Scholars as Resources
Scholars as Resources
There are many scholars who are researching religion and diversity who are not members of the Religion and Diversity Project. This page is intended to be a resource list of those scholars across the world in this field. If you are interested in being included please contact Morgan Hunter (info@religionanddiversity.ca).
Scholars
Katayoun Alidadi
Title/Position: Project Researcher EU FP7 "Religare"-Religious Diversity and Secular Models in Europe/ PhD Candidate Catholic University Leuven (Belgium)
Affiliation: Catholic University Leuven (Belgium)
Department: Institute for Migration Law and Legal Anthropology
Research Area/ Research Interests: Law & Religion, Human Rights, Equality Law, Employment Law, Private International Law, Religious/Islamic Law.
Website: www.religareproject.eu
Helen Bradstock
Title/Position: PhD Candidate
Affiliation:
University of Otago
Department:
Theology and Religion
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Helen’s research critically examines the historic and contemporary debates about religion in New Zealand’s primary schools, where Religious Education is not a curriculum subject, but where church volunteers have access to 42% of New Zealand’s primary schools for Christian religious instruction. The research will adopt a case study approach and is set in 6 schools in two areas of contrasting religious diversity. The research aims to analyse current attitudes in education towards the teaching of Christianity and other world religions, in the light of the inclusive agenda of New Zealand Curriculum 2007 and the changing needs of a culturally diverse society. The research seeks to encourage a liberal and inclusive approach to the teaching of religion in the primary classroom, based on research findings and international scholarship.
Helen has first class B.Ed Honours in Religious Studies, from the University of Southampton, and 12 years experience as a primary school teacher in the UK.
Website: http://www.otago.ac.nz/religion/grads/bradstock.php
Catherine Byrne
Title/Position: PhD scholar
Affiliation: Macquarie University, Sydney
Department: Centre for Research on Social Inclusion
Research Area/ Research Interests:
I have examined religions and ethics education in Australian public schools (primary and secondary) and the implications of this on social inclusion and cohesion, particularly regarding child identity development and cultural diversity capability. A key focus area has been Christian privileging in these ostensibly secular systems. I am interested in how variant conceptions of secularism relate to ideological and pedagogical approaches to religions and ethics education. My research has focused on Australia, but includes broad international comparisons. I am interested in developing pedagogical applications for a fluid conception of complex spiritual identification (multiple and changing belonging). I hope to contribute to policy development and teaching practice.
Academic Publications:
(2012). Compulsory free and (not) secular: the failed idea in Australian education. Journal of Religious History. (Forthcoming)
(2012). ‘Mummy, Jeesis is Alive! He is the King of Australia’: segregated religious instruction, child identity and exclusion. British Journal of Religious Education. (Forthcoming).
(2011). Freirean critical pedagogy’s challenge to interfaith education: What is interfaith? What is education? British Journal of Religious Education, 33(1): 47-60.
(2009). Public School Religion Education and the ‘hot potato’ of religious diversity. Journal of Religious Education, 57 (3): 26-37.
Opinion Articles:
(2011). Why tolerate racism, discrimination and segregation in our schools? www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/04/12/3188943.htm?topic1=&topic2=
(2010). Special Religious Education: the good, the bad and the ugly. www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2010/11/01/3054122.htm?topic1=&topic2=
Website: www.religioneducation.org.au
Dia Dabby
Title/Position: Doctor in Civil Law (Candidate)
Affiliation: McGill University
Department: Faculty of Law
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Current Research: “Children’s Rights, Religion and the Complexities of Identity” (provisional title)
Research interests: comparative constitutional law, law & religion, children’s rights, equality rights, legal theory and legal education.
Website: http://www.mcgill.ca/law-gradprograms/about/doctoralstudentsprofiles/#DABBY
Carolyn Evans
Title/Position: Dean
Affiliation: University of Melbourne
Department: Melbourne Law School
Research Area/ Research Interests: Carolyn Evans researches on the legal protection of religious freedom in international, European and constitutional law. She has a particular interest in the inter-section between religious freedom and other rights, including women’s rights, same sex rights and employee rights. She has particular expertise on the religious freedom case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the legal protection of religious freedom in Australia.
Anna Halafoff
Title/Position: Associate Lecturer, School of Social and Political Inquiry; Researcher, UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations - Asia Pacific
Affiliation: Monash University
Department: School of Social and Political Inquiry
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Dr. Anna Halafoff is a United Nations Alliance of Civilization Global Expert in the fields of multifaith relations, religion and peacebuilding. She is an associate lecturer at the School of Political and Social Inquiry and a researcher for the UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific, Monash University. Anna holds degrees from Monash University (PhD), the University of New England (Master of Letters in Peace Studies and Grad. Dip. Ed) and the University of Melbourne (BA). Prior to joining Monash, Anna coordinated the Religion and Peacebuilding Program at the International Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Melbourne. Anna’s current and recent research projects/interests include: multifaith relations and governance; community engagement and countering violent extremism; religions and ethics (worldviews) education; and Buddhism in Australia.
Anna’s work has been published in the following books and journals: Terrorism and Social Exclusion: Misplaced Risk – Common Security; International Handbook of Inter-religious Education; Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century; Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change; Cultivating Wisdom Harvesting Peace: Education for a Culture of Peace; Political Theology; Studies of Conflict and Terrorism; the Journal of Religious Education and the Journal of Research in International Education.
Website: http://arts.monash.edu.au/sociology/staff/ahalafoff.php
Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip
Title/Position: Associate Professor and Reader in Sociology
Affiliation: University of Nottingham, UK
Department: School of Sociology and Social Policy
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Dr. Yip’s research interests include: contemporary religious/spiritual identities; contemporary sexual (particularly lesbian, gay, and bisexual) identities; contemporary youth identity and sexuality; Islam and Muslim communities in the West; Human rights and citizenship; close (particularly same-sex) relationships; and ageing within national and transnational contexts. He recently completed two large-grant research projects: Citizens in Diversity: A Four-nation Study on Homophobia and Fundamental Rights (EU-funded; 2010-2011; www.citidive.eu); and Religion, Youth, and Sexuality: A Multi-faith Exploration (AHRC/ESRC-funded;2009-2011; www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/rys).
Dr. Yip is the author of Gay Male Christian Couples: Life Stories (Praeger, 1997), and co-author of Lesbian and Gay Lives Over 50 (York House Publishing, 2003), Queer Spiritual Spaces: Sexuality and Sacred Places (Ashgate, 2010), and Religion, Youth and Sexuality: Selected Key Findings from a Multi-faith Exploration (University of Nottingham, 2011). He is currently co-editing the Ashgate Research Companion to Sexuality and Religion; Religion, Gender and Sexuality in Everyday Life; and co-writing Religious and Sexual Journeys: A Multi-faith Exploration of Young Believers (all three to be published by Ashgate in 2012). His writings have also appeared in journals such as British Journal of Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Sociological Review, Sociology, Sociological Research Online, Theology & Sexuality, Sexualities, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Contemporary Islam, Social Policy & Society, Ageing and Society and Feminism and Psychology.
Website: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/stafflookup/andrew.yip
Howard Kislowicz
Title/Position: SJD Candidate
Affiliation: University of Toronto
Department: Law
Research Area/ Research Interests:
My research focuses on the intersection of law and religion; I am particularly interested in the lived experiences of Canadians who have had experiences with the state legal system.
Current Research
Doctoral dissertation project: “Social Processes in Canadian Religious Freedom Litigation (working title)” – Qualitative interview-based analysis of three recent Supreme Court of Canada Religious Freedom cases
Research Interests
Religious Freedom; Multiculturalism; Legal Pluralism; Narratives of litigation; Qualitative inquiry; Canadian Constitutional Law; Administrative Law
Website: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1600879
Manuel Litalien
Title/Position: Assistant Professor
Affiliation: Nipissing University
Department: Department of Social Welfare and Social Development
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Manuel Litalien is currently an assistant professor at Nipissing University at the Department of Social Welfare and Social Development. He received his PhD in political science at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and was a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University (2010) and at the Canada Research Chair on Democracy (2011). His research focuses on welfare regimes and religion in Southeast Asia and transnational theologico-political movements. His interests include the democratization process, social policy issues, identity politics, ethnicity and governance, as well as religion and the state in Southeast Asia. His dissertation is entitled “Social Development and Welfare Regime in Thailand: New Democratic Capital in an Increasing Philanthropic Society.” He has co-written an article, “Blurred Boundaries, Buddhist Communities in the Greater Montréal Region,” in Matthews, ed., Buddhism in Canada (Routledge, 2006). He also has co-written the article, “The Tzu Chi Merit Society from Taiwan to Canada,” ed., John S. Harding, Victor Sogen Hori, Alexander Soucy, in Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010).
Marion Maddox
Title/Position: Australian Research Council Future Fellow
Affiliation: Macquarie University, Sydney
Research Area/ Research Interests: Marion Maddox specialises in religion and politics. Her books include For God and Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics (Canberra: Parliament of Australia 2001) and God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics (Sydney: Allen & Unwin 2005).
She is currently a Future Fellow funded by the Australian Research Council. Her major project (2011-2015) is entitled ‘Religion, State and Social Inclusion: Lessons from Schools in three countries’. It investigates how governments support or suppress religion in schools—through religious practice in state schools, religion in the curriculum, or government funding to religious schools—as a flash-point case-study of how particular religion-state arrangements enhance or diminish social inclusion.
She is also lead investigator on a five-researcher team entitled ‘Religion and Political Thought (RAPT)’ (2012-2014), the Australian arm of an international project of the same name.
Website: http://www.crsi.mq.edu.au/people/marion_maddox/
Damon Mayrl
Title/Position: Ph.D. Candidate
Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
Department: Department of Sociology
Research Area/ Research Interests:
My research examines how religious communities shape and are shaped by their institutional environments. I am interested in understanding how rules, procedures, and policies are influenced by religious actors and their ideas; as well as how institutional forces transform religious beliefs, the political behavior of religious groups, and religion’s position in society over time. I have a particular interest in understanding how democratic political institutions grapple practically with the challenges posed by religious pluralism, and why they arrive at different solutions. My dissertation, “Secular Conversions: Politics, Institutions, and Religious Education in the United States and Australia,” investigates these questions by comparing the development of policies toward religious education in the United States and Australia since 1800.
Research Interests: Comparative Secularization, Religion and Politics, Religion and Education, Religion and Public Policy
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/damonmayrl
Sarah-Jane Page
Title/Position: Teaching Associate
Affiliation: Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
Department: School of Languages and Social Sciences
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Sarah-Jane Page’s research interests encompass religious identities, gender, discrimination, embodiment, negotiation of sexuality, youth, clergy families, and parenthood. She has studied clergy mothers in the Church of England, examining gender negotiation and workplace discrimination, as well as male clergy spouses and how they negotiate a role that has historically been occupied by women. She was the Research Fellow on the AHRC-ESRC-funded project, Religion, Youth and Sexuality: A Multi-faith Exploration (www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/rys). This research focused on young religious people (between the ages of 18 and 25) who identified with one of six different religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism). The project explored how young adults managed their identities and choices in relation to religion and sexuality.
She is currently co-writing a book called Religious and Sexual Journeys: A Multi-faith Exploration of Young Believers to be published by Ashgate in 2012, and she has a number of forthcoming book chapters and journal articles connected with these projects.
- Page, S. (2011) ‘Negotiating Sacred Roles: A Sociological Exploration of Priests who are Mothers’, Feminist Review, Vol. 97, No. 1, pp. 92-109.
- Yip, A. K. T., Keenan, M. and Page, S. (2011) Religion, Youth and Sexuality: A Multi-faith Exploration. Nottingham: University of Nottingham. (ISBN: 9780853582687; 40 pages).
- Page, S. (2008) ‘The Construction of Masculinities and Femininities in the Church of England: The Case of the Male Clergy Spouse’, Feminist Theology, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 31-42.
Sheryl Reimer-Kirkham
Title/Position: Professor, School of Nursing
Affiliation: Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C.
Department: School of Nursing
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Reimer-Kirkham’s research is in the area of plurality and equity in healthcare, focusing on the intersections of religion, spirituality, culture, class, and gender. Her research is demonstrating how religion and spirituality are negotiated for social inclusion or exclusion in healthcare settings, and how religion and spirituality may form social pathways to health and illness. She is a founding member of TWU’s Religion in Canada Institute and Institute of Gender Studies, and the Critical Research in Health and Health Inequities Unit at University of British Columbia. A current project examines religion, spirituality, culture, gender and place in home health care (funded by SSHRC). Recent publications in the field of religion and health include a 2011 co-edited volume Religion, religious ethics, and nursing (with M.Fowler, R.Sawatzky, and E.Johnston-Taylor, published by Springer) and the following manuscripts:
Reimer-Kirkham, S. (2011). A Critical Reading across Religion and spirituality: Contributions of postcolonial theory to nursing ethics. In M.Fowler et al. (ed.) Religion, Religious Ethics, and Nursing. New York: Springer Publishers.
Reimer-Kirkham, S., & Sharma, S. (2011). Adding religion to gender, race, and class: Seeking new insights on intersectionality in health care contexts. In Havinsky, O. (Ed.). Intersectionality-type health research in Canada. (pp. 112-127). Vancouver, B.C.: UBC Press.
Reimer-Kirkham, S., Sharma, S, Pesut, B., Sawatzky, R., Meyerhoff, H., & Cochrane, M. (2011). Sacred spaces in public places: Religious and Spiritual Plurality in Healthcare. Nursing Inquiry. Published online. DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1800.2011.00571.x
Reimer-Kirkham, S. (2009). Lived religion: Implications for healthcare ethics. Nursing Ethics, 16(4), 406-17.
Website http://www.twu.ca/academics/faculty/profiles/sheryl-reimer-kirkham.html
Joanne Benham Rennick
Title/Position: Assistant Professor
Affiliation: Wilfrid Laurier University
Department: Contemporary Studies
Research Area/ Research Interests:
My research interests lie primarily in the area of late modern forms and expressions of religion, particularly as they exist in Canadian institutions and ideas about national identity. I am interested in the way that the socio-historical influences of religion in Canada play out against the changing demographics of globalized society and how “diffuse religion” remains a significant influence on individuals’ actions and values. I am also interested in subjectivity, individualization, privatization, and how these influence value formation. I have examined these topics in the context of Canada’s military forces in Religion in the Ranks (University of Toronto Press, 2011). Currently, I am working on research that questions agenda for “global citizenship” and looks at the types of values that are being promoted in international education programs in Canadian institutions of higher education.
Website: http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=12799
Mark F. Ruml
Title/Position: Associate Professor
Affiliation: University of Winnipeg
Department: Religion and Culture
Research Area/ Research Interests:
Aboriginal Religious Traditions (especially Anishinaabe, Dakota and Omushkego); Aboriginal-Christian Encounter (Residential Schools); Traditional Medicine and Healing;; Methodological and Ethical Procedures for Aboriginal Research
Website: http://religionandculture.uwinnipeg.ca/Mark_Ruml.html
Jennifer Selby
Title/Position: Assistant Professor
Affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland
Department: Religious Studies
Research Area/ Research Interests:
My research focuses broadly on Islam in the West, secularism and gender studies.
More specifically, my work emphasizes two contexts: the first is ethnographic-based research focused on gender politics, Islam and public policy on secularism in contemporary France. Questioning French Secularism: Muslim Women and Gender Politics in a Parisian Banlieue (forthcoming, Palgrave Macmillan’s Contemporary Anthropology of Religion series) examines the implications of French secular discourse on gender politics among first-generation Muslim women in a Parisian suburb. In April 2011, I began preliminary new research on transnational migration in Algeria tentatively titled, “Du bled aux banlieues: Gendering Islam in Postcolonial Marriage Migration to France.”
A second research area examines Islam and public policy in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada. Please see Debating Sharia: Islam, Gender Politics and Family Law Arbitration (co-edited with Anna Korteweg, forthcoming, University of Toronto Press).
Website: http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~jselby/
Sonia Sikka
Title/Position: Associate Professor
Affiliation: University of Ottawa
Department: Philosophy
Research Area/ Research Interests:
My current research deals with secularism and religious identity, exploring at the same time intersections between religion and culture. Canada and India form the central subjects of my engagement with these issues in the contemporary context. I also work on the history of philosophy, focussing on attitudes towards cultural and religious diversity, as well as the problem of Eurocentrism.
Relevant recent publications:
“Untouchable Cultures: Memory, Power and the Construction of Dalit Selfhood,” accepted, Identities.
“The Perils of Indian Secularism,” forthcoming, Constellations.
Herder on Humanity and Cultural Difference: Enlightened Relativism (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
"Liberalism, Multiculturalism and the Case for Public Religion," Politics and Religion, 3 (2010), 580-609.
Website: http://www.philosophy.uottawa.ca/faculty/sikka.html