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Supervisor: Prof Titus Hjelm听补苍诲听Prof Andrew Wilson
Present status:聽PhD candidate
Working title of thesis:聽Religion and social change: civic engagement of Protestants in Belarus
Research:聽聽In this project, I look at the ways in which Protestant communities can promote or inhibit social change in the Belarusian society. My research focuses on the congregational life and how it affects the views, values and, attitudes of individual members as well as whether this can lead to their civic engagement. Although the political context remains salient, this study focuses mainly on a social dimension of the activity of Protestants.
While being on a multi-sited field work in Belarus, I conducted face-to-face in-depth interviews and engaged with participant observation. I attended the Sunday services, congregation鈥檚 social events as well as often carried out ordinary activities with locals.
Belarus has remained widely uncovered in academic literature of the sociology and anthropology of religion, in particular, social dynamics involving Protestant minorities. This will help putting the religious tendencies in the Belarusian society in a broader global context. Also, while many recent studies on the globalisation of Protestantism focus largely on converts, this research aims at including both those 鈥渂orn into鈥� and 鈥渨ho converted鈥�, thus filling in a research gap.
Modules taught:聽Researching Politics and Society (2019)
I served as a tutor with the Brilliant Club (2018) and taught at London-based schools about the ways in which religion can contribute to social capital.
Publications:
Borowska, P. (2017).聽聽Sozial engagiert, 枚ffentlich unsichtbar 鈥� Freikirchen in Belarus.聽Religion und Gesellshaft in Ost und West,聽11, pp. 27-29.
Borowska, P. (2017).聽Atheist Secularism and its Discontents. A Comparative Study of Religion and Communism in Eurasia.聽Europe-Asia Studies,聽69(6), pp. 992鈥�93 (book review).
Borowska, P. (2015). Religion and Politics in Post-Socialist Central and Southeastern Europe since 1989.聽Europe-Asia Studies, 聽67(7), pp.1159-61 (book review).
Borowska, P. (2015). The Media in Transitional Democracies.聽Europe-Asia Studies, 聽67(1), pp.155-57 (book review).
Borowska, P. (2014). Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society. Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania.聽Europe-Asia Studies,聽66(7), pp.1190-91 (book review).
Selected articles on Belarus Digest:
鈥淩eligion in Belarus 鈥� from Orthodoxy to Protestantism?鈥� available at:
鈥淩eligious freedom in Belarus: worse than in Ukraine, better than in Russia鈥� available at:
鈥淏elarus鈥� Three Independence Days鈥� available at:
Research interests: Religion, social capital, social change, civil society.
PhD Blog: borowska.net
Twitter: @borowska_by
Email address: paula.borowska.17@ucl.ac.uk