Jonas Svensson

The 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.