Race, Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism

This is one of the largest, longest-established groups of scholars working in this field in the UK, and has made a major contribution to the development of critical race theory, and postcolonial theory. Research by members of this group has highlighted the importance of understanding the mechanisms of racial privilege, setting the agenda in whiteness studies and international debates on post-race theory. A focus on migration and religion, developed since 2001, provides the basis for theorising contemporary changes in racism and multiculturalism in the UK and more globally. Empirical investigation of migration and movement, includes studies of: diaspora intellectuals; asylum seekers and refugees’ rights; the organization and politics of jihadist movements; migration within and across Europe; contemporary religion and urban space in Europe; elite affluent migrants in south-east Asia; public perception and migration in London; African migrants in South-East Asia; and transit zones for illegal emigration in West Africa. This group is now also an influential centre for research on the sociology of religion, with studies of The Geo-Sociology of Religious Violence; the re-emergence of religion as a social force in Europe; anti-semitism and xenophobia; comparative research on religious violence in secular countries; Jewish philosophy and western culture; fanaticism. The collective effect of these studies has been to push the sociological agenda towards new understandings of racism, religion and multiculturalism in a more comparative, historical and global frame.