The Social Construction of Female Fundamentalists Enclaves

Team Members/Contributors

Brenda E. Brasher University of Southern California Contact Me

About this dissertation fellowship

In The Social Construction of Female Fundamentalist Enclaves, I will draw upon the language and concepts of sociological and theological discourse to examine a fascinating development in contemporary American Protestantism: the emergence of all-female enclaves within new, rapidly growing, Christian neo-fundamentalist movements. Behind the veil of all-male leadership, and often without male leaders’ knowledge, these female-led enclaves are drawing women by the thousands, from professionals to homemakers, who come weekly and hear women leaders teach them how to live, love and labor as Godly women in today’s world. The heart of my dissertation will be a description of these enclaves from the viewpoint of the women within them, many of whom participate in no other aspect of the neo-fundamentalist agenda. Recording the experiences, roles and institutional maneuvering of women within two living, thriving evolutions of American Protestantism during their first generation of leadership is something that has seldom been done at the time it occurred. Thus, my work will function as a unique sound system through which voices which have rarely, if ever, been heard in public forum can be brought into the discussion of Protestantism and American culture.

Image Title Year Type Contributor(s) Other Info
  Godly Women: Fundamentalism and Female Power 1998 Dissertation Book Brenda E. Brasher
  Godly Women: Female Fundamentalists in a Postmodern Age 1995 Dissertation Brenda E. Brasher