The Unit of Studies on Religion conducts research using qualitative sociological methodologies, ethnographic methods, and philosophical inquiries. The researchers draw theoretical inspiration from critical social theory, political philosophy, postcolonialism, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), feminism, queer studies, studies on ignorance and epistemic injustice, posthumanism, new materialism, and various scholarly turns including linguistic, object-oriented, ethical, and animal studies.
The unit’s research focuses on a wide array of contemporary religious phenomena, investigating both conventional religiosity and new, alternative religious movements. Additionally, the unit explores power relations, resistance practices of marginalized subjects, biopolitics, minoritization, inequalities, systems of exclusion, visual anthropology and sociology.
In recent years, the unit’s research has delved into various topics, including sacrum and violence in the modern world, religious-political mythologies, the interplay between religion and sexualities/non-normative gender expressions, minority Christian churches and the media, epistemic inequalities and religion, moral panics, the relationship between religion and economic practices, migration studies, death studies, assisted death, funerals, the anthropology of dying and mourning, and the evolution and significance of elites in Eastern Europe from Orientalism and post-colonial perspectives.
Researchers and Their Fields of Study
Dr hab. Anna E. Kubiak: Animal studies, multispecies ethnography, Anthropocene, naturocultures, ecological humanities, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), visual anthropology and sociology, death studies, bioethics, biopolitics, bioeconomy, trauma and memory studies, aging societies. anna.kubiak@ifispan.edu.pl
(willing to act as supervisor for PhD students)
Dr hab. Dorota Hall: Sociology of religion, gender and sexualities, minoritization, inequalities, critical social theory, queer studies, ignorance and epistemic injustice, research ethics, multi-sited ethnographies. dhall@ifispan.edu.pl
(willing to act as supervisor for PhD students)
Dr hab. Rafał Smoczyński: Political philosophy, critical social theory, social control, sociology of elites, sociology of religion. rsmoczyn@ifispan.edu.pl
(willing to act as supervisor for PhD students)
Dr Kinga Połyńczuk-Alenius (Marie Skłodowska-Curie PASIFIC Cofund Fellow 2022–2024): epistemic democracy and epistemic injustice, journalism and media studies, antiracist, queer and feminist activism in Poland. kinga.polynczuk@ifispan.edu.pl
Ksenia Medvedeva (Marie Skłodowska-Curie PASIFIC Cofund Fellow 2022–2024): religion and environment, ethnography, ecological conversion, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Christian eco-communities in Greece and the US. ksenia.medvedeva@ifispan.edu.pl
Kuba Malec (PhD candidate, GSSR): queer and economy, Polish transformation of the 1990s, capitalist structuring of queer lives, sociology inspired by critical theory. kuba.malec@gssr.edu.pl
Daniel Addy (PhD candidate, GSSR): migration studies, business migrants in Poland. Danieladdy74@gmail.com