Michael McNally ’85
John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religious Studies, Religion
Education & Professional History
Harvard University, PhD
Michael D. McNally (Carleton, B.A.; Harvard, M.Div., M.A., Ph.D.), 2001-, teaches on American religion and culture and Native American traditions. Special interests include Indigenous traditions and the law, tradition and history of Minnesota’s Anishinaabe/Ojibwe people, and Indigenized Christianities. He is author of three books: Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom beyond the 1st Amendment (Princeton, 2020); Honoring Elders: Aging, Authority, and Ojibwe Religion (2009), and Ojibwe Singers: Hymns, Grief, and a Native Culture in Motion (2000), as well as book chapters, law review, and academic journal articles. At Carleton he is Director of the American Studies Program and Co-Director of Carleton’s 3-yr Mellon-funded Indigenous Engagement in Place Initiative. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017 for his work on Native religions and law.
At Carleton since 2001.
Highlights & Recent Activity
Guggenheim Fellowship (2017-18)
Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom beyond the 1st Amendment (Princeton U.Press, 2020)
Honoring Elders: Aging, Authority, and Ojibwe Religion (Columbia U. Press, 2009)
Ojibwe Singers: Hymns, Grief & a Native Culture in Motion (Oxford, 2000; repr. MN Hist. Soc. Press, 2009)
ReligionsMN.org: Co-Director of ongoing public scholarship project on religious diversity in MN.
Sacred Minnesota: Project Advisor to 4-part documentary short partnership with Twin Cities Public Television (Spring, 2021)
Current Courses
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Fall 2024
AMST 398: Advanced Research in American Studies
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RELG 130: Native American Religions
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Winter 2025
AMST 263: Ethics of Indigenous Engagement
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AMST 399: Senior Seminar in American Studies
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Spring 2025
RELG 344: Lived Religion in America
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Summer 2025
ENGL 260: Ireland Program: Creative Writing in Ireland
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ENGL 292: Ireland Program: Irish Field Studies
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ENGL 360: Ireland Program: Creative Writing in Ireland
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RELG 214: Irish Studies In Ireland Program: Sacred Place & Pilgrimage in Ireland
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RELG 216: Irish Studies in Ireland Program:Irish Landscape in Myth, Literature, History
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Fall 2025
AMST 398: Advanced Research in American Studies
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RELG 243: Native American Religious Freedom
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Winter 2026
AMST 399: Senior Seminar in American Studies