscript which explores the importance of the family in the white evangelical tradition. Her work has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC Radio 4’s Today, and in the New York Times.
Areas of Expertise (9)
Conservative Christianity
Religion
White Nationalism
Reproductive Politics
Race and Racism
Evangelicalism
Hate Crimes
Feminism & Gender Studies
Racism
Accomplishments (2)
Jack Shand Research Award (professional)
2015-2017, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
Wenner-Gren Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Award (professional)
2010
Education (3)
City University of New York: Ph.D., Anthropology 2013
University of Toronto: M.Ed., Sociology and Equity Studies in Education 2005
Western Washington University: B.A., Race, Class, and Environmental Politics 2000
Links (7)
Selected Media Appearances (10)
The misleading controversy over an Olympic women’s boxing match, briefly explained
Vox online
2024-08-02
“Trans issues in particular challenge … biblical concepts of gender,” Sophie Bjork-James, a Vanderbilt University anthropologist who studies the religious right, previously told Vox. “Evangelicals tend to believe that men and women have very different qualities that are innate in us. I think there’s a huge interest in maintaining a gender binary because it really does provide a foundation for their theology and their everyday lives.”
"A cesspool for bigotry": Elon Musk's threats against Anti-Defamation League may backfire
Salon
2023-09-09
Musk's failure to address the spread of antisemitic messages is "incredibly dangerous" because antisemitic conspiracies often lead to more violence, pointed out Sophie Bjork-James, a professor at Vanderbilt University, who researches the white nationalist movement.
Anti-LGBTQ+ activism spiked during Pride Month, with California leading the way
Business Insider online
2023-07-15
It also correlates with a legislative push to roll back gains for the LGBTQ+ community, Sophie Bjork-James, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University with a focus on the religious right and white nationalism, told Insider.
Experts warn against canceling Pride campaigns after extremists threaten Target
ABC News online
2023-05-30
"I think this will embolden alt-right actors, who now are going to believe that with social media campaigns and targeted actions against retailers that they can proceed in limiting visibility of LGBTQ people," said Sophie Bjork-James, a professor at Vanderbilt University, who researches the white nationalist movement, in an interview.
Experts: Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric could galvanize extremists
AP News online
2022-06-14
Such may have been the case when 31 members of the neo-Nazi group Patriot Front were arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Saturday and charged with conspiracy to riot at a Pride event, said Sophie Bjork-James, an assistant professor in anthropology at Vanderbilt University who researches the white nationalist movement, racism and hate crimes in the U.S. The arrests came as a toxic brew of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has been on the rise in Idaho and elsewhere.
Americans' erratic relationship with religion will be tested again after abortion ruling, experts say
USA Today online
2022-05-29
“Abortion is framed as a black and white issue in evangelism in that it’s always bad, and I think what we’re going to see – especially if Roe is overturned – is that there’s a gray area that’s going to jump into the picture in ways that many pro-life people have never thought about,” said Sophie Bjork-James, a professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University.
Teachers who mention sexuality are ‘grooming’ kids, conservatives say
The Washington Post online
2022-04-05
Sophie Bjork-James, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University who studies evangelical politics and the white-nationalist movement, said the religious right has advanced similar lines of argument in the past. In the 1980s, for instance, when women were entering the workforce in large numbers and placing their children in day-care centers, she said, some Christian conservatives drove what became known as the “satanic panic” — the false alarm that day cares were sites of satanic ritual and sexual abuse.
QAnon’s ‘Save the Children’ morphs into popular slogan
AP News online
2020-10-28
Under the guise of benefiting children, many of the posts seek to lure people into the QAnon conspiracy theory circle and encourage support for Trump, said Sophie Bjork-James, an anthropology professor at Vanderbilt University who studies the religious right and QAnon.
Notre Dame Cathedral fire spurs Islamophobic conspiracy theories on social media
NBC News online
2019-04-16
As firefighters worked to contain the fire that ravaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday, Twitter and YouTube struggled to take down conspiracy theories being pushed by both anonymous accounts and verified white nationalists who spread Islamophobic theories about the disaster.
Far-Right Internet Groups Listen for Trump’s Approval, and Often Hear It
The New York Times online
2018-11-04
On Wednesday, minutes after President Trump posted an incendiary campaign ad falsely accusing Democrats of flooding the country with murderous illegal immigrants, virulent racists on an online message board erupted in celebration.
Selected Event Appearances (5)
The Alt-Right and the Legacy of Racism in the US
Outside the Box Series Nashville Public Library
Gender and nation in US Evangelicalism
Religious Studies Colloquium Middle Tennessee State University
Understanding the Alt-Right
Government Accountability Office Chicago
The Alt-Right in US History
The Poynter Smart Conference Vanderbilt, Poynter Institute
Where do we go from here? Racism, Populism, Fascism and the Future of the Hard Right
Center for Place, Culture, and Politics City University of New York
Selected Articles (3)
Training the Porous Body: Evangelicals and the Ex‐Gay Movement
American AnthropologistSophie Bjork‐James
2018 In this article, I examine how US evangelical opposition to LGBT rights stems from a unique understanding of sexuality and the person. As my respondents explained to me in over sixteen months of field research, evangelical rejection of LGBT individuals and practices is rooted not simply in prejudice but also in a culturally specific notion of personhood that requires Christian bodies to orient themselves to the divine.
When White Nationalism Became Popular
Anthropology NewsSophie Bjork‐James, Jeff Maskovsky
2017 On November 12th, 2016 TheDailyStormer. com, a neo-Nazi website with a monthly viewership of over two million lead with the headline,“The Swastika Reigns in Germany! Trump reigns in America!” After the election a popular thread on the white nationalist website Stormfront. org, with over 300,000 members, carried a discussion thread about Trump’s victory lled with congratulatory posts and happy-face emojis clinking beer mugs.“The Don, is president!” one person wrote.
Feminist Ethnography in Cyberspace: Imagining Families in the Cloud
Sex RolesSophie Bjork-James
2015 This article explores the relevance of the ethnographic study of the Internet for feminist scholars interested in families. The online world is an emerging field site for feminist scholars investigating spousal, parental, and kin relations, one that opens up new arenas of study but also requires novel methodological approaches. The proliferation of cyber-communities and computer-mediated communication has radically altered how we live, communicate, and gather, share, and produce knowledge.
