Integrating interdisciplinarity and intersectionality: challenges and opportunities for research on religion

Professor of Sociology, Dr Line Nyhagen, Loughborough University

This talk discusses the concept of intersectionality, including its activist and scholarly genealogies, with explicit reference to the study of religion. It examines historical and contemporary developments in research on religion and intersectionality and explores the contribution of Heidi Safia Mirza’s concept of ‘embodied intersectionality’. The talk also discusses connections between different theoretical perspectives in research on religion where intersectionality is key, with a view to empirical examples from studies of religion in different contexts.

Prof Nyhagen is an expert on religion, gender, feminism and citizenship. Her interdisciplinary research examines women's and men's religious, gendered and racialised identities and their experiences of discrimination and barriers to citizenship in everyday life. She has also conducted research on feminism and women's movements in Europe. In addition, she researches inequalities in higher education.