William Chavez

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

William Chavez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stetson University. He studies the doom and gloom of religious imagination. He specializes in legacy media (film, comics, television) and new digital media (video games, social media, and online fields of play), employing ethnographic fieldwork and discourse analysis in his research and pedagogy.

  • PhD, Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2022.
  • MA, Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018.
  • BA. Religion, University of Rochester, New York, 2013.
  • BS, Mathematics, University of Rochester, New York, 2013. 

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Biography

A scholar of American religion, folklore, and popular culture, William contributes to the collaborative Gaming+ Project, organized by Daigengna Duoer, Keita Moore, and Kaitlyn Ugoretz (UC Santa Barbara). William appears as a gamer/guest on the Folkwise podcast/Twitch stream, hosted by Dominick Tartaglia (Florida Folklife Program) and Daisy Ahlstone (Ohio State University). He serves as the co-chair of the Religion, Media, and Culture Unit at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. Most excitingly, he is co-developing an edited volume with Valeria Dani (Cornell University) on the material and ideological intersections between horror media and class.

More About William Chavez

Areas of Expertise

  • Religions of North America
  • Popular Culture and Media
  • Folklore and Vernacular Religion
  • Early Christianity

Course Sampling

  • 217A: Religious Approaches to Death
  • 100B: Introduction to Biblical Literature
  • 101B: Christianity in the Americas
  • 314B: Strange Tales of Latin(x) America and the Caribbean (Writing Enhanced)
  • 342B: History of Satan 221H: History of Early Christianity
  • 300(E)V-JS: Religion and Video Games (Writing Enhanced)
  • 317V: The Gospels
  • 323S: Religion and Disney: Imagineering Worlds and Myths 
  • 370: Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion (Writing Enhanced)

  • Christianity in the Americas
  • Global Catholicism
  • Horror and Comedy
  • Disney Studies
  • Religion and Video Games
  • Material Culture

  • "Disney Tarot Play." In Playing with Magic: Understanding Disney Games, eds. Jennessa Hester and Priscilla Hobbs. Austin: University of Texas Press (in press, 2025).
  • "Media Sensationalism: True Case Files along the Folklore-Popular Culture Continuum." In Reel Demonology: Ed and Lorraine Warren and The Conjuring Universe, ed. Todd K. Platts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (in press, 2025).
  • "Worldbuilding and Role-Playing Across Disney Production." In Why the Magic Matters: Discovering Disney as a Laboratory for Learning, eds. Alexis Franzese and Jill Peterfeso. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.
  • "Everything is Filth: A Cultural Retrospective on The Exorcist." Journal of Gods and Monsters 5 (1). Special Issue on The Exorcist, 50 Years Later, ed. w/ Joseph Laycock. 37-49.
  • "Editorial Introduction: The Exorcist Does 'Real' Well." Journal of Gods and Monsters 5 (1). Special Issue on The Exorcist, 50 Years Later, ed. w/ Joseph Laycock. 1-5.
  • "Guns, Thorns, and Zeal: Popular Depictions of a Kombative Christ." Religions 15: 11, 1368 (2024). Special Issue: Celluloid Jesus – Beyond the Text-Centric Paradigm. 1-24
  • "Transmedial Trumpism: Strongman Politics Via Popular Caricature," w/ Shyam K. Sriram. In Interrogating the Visual Culture of Trumpism, eds. Natalie Phillips and Grant Hamming, 109-122. New York: Routledge, 2024.
  • "Say His Name: Candyman (2021) as a Critique of Black Trauma Porn." In Culture Wars and Horror Movies: Social Fears and Ideology in Contemporary Cinema, eds. Noelia Gregorio-Fernndez and Carmen M. Mndez-Garca, 105-127. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2024.
  • "Lankester Merrin, Abraham Van Helsing, and the Traditions of Kosmic Kombat in Popular Christian Media." Supernatural Studies 9:1 (2023), 71-96. Special Issue: The Exorcist Studies on Possession, Influence, and Society. 
  • "Old Stories, New Victims: Possession of Men in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (1985) and Demon (2015)." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 9:1 (2023), 154-173.