Daniel Cueto-Villalobos

Hello! I'm coming up from the dissertation bunker to say that if you will be at SSSR I'll be putting together some fun Bluesky content with @dacuetovilla.bsky.social for the @asareligion.bsky.social account. COME TELL US WHAT YOU'RE WORKING ON. We'd love to amplify some voices.

Today a street vendor I’ve seen every day for two years was abducted from our neighborhood by masked thugs too cowardly to identify themselves. Her crime? Selling Tamales. What are you doing to stand up to the Gestapo?

Share your Story: Research on Immigrant Family Businesses Did you grow up working in your family's motel, gas station, store, or other business? This study explores how those early experiences shape the lives and careers of children of Gujarati immigrant business owners. Who can participate? • Adults who identify as children of Gujarati immigrant business owners What's involved? • A 1-2 hour confidential intervew over Zoom • Receive a $10 Amazon gift card Why join? • Your story matters, help highlight the unique experiences of our South Asian community Interested? Have questions? Contact: Kajal Patel, Ph.D. Candidate Email: klucpatel@gmail.com

Please spread the word! 📢

My PhD student Kajal Patel is recruiting interviewees for her dissertation research on the children of Gujarati immigrant families.

If you grew up helping in your family’s business, please share your stories with Kajal: 📧 klucpatel@gmail.com

The 2024 U.S. presidential election & the politics of race: responding to a moment of crisis with analysis, insight & action This themed issue is on the 2024 election and the politics of race. And it is also necessarily about the racial dynamics unfolding under the Trump administration at present. The questions addressed...

The full issue is finally out, thanks to the incomparable Enid Logan. Here is her great introduction!

White Flank: Organizing White People for Racial Justice Organizing White People for Racial Justice

Fascism only works if it has a social base. I wrote a book about efforts across the country to organize predominantly white communities away from this base. How? By showing them their shared stake in fighting for racial and economic justice. The book is out Jan 2026. @surj.org

Our special issue on "Religion, Activism, & Community Action" is here!

Articles on religious leaders supporting immigrants, clergy paying for abortions, multifaith organizing, the Catholic Worker, queer religious activism, pro-Palestinian rabbis, a new TV series on religion & more! therevealer.org

“One of the chants that has become ubiquitous at these protests at Broadview is, ‘Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job,’” said Black, who pastors at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. “Everybody chants that.” ⚓️

This is who @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social is. Brilliant. Fearless. I fucking hate typing this shit out: Free Eman.

Amplify amplify amplify please.

Seeing many posts about how ICE isn't trained. That's not really the problem. The problem is what they were sent to do, not whether they're qualified to do it.

“There Wasn’t A Playbook For This”: Local Congregations and the Crises of 2020 Abstract. Using 18 months of immersive ethnographic fieldwork in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, this paper highlights how religious congregations made se

Read here: academic.oup.com/socrel/advan...

The unique pressures of 2020 forced leaders to innovate + adapt on the fly. As one leader put it, "there wasn't a playbook for this." Some adapted established routines while others rethought taken-for-granted approaches to spiritual care, fellowship, outreach + church growth.

Organizational resources, location, faith tradition, and partisanship (both among local electeds + members) shaped the distinct ways faith communities experienced and made sense of the unfolding crises + climate of polarization.

@proflauragil.bsky.social, @pennye.bsky.social + I spent 18 months observing MN churches as they rebounded from COVID + the 2020 racial justice protests. We identify 3 approaches leaders used to shore up member loyalty + comply with external directives: Introspection, Avoidance + Mobilization.

“There Wasn’t A Playbook For This”: Local Congregations and the Crises of 2020 Abstract. Using 18 months of immersive ethnographic fieldwork in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, this paper highlights how religious congregations made se

New publication! 🚨 How do church leaders foster commitment + preserve organizational vitality in the face of crisis?

"There Wasn't A Playbook For This: Local Congregations and the Crises of 2020," out today in Sociology of Religion, offers insight from MN academic.oup.com/socrel/advan...

What happens when the church of the future gets old? (RNS) — In the mid-1970s, a group of high schoolers and their former youth pastor started a church in a movie theater and named it Willow Creek. American religion hasn’t been the same since. The…

Willow Creek became a new model of American religion, which replaced stained glass, hymns and robed clergy with pastors in jeans backed by bands, video screens and smoke machines.
religionnews.com/2025/10/08/w...

Making racial demands: tracing the struggle over public safety in Minneapolis Abstract. In May 2020, the world erupted in protest after officers with the Minneapolis Police Department murdered George Floyd. In response, abolitionist

New in Social Problems: @michellesphelps.bsky.social & @dacuetovilla.bsky.social trace how Minneapolis activists debated public safety after George Floyd, showing how “racial demands” shape policy fights. doi.org/10.1093/socp...

Johns Hopkins political scientist Hahrie Han receives MacArthur genius grant Han, who studies political organizing and collective action and who has led the university's SNF Agora Institute since 2019, among 22 individuals to receive coveted MacArthur Foundation recognition

Totally, completely flabbergasted. #MacFellow

hub.jhu.edu/2025/10/08/h...

Tweet from the VP: Joy Reid has had such a good life in this country. It's been overwhelmingly kind and gracious to her. She is far wealthier than most. Yet she oozes with contempt. My honest, non-trolling advice to Joy Reid is that you'd be a much happier person if you showed a little gratitude

Weaponized gratitude is a key tool in the abuser's toolkit. The goal is to convince the victim that they owe the abuser so much, they should feel guilty for wanting to complain.

So grateful for the powerful way @adambonica.bsky.social is using his voice right now.

You should read his latest piece.

What if NIH had been 40% smaller? Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

What if NIH had been 40% smaller?

"We analyze 27 years of NIH extramural awards & their review scores to identify the bottom 40% of grants that would have been eliminated from 1980 to 2007... We then identify new molecular entity drugs, approved in the 21st century, that are linked to these grants"

AI and the End of the World Peter Thiel's Exegesis, Techno-Eschatology, and the Recasting of the Apocalypse

Posting today @ 10:30am Eastern

Let’s talk about that Peter Thiel article in the WSJ…

My argument: not everybody on the right is personally religious, but the right inspires religious thinking in its people.

In contrast, plenty of people on the left ARE religious, but the Democratic party operates according to a secular logic that has difficulty inspiring devotion among anyone.

The Market’s Judgment on OnlyFans Has Nothing to Do With Money Any other company with these eye-popping revenue numbers would spark a bidding war, Hannah Wohl writes in a guest commentary.

My latest op-ed, "The Market’s Judgment on OnlyFans Has Nothing to Do With Money," was just published in @barronsonline. I argue that the stigmatization of porn and other "sin stocks" has led investors to undervalue economically profitable assets. www.barrons.com/articles/onl...

🚨 We’re HIRING! 🚨
The Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University (SUNY) is seeking two tenure-track Assistant Professors in Global Inequality & Justice (start Fall 2026).

Come join a vibrant, growing department at New York’s top public university!
📍 Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/172669

new pub alert! 🚨

This is a great example of the need for us to collectively develop critical water media analysis:
a) Why was this segment produced
b) why now
c) who came up with the idea
d) who is the “bad guy” in this take
e) who does that make the “good guy” (extra points if the answer is same as c)

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Reconstructing Critical Social Theory
University of California, Santa Cruz
April 23-24, 2026
SUBMISSION:
Please submit all papers and panels to: criticalsociologyworkshop@gmail.com
DEADLINE: Oct 15, 2025
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Cover of Judith Weisenfeld, *Black Religion in the Madhouse: Race and Psychiatry in Slavery's Wake.* 30% discount from NYU Press with the code NYUAU30.

Today is the official publication day of *Black Religion in the Madhouse: Race and Psychiatry in Slavery's Wake*! Much gratitude to family, friends, students, and colleagues who engaged the project, and to librarians and foundations for support in the research process.

Just published with @jacquifrost.bsky.social and Mahala Miller

Head of Caritas in Jerusalem reports worsening situation in Gaza, West Bank (RNS) — Anton Asfar, secretary general of Caritas Jerusalem, criticized the Israeli-run and US-backed humanitarian foundation in Gaza, saying, 'This is not aid.'

Pope Francis used to call Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic parish daily, but Israeli strikes have cut their communication. "There is no secure place," said Anton Asfar of the Catholic charity network Caritas Jerusalem. “Even their food is depleting over there.”
religionnews.com/2025/06/20/h...