Cara E. Anderson hails from Rockbridge County, Virginia. As a first-generation college student, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and Christian Studies from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. While there, she wrote and presented a comparative martyrology between Christianity and Islam as a means of combatting religious radicalization and violence as a departmental honors project. She is currently a student in Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Public Theology dual degree program. She intends to pursue doctoral work after graduation.

Cara’s research interests include feminism, comparative theology, interfaith relations, and regional specific studies related to southern Appalachia. Her internship with the KGCCWL has her exploring the relationship between womanism and feminism. In recognition of the sometimes-fraught relationship between feminists and womanists, she wishes to contribute to the potential for co-liberative dialogue between the two. She believes that intentional self-education and reflection must be the starting point for such conversations as we learn to navigate being both insiders and outsiders in these exchanges.