Jenna Supp-Montgomerie holds a joint appointment in Religious Studies and Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. Her research examines the relationships of water, infrastructure, and religion.
Her first book, When the Medium Was the Mission: The Atlantic Telegraph and the Religious Origins of Network Culture (NYU Press, 2021), traces the shaping influence of religion—particularly American Protestantism—on network culture through the story of the 1858 Atlantic Telegraph Cable. In a wide range of activities, from global mission to American public speech to utopian experiments in communal living, religion forged an imaginary of networks as connective, so much so that connection now serves as the primary definition of networks despite their reliance on various forms of disconnection. Her recent research examines the water that often serves as the background to infrastructure but is, itself, a vital element of our infrastructural lives. She has published on this theme in Cultural Studies, Material Religion, and elsewhere. Recently, she collaborated with engineers, scholars, dancers, and artists to co-direct and perform in Meandering River, a site-specific multimedia performance piece with the Iowa River, which was part of Hancher’s Infinite Dream festival in 2025.
Dr. Supp-Montgomerie teaches courses on the environmental humanities, critical theory, media history and theory, and religion and cultural life in the U.S.
Research interests
- Blue humanities
- Religion and infrastructure
- Critical theory
Selected publications
- “Fluid.” Material Religion, December, 1–7. doi:10.1080/17432200.2025.2586920.
- When the Medium Was the Mission: The Atlantic Telegraph and the Religious Origins of Network Culture (NYU Press, 2021)
- “Communications.” In The Routledge Handbook of Religion and American Culture. Ed. Chad E. Seales. Pp. 132-146. (Routledge, 2025)
- “Infrastructural Awareness.” Cultural Studies (2021): 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2021.1988121
- “Affect and the Study of Religion.” Religion Compass 9, no 10 (October 2015): 335-345. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12166