David McConeghy is a Ph.D. candidate living in Ventura County, California. Before he moved to the west coast to begin his program in Religious Studies at the University of Santa Barbara, California, he completed a Master’s degree in Comparative Religion at Miami University and a Bachelor’s degree in Religion at Duke University.
His Master’s thesis, “Shifting the Seat of Awakening,” was completed under the guidance of Drs. Peter W. William, Elizabeth Wilson, and Julie Gifford. Significantly expanding field work from his study abroad in India and Myanmar in 2001, his thesis examines the relationship between non-Indian Buddhists and the Indian Buddhist site Bodhgaya.
Living west of the Rockies has rekindled David’s interest in the history of religion in America and in the history of the American West, but his long-standing interests in religious geography, sacred spaces, spatial theory, and religious practice are evident in his graduate work under Drs. Catherine Albanese, Rudy Busto, and Mary Hancock. He is presently working on his dissertation, “Geographies of Prayer: Place and Religion in Modern America,” and hopes to finish his degree in 2013.
When he has free time David spends it with his wife, Elise, who shares his enthusiasm for swing dancing, collecting antique wooden puzzles, hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, and rooting for Duke University’s men’s basketball team.
To contact David, please email his Gmail account: david.mcconeghy
David McConeghy is a Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara
