Why do we care so much about the fate of religion?
On 4 September this year, the national Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant published an article profiling recent sociological research on rising secularisation around the world. Debate over whether the disappearance of religion was something universal or...
The holy digital battleground: The Rise of Christian Nationalist Discourses and Anti-Muslim Violence in Spain
An elderly man from the town of Torre Pacheco (Murcia, Spain) was beaten by a group of three young people on July 9, 2025. The attackers were speaking Arabic. The image of the victim, with his face swollen, bruised and with a bloodshot eye, circulated...
A Second Reformation? Nineteenth-Century Protestant Mission Activism among Ottoman Palestine’s Native Churches
Jerusalem 1851, a new missionary arrived in Ottoman Palestine to commit himself to the Protestant mission cause, together with the many other Christian missionaries who reached the region during this period. Entering the city with a level of uncertainty...
Living ‘Lived Religion’ in an Afro-Brazilian Temple
I recognised the person standing in front of me. But the voice that spoke was not his.
Condoms vs Candy and Rosaries in the Philippines
On Valentine’s day, a pro-life group in the Philippines handed out candies and rosaries in exchange for condoms. These condoms were also liberally distributed that day by organisations promoting safe sex. By offering candy and rosaries, they were promoting...
The pope and the pelvic issues
When I heard the news that pope Francis had passed away, I was reminded of the discussions when he was elected to succeed pope Benedict. He was the first pope from ‘the global south’, was seen as relatively progressive, and the choice of the name Francis...
A Temple, a Cake, and a Heritage Dilemma: Living with Preservation
A Monk, a Cake, and a Heritage Site
Mary Magdalene and Peter: A contest between disciples
After Jesus’ departure from this world, the apostles carried on proclaiming the Gospel and fulfilled various functions of leadership in the earliest churches. Needless to say, early Christian texts are preoccupied with this apostolic authority, and traced...
Millets: Ancient Grains, Global Policies, Local Lifeworlds - Preliminary conclusions (6/6)
After intensive ethnographic and archaeobotanical research as part of our research project, we can identify some trends in the cereal crops of Odisha, India. First of all, it is clear that the new policies of the state, implemented by various governmental...
Millets: Ancient Grains, Global Policies, Local Lifeworlds - The deep-history of millets in Odisha (5/6)
How and when did millets become so deeply entangled with the cultures and lifeworlds of the Parenga, the Didayi, and other millet-cultivating communities in the highlands of Odisha? Under what circumstances were various millets chosen to become part of the...