30 ACUMEN • SPRING 2023 Annabella Pitkin grew up in New York City, with its contradictions like unprecedented prosperity amidst stark poverty. As a teenager, the impact of the city’s extremes inspired Pitkin to become politically and socially active and engage with issues like hunger and homelessness. “My parents and I talked a lot about the historical context and processes that were involved in creating the situations we were seeing in our day—that sense that you can’t separate the present from history, but also that history is transformative when you understand how it shapes your life.” Today, Pitkin explores historical and social questions as an associate professor of religion studies. She earned her interdisciplinary bachelors in Social Studies from Harvard and her doctorate in Buddhist Studies from Columbia. “My interdisciplinary background in the study of religion means I’m trained to think about the intersection of historical processes with literary and cultural practice,” Pitkin says. Histories of Memory, Devotion, and Relationship STEVE NEUMANN Annabella Pitkin examines how communities respond to trauma, address suffering, and renew transformative relationships through practices of memory
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