Izzak Novak
Izzak Novak is a doctoral student in American Religions. His research seeks out the unexpected ways religion surfaces in US culture. He is currently exploring what hunting can teach us about US religion and culture, as well as the ways US-Americans relate to the state. He is committed to laying bare lived realities using good-faith, three-dimensional depictions of his interlocutors and subjects. Broadly, he is interested in the legal negotiation of spirituality and religion; religious freedom and religion and the law; the religious work performed by children, adolescents, and young adults; the cultural heavy-lifting performed by parenting; the operationalization of young people’s futurities; and ethnographic, historical-ethnographic, micro-historical, and historical methodologies. Before coming to Northwestern, Izzak completed an A.A. in Humanities and Social Sciences at the County College of Morris, a B.A. in Religion at Columbia University, and an M.A. in Religion at Yale University. His advisor is Robert Orsi.