PhD candidate Graduate School RePliV

Working title PhD project: The Role of Media in Regulating the Image of New Religious Movements in the USA

Instagram: @sugarkane2003 

Find more information on Anna Kira Hippert on the website of the RePliV graduate school. 

By appointment

• Material Religion 
• Image theory 
• Religion and Popular Culture 
• Religion and Media 
• New Religous Movements and Social Change
• Church of Scientology
• Cowboy Church Movement  
• American Religion 
• Religion and Modernity 
• Methods in Religioues Studies 
• Knowledge transfer 

• Fall Term 2023/24

Religious Studies in Practice: Career Opportunities

• Spring Term 2023

Online knowledge transfer for Religious Studies scholars

• Fall Term 2022/23

Cult or Sect?- Introduction to New Religious Movements

Guest Session in the Seminar "Tricksters, Fools, Madmen and Saints" Topic: L. Ron Hubbard and Hagiography

• Spring Term 2022

A generation under a spell – witchcraft in modern society​​​​​​

• Fall Term 2021/22

Understanding New Religious Movements

• Spring Term 2021

From Jedi Knights, Monster Hunting Cowgirls and a Teenage Witch – Religion and Popular Culture 

• Fall Term 2020/21

"Yee-haw" not " Amen" – When Cowboy Culture Meets Christianity

• Fall Term 2019/20 

Teaching Assisatant "Introduction to Religious Studies"

• Spring Term 2020

Teaching Assistant "Introduction to Religious Studies"

Teaching Assistant "Between the flood of images and iconoclasm: On the role of images in religion and society"

Memberships and Roles

• Member of the YEET network – Protestant Sinnfluencer:innen, active as a religious studies scholar and science communicator (View profile), YEET is a German network of young Protestant creators producing content on faith, society, and digital life. March 2025 – Present
• President, REMID e.V. (Religious Studies Media and Information Service)
  More information about REMID
  November 2024 – Present
• Member, American Academy of Religion (AAR)
  May 2024 – Present
• Assistant Research Officer and Intern, INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), King's College London More information about INFORM
  April 2021 – Present

Visiting Scholar

• April 2025 – May 2025: Visiting Scholar at the Center for Media, Religion and Culture, Boulder, Colorado, USA
• March 2023 – February 2024: Visiting Scholar (J1-Visa) at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, USA

Radio and Media Contributions

• March 2025 : ARD/HR Radio Segment (German public broadcasting): “Fasting – Gaining Through Abstinence?” – including a commentary on Breatharianism (Lichtnahrung) (Listen here)
• January 2025: SWR Radio Feature (German public broadcasting/öffentlich-rechtlich): “Searching for Meaning and a Fulfilled Life – Between Yoga and Church” (Listen here)
• April 2024: WDR 5 (West German Broadcasting Corporation) Radio Feature "This Side of Eden" – Religion and Politics in the USA
• May 2023: WDR 5 Radio Interview "With a Cowboy Hat to Church" 
• December 2021: "Gaming and Religion", MDR Radio Interview on the topic of religion and video games

Newspaper Article Appearances

• September 2023: Newspaper article (WAZ: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung): "Research on Cowboy Churches and Scientology"
• June 2024: Newspaper article (WAZ: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung): "Inside Scientology’s Inner Circle"

Podcasts

• April 2025: In Dubio pro Leo (with Jagoda Marinić & Anna Kira Hippert), Podcast Guest, Apokalypse & Filterkaffee
• March 2025: YEET Podcast (Protestant “Sinnfluencer” network / public media initiative): “If You Want It Done Right, Do It Yourself” (Listen on Spotify), YEET is a German network of Protestant content creators (Sinnfluencer:innen) producing digital content on faith, life, and society – especially for younger audiences.
• February 2025: Guest on the podcast Schöner glauben – Episode: “#electioncampaigncoffee | Reaction: As a Christian Supporting the AfD” (Listen), A conversation on Christian identity and right-wing politics in digital spaces.
• February 2025: 1LIVE Intimbereich (ARD / German public broadcasting): “Are We Religious – or Just Traditional?”(Listen here)
• November 2024: Guest appearance on the podcast Schöner Glauben – Episode "Anna Kira Hippert – Faith and Politics in the Wild West" (available on Spotify)
• October 2024: Guest appearance on the podcast Heilige und Halunken – Episode "Anna on Evangelical Trails"(available on Spotify)

Academic Lectures

• April 2025: Making It Matter – Cowboy Churches, Scientology, and Why Religious Studies Belongs on Social Media, Guest Lecture, University of Colorado, Boulder
• November 2024: Lecture "From Research to Reels: Religious Studies on Social Media" at the seminar "New Religiosity on Campus", organized by INFORM, King’s College London
• May 2023: "Riding, Roping, Resurrected – When Christianity Meets Horsemanship", Guest Lecture at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri
• July 2022: "Regulating (Self-) Perception? – Images and Their Potential for Research on NRMs", Lecture as part of the online seminar "New Media and New Religiosity – Possibilities and Pitfalls?", organized by INFORM, King’s College London

Public Lectures

• October 2024: “Shaping Perception: The Function of Images in the Church of Scientology and Cowboy Churches,” lecture at the Rotary Club Bochum-Constantin
• November 2022: "God Will Not Let You Take Me!" Religious Storytelling and Symbolism in Video Games, Lecture at the Catholic Student Community, Dortmund
• May 2022: "God Mode: Religious Symbols and Narratives in Video Games", Lecture at the Catholic Student Community, Paderborn
• November 2021: "Power of Images — The Role of Media in New Religious Movements", Lecture at the 52nd IDZ Expert Discussion of the Working Group for Child and Youth Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia

Organization and Moderation

• July 2022: Preparation, organization, and moderation of the online seminar "New Media and New Religiosity – Possibilities and Pitfalls?"

Social Media

• March 2025: Director and Producer, YouTube channel vlogging religoon(s) https://www.youtube.com/@VloggingReligions
• March 2025: YouTube interview on the channel Hier vk – Let’s Talk: “Cowboy Churches and Evangelicals – Are We Heading Toward U.S.-Style Religion?” (Watch)
• 2023: Research vlog on YouTube about Cowboy Churches and the Church of Scientology (To the Vlog)
• Science Communication: Instagram profile – @sugarkane2003

Science Communication and Materials

• 2022: “Once Brainwashed and Back – Experiencing Conspiracy Myths”
  Development of a practical guide to key concepts in religious studies, with a particular focus on esotericism, evangelicalism, cults, sects, and new religious movements. Funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs as part of a project by the Turkish Community in Baden-Württemberg

Fieldwork

• December 2023 – March 2024: California, USA – Field research on the Church of Scientology, with academic networking at the University of California, Santa Barbara
• March 2023 – August 2023: Missouri, USA – Data collection on Cowboy Churches
• January – May 2019: Perry and Haysville, Kansas, USA – Self-organized research stay for data collection for the Master’s thesis on "Cowboy Churches"

Scholarships and Funding

2025

• Visiting Scholar at the Religion and Media Center, Boulder, Colorado (USA)
  Funded by the RUB Research School with 6,300 euros (April – May 2025)

2023/2024

• Fieldwork in California, USA
  Funded by the RUB Research School with 6,300 euros

2023

• Fieldwork in Missouri, USA
  Funded by the RUB Research School with 7,110 euros

2019

• Semester abroad at the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS, USA)
  PROMOS scholarship holder within the MAUI program, funded with a one-time payment of 1,300 euros and monthly 400 euros (January 22, 2019 – May 17, 2019)

Supervised Theses

2024

• "Is the Raelian Movement a New Religious Movement?" A critical analysis considering definitions and theoretical approaches in Religious Studies

2023

• "The Catholic Church of Croatia on Facebook: Changing Religious Authority"
• "Astrology as an Expression of Popular Spirituality?" – A Religious Studies analysis in the context of Hubert Knoblauch's concept of spirituality

2022

• "Honor Killings in the Name of Islam?" Justifications for honor killings analyzed through the concept of honor, using the case study of Hatun Sürücü
• "I Am a Paladin!" Exploring the interaction between portrayed and lived religiosity in the context of (online) role-playing games