3 PhD candidates 'Sacralizing Security: Religion, Violence and Authority in Mega-Cities at Utrecht University in Holland

Utrecht University seeks to appoint 3 PhD candidates who will investigate the role of religious vigilante organizations. All three PhDs will be part of the ERC Consolidator project: Sacralizing Security: Religion, Violence and Authority in Mega-Cities of the Global South (SACRASEC). In mega-cities of the Global South, state agencies often lack the capacity to provide infrastructure and security to all citizens. In such contexts, religious organizations and non-state security actors (vigilantes) have merged into alternative governance organizations. The emergence of religious vigilantes suggests a different connection between religion and violence than emphasized in current research on religious fundamentalism and terrorism. While religious vigilantes use violence systematically, they generally do not aim to overthrow the state, nor do they seek a global audience to witness their violence. They operate side-by-side with state actors to maintain order. SACRASEC will analyze the production of authority of religious vigilantes in mega-cities of the Global South through an ethnographic comparison of groups in three mega-cities: Rio de Janeiro, Jakarta and Lagos. We seek to appoint PhDs that will focus on specific case-studies that have been designed for the project:

PhD 1: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Focus on evangelical vigilantes.
PhD 2: Jakarta, Indonesia. Focus on Islamic vigilantes.
PhD 3: Lagos, Nigeria. Focus on Yoruba vigilantes.

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3 PhD candidates 'Sacralizing Security: Religion, Violence and Authority in Mega-Cities at Utrecht University in Holland