Projects
Negotiating Group Identities Along Ethnicity and Religion. Case: On- and Offline Networks in The Low Countries. KU Leuven
At a time when ethnic inter-group attitudes are changing, uneven integration of (and within) ethnic cultural minorities in general and Muslims in particular into the socioeconomic life of European host countries and conflicting values are becoming increasingly important, fuelling antagonism between majority and minority groups. This research aims to increase our understanding of how Muslim ethnic-cultural minorities share knowledge, values ...
Rethinking Bergsons Naturalistic Approach in Contemporary Philosophy of Religion. KU Leuven
If evolutionary history were to be replayed from the beginning, what would be the same, and what would be likely different? Would there be a human-like species, multicellularity, or even DNA?
There is a great variety in the answers biologists give to this question, despite having the same access to empirical data and biological theory. For instance, Stephen J. Gould has claimed that evolutionary history is radically contingent, ...
Religion and Caste in India: The Mantras of Anti-Brahmanism. Ghent University
Motherhood and Lived Religion: Empirical Study on Perceptions and Experiences of Shiite Mothering in Belgium Ghent University
This project seeks to research the relationship between lived religion, perceptions and experiences of motherhood among Shiite women in Belgium. Under the umbrella notion of motherhood, the research includes women with and without children. The project develops a comprehensive multi-method qualitative research plan using content and critical discourse analysis, interviews, and ethnography. It investigates how Shiite women in the diaspora ...
Rethinking the relationship between state and religion: the role of Japanese Buddhism in the early stages of Japan’s modernisation (1870s-1880s) Ghent University
This research project focuses on the role of Buddhist thinkers in the intellectuel movement known as the Japanese Enlightenment. It follows them on their journeys through Europe and analyses their contributions to Japanese Buddhist and secular journals and newspapers after their return to Japan. More generally the project looks at the impact of religion on the modernising processes of nations.
Alfred Loisy as a comparative historian of religions. An investigation of Loisy’s position within early 20th century and current comparative methodology Ghent University
This project aims at investigating the methodological contribution to the early 20th century comparative study of religion of Alfred Loisy (1857-1940), professor of History of Relgions at the Collège de France, and analyzing the impact of his comparative work on current studies of the origins of Christianity. It will also investigate the sociological context (scientific networks) in which Loisy worked.
Christianity, the Oriental Religions and the Mystery Cults in the thought of Franz Cumont, and his work within the context of Liberal Theology and Modernism (Alfred Loisy) Ghent University
This project aims to study Cumont's view on Christianity by studying his published works, his unpublished correspondence with other scholars, especially Loisy and his reviews. Aims: Cumont's theoretical views on the comparative study of religion theories about Christianity as a mystery religion, influences on Christianity by paganism, and Christianity versus the Eastern Religions within Roman cultural and political universalism.
Thinking about Religious Education as 'Pag-alalay': A postcolonial, empirical and theological study into the theory and practice of Catholic religious education in the Philippines KU Leuven
For contexts like the Philippines, where the majority of the people are religious and where the Catholic religion has been entangled with a history of oppression of peoples, the challenge for religious education is to reimagine both the content and methodology of religious education. Thereby it is important that it promotes inclusive care and just relations inside and outside the classroom. In dialogue with postcolonial theory, practical ...
Sacred Gender Exclusion: A Study of Cultural Heritage and Religious Tradition in Modern Japan Ghent University
This project concerns the practice of excluding women or men from religious sites and religious
practices in Japan, and the complex interconnections among religion, traditions, and cultural
heritage in the modern period (1868 to the present). Three Japanese sites recognized as UNESCO
World Cultural Heritage (WCH) have historically banned-or currently ban-women's access as a
condition of "religious tradition." A fourth ...