My name is Ariyanne “Ari” Colston (also known as Ari Johnson). I am a second-year PhD student at Princeton University with research interests in African American religion, Black geographies, and U.S. law. My work studies the formation and decline of Black religious sites—specifically the architectural and spatial practices of Black churches—in the United States. I am also interested in the ways the law, violence, and urban policy make and unmake the sacred materially and theoretically.

Law, religion, and space shape my interests within and beyond graduate study. During my time at Candler School of Theology and Emory Law, I pursued my passion for Black space and place by specializing in property law, historic preservation, and black land loss prevention. I have held internships with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and Georgia Heirs Property Law Center. I am also an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.

Alongside my formal training, I am an independent researcher of historic and abandoned Black sacred sites. My work uses photography, oral histories, and genealogical research to document and archive forgotten Black sanctuaries. Inside and outside the classroom, my research in law, religion, and African American studies seeks to rethink dominant legal and cultural understandings of sacred space by studying and preserving Black ecclesiastical architecture, religious placemaking, and material culture.

Education

Ph.D Student, Religion, Princeton University

J.D., Emory School of Law, c.o. ‘22

M.Div., Candler School of Theology, c.o. ‘22

B.A., Religious Studies and International Studies, University of Miami, c.o. '17