Section: Research Student Profiles

Isabella Kasselstrand

Name
Isabella Kasselstrand
Organisation
Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
Room 3.16 Chrystal MacMillan Building 15A George Square Edinburgh UK EH8 9LD
E-Mail
Research Interests
Sociology of Religion,Secularisation,Freedom of Religion,Quantitative Research,Religious Identity,national identity
URL
http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/research_students/isabella_kasselstrand
Isabella Kasselstrand

PhD Title

Working Title: "Between Believing and Belonging: A Comparative Study of Secularisation in Protestant Europe"

Qualifications

Master of Arts, Sociology - California State University, Bakersfield.

Bachelor of Science, Economics (Summa Cum Laude) - California State University, Bakersfield. 

Current Research Project

The aim of my research is to, through a comparative study of Scotland and Sweden, provide a better understanding of the connection between religious rituals and national identity in the relatively secularised Protestant Europe. In Sweden, one can see that religious rituals are ingrained in a cultural or national identity, regardless of the fact that, on many other measures, Sweden is one of the most secularised nations in the world. My aim is to examine why Swedes support religious traditions but have abandoned the spiritual component of Christianity. Furthermore, I intend to study why Scotland, with its very strong sense of national identity and similar characteristics in terms of history, demographics and religiosity, display a quite different type of secularisation. Similar religious rituals are largely abandoned and not associated with the routine symbolism of Scottish national identity.

PhD Supervisors

Dr Michael Rosie

Dr Barbara Bompani

Teaching Experience

Lecturer and Course Organiser, California State University, Bakersfield

  • Quantitative Analysis (undergraduate and postgraduate)
  • Introduction to Sociology.

Postgraduate Tutor, University of Edinburgh

  • Core Quantitative Data Analysis
  • Sociology 1A

Teaching Assistant, California State University, Bakersfield

  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Sex, The Life Course and Human Population
  • The Meaning of Death
  
Tutor, California State University, Bakersfield
  • Sociology
  • Economics
  • Citation 

Publications

Kasselstrand, Isabella. 2012. Book Review: “Secularization and Its Discontents,” by Rob Warner. Secularism and Nonreligion, 1:iii-iv

Conference Papers and Presentations

New Directions Annual Conference, Edinburgh, UK, 2012 

  • "Between Believing and Belonging: A Comparative Study of Secularisation in Protestant Europe."  

Pacific Sociological Association's Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, 2012

  • "'I'm Protestant but I don't Believe in God': The Church as a Symbol of National Identity in Sweden."
  • "The Fluidity of Meanings and the Study of Religion: Integrating Social Constructionist Ideas in Quantitative Research."  

California Sociological Association’s Annual Conference, Berkeley, CA, 2009

  • "Becoming an Atheist – The Process of Reconstructing a Religious Identity in the Swedish Society.”

Sociology Graduate Forum, California State University, Bakersfield, 2009

  • "Sociology of Religion and Identity Formation.”

 Funding/Awards

  • School of Social and Political Science Graduate School Scholarship (2011 - present).
 

This page was published on 6 May 2012


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