Jonas Svensson
ProfessorThe focus of my research has been Islam, particularly modern interpretations, and gender issues. My doctoral thesis "Women’s human rights and Islam. A study of three attempts at accommodation" concerned the intra-Muslim debate on Islam and women’s human rights, i.e. rights stipulated in UN declarations and conventions. Earlier on, I wrote the book Muslimsk feminism (1996). After completing my PhD I have done research in areas such as Muslim everyday views and uses of the Qur’an, Islam and sexuality, Muslim bioethical discourses, religious education in a secular context and the nature of the academic study of religions in Sweden.
Between 2003 and 2006 I worked on a project concerning Islamic religious education (IRE) in Kisumu, Kenya, financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Recently I have worked on two projects. One concerned the contemporary intra-Muslim discourses on HIV/AIDS, the other concerned mawlid, or the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.
Since 2012 I have come to involve myself theoretically in the field of the Cognitive Science of Religion and its potential in relation to the study of Islam. Besides a series of articles in this field, I 2015 published the monograph Människans Muhammed which constitutes a systematic application of theoretical perspectives in CSR on the issue of the place and role of Muhammad in Islamic tradition.
More recently, I have come to expand my research methodologically in investigating the potential for applying approaches within Digital Humanities to the study of Islam. In a recently concluded project I have used computer assisted methods in comparative studies on English Qur'an translations. Currently, I am applying a similar methodology both for collecting and analysing large sets of texts in two separate project. One project concerns the public discourse on hounour culture as a social problem, and the role of Islam in that discourse. This project is conducted within the framework of LNUC Concurrences.Another project concerns Wahhabi missionary actitivities in Sweden and is externally funded by Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap, MSB.
My research groups
-
Cluster for Migration, Citizenship, and Belonging The cluster focuses on questions of belonging and difference in multicultural societies in the wake of (de-) colonisation and globalisation.
-
Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies The Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies is a leading centre for Colonial…
My ongoing research projects
-
Project: A culture of honor and Islam in Swedish public discourse The project is a computer-assisted text analysis of continuity and change in Swedish public discourse on the relation between a…
-
Project: A worthy reception? Social work with of refugees and migrants. Asylum reception is characterized by rapidly changing conditions as well as by a complex structure of receiving actors and…
-
Project: The colonial and post-colonial Qur'an The project focuses on Muslim translations of the Qur'an into English from 1905 to today. The aim is to explore to what extent tendencies in the…
Publications
Article in journal (Refereed)
-
Svensson, J. (2021). The ‘Radical Muslim’ in the Swedish News. Tidsskrift for islamforskning. 15 (1). 107-121.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2021). The Contagious Muhammad : Addressing Prophetic Relics in Islam from the Perspective of the Cognitive Science of Religion. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion. 5 (2). 187-204.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2021). Minding the pandemic : A CSR perspective on patterns in Muslim religious responses to COVID-19. Approaching Religion. 11 (2). 23-44.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2021). Mönster i svensk YouTube-salafism : Datorassisterad metadataanalys som urvalsmetod i religionsvetenskapliga studier av videomaterial online. Religionsvidenskapeligt Tidsskrift. (73). 62-85.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2020). Computing Swedish Salafism : An Example of a Digital Humanities Approach to Collecting, Organizing, and Analyzing Data on Web-based Salafi Missionary Activity in Sweden. Journal of Religion in Europe. 13 (1-2). 1-22.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2019). Computing Qur'ans : A Suggestion for a Digital Humanities Approach to the Question of Interrelations between English Qur'an Translations. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. 30 (2). 211-229.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2018). Vi har hämnats Profeten! : Kognitionsvetenskaplig religionsforskning i analys av reaktioner på Muhammedkarikatyrer. DIN : tidsskrift for religion og kultur. (1). 158-183.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2017). Hurting the Qur'an : Suggestions Concerning the Psychological Infrastructure of Desecration. Temenos. 53 (2). 243-264.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2015). Religious education and teaching young people about humanity : Suggesting a new role for RE and for the academic study of religions in Sweden. Temenos. 51 (2). 177-199.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2015). Att äta en religion : Halalkyckling, essentialism och äcklets psykologi. Chaos : skandinavisk tidsskrift for religionshistoriske studier. 64 (2). 29-51.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2014). God’s Rage : Muslim Representations of HIV/AIDS as a Divine Punishment from the Perspective of the Cognitive Science of Religion. Numen. 61 (5-6). 569-593.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2013). Vem äger den islamiska historien? : Om helig historia och historisk fiktion utifrån romanen Medinas Juvel. Chaos : skandinavisk tidsskrift for religionshistoriske studier. 59 (1). 77-96.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2013). Size Matters! : Miniature Mushafs and the Landscape of Affordances. Postscripts. 9 (2-3). 222-242.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2013). Islam, HIV/AIDS and activism : A critical analysis of some themes in Positive Muslims’ ‘theology of compassion’. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. 24 (1). 91-109.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2012). Mind the Beard! : deference, purity and islamization of everyday life as micro-factors in a Salafi cultural epidemiology. Comparative Islamic Studies. 8 (1-2). 185-209.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2012). Preventionsstrategi eller problem? : Genus i en nutida inom-muslimsk diskussion om HIV/AIDS. Chaos : skandinavisk tidsskrift for religionshistoriske studier. (57). 83-105.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2010). Divisions, diversity and educational directives : IRE teachers' didactic choices in Kisumu, Kenya. British Journal of Religious Education. 32 (3). 245-258.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2007). HIV/AIDS and Islamic religious education in Kisumu, Kenya. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. 2 (3). 179-192.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2007). Den ofrivilliga apologeten : Fatima Mernissi och den muslimska feminismen. Svensk Religionshistorisk årsskrift. SRÅ.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2006). Have you all got your copy of the Qur’an? : Rationalisation, ritual and the role of God’s word in a Kenyan Islamic educational setting. Tidsskrift for islamforskning. (1). 1-27.
Status: Published
Conference paper (Refereed)
Book (Refereed)
- Svensson, J. (2015). Människans Muhammed. Stockholm, Molin & Sorgenfrei Akademiska.
Chapter in book (Refereed)
- Svensson, J. (2021). Dwarfs are not Religious, Sir! : Gradually Reclining Dwarven Irreligion in Terry Pratchett's Discworld Universe. The Enduring Fantastic : Essays on Imagination and Western Culture. Jefferson, McFarland. 106-123.
- Svensson, J. (2019). Size Matters! : Miniature Mushafs and the Landscape of Affordances. Miniature Books : The Format and Function of Tiny Religious Texts. Sheffield, Equinox Publishing. 158-176.
- Svensson, J. (2019). The Multifaceted Scripture : Patterns, Conflicts, and Ambiguities in Muslim Ways of Relating to the Qur'an. A Critical Study of Classical Religious Texts in Global Contexts : Challenges of a Changing World. New York, Peter Lang Publishing Group. 101-118.
- Svensson, J. (2018). Islamic education in East Africa. Handbook of Islamic Education. Cham, Springer. 651-672.
- Svensson, J. (2016). Kognitionsvetenskapliga svar. Varför finns religion?. Stockholm, Molin & Sorgenfrei. 44-69.
- Svensson, J. (2014). ITZ BIDAH BRO!!!!! GT ME?? : YouTube Mawlid and voices of praise and blame. Muslims and the new information and communication technologies : notes from an emerging and infinite field. Dordrecht, Springer. 89-111.
- Svensson, J. (2014). Let's talk about sex : Islam and sexuality in positive Muslims' 'Theology of compassion'. Strings attached : AIDS and the rise of transnational connections in Africa. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 219-243.
- Svensson, J., Arvidsson, S. (2010). Inledning till första utgåvan. Människor och makter 2.0 : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Halmstad, Högskolan i Halmstad. 9-15.
- Svensson, J. (2010). Källkritik. Människor och makter 2.0 : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Halmstad, Högskolan i Halmstad. 144-149.
Article in journal (Other academic)
-
Svensson, J. (2001). Islam och hedersmord : En kommentar. TFMS : Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudier. (1). 33-40.
Status: Published
Conference paper (Other academic)
- Svensson, J. (2014). Trends in Muslim feminist discourse. .
- Svensson, J. (2013). Mind the beard! : Deference, purity and Islamisation of everyday life as micro-factors in a Salafi cultural epidemiology. Religion, Migration, Mutation : Abstract Book XII. Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions and a Special Conference of the International Association for the History of Religions, hosted by the British Association for the Study of Religions at Liverpool Hope University.Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park Campus, Liverpool, UK, 3-6 September 2013.
- Svensson, J. (2013). God's rage : Muslim representations of HIV/AIDS as a divine punishment from the perspective of the cognitive science of religion. .
- Svensson, J. (2012). Imaging the Prophet : Some hypotheseses on contemporary Muslim Muhammadan aesthetics. .
- Svensson, J. (2012). Vem äger den islamiska historien? : Om minne, historia och fiktion utifrån The Jewel of Medina. .
- Svensson, J. (2012). Physically connecting to Islamic beginnings : Tabarruk bi al-athar, contagion and prestige.. .
- Svensson, J. (2011). Mind and Muhammad : An exploration into the usefulness of cognitive science for the study of Muslim cultural representations of the Prophet.. .
- Svensson, J. (2011). Prevention eller problem : Genus och religion i en inom-muslimsk diskussion om HIV/AIDS och islam. .
- Svensson, J. (2009). I eftermiddag har vi matte och religion : Livsfrågepedagogik och religionens återkomst i skolan. .
- Svensson, J. (2007). ’We don’t go deep’ : Educational choices among IRE-teachers in Kisumu, Kenya. Plurality and representation. Religion in education, culture and society, European Association for the Study of Religons, Bremen, 23–27 september 2007.
- Svensson, J. (2007). Who is the kafir? : Boundary contruction in IRE in Kisumu, Kenya. Religion on the borders, European Association for the Study of Religions, Stockholm, 19–22 april 2007.
- Svensson, J. (2007). From apologetics to Gender Jihad : Recent trends in Muslim feminism. Svenska kyrkans forskningsdagar, Uppsala, 15–16 oktober 2007.
- Svensson, J. (2006). HIV/AIDS and Islamic education in Kisumu, Kenya. Islamic refomist movements in Sub-Saharan Africa, Centre for African Studies, Köpenhamn, 31 maj 2006.
- Svensson, J. (2006). Muslimer som minoritet och islamisk religiös utbildning i Kisumu, Kenya. Imerforskningens brytpunkter, villkor och framtid. IMER-förbundet, Göteborg, 23 november 2006.
- Svensson, J. (2005). Islamic education and social development in Kisumu, Kenya. Structures of Vulnerability, SIDA, Stockholm, 12–14 januari 2005.
Book (Other academic)
- Svensson, J. (1996). Muslimsk feminism : Några exempel. Lund, Teologiska institutionen.
Chapter in book (Other academic)
- Svensson, J. (2020). Honor culture and Islam in Swedish public discourse : an example of how computer-assisted methods may facilitate humanistic research. Doing digital humanties : concepts approaches cases. Växjö, Linnaeus University Press. 147-168.
- Larsson, G., Nordin, A., Svensson, J. (2020). By way of Introduction. Building blocks of religion : Critical applications and future prospects. Equinox Publishing. 1-4.
- Svensson, J. (2020). Qur’ans through the lens of moral foundations : an explorative study of Qur’an translations in a building block framework. Building blocks of religion : critical applications and future prospects. Sheffield, Equinox Publishing. 82-100.
- Svensson, J. (2020). Ritualizing Muslim Iconic Texts. The Oxford Handbook of Ritual and Worship in the Hebrew Bible. New York, Oxford University Press. 273-288.
- Svensson, J. (2018). Shaykher, sayyider och Zlatan Ibrahimovic : Prestigebaserad auktoritet, karisma och socialt lärande. Auktoritet. Göteborg, Daidalos. 215-238.
- Sorgenfrei, S., Svensson, J. (2017). Religiösa begrepp och tolkningar. Det digitala kalifatet : En studie av Islamiska statens propaganda. Stockholm, FOI, Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut. 22-37.
- Lindenfors, P., Svensson, J. (2017). Stora gudar, heliga kor och människans överlevenad : Evolutionära förklaringar på religion. Religionen tur och retur : RJ:s årsbok 2017/2018. Stockholm, Makadam Förlag. 19-36.
- Svensson, J. (2017). Moralpsykologi och religion. Den religiösa människan : En introduktion till religionspsykologin. Stockholm, Natur och kultur. 505-536.
- Svensson, J. (2015). Mawlid. Islam : en religionsvetenskaplig introduktion. Stockholm, Liber. 186-187.
- Svensson, J. (2015). Baraka. Islam : en religionsvetenskaplig introduktion. Stockholm, Liber. 21-22.
- Svensson, J. (2015). Muhammad. Islam : en religionsvetenskaplig introduktion. Stockholm, Liber. 13-42.
- Svensson, J. (2015). Religionskunskap som humanistiskt ämne i den svenska skolan. Religionsdidaktiska studier. Växjö/Kalmar, Linnaeus University Press. 19-36.
- Svensson, J. (2015). Sahaba. Islam : en religionsvetenskaplig introduktion. Stockholm, Liber. 60-61.
- Ammert, N., Rosén, U., Svensson, J. (2014). Inledning. Blickar : kulturvetenskapliga perspektiv på utbildning. Växjö, Linnaeus University Press. 5-11.
- Svensson, J. (2014). Undervisa i eller om islam : IRE-lärares didaktiska val i Kisumu, Kenya. Blickar : kulturvetenskapliga perspektiv på utbildning. Växjö, Linnaeus University Press. 129-148.
- Svensson, J. (2012). "Ta väl hand om Guds ord!" : Koranen i IRE-undervisning i Kisumu, Kenya. Islamologi : Studiet av en religion. Stockholm, Carlsson Bokförlag. 57-75.
- Svensson, J. (2011). "Men Profeten sa..." : Sunna som resurs och problem. Levande ord : Tolkningar av abrahamitiska källtexter. Lund, Studentlitteratur AB. 141-158.
- Svensson, J. (2011). Att möta muslimer i fält. Perspektiv på islam : En vänbok till Christer Hedin. Stockholm, Dialogos Förlag. 144-150.
- Svensson, J. (2011). Islam. Mänskliga rättigheter och religion. Malmö, Liber. 178-189.
- Svensson, J. (2011). Kön och genus i religionskunskap. Religionsdidaktik : Mångfald, livsfrågor och etik i skolan. Lund, Studentlitteratur AB. 97-112.
- Svensson, J. (2010). Bioetikk i islam. Bioetikk i verdensreligionene : Religion, meisin og teknologisk endring. Oslo, Abstrakt forlag. 107-168.
- Svensson, J. (2010). Relating, revering, and removing : Muslim views on the Use, Power, and Disposal of Divine Words. The Death of Sacred Texts : Ritual Disposal and Renovation of Texts in World Religions. Farnham, Ashgate. 31-54.
- Svensson, J. (2010). Kättja, kontroll och kontroverser : Muslimska perspektiv på sex. Sex - för Guds skull : Sexualitet och erotik i världens religioner. Lund, Studentlitteratur AB. 71-102.
- Svensson, J. (2009). ‘... sport – like religion – is ideal in expressing boundaries between us and them.’. Borders as Experience. Halmstad, Högskolan i Halmstad. 163-169.
- Svensson, J. (2009). Morals, manners, and modernism : elements of religious boundary construction within Islamic religious education in Kisumu, Kenya. Your heritage and mine : teaching in a multi-religious classroom. Stockholm, Swedish Science Press. 83-93.
- Svensson, J. (2009). ‘Muslims have instructions’ : HIV/AIDS, Modernity and Islamic Religious Education in Kisumu, Kenya.. Aids and Religious Practice in Africa. Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers. 189-219.
- Svensson, J. (2009). Trender i muslimsk feminism. Att tolka Bibeln och Koranen : Konflikt och förhandling. Lund, Studentlitteratur AB. 79-96.
- Arvidsson, S., Svensson, J. (2008). Inledning. Människor och makter : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Halmstad, Högskolan i Halmstad. 4-10.
- Svensson, J. (2008). Kön. Religion i Sverige. Stockholm, Dialogos. 353-357.
- Svensson, J. (2008). Könsperspektiv. Människor och makter. : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Halmstad, Högskolan i Halmstad. 75-80.
- Svensson, J. (2008). Källkritik. Människor och makter : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Halmstad, Högskolan i Halmstad. 14-19.
- Svensson, J. (2008). Sexualitet. Religion i Sverige. Stockholm, Dialogos. 358-362.
- Svensson, J. (2004). Muslimska perspektiv och attityder. Etik och genteknik : Filosofiska och religiösa perspektiv på genterapi, stamcellsforskning och kloning. Lund, Nordic Academic Press. 161-202.
- Svensson, J. (2002). Kvinnors rättigheter som Allahs krav : En analys av undervisningsmanualen Claiming our rights. Stigma, status och strategier : Genusperspektiv i religionsvetenskap. Lund, Studentlitteratur. 111-126.
Doctoral thesis, monograph (Other academic)
- Svensson, J. (2000). Women's human rights and Islam : A Study of Three Attempts at Accommodation. Doctoral Thesis. Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell International. 250.
Report (Other academic)
Collection (editor) (Other academic)
- Larsson, G., Svensson, J., Nordin, A. (2020). Building blocks of religion : critical applications and future prospects. London, Equinox Publishing. 127.
- Hansson, J., Svensson, J. (2020). Doing Digital Humanities : Concepts, Approaches, Cases. Växjö, Linnaeus University Press. 259.
- Ammert, N., Rosén, U., Svensson, J. (2014). Blickar : kulturvetenskapliga perspektiv på utbildning. Växjö, Linnaeus University Press. 244.
- Arvidsson, S., Svensson, J. (2010). Människor och makter 2.0 : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Högskolan i Halmstad. 187.
- Svensson, J., Arvidsson, S. (2008). Människor och makter : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Högskolan i Halmstad. 96.
Article, book review (Other academic)
-
Svensson, J. (2020). [Review of] The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Cultural and Cognitive Aesthetics of Religion : edited by Anne Koch and Katharina Wilkens, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, xviii + 354 pp., US$134.00 (hardback), ISBN 978 1 3500 6671 7. Religion. Taylor & Francis. 50 (3). 465-467.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2019). Vardaglig religiositet i dess mångfald. Respons : recensionstidskrift för humaniora & samhällsvetenskap. Tidskriften Respons. (4).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2019). Anmeldelse : Jonathan H. Turner, Alexandra Maryanski, Anders Klostergaard Petersen & Armin W. Geertz, The Emergence and Evolution of Religion: By Means of Natural Selection, Routledge 2018, 285 s.. Religionsvidenskapeligt Tidsskrift. Aarhus University. 69. 260-262.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2019). Tar ställning mot islamistisk aktivism. Respons : recensionstidskrift för humaniora & samhällsvetenskap. Tidskriften Respons. (1).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2013). Recension av Luther H. Martin och Jesper Sørensen (eds.) Past minds. Studies in cognitive historiography, Equiknox, London, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84553-740-1. Chaos : skandinavisk tidsskrift for religionshistoriske studier. 59 (1). 237-239.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2006). Recension av M. Fazlhashemi Occidentalism. Tidskrift for islamforskning.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2000). Virtuell islam?. TFMS : Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudier. (2).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (1999). Recension: Eva Evers Rosander and David Westerlund (red.) African Islam and Islam in Africa. Svensk religionshistorisk årsskrift. 8.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (1997). Två icke-muslimers egenhändigt konstruerade idealislam. TFMS : Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudier. (1).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (1997). Nytt och svenskt om kvinnor i Arabvärlden. TFMS : Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudier. (2).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (1996). Recension av Mattias Gardells avhandling Countdown to Armageddon. TFMS : Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudier. (2).
Status: Published
Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
-
Svensson, J. (2011). Religionskunskap : Ett kontroversiellt ämne. Grundskoletidningen. (3). 6-12.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2008). ”Hörde du nyheten. En kvinna ledde fredagsbönen”. Svensk kyrkotidning. (40).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2006). ‘Det är intentionen som räknas’. : En reflektion kring muslimska ideal och praktiker i globaliseringens tidevarv. RIT-Religionsvetenskaplig internettidskrift. (9).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2005). Kvinnor, sharia och den nya konstitutionen. Afghanistannytt. (1).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2005). Mänskliga rättigheter och islam. Religion och livsfrågor. (2).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2002). Islamismen under konstruktion. Bang. (2–3).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (2000). Vad menar Allah?. Bang. (2).
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (1997). Kvinnor och islam. Samhällsmagasinet Epok. (4). 18-19.
Status: Published -
Svensson, J. (1997). Fatima Mernissi : Den globale feminist. Forum. (2).
Status: Published
Other (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
- Svensson, J. (2013). Debatt om muslimsk feminism.
- Svensson, J. (2013). Religion, ateism, kognition och evolution.
- Svensson, J. (2013). En modern inkvisition i ärkebiskopsvalets spår?.
- Svensson, J. (2013). Våldsbenägna islamister och resten av den muslimska världen.
- Svensson, J. (2013). Att äta religion : exemplet halalkött i Svedala.
- Svensson, J. (2013). Ideal, praktik och religionskritik.
- Svensson, J. (2012). En blodig historia.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Siewert och andligheten.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Dop och ekonomi.
- Svensson, J. (2012). En polemik med kontext och rötter.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Glad mawlid (milad, mulud, maulidi etc).
- Svensson, J. (2012). Heberlein, vi och religionen.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Religion och vetenskaplig prestige.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Samtal om religion.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Shari‘a eller shari‘a.
- Svensson, J. (2012). IKEA i Saudi: en snabbanalys.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Och så det där med icke-konfessionalitet.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Den religiösa apan.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Göran Greider om religionens väsen.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Nu är det (snart) jul igen.
- Svensson, J. (2012). Fin- och fulislam.
- Svensson, J. (2008). Den muslimska faktorn : Valfläsk och propaganda i det kenyanska valet.
- Svensson, J. (2007). Dialog.
- Svensson, J. (2007). Nigeriabrev.