Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds, PhD, is an associate professor of Africana Studies and Religious Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis and the associate director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. His research addresses the intersection between Black religion and the body, with a particular focus on agency, care and wellness. He is an award-winning teacher and a nationally recognized scholar on community-engaged research. Joseph’s research team was recently awarded a $5-million grant from the Mellon Foundation to explore “Black Humanities in the Midwest” by creating a series of collaborative, community-embedded research labs throughout Indiana. He has written “The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom” and scholarly articles that explore Black religion, radical pedagogy and community-engaged methodologies. His current research explores the afterlives of incarceration through an examination of Black men, racial trauma and creating communities of care.
Joseph is committed to increasing the desire and the capacity for creative thought and critical action, and as a result, he serves on the boards of Indiana Humanities, the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, and Horizons at St. Richard’s Episcopal School.
