Geneva Blackmer
Geneva Blackmer is a recipient of the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP Homerton College Studentship, working in the focus area of Structured Inter-Religious Encounter and Anti-Discrimination Education. Her doctoral project, Who Gets to Speak? Representation, Coloniality, and Disruptive Praxis in Interfaith Engagement, analyses the Faith and Belief Forum's interfaith storytelling model (ISM) as an alternative to representative models of interreligious dialogue (IRD). This project reflects an expansion of her professional experience in grassroots interreligious and ecumenical collaboration, working with numerous interfaith organizations across North America and engaging in international cooperation.
Blackmer holds a Master of Ecumenical Studies from the University of Bonn and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from Athens State University. During her time at Bonn, she was a Research Assistant within the Protestant and Catholic Theological Faculties, at the Department of Intercultural Theology and the Seminar for Religious Pedagogy. She held subsequent Research Assistantships and Visiting Scholar appointments at the Delaware Historical Society (Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage), Boston University School of Theology, and Calvin Theological Seminary. Her published work spans the disciplines of digital religion, interreligious education, and church history.
2026 publications:
“Beyond the Veil: Reclaiming the Legacy of Peter Spencer and the African Union Methodist Protestant (A.U.M.P.) Church.” Histories 6, no. 4 (2026): 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories6040062
(Co-author: Abdul Basit Zafar) “Sacred Journeys in Digital Islam: Ageing, Pilgrimage, and the Ethics of the Digital Divide.” Religions 17, no. 7 (2026): 836. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17070836
“Meeting People Where They Are: Eugene Callender’s CRC Ministry in Harlem and the ‘Already, but Not Yet’ Kingdom of Christ.” Religions 17, no. 7 (2026). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17070789
(Co-author: Yitnaa Athanasius Akila) “Indigenous Wisdom, Indian Eco-Feminist Theology, and the World Council of Churches — Confronting Violence Against Women and Shaping the Future of Ecumenism.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 61, no. 1 (Winter 2026). https://doi.org/10.1353/ecu.2026.a988779
(Co-author: Abdul Basit Zafar) “A Comparative Theological Approach to Mitigating Cultural Racism in Religious Education: Reforming Confessional RE through Anti-racist and Decolonial Pedagogy.” Journal of Religious Education (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-026-00290-x
2026 conference presentations:
“Who Gets to Speak? Representation, Coloniality and Disruptive Praxis in (Inter)Religious Education” at the RExChange 2026, hosted by Culham St Gabriel's, 9 October 2026.
(Co-presenter: Dr. Akindolie Akinwumi) “Interfaith and Ecumenical Responses to Violence in Northern Nigeria: Toward Integrated Models of Prevention.” Cambridge Theological Federation Inaugural Conference — Ecumenism and Interfaith in an Age of Global Crisis: Challenge and Hope, Woolf Institute, University of Cambridge, 24 September 2026.
(Co-presenter: Juan Pablo Angarita Bernal) “From Access to Ownership: A Data Colonialism Analysis of Digital Library Exhibition Practices in Bogotá, Colombia (2021–2023).” Power and Possession: 2026 AHRC International Conference, The Queen's College, University of Oxford, 14–16 September 2026.
(Co-presenter: Valeria Vergani) “Unsettling Interfaith Empire: Colonial Representation, Religious Pluralism, and the Study of Religion.” Digging Wells While Houses Burn: Academic Responsibility and the Study of Religion, University of Cambridge, 23–24 April 2026.
“Belonging and Sanctuary in the Digital Mosque: Relational Space and Community for LGBTQ+ Muslims.” Queer Theologies Beyond Binaries: Reimagining Islamic Possibilities, University of Bonn, 23–24 March 2026.
(Co-presenter: Juan Pablo Angarita Bernal) “From Access to Agency: A Capabilities Analysis of Digital Library Exhibition Practices in Bogotá, Colombia.” Digital Marginality and Plural Subjectivities, University of Edinburgh, 2–4 February 2026.
