I am professor in Sociology of Religion at the Faculty of Theology, Uppsala University and a researcher at the Uppsala Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society. Sociology of religion as a research field focus on the dynamic interplay between religion and society. Sociological theories and methods are used to analyze how the meaning and role of religious symbols, values and organisations change in contemporary societies.
My research has primarily focused on representations of religion in Swedish and Nordic daily press, public service media and social media in the context of current social and political changes. Nordic societies have during the latest decades experienced rapid transformations where a largely homogeneous Lutheran Christian and secular national identity becomes challenged through increased social and cultural diversity. My research has focused on how religion in this process become increasingly visible and contested in political and media debates. Using religion as a lens, I have analyzed how understandings of what constitutes core democratic values – such as secularity, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and gender equality – become renegotiated in primarily Swedish society. During my time as an Erik Allardt fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS), I analyzed debates in Nordic daily press on Qur’an burnings in Sweden 2023.
The fellowship at the Collegium gave me a unique opportunity to focus on my research, but more importantly, to experience a truly vibrant, generous, and stimulating interdisciplinary research community. Although my research has always been multidisciplinary, the discussions with colleagues from a wide range of national and research contexts both challenged and deepened my understanding of my own discipline, faculty and role as a researcher. In this way, my experiences at the HCAS have inspired and enabled me to develop a new path in my research, focusing on the role of religious women as key actors in forming Swedish modernity during the 20th century.
I am a Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. My research lies at the intersection of Afro-Hispanic linguistics, language variation, and the African Diaspora in Latin America. For over fifteen years, I have focused on the linguistic and sociohistorical study of Afro-Latino vernaculars of the Americas—contact varieties that emerged from the interaction between African languages, Spanish, and Portuguese in colonial Latin America. My work integrates linguistic, historical, legal, and anthropological insights to better understand these varieties and their broader social significance. More recently, I have expanded my focus to include language policy, legal history, and human rights, particularly as they affect speakers of non-dominant or unofficial languages.
My time at the Collegium was a wonderful experience that allowed me to complete my book Interfaces and Domains of Contact-Driven Restructuring (Cambridge University Press, 2021). It provided invaluable space for deep research, while also connecting me with an inspiring group of interdisciplinary scholars. I especially enjoyed the colloquia and living in Finland, where I had the chance to experience a culture that values education, community, and thoughtful dialogue, and to connect with some of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met.