About the podcast
The RelPol podcast series is dedicated to showcasing the work of the RelPol research group and the broader IKOS community, with a specific focus on the intersection between religion and politics.
Through informative and engaging discussions, the podcast aims to promote new avenues for research, encourage academic collaboration, and make the work of researchers in this field more accessible to a broader audience.
Furthermore, the RelPol podcast series aims to engage with the work of guest scholars from other research centres worldwide and to build bridges around the topic of religion and politics.
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Episodes
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Mark Teeuwen – The Politics of Tradition in Japan
Our guest in this episode of the podcast is Mark Teeuwen, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Oslo. Mark will introduce us to one of Japan's most famous festivals, Kyoto's Gion Festival, and help us retrace its millennial history. We will discover how religion, tradition, and politics are deeply interrelated and have helped shape and transform the festival over the course of the centuries. You can learn more about the festival in Mark's latest book, " Kyoto's Gion Festival. A Social History." For a concise overview, refer to his Open Access articles on " Religion" and JJRS.
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5. Olav Børreson Fossdal – Material Religion in Asylum Cases
In this episode of the podcast, Olav Børreson Fossdal, MA, a scholar of religion and emerging expert in the field, helps us navigate the complex journey of Iranian asylum seekers in Norway who are in the process of converting to Christianity. His insights are based on a skillful combination of empirical research and theoretical reflection, showcasing his deep understanding of the subject matter. Discover other compelling aspects of his work in the forthcoming edited volume titled Asylum and Conversion from Islam to Christianity in Europe (books.google.no).
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4. Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay – Religion and the Politics of Future Fiction
Our guest in this episode of the podcast is Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, an Associate Professor of Global Cultural Studies at the University of Oslo. Bodhisattva is a specialist in global future fiction and the director of the research projects CoFutures and Science Fictionality. In our conversation, he explains to us how myth and politics intersect in works of science fiction across the world. You can read more about this topic in his article On the Mythologerm: Kalpavigyan and the Question of Imperial Science (jstor.org)
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3. Hanne Amanda Trangerud – Trump and the American Evangelicals
In this episode of the podcast, Hanne Amanda Trangerud takes us on a journey into the world of American Evangelicalism, shedding light on the relationship between Born-Again Christians and the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. You can read more on the subject in her articles " The Trump Prophecies (journals.sagepub.com)" and " The American Cyrus (mdpi.com)." Hanne is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the study of religion at IKOS, University of Oslo.
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2. Ricarda Stegmann – Entangled History in Paris
In this episode we meet our first international guest, Ricarda Stegmann (unifr.ch), a Lecturer in the Study of Religion at the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland. Ricarda will tell us about the religious and political role of the Grand Mosque of Paris and introduce us to the analytical approach known as "entangled history." Her latest book is titled, " Verflochtene Identitäten Die Große Moschee von Paris zwischen Algerien und Frankreich. (vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com)" (V&R, 2019) but if you are looking for a reading in English, this is a book chapter on the same topic: Between Orient and Occident? The Colonial Legacy at the Grand Mosque of Paris (link.springer.com).
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1. Kathinka Frøystad – Religious Offence in India
In this episode of the podcast, we discuss with Kathinka Frøystad, a Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at IKOS. Our focus is on her recent research about religious offence in India and the various ways in which religious controversies can either escalate unexpectedly or be resolved peacefully at the local level. Kathinka shares some of her findings from her latest book, which she co-edited with Vera Lazzaretti, titled " Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence: Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment" (Routledge, 2023).