Migration and Religion : Imiscoe Short Reader

This open access book introduces research on migration and religion with the focus on migration to western European countries from the 1950s and onwards. The book is an in-depth presentation of the main research trends as to methods, theories and empirical zones on migration and religion. In a unique way, the book brings together research about the topic aligning it with the experiences and urgencies of migrants.

The first part of three introduces key concepts and presents main research trends over time. The second part deals with the processes of establishment – on an individual level as well as on a group and society level. The third and final part focuses on religious change in relation to religious ideas and habits. It further highlights religious creativity. The third part finishes with a discussion about challenges to research and what we still do not know enough about.

Magdalena Nordin is Associate Professor in Sociology of Religion at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion at Gothenburg University, Sweden. Her research has during the last decades been about religion and migration focusing on change of religiosity among migrants, religious plurality and public institutions (such as the health care sector and educational institutions), interfaith dialogue, and change, continuity and re-interpretation of religious practices. She is heading the research project “Integration and Tradition: The Making of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Sweden”. Among her publications we find “How to Understand Interreligious Dialogue in Sweden in Relation to the Socio-Cultural Context”, in the Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary (2020) and “Rooms of Silence at three universities in Scandinavia”, in Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review (2019).

Jonas Otterbeck is Professor of Islamic studies at Aga Khan University – Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London, UK, where he holds the Rasul-Walker Chair in Popular Culture in Islam. His research on Muslims in contemporary Europe spans three decades and topic like Islamic discourse, integration, Muslim youth, conversion, masculinity, popular culture, active citizenship, politics and Islamophobia. Otterbeck’s latest monograph is The Awakening of Islamic Pop Music (2021, Edinburgh UP). He has published numerous articles and books on Muslim in Europe together with migration researchers like Professors Pieter Bevelander, Garbi Schmidt and Jørgen Nielsen. Otterbeck is on the advisory board of Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare, Malmö University.