Dr Maria Nita

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Educational Academy in the UK, having originally trained as a philologist in Romania. I came to live in the UK in 2000, where I gained an MA in Contemporary Religion (Distinction) and a PhD in Religious Studies. I am presently researching and writing on subjects intersecting cultural theory and the anthropology of religion, as I continue to be fascinated by language and folklore, as well as biosemiotic approaches to understanding culture. Before starting my permanent employment at The Open University, in 2021, I held different short- and long-term contracts at several universities in the UK, among which the University of Birmingham, the University of South Wales, Oxford Brookes University and Bath Spa University. My present research is focused on climate activism and contemporary spirituality, Green Christian practices, public rituals, as well as art and performance festivals more broadly. 

2016   Praying and Campaigning with Environmental Christians: Green Religion and the Climate Movement. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-60035-6 

Chapters in books: 

2020. “‘Inside Story’ Participatory Storytelling and Imagination in Eco-pedagogical Contexts”, in Storytelling for Sustainability in Higher Education: An Educator’s Handbook, edited by Petra Molthan-Hill, P., Heather Luna, Tony Wall, T., Helen Puntha and Denise Baden. Oxon & New York: Routledge, 154-167. 

2017. An Altar inside a Circle: A Relational Model for Investigating Green Christians’ Experiments with Sacred Space’, in Material Religion: The Stuff of the Sacred, edited by Timothy Hutchings and Jo McKenzie, London: Routledge, 133-151. 

2014. ‘Christian and Muslim Climate Activists Fasting and Praying for the Planet’, in How the World’s Religions are Responding to Climate Change, edited by Robin Globus-Veldman, Andrew Szasz and Rondolph Haluza-DeLay, New York: Routledge, 229-243. 

Peer reviewed articles:   

2020. 'Counterculture, Local Authorities and British Christianity at the Windsor and Watchfield Free Festivals (1972–5)', Twentieth Century British History. 31 (1): 51 -78, doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwy053.  (Maria Nita and Sharif Gemie). 

2019. ‘Sky vs. Earthly Empowerment: From Angels and Superheroes to Humans and Community in the Marvel Universe and Green Christian Cosmology’, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. 31 (3): 236-249. doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2018-0001. 

2019. ‘Spirituality in Health Studies: Competing Spiritualities and the Elevated Status of Mindfulness’, Religion and Health. DOI: 10.1007/s10943-019-00773-2. First published online, printed version forthcoming [online] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-019-00773-2 

2018. ‘Christian Discourses and Cultural Change: The Greenbelt Art and Performance Festival as an Alternative Community for Green and Liberal Christians’, Implicit Religion. 21 (1): 44-69. DOI.org.10.1558/imre.37354. 

Online articles, blogs and vlogs:   

2021. ‘Divination as Storytelling: Dealing (with) Death and Extinction’, Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspective, Open University [online] http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/religious-studies/?p=1202

2020. ‘High religiosity and “resisting” Covid 19 governmental advice in Romania’, Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspective, Open University [online] http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/religious-studies/?p=1044 

2019. 'Where are Extinction Rebellion's Cultural Roots?', Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspective, Open University [online] http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/religious-studies/?p=980  

2018. ‘Humour, Concealment and Death Mindfulness in Romanian Funerals’, Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspective, Open University [online] http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/religious-studies/?p=676  

2018. ‘Balneoterapia in Europa [Hydrotherapy in Europe]’, Techirghiol, IV (12) (October 2018) [online] https://sbtghiol.ro/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/techirghiol12-site.pdf  

2017. ‘Summer of Love as a Turning Point in Festival Culture’, The Summer of Love Open University Series, Open University [online] http://bit.ly/MariaNitaSummerofLoveVlog  

2012. ‘Creation Spirituality’, Encyclopaedia of The Bible and its Reception, edited by Bernard McGinn. Boston and Berlin: Walter de Gruyter [online] https://www.degruyter.com/view/EBR/MainLemma_40576 

2011. ‘Occupy Religion’, in Open Learn, Open University [online] https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/religious-studies/religion-occupied   

Book reviews: 

2019. ‘Sustainability and the Humanities’, edited by Walter Leal Filho and Adriana Consorte McCrea. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. Green Letters. DOI: 10.1080/14688417.2019.1639972.  

2019. ‘Minority Religions in Europe and the Middle East: Mapping and Monitoring’, edited by George D. Chryssides. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019. (forthcoming) Fieldwork in Religion. 

2017. ‘Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion Series’, edited by Pamela J. Steward and Andrew Strathern in Fieldwork in Religion, 12 (1): 133 -134.    

2015. ‘The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements’, edited by George D. Chryssides, and Benjamin E. Zeller in Fieldwork in Religion, 9 (1): 103-105.   

2015. ‘The Ashgate Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements’, edited by Eileen Barker in Fieldwork in Religion, 9 (2): 224-228.