Abstract

In the American Midwest, Christian nationalism isn't just a political ideology —it's a performance. It relies on the stagecraft of protest, the choreography of exclusion, and the symbolic heft of scripture-as-prop to inscribe a racialized vision of national belonging. This presentation explores how Christian nationalist movements— particularly the Westboro Baptist Church and Trump's famous Bible-holding spectacle-operate as religious-theatrical performances that reify Whiteness, regulate public morality, and weaponize theology to stage a vision of "real America." Using a cross-disciplinary framework that merges performance studies, queer theology, and biblical criticism, I examine how bodies, space, and ritual coalesce to enforce Christian nationalist identity in the Midwest. This work introduces the concept of kinesthetic hermeneutics, a method of reading scripture through embodied enactment, and asks: whose bodies are
permitted to perform theological truth, and whose are excluded? 

By interrogating how protest, ritual, and public performance function as tools of religious and racial inscription, this talk challenges the assumption that Christian nationalism is merely a belief system —it is, instead, a rehearsed spectacle of divine authority played out in the everyday rituals of Midwestern life. If we want to confront its power, we must first understand its choreography.

About the presenter

Christopher-Rasheem McMillan is a choreographer, performance scholar, and theologian. He is an Associate Professor of Dance Theory and Praxis and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. His work explores the intersections of Blackness, embodiment, theology, and performance, blending scholarly research with choreographic practice. McMillan's current projects include Diasporic Cunningham: British Lineages, American Frames and a performance-based inquiry into Christian nationalism. His work has been supported by fellowships from Yale's Institute of Sacred Music, the Center for Ballet and the Arts, and the Grant Wood Art Colony.