Royalty Research Fund research, 2016-2017
The project is an investigation of faith-based sanctuary incidents and movements in Europe. While generally perceived as a US-based social movement from the 1980s, sanctuary incidents involving irregular migrants and asylum claimants are now a global occurrence. Moreover, they are often based on transnational networks between churches, and between churches and other organizations. Despite the rapid and expansive growth of sanctuary incidents and actors in Europe over the past decade, little research has been done to document and analyze this contemporary phenomenon. Research funded by the Royalty Research Fund will bring critical new insights on the important spatial dimension of sanctuary, its potential to challenge and rework democratic practices and alliances, and the growing role of pastoral and other faith-based rationalities on liberal systems of governance.