Open workshop: Indigenous and Minority Perspectives in the Sociology of Religio

Open workshop: Indigenous and Minority Perspectives in the Sociology of Religion: A two-day event on Ethics, Positionality and Responsibility in Research. The day will feature presentations from researchers with experiences from indigenous research in the Nordic countries, followed by generous time for discussion, commentary, and collective reflection. Both PhD candidates and established researchers are invited this day.

Confirmed presenters

• Siv Ellen Kraft, Professor of religious studies, University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway
• Cato Christensen, Associate professor, of religious studies, University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway
• Mia Liinason, Professor of gender studies, Lund University

Invitation

The Nordic Association for the Sociology of Religion invite you to join a two-day event on researching religious and cultural minority populations, taking place in Oslo, November 4–5, 2025. The event combines a PhD course and workshop on Tuesday and an open academic workshop on Wednesday. You may attend one or both days. The first day is open to PhD students and supervisors, the second day to all interested scholars.

Participation is free, but please send a registration email to Lars Laird Iversen before 29 October 2025 to accomodate lunch.

The program actualizes questions concerning the position of the researcher vis-a-vis research participants in a marginalized position. It also invites reflection on the shifting boundaries between research on and with minority populations, including the blurred boundaries and complexities between academic work and activism.

Research with indigenous people in the Nordic countries and elsewhere have brought such questions into focus. Indigenous studies have, however been largely neglected in the sociology of religion in the Nordic countries. This may reflect enduring colonial divisions of academic labour, in which the study of Indigenous religions was traditionally assigned to anthropology and religious studies. Another reason might be how boundaries between the researcher and the research “object”, as well as between “objective” analysis and activism, have traditionally been perceived in sociology.

This two-day event invites PhD fellows and other researchers in the social scientific study of religion to engage with, and reflect on, a range of critical questions, including:

• What insights do Indigenous and postcolonial perspectives offer into debates on positionality, insider/outsider dynamics, and the relationship between research and activism?
• How can sociology of religion contribute relevant and responsible knowledge – and to whom?
• How might insights from Indigenous studies inform research on both minority and majority populations?

The key case for discussion will be religion in Sápmi, though reflections on Greenland/Kalaallit Nunaat, other Nordic national minorities and indigenous peoples elsewhere are also welcome.

The event is co-organized with KIFO, MF vitenskapelig høyskole and Religionssociologiska föreningen i Sverige.

Questions and contact

Lars Laird Iversen, Nordic Association for Sociologi of Religion
Mia Lövheim, Religionssociologiska föreningen I Sverige

The full program will be available here.