Dr. Keo Cavalcanti
Professor of Sociology

Office Location: Sheldon Hall 123
Office Hours: TBA
Phone: (540) 568-6213
Fax: (540) 568-6112
E-mail: cavalchb@jmu.edu

Recent Publications:
My book Gloryland: Christian Suburbia, Christian Nation (see below) was published November 2007 by Praeger Books.

I have contributed book chapters to two edited collections: The People’s History of Christianity (vol. 6, Augsburg/Fortress Press, 2007) and Globalization, Urbanization, and the State: Selected Studies on Contemporary Latin America (University Press of America, 1996). And my scholarly works have been published in academic journals since 1983. American journals that have published my research include the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Journal of American and Comparative Culture, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, the Journal of Church and State, the Review of Religious Research, Sociology of Religion, and Work and Occupations. Abroad I have published in the International Review of Modern Sociology, the International Review of Missions, and Dados.

Education:
B.Th., Theology, Seminário Teológico Batista, 1979
LL.B., Civil Law, Law School, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, 1980
M.Div., Social Work, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1983
M.A., Sociology, Vanderbilt University, 1986
Ph.D., Sociology, Vanderbilt University, 1990

I am interested in the study of social institutions. My research has included the areas of Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Education, and Sociology of Work. Recently I have been involved in the area of Immigration Studies as well. I have done work in the U.S. and in Latin America. In the area of religion I have studied conservative Christianity in America, and Protestant mission work in Latin America. In the areas of education and work my studies have focused on economic development in Brazil and in Nicaragua. My interest in Immigration Studies comes from the five-year survey I conducted with Dr. Debra Schleef on Latinos in Central Virginia.

I accepted the position of professor of Sociology and department head of Sociology and Anthropology at James Madison on July 1, 2004. Prior to that I served at the University of Richmond, where I started my professional career in 1993.

My service to the discipline has included research presentations at international and national sociological conferences, area studies (Latin America, and Brazil) conferences, and religious studies conferences. I have served on committees of the American Sociological Association and the Southern Sociological Society, and have reviewed research for several academic journals.

Teaching: American Catholicism, American Religion, Christianity: A Sociological Analysis, The Prophets of Dixie; Blue and Red America: Competing Visions of Society, Socialization and Society, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Religion, and Work and Society.

Recent Study: I am currently involved in the study of United Church of Christ congregations in the Shenandoah Valley. Some of the churches were founded in the 1700s and UCC work in the valley includes 31 congregations from Winchester to Blacksburg.