Susan Starr Sered is the Senior Research Associate at Suffolk University

Suffolk University

Suffolk University is a private, non-sectarian, university located in Boston, Massachusetts and with over 16,000 students it is the third largest university in Boston...

's Center for Women's Health and Human Rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, having previously been the director of the "Religion, Health and Healing Initiative" at the Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 Center for the Study of World Religions, and a Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 and Anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 at Bar-Ilan University

Bar-Ilan University

Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...

, Israel

Israel

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, and is the author of several books focusing on women's health and religious issues, including:

• Women As Ritual Experts: The Religious Lives of Elderly Jewish Women in Jerusalem, New York: Oxford University Press, (1992)
• Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women, New York: Oxford University Press, (1994)
• Women of the Sacred Groves: Divine Priestesses of Okinawa, New York: Oxford University Press, (1999)
• What Makes Women Sick: Maternity, Modesty, and Militarism in Israeli Society, Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press : University Press of New England, (2000)
• Religious healing in Boston : first findings, Ed. Susan Sered and Linda Barnes Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, The Divinity School, (2001)
• Religious healing in Boston : reports from the field, Ed. Susan Sered Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, The Divinity School, (2002)
• Religious healing in Boston : body, spirit, community, Ed. Susan Sered Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, The Divinity School, (2004)
• Religion and healing in America, Ed. Susan Sered and Linda L. Barnes Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, (2005)
• Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity (with Rushika Fernandopulle) (2005)

Professor Sered's work "Women of the Sacred Groves" was severely criticized by Okinawan Studies related scholars in a "Declaration of Concern" published in issue 54 of the Ryukyuanist. Professor Sered later submitted a rebuttal to this statement in issue 55 of the Ryukyuanist.

External links

• Suffolk University biography page on Susan Sered
• Suffolk University CV page on Susan Sered
• Bibliography from the Religion, Health, and Healing Initiative (Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School)
• Susan Sered bibliography from Harvard Divinity School's Women's Studies in Religion Program