Centre for Religion and Public Life

• Mikel Burley, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy
• Caroline Fielder, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies
• Alistair McFadyen, Retired Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology
• Seán McLoughlin, Professor of the Anthropology of Islam (Muslim Diasporas)
• Tasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Religion
• Mustapha Sheikh, Professor in Islamic Studies; Co-Director of the Iqbal Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam
• Jasjit Singh,  ​​​​​Professor of Religion and Global Engagement
• Stefan Skrimshire, Associate Professor in Theology and Religious Studies
• Caroline Starkey,  Associate Professor of Religion and Society
• Johanna Stiebert, Professor of Hebrew Bible
• Aled Thomas, Lecturer in Religious Studies
• Emma Tomalin, Professor of Religion and Public Life
• Adriaan van Klinken, Professor of Religion and African Studies
• Robert Vanderbeck, Professor of Human Geography and Head of School

This talk calls for a conversation between men and women towards dismantling patriarchal structures that promote and legitimise rape culture. Focusing on the context of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, it interrogates the role of patriarchy in gender-based violence, what gender-sensitive conversation looks like, and what it could achieve in spaces of mutual respect, theological reflection and genuine love. Based on over six years of ethnographic research, including participant observation, interviews and focus group discussions, this talk brings to the fore the often under-represented and rarely documented stories of women with disabilities who were infected with HIV through rape by men known to and, in some cases, loved by them. It advances the findings explored in my new book that women with disabilities, including those with albinism, continue to negotiate unsafe intimate partner relationships, while making sense of the ambivalence of a Christian faith that both provides succour and drives abuse. This presentation argues that in religious and cultural spaces, patriarchy enables and entitles men to act in ways that dehumanise and diminish the value of women -  sometimes with deadly consequences.

Rev. Dr. Jessie Ini Fubara-Manuel is an ordained minister, researcher, author and advocate for gender justice and disability inclusion. She is Urban Theologian of the Leeds Church Institute. Her recently published book is Navigating Disability, HIV, Relationships and Abuse for Christian Women in Nigeria: A Focused Study on Port Harcourt (Abingdon: Routledge, 2026) 

Please note: our second CRPL seminar is on a different day of the week and at a different time to other seminars in our series! Monday 12 October 2026, 13:30-15:00, Botany House seminar room (1.03). 

As a current 'work in progress', I'm exploring the commitment of various states to projects of global Islamophobia and the maintenance of colonial racial governance through the suppression of Muslim resistance. I want to develop this further investigating how genocides targeted at Muslims have become normalised and institutionalised through political rhetoric, education and the formulation of the definition.

Since October 7th 2023, people globally have taken a stand against the atrocities being committed in Gaza and made links to other examples of genocide. A large proportion of this activism has come from young people, especially in universities, and has been met with fierce crackdowns and in some cases prosecutions. In the UK context, the way we teach emboldens dominant narratives and supports status quo points of view. This is particularly true in terms of topics like genocide, remembrance, empire and coloniality. This ensures that from an early stage of education, students are inculcated to not acknowledge particular events for the impact and consequences they’ve had. In terms of genocide, this is further emboldened by the definition that was adopted, the arbiters of that process, and the political pressures of who is or is not to be condemned as genocidaires. All of this take place in a climate of global Islamophobia and colonial amnesia that obfuscates the root cause of racial tensions in a variety of countries.

This paper will investigate how the erasure of genocide provides cover for many that don’t reach the definitional threshold, and the links this has to colonial projects past and present. It will further explore the inadequacies of the definition and how the selective application and enforcement of it provides cover for current crimes. Lastly, I hope to explore how this impacts education around genocide and what this means for future generations who are taught about remembrance, crimes against humanity and the role of ‘Never Again’.

Dr Claudia Radiven is a lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. Her areas of expertise include Critical Muslim Studies, Islamophobia, Critical Race Theory, State Crime, and Race and Social Justice. Claudia has also co-edited and co-written Crimes of States & Powerful Elites: A Collection of Case Studies. She is also one of the hosts of the podcast, Radio ReOrient.

Content warning: sexual harassment and abuse.

This seminar will explore the sexual harassment and abuse of Catholic Religious Sisters, especially by Priests, and discuss the responses of church authorities when abuses are disclosed or become known. It will:

(1) examine the fictional story of Sister Shanumi in the film and novel Conclave; (2) discuss internal reports of abuses against religious sisters in 1990s, public media coverage of these reports in 2001, and the renewed internation concern over the issue since 2018; and (3) describe a current research project to learn more about church responses when sisters are subjected to sexual harassment or abuse.

 

David Tombs is the Howard Paterson Professorial Chair, and Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, at the University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Aotearoa New Zealand. Originally from the United Kingdom, he moved to Otago in 2015, when he was appointed under the university’s Leading Thinkers initiative. David is a lay Anglican theologian with a longstanding interest in religion and social justice. His work focusses on contextual and liberationist approaches in theology. Much of his recent research has explored how churches can make better responses to spiritual and sexual abuses. He is known internationally for biblical research that has identified the significance of forced nudity as an instrument of violence during crucifixion. Read more at www.david-tombs.com.