Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Practices of State Neutrality in Educational Settings

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The doctoral dissertation research project, which trains an anthropology graduate student in methods of scientifically rigorous and empirical data collection and analysis, aims to advance scientific understanding of the making of subject-citizens and state-subject relations in educational settings through a study of a the sociolegal concept of neutrality. The project would broadly disseminate its findings to organizations invested in improving educational policies. The project also broadens the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science, contributes the education of underrepresented groups, and builds capacity and scientific infrastructure through international cooperation in these scientific research communities.Hafsa Oubou, under the supervision of Dr. Katherine Hoffman of Northwestern University, will explore the juridical concept of state neutrality in educational practice as it relates to the role of religion in schooling. This ethnographic research will explore how teachers of religion, respond to the politics of teaching or not teaching religion. Recent events have made the teaching of religion in public schools the subject of contentious debate, leading to redefining the concept of state neutrality and to re-imagining the place of religion in schools' curriculum. The investigator will examine how teachers negotiate the role of minorities' religion in education policies and will uncover how these teachers 1) navigate the discrimination towards religiosity, and 2) redefine the place of religion classes in public schools. During the fieldwork research, the researcher will conduct participant observation in education settings, semi-structured interviews, oral histories, and archival and media research. The project will advance anthropological theory related education, the subfield of political anthropology, and debates about secularism in the anthropology of religion.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.