Derry, Ken
LecturerHistory of Religions
Contact Information
Email:
Phone:
905-569-4550
Office Hours:
Tuesdays 2:30-4pm (UTM Library); Thursdays 12-1:30pm (NE152)
Rm. NE 152
3359 Mississauga Road N.
Mississauga, Ontario
L5L 1C6
3359 Mississauga Road N.
Mississauga, Ontario
L5L 1C6
As an undergraduate student Ken Derry wandered a few different paths. He spent two years immersed in biophysics, and then turned to English and Japanese literature before finally discovering his true calling: the study of religion. He completed his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. all at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Derry’s academic focus is on the ways in which modern cultural products relate to more “traditional” religious beliefs and practices. What might the Bible tell us about Iron Man, for example – and vice versa? He has examined a range of topics including Christian symbolism, ghosts, Hong Kong film, superheroes, and Disney stories, and has drawn on research in such areas as colonialism, gender, hermeneutics, history, myth, narrative, politics, and ritual studies. Dr. Derry’s Ph.D. thesis examines issues of religion and violence in modern Canadian Native writings, and is the first full Religion and Literature monograph to consider the works of North American Indigenous authors. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
Areas of specialization: Comparative Religion, Indigenous Religions, Method and Theory, Religion and Literature/Film, Religion and Violence
Teaching
Ken Derry has been teaching courses at UofT since 1996, when he was still a graduate student. His approach emphasizes the importance of student experience, creativity, and critical engagement. To this end he has assigned an essay topic based on visiting a local religious site; conducted a class field trip to the Remembrance Day service in Streetsville; trained students to create, film, and edit interviews; and brought guest speakers to UTM such as Lee Demarbre, director of Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.
This interest in experiential learning was first sparked by participation in the UofT undergraduate student exchange program at Kwansei Gakuin University. Dr. Derry’s year in Japan convinced him of the incredible, transformative power of such programs, and since 2000 he has been involved in administering, developing, and promoting study abroad opportunities at UofT. In 2012, he had the great privilege to teach a course on religion as part of the university’s Summer Abroad Program in Hong Kong.
Current courses: RLG101H, RLG312H, RLG332H, RLG333H
Other
Dr. Derry’s academic work has been supplemented and enhanced by critical encounters outside of the university context. He helped lead a summer camp on Lake Scugog for homeless men from Regent Park; passed on life skills to hearing impaired children near Christie Pits; taught English to students in Japan; and worked asa science and math instructor at an alternative elementary school in downtown Toronto. In recognition of his service and teaching at UTM, in 2011 and 2012 Dr. Derry received the Dean’s Excellence Award and the Small Groups Award. He also received a 2009 University of Toronto "Stepping Up" award for enhancing the student experience, and the 2008 Arts & Science Student Union Urmila (Uma) Sarkar Award for Outstanding Service.
Publications
- “Believing is Seeing: Teaching Religion and Violence in Film,” in Teaching Religion and Violence (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 185-217.
- “Indigenous Traditions,” in World Religions: Western Traditions, third edition (Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2011), 322-85.
- “Of the 49th and Other Parallels: Thomas King’s Fluid Boundaries,” in ‘Survivance’ Beyond Canons: Mapping Canadian First Nations Literatures (Chennai: Emerald, 2007), 43-55.
- “Religion and (Mimetic) Violence in Canadian Native Literature,” Literature and Theology 16.2 (2002): 201-19.
- With Tony Michael, “On the Pedagogical Benefits of Using John Woo’s The Killer as a Model of René Girard’s Theory on Religion and Violence,” The Journal of Religion and Film 5.1 (2001) http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/girard.htm.
Other
Education:
B.A., M.A., and Ph.D., University of Toronto