PhD position Reimagining Religion, Security and Social Transformation (1.0 FTE)

The successful candidate will work on the research project "Reimagining Religion, Security and Social Transformation". The project is part of the "Joint Initiative for Strategic Religious Action" (JISRA) which aims to co-create a strategy to advance the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief in seven countries. JISRA is an international interfaith consortium consisting of Mensen met een Missie, Faith to Action Network, Tearfund (UK and the Netherlands), and Search for Common Ground. JISRA is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (within the policy framework "Power of Voices").

As part of the JISRA Knowledge Agenda, this research project aims to provide input for the study of religion, security and social transformation. Furthermore, it aims to provide input for policy and practitioners’ efforts to more comprehensively address the complex, nuanced role of religion in conflict, violence and (post-conflict) social transformation processes. The overall research question of the project is: What discourses, practices and behaviours do religious communities narrate and perform in relation to violent conflict and (post-conflict) social transformation processes?

Working in collaboration with the JISRA Consortium members and local partner organizations in the  country, the project will be carried out utilizing an intersectional, interdisciplinary framework, drawing on theoretical and methodological insights from history, international relations, religious studies, social-psychology, sociology and anthropology, and on practical insights from practitioners within the JISRA programme. The project aims to identify and analyse the different ways religious actors of various kinds engage within, across and outside their communities, focusing specifically on the role of women and youth.

Two interrelated sub-projects operationalize this research focus. The research team will be based at Utrecht University and University of Groningen and will consist of two PhDs (UU and RuG), a Postdoc (UU) and and two PI’s (UU and RUG).

For this PhD position you will be based at Utrecht University at the Department of History and Art History, Section of International Relations. The PhD project focuses on the (religious) narratives employed by diverse religious actors related to the phenomenon of violent extremism - including the perpetrators, but also the governmental factions, the victim communities and within the broader society. The PhD will, second, concentrate on CVE-processes, and will identify, map and analyse the strategies utilised by religious leaders for intra and interreligious engagement to navigate the consequences of violent extremism and exclusion in their communities.

A series of narrative strategies compounding the use of violence will be studied and categorised, as well as the corresponding attempts and processes by which these narratives will be ‘contaminated’, undermined, and turned towards a more constructive, non-violent approach. The project will be carried out in Kenya, Nigeria and possibly Indonesia. The PhD candidate will undertake long-term (10 months) in-country fieldwork, including interview, ethnography and archival research in the countries. The project will be supervised by Prof. Beatrice de Graaf.

Besides research articles (as part of a dissertation) the candidate is expected to disseminate the research results beyond the academic public, which includes addressing wide audiences and policy makers via for instance, blogs/vlogs, newspaper articles and a policy paper on the topic.