Emily McKendry-Smith, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology & IRB Faculty Fellow
School of Social Sciences College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

678-839-5404
emckendr@wesztgMHu1pkifFIuphESM1R9yiezGnrFWK36ZW2FJQvafma5Khez1Stga.edu

Pafford Social Science Building - Room 219
Office Hours
Student meeting hours, Fall 2024: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1-2 PM, Tuesdays 5-6 PM
I am also available at other times and for online meetings. Email me and we can schedule an appointment.

Research participants can reach me by email or at 678-905-0478

Download curriculum vitae for Emily McKendry-Smith, Ph.D. in PDF
Emily McKendry-Smith, Ph.D.

Emily McKendry-Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of West Georgia. She received her PhD from the University of North Carolina. Dr. McKendry-Smith teaches courses in social theory, research methods, religion, family, and social movements. Her research centers on interconnections between religion and family, the ways individuals use religion to define their identities, and the meanings they attach to place. She has made multiple grant-funded research trips to the Chitwan district in Nepal, where she worked with the Institute for Social and Environmental Research to study a local new religious movement.

Her current research focuses on the use of solar power by religious congregations in the United States.

Dr. McKendry-Smith's interest areas within sociology include religion, family, sociology of culture, social theory, and qualitative and mixed research methods.

  • B.A., Anthropology/Sociology and Political Science, Knox College, 2005
  • M.A., Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007
  • Ph.D., Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013

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Fall 2020 Sections

McKendry-Smith, Emily. 2022. “Public Household, Private Congregation: The Brahma Kumaris as a ‘Public Private’ Space for Nepali Women.” Nova Religio 25(3): 32-56. [View Publication External Resource]

McKendry-Smith, Emily and Anne Kristen Hunter. 2022. “Characterizing Dimensions of Social Research.” Ch. 3 in Social Research Methods: Sociology in Action, edited by Kristin Kenneavy, Catherine Eve Harnois, Maxine P. Atkinson, and Kathleen Odell Korgen

McKendry-Smith, Emily. 2018. “‘New Congregationalism’ in Nepal: The Brahma Kumaris and the Rationalization of Hindu Religious Practice.” Pp. 305-319 in Religion im Kontext | Religion in Context: Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium, edited by Ann

McKendry-Smith, Emily. 2017. “‘Enjoy the Heat of the Log and Heed the Advice of the Elders’: Religious, Educational, and Neighborhood Determinants of Parental Influence on Spousal Choice in Nepal.” Pp. 1-26 in Contemporary Perspectives in Family Re [View Publication External Resource]

McKendry-Smith, Emily. 2016. “‘Baba Has Come to Civilize Us’: Developmental Idealism and Framing the Strict Demands of the Brahma Kumaris.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55(4): 698-716. [View Publication External Resource]