Anna Halafoff is an Australian sociologist who is Associate Professor in Sociology at Deakin University and the current president of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion.
Anna Halafoff | |
---|---|
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation(s) | Sociologist, academic |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Thesis | Netpeace : the multifaith movement and common security (2010) |
Doctoral advisor | Gary Bouma |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Sociology |
Sub-discipline | Sociology of religion |
Institutions | Deakin University |
Main interests | sociology of religion, religious diversity and interfaith relations |
Website | www |
Education
Halafoff completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne, a Master of Letters at the University of New England in 2001, a Graduate Diploma of Education at the University of New England in 2006, and a Doctor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria in 2010.[1][2]
Her doctoral dissertation, titled Netpeace : the multifaith movement and common security,[3] examines the rise of multifaith engagement from the perspective of social movement theory and cosmopolitan theory. Her principal supervisor was Gary Bouma.[4]
Career
Halafoff is Associate Professor in Sociology of Religion in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University, in Burwood, Australia. She is also a member of the Alfred Deakin Institute's Science and Society Network, Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS) Consortium,[5] and AVERT (Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation to Terrorism) Research Network.[6][7]
She is also a Research Associate of the UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific at Monash University and was a Research Associate of the Religion and Diversity Project at the University of Ottawa.[8][2][9]
Halafoff was a Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council Discovery Projects on the Worldviews of Generation Z Australians[10] and on Religious Diversity in Australia.[11] She is also the Chief Investigator on the International Research Network for the Study of Science & Belief in Society project on Conspirituality in Australia.[12]
Her research interests include religious diversity, interreligious relations, religion and education, preventing violent extremism, contemporary spirituality, Buddhism and gender, and Buddhism in Australia.[7][1] She has published extensively in these areas.[13]
Halafoff's research has had an impact on government policy and curriculum development in the area of religious diversity, particularly in the state of Victoria.[14] She is also regularly called upon to comment on her fields of expertise in the media.[2] She has been a guest on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's God Forbid[15] and Religion & Ethics programs,[16] and written for The Conversation.[17]
Halafoff is a practicing Buddhist and has been involved in interfaith activities and networks since the mid-1990s.[14]
In 2011, Halafoff was named a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations' Global Expert in the fields of interfaith relations and religion, conflict and peacebuilding.[7][2]
She is the current President of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR).[8] In 2010 the AASR Women's Caucus selected her to give the annual Penny Magee Memorial Lecture.[18]
Halafoff is the Australasian Representative on the International Society for the Sociology of Religion's Council,[19] and Executive Committee member of the International Association for the History of Religions, currently serving as Deputy Secretary General.[2]
Selected publications
Books
- Singleton, Andrew, Halafoff, Anna, Rasmussen, Mary Lou and Bouma, Gary 2021, Freedoms, faiths and futures: Teenage Australians on religion, sexuality and diversity, First ed., Bloomsbury Academic, London. ISBN 9781350179561
- Clarke, Matthew and Halafoff, Anna 2017, Religion and development in the Asia-Pacific : sacred places as development spaces, Routledge, London. ISBN 9781138792364
- Halafoff, Anna, Elisabeth Arweck, and Donald L. Boisvert. 2016. Education about religions and worldviews: promoting intercultural and interreligious understanding in secular societies. Routledge, London. ISBN 9781138683600
- Halafoff, Anna 2013, The multifaith movement : global risks and cosmopolitan solutions, Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands. ISBN 9789400752092
Book chapters
- Halafoff, Anna 2019, InterAction Australia: Countering the Politics of Fear with Netpeace. In John Fahy, and Jan-Jonathan Bock eds., The interfaith movement: Mobilising religious diversity in the 21st century, Routledge, London. pp. 68–86. ISBN 9781138606302
- Halafoff, Anna 2018. Interfaith Youth in Australia: A Critical Reflection on Religious Diversity, Literacy and Identity. In Lene Kuhle, Jorn Borup and William Hoverd eds., A Critical Analysis of Religious Diversity, Brill. pp. 230–251. ISBN 978-90-04-36709-8
- Halafoff, Anna and Laura Gobey (2018) '"Whatever"? Religion, Youth, and Identity in 21st Century Australia.' In Peter Beyer, Spencer Bulllivant and Paul Gareau eds., Youth, Religion and Identity in a Globalizing Context. Leiden: Brill. pp. 255–277. ISBN 978-90-04-44710-3
Journal articles
- Halafoff, Anna; Marriott, Emily; Smith, Geraldine; Weng, Enqi; Bouma, Gary (2021). "Worldviews Complexity in COVID-19 Times: Australian Media Representations of Religion, Spirituality and Non-Religion in 2020". Religions. 12 (9): 682. doi:10.3390/rel12090682. hdl:10536/DRO/DU:30155022.
- Weng, Enqi; Halafoff, Anna (2020). "Media Representations of Religion, Spirituality and Non-Religion in Australia". Religions. 11 (7): 332. doi:10.3390/rel11070332. hdl:10536/DRO/DU:30139775.
- Halafoff, Anna; Shipley, Heather; Young, Pamela D.; Singleton, Andrew; Rasmussen, Mary Lou; Bouma, Gary (2020). "Complex, Critical and Caring: Young People's Diverse Religious, Spiritual and Non-Religious Worldviews in Australia and Canada". Religions. 11 (4): 166. doi:10.3390/rel11040166. hdl:1885/216161.
- Halafoff, Anna; Singleton, Andrew; Bouma, Gary; Rasmussen, Mary Lou (2 April 2020). "Religious literacy of Australia's Gen Z teens: diversity and social inclusion". Journal of Beliefs & Values. 41 (2): 195–213. doi:10.1080/13617672.2019.1698862. hdl:1885/231432. ISSN 1361-7672. S2CID 213984265.