I work as a Lecturer in Postcolonial Studies at the University of Stirling. Within the School of Arts and Humanities (Languages, Cultures, Religion), I teach in the field of Critical Religion (if you’re confused by our university’s structure, it’s really very simple: see this note). Broadly, my research centres on questions of religion, history and politics in an international context, with a primary focus on the involvement of Europeans overseas, especially in the Middle East. I warmly welcome enquiries about postgraduate study, and hope that these pages will help if you are wondering about pursuing such work – do contact me through the university. You may also want to look at the profiles of my colleagues: I am tremendously fortunate in working alongside intellectually-stimulating, creative and very likeable people – we work well-together on numerous levels, including supervision of postgraduate students.
My main research project at the moment centres on the ways in which, in the modern era, understandings of gender (especially within churches) crossed national boundaries between Europe and the Middle East and the implications of such crossings for interpreting competing visions of modernity.
My interests cut across the broad fields of theology, religion, postcolonial theory, history, gender studies, politics and current affairs. I also write and speak on these issues (in English und auf Deutsch!), especially in relation to the Middle East, the so-called ‘war on terror’, the contemporary role of the West in the Middle East, ‘religious involvement’ in contemporary society and politics, and related matters. I welcome enquiries regarding writing, speaking and consultancy on these issues – see below for ways to contact me.
I initiated and now co-run a scholarly network on Christians in the Middle East, and am part of the Critical Religion Research Group. I am an Associate of the think-tank Ekklesia and also contribute occasional comment pieces for their news service. I’m also a member of the Iona Community.
In the past I have taught Middle East history and politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, England, and have been a guest lecturer in Middle Eastern history and politics at the Institute for Advanced Study, University of Pavia, Italy.
I have spent many years working in Europe and the Middle East: with and in churches, charitable bodies, international NGOs, commercial enterprises and arts organisations, and have acquired a wide range of administrative, managerial, financial and other skills.
These ‘academic pages’ – not always completely up-to-date – essentially contain an abbreviated curriculum vitae; some further information is available on my university staff page.
Locating ‘Religion’ in the University’s structures
Yes, we are basically a department in a faculty, though as has happened across virtually the entire UK higher education sector, we’ve been restructured several times in order to gradually dispense with the democratic accountability of such structures, as they existed from the medieval period onwards… Stefan Collini’s rather wonderful What Are Universities For? elaborates on all this in more detail (see also some of his writing for the London Review of Books). In a similar vein, a few years ago, Frank Furedi addressed related issues in a more acerbic – but coruscating and very readable – tone in Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone? I highly recommend both if you want an understanding of the state of the UK’s higher education sector. (back to top)
