Seminar: Prof. Dr. Niels Spierings – A multidimensional approach to Islamic religiosity

Title: A multidimensional approach to Islamic religiosity

Abstract: The sociology of religion has shown that religiosity is a multidimensional concept with different societal implications of the different dimensions. Qualitative in-depth studies on Islam in Europe show a myriad of ways how Islam does and does not play a role in people’s lives and how it cannot be seen apart from the hostile context it is part of. Still the predominant research practice when it comes to understanding the role of Islam in micro-level quantitative studies has been one of either comparing Muslims to the rest of the population or of treating religiosity as a monodimensional concept. While some of these study have brought to the fore important insights, this has limited our view on if and how Islamic religiosity forms barriers or catalysts for political inclusion and social-cultural equality. During this seminar, I will talk about what a multidimensional approach provides us in terms of new insight, based on several recently published article as part of the VIDI project I’m running together with Rachel Kollar, Nella Geurts and Samira Azabar. Our current results provide many patches that we are stitching into a quilt. However, one of the arguably most surprising results is that there is not obvious pattern, which one might have derived from the ‘comparative denominational’ studies. And also the role of differences in the hostility of the environment is not so clear cut. Thus, besides providing an overview of outcomes, suggesting some patterns and drawing some conclusions, I hope to stitch some patches together, and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Bio: Niels Spierings is Professors of Sociology, in particular Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion, at Radboud University (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). In his most recent work he focusses on the political position of ethno-religious minorities and on their relation to issues of gender and sexuality. Relatedly, he works on the well-being of LGBTIQ+ persons as well as the support for exclusionary politics, in particular the Radical Right and the role of gender and sexuality in populist radical right politics. His geographical focus has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa as part of the Southern Hemisphere to the Netherlands as part of Western Europe. In addition he writes on mixed-methods research and doing quantitative research from a feminist and intersectional perspective. Currently, he coordinates a VIDI project on the multidimensional impact of religiosity on political participation and belonging and on attitudes towards gender and sexuality.

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