#  Samira K. Mehta 

Visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and North American Religions

Colorado Scholar

WSRP Research Associate 2023–24

 

 

 



   ![Samira Mehta WSRP RA](/sites/g/files/omnuum4861/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/hds_wsrp/files/samira_mehta.png?itok=WtB5RKGI) 

 



 





 

## Home institution

University of Colorado Boulder

## Research project

### God Bless the Pill: Contraception and Sexuality in Tri-Faith America

This project traces the intertwined history of religion and contraception in the United States from the founding of Planned Parenthood’s first Clergy Committee in 1942 to the present. It draws from medical, feminist, legal, and political histories of contraception to demonstrate that whatever else these debates may have been about, they were, fundamentally, about religion.

## Profile

Samira K. Mehta is the Director of Jewish Studies and an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research and teaching focus on the intersections religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the United States. Her first book, *Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States* (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) was a National Jewish book award finalist. She is also the author of a newly released book of personal essays called *The Racism of People Who Love You* (Beacon Press, 2023).

Mehta’s current academic book project, *God Bless the Pill: Sexuality and Contraception in Tri-Faith America* under contract with the University of North Carolina Press. She is also beginning a project for Princeton University Press called *A Mixed Multitude: Jews of Color in the United States*. Mehta is the primary investigator for a Henry Luce Foundation funded project called J*ews of Color: Histories and Futures.* She is a member of the board of Feminist Studies in Religion, where she serves as the co-editor of the blog; co-chairs the steering committee of the North American Religions Program Unit at the American Academy of Religion; and is a Creative Editor at the journal American Religion. She holds degrees from Swarthmore College, Harvard University, and Emory University.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## affiliation
    
     [Past WSRP Research Associates](/affiliation/past-wsrp-research-associates) [WSRP Research Associate](/affiliation/wsrp-research-associate)
- ## alpha grouping
    
     [K-O](/alpha-grouping/k-o)
- ## academic year
    
     [2023-24](/year-grouping/2023-24)