Asylum and Conversion to Christianity in Europe: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Ebook
Drawing together previously disjointed scholarship on the topic of asylum and conversion from Islam to Christianity, this book shows how boundaries of belonging are negotiated between Middle Eastern ex-Muslim asylum seekers, church representatives, lawyers, legal decision-makers and policymakers.
With case studies from European countries such as Germany, Austria, Finland and Sweden, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach including ethnographic and other qualitative research, discourse analysis and case law analysis, to explore the complexities of the phenomenon of asylum and conversion from Islam to Christianity.
This book is an authoritative resource for academic scholars in fields as diverse as migration and refugee studies, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, law and socio-legal studies, as well as legal and religious practitioners.
An interdisciplinary exploration of asylum processes in Europe, which are based on conversion to Christianity and the associated fear of religious persecution.
The first book-length exploration of asylum processes in Europe that are based on conversion to Christianity
Combines previously disjointed scholarship (geographically and disciplinary) on the phenomenon of asylum and conversion to Christianity
Offers a comparative perspective, covering Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Norway
Notes on the Contributors
1. Asylum and Conversion to Christianity: An Introduction, Lena Rose, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow (University of Oxford, UK)
2. Definitions of Religion as Gatekeeping: A Discursive Approach to the Assessment of Christian Conversion in Finland: A Qualitative Sociological Analysis, Helmi Halonen, (University of Helsinki, Finland)
3. Credibility Assessment in Asylum Claims based on Religious Conversion in Germany, Anne K. Schlüter, (University of Münster, Germany)
4. Making the Convert Speak: The Production of Truth and the “Apparatus of Conversion” in Austria, Markus Elias Ramsauer, Ph.D. Candidate (University of Vienna, Austria) and Ayse Çaglar, Professor of Anthropology (University of Vienna/IWM, Austria)
5. Material Conversions – Exploring the Materiality of Asylum Seekers' Conversion Narratives and Processes in Norway, Olav Børreson Fossdal (University of Oslo, Norway)
6. Building Belief – Navigating Moral Tensions Through Category Work While Assisting Converted Asylum Seekers in Finland, Valtteri Vähä-Savo, Postdoctoral Fellow (Tampere University, Finland) and Venla Koivuluhta, (Tampere University, Finland)
Johanna Hiitola, Lecturer, University of Oulu
7. Tales of Transformation: Conversion Narratives of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors in the Church of Sweden, Jonathan Morgan, (Lund University, Sweden)
8. Becoming Christian, Remaining Iranian: The Salience of National Identity in Iranian Evangelical Exile Churches, Benedikt Römer, (University of Bayreuth, Germany)
9. “She Lacks a 'Male Network' in Her Home Country”: Gendering the Credibility Assessment and the Discursive Space of Intersectionality in Migration Courts in Sweden, Ebru Öztürk, Senior Lecturer (Midsweden University, Sweden)
Afterword: In the Eye of the Inquisitor: the Politics of Religious Asylum, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Professor of Politics (Northwestern University, USA)
Bibliography
Index
A book most needed, for students, researchers, and practitioners alike. The book highlights the difficult question of the credibility and authenticity of asylum seeker conversion and several chapters show how 'true conversion' and 'religion' are often (un)consciously associated too tightly with a (Lutheran) Protestant view. The cross-disciplinary, comparative approach includes data from the processes of legal decisions, court ethnography, as well as voices of asylum seekers themselves.
The editors and contributors should be congratulated on the production of a well-constructed and informative volume about a crucial, and hitherto poorly understood, topic.
- Title: Asylum and Conversion to Christianity in Europe: Interdisciplinary Approaches
- Authors: Lena Rose, Ebru Öztürk
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350407893, 9781350407879, 1350407879, 1350407895
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350407893
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-09T08:57:46Z
Lena Rose is Lecturer of Anthropology at the University of Konstanz, Germany.
Ebru Öztürk is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Mid Sweden University, Sweden.