About
The Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics (CSRP) is located at St Mary’s College (School of Divinity), under the directorship of Professor Mario I Aguilar (Professor of Religion and Politics) with Professor Sabine Hyland (Professor of World Religions), Dr Eric Stoddart (Associate Director), and Dr John Perry (Associate Director). Members of the CSRP include staff from the Schools of Divinity, International Relations, and History, including Professor Ali Ansari (Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies), and Dr Tony Crook (Director of the Centre for Pacific Studies). The CSRP includes the Transnational Research Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (TReCIK) with close cooperation with Professor Nina Laurie of the School of Geography and Sustainable Development, as well as the Al-Maktoum College of Dundee, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) of Dharamsala, India, and Yazidi communities in Sinjar, Iraq, as well as indigenous organisations and communities in Colombia. International research partners include Team Colombia with a research group coordinated by Dr Ann Simpson, the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, and local partners for all our research projects, including Brazil, Iraq, India, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.
The aim of the CSRP is to conduct international research of academic excellence on the relation of religion and politics in collaboration with international organisations such as UNESCO, the Banco de la República of Colombia, the Vatican, the Office of the Dalai Lama, National Geographic, National Museums of Colombia, the Churches in Iraq (Latin and Oriental), the Al-Maktoum College of Dundee, and Yazidi organisations throughout the world.
Research at the CSRP
With 20 years of experience in research projects mainly in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Scotland, the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics (CSRP) has planned the following research projects for the period 2024-2029:
Burying the dead: Symbolic structures for Religion and Politics (2024-2029)
A comparative project on the dead, in which cemeteries and their tombs provide a symbolic narrative, particularly for practitioners of the world religions within the politics of the contemporary state. Thus, research questions include theological and secular perceptions of death and the dead as well as the locations of cemeteries within the history of nations and processes of identification of victims of genocide, burial, and reparations within the context of Iraq and Somaliland.
Principal Investigator: Professor Mario I Aguilar
Part I: The Challenge of Symbolic Materialities in Cemeteries: Sinjar (Iraq), Santiago (Chile), Hiroshima/Nagasaki (Japan), and London (UK) Initial Funding $5,000 Foundation Health without Borders. Output 1: Monograph on Nadia Murad and the Yazidi genocide (Routledge, 2024).
Part II: Commonwealth Cemeteries and Interfaith Graves: New Delhi (India), Karachi (Pakistan), Hargeisa (Somaliland), and Rangoon (Myanmar).
Part III: Cremations and Pet Cemeteries: Varanasi – Benares (India), London (UK), and Santiago (Chile). Output: Volume III of M.I. Aguilar, Christian-Hindu Essays, published in New Delhi (2026).
Preserving endangered khipus in the Peruvian Central Andes (2024-2029)
Principal Investigator: Professor Sabine Hyland
Village elders in the remote community of Jucul, Peru, have requested Professor Hyland’s assistance to study, clean, and preserve their ancient khipus, which they have kept hidden for centuries. The khipus, which are housed in plastic bags, are currently kept in a secret attic room in the colonial church; they are in danger of damage by insects and mould. The Jucul khipus are closely linked to the khipus in the neighbouring village of Rapaz, where Hyland has done research previously. Hyland is conducting a survey of the Jucul materials in June 2024, and is applying for funding from the National Geographic Society and others to clean, preserve, and display the khipus in the community’s new historical centre. The Jucul authorities would like for the khipus to be on display so that the younger generation of villagers can learn about their cultural heritage, and so that tourists will come to the village.
During Hyland’s fieldwork in Jucul and in Rapaz in June 2024, her research will be filmed for a new documentary on the Incas that is being produced by the Discovery Channel in the US.
Church, State, and Indigenous Knowledge in Colombia (2024-2029)
Principal Investigators: Professor Mario I Aguilar, Dr Ann Simpson, and Team Colombia TReCIK (see CSRP webpage).
Part I: Church and State in Colombia 1966-2016. Historical research with a monograph on Camilo Torres.
Part II: The National Seminar “Blanca de Corredor”, monthly at the Museo del Oro, Bogotá, sponsored by the CSRP and the Banco de la República, Colombia.
Part III: Creating Indigenous Knowledge in Leticia, Colombia. A community-based project of indigenous knowledge exchange led by Team Colombia TReCIK, hosted by the Banco de la República and coordinated by the CSRP.
Tibet Stamps 1912-1949: Material Culture on Tibetan religious and political identity (2025-2030)
Principal Investigator: Professor Mario I Aguilar with cooperation from the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA), and the Office of the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, India.
God, Language and Diversity: Spiritual flourishing in neurodiverse and multilingual communities (2024-2026)
External Co-Investigator: Dr John Perry. Partnership with University of Leeds, University of Edinburgh, University of Aberdeen, University of Cambridge, La Trobe University (Australia).
Forthcoming International Conferences:
Rethinking Religion and Politics for the 21st Century
5th-6th October 2024, School of Divinity: a two-day international conference that will ask theoretical questions about the ongoing relation between religion and politics as semantic and hermeneutical fields, with the presence of those who have researched at the CSRP during the past 20 years. What are the main theoretical debates that might become crucial in this research field during the 21st century? Contact the CSRP director at [email protected]
Religion and Politics in Asia, with a particular emphasis on Japan
Summer 2025, School of Divinity: a two-day conference that will ask questions about the ongoing centrality of religious discourses and institutional religion within the development of national politics in Asia. The plenary speakers will address the idea of the spiritual and the state religion in Japan in a changeable 21st century in which ecological, global and gender issues have opened new avenues of research on life and death as religious. Particularly important are debates related to death studies and the cemetery as part of the diverse nation. What are the main theoretical debates that might become crucial in this research field during the 21st century? This conference will be co-organised with academic partners in Japanese universities. Contact the CSRP director at [email protected]
2023-2026 Khipu Camp
Professor Sabine Hyland is on the organizing committee for Khipu Camp, the only recurring symposium on khipu research and decipherment. The first symposium, ‘Symmetry, Repetition, and Pattern Recognition in Andean Khipus’ was held at the Boundary End Centre in North Carolina from 8 -14 August 2023. The event has been nicknamed ‘Khipu Camp’ because the research centre where it is held – Boundary End – is deep in the North Carolina woods. Hyland is currently co-editing a volume comprised of the research papers presented at the symposium, which will be published in 2025.
This symposium will be a regular event dedicated to khipu research; Hyland is on the planning committee for the next symposium, which will occur in 2026. The Boundary End research centre is dedicated to Mayan glyph decipherment and has now expanded to the study of Andean khipus. Each symposium will culminate in a day of public talks on khipus in the nearby city of Asheville, North Carolina (see last year’s poster attached).