From 2014-2023, the Center for the Study of Religion served as the institutional home for the American Religious Sounds Project (ARSP), a collaborative initiative with Michigan State University (MSU), co-directed by CSR Director Isaac Weiner and MSU Professor of Religious Studies Amy DeRogatis.
Supported by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the ARSP aimed to document and interpret the diversity of American religious life by attending to its varied sonic cultures. Faculty, staff, and student researchers created an extensive digital sonic archive, documenting the sounds of religious practice across a wide range of communities and spaces. They shared their research through a custom-built website, an online gallery, dynamic sound installations, and a posters exhibit produced in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Services.
The ARSP has concluded its active phase of research, but its resources continue to be available for research and teaching via the ARSP website. For more information, please contact the director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Isaac Weiner: weiner.141@osu.edu.