Religion in multi-ethnic contexts: a multidisciplinary case study of global seafaring

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In increasingly secular societies the significance of religion could be regarded as waning. However, with increased population mobility and the tendency for some conflict to be cast around religious difference it is critical that the social sciences return to religion as a centrally important tenet. This project considers religious difference alongside spiritual need in relation to the case of global seafaring.The research will make an important contribution to our understanding of how multi-faith groups peacefully co-exist and what factors may disrupt/threaten social harmony in religiously diverse populations. The project will focus upon seafarers from different countries and of multiple faiths living and working together on ships and in ports. In the context of the challenging social circumstances where they live and work (confined in relatively small spaces on board working cargo ships and largely isolated from wider society) it will explore how they understand their own spirituality and that of colleagues and how they manage/experience religious needs/expression. Traditionally ports in the UK and US have provided chaplaincy/welfare services to international seafarers of multiple faiths in an effort to meet a variety of spiritual/social needs. These past and present services will also be a focus for the research. Archive data will be collected charting the historical development of chaplaincy in ports in the UK/US. In addition, contemporary chaplains will be included as participants in order to understand how they shape and practice their respective religious beliefs, alongside their vocation for ministry, and how their organisations have changed over time in relation to their objectives and practices in funding such ministry. This combination of research concerns will provide the opportunity for us to analyse seafarers' own religious perspectives and attitudes towards other faiths; seafarers' spiritual needs; available support for seafarers' spiritual needs within the confines of ports; access and experiences of such port-based welfare/religious services (from the point of view of seafarers) the objectives of organisations providing chaplaincy in ports and their associated plans for the future. Three aims guide the project 1) We aim to inform better welfare/spiritual provision by organisations working in ports to seafarers calling at them 2) We aim to gain a better understanding of how traditional/non-traditional religions/spirituality are expressed, experienced, and negotiated in ports and in multinational residential workplaces (i.e. ships). 3) We will explore the evolution of religion in limited but important situations outside congregations and formally designated religious sites. In this we aim to add to academic understandings of contemporary 'religion' and its diversity and to study religion/spirituality beyond expected locations (e.g. churches/religious communities).The study has 4 main components. 1) Historical examination of archive material relating to the development of welfare and religious services in US/UK ports 2) A series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholder organisations, which fund/manage current port-based ministry and welfare 3) Port-based ethnography focussing on observation of chaplaincy 'in action' and interviews with key participants/providers 4) Shipboard ethnography focussing on seafarers and their spiritual/religious practices/needs/expression.This bi-national case study will be conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of sociologists and theologians. It will assess continuities/discontinuities between ports in terms of provision and the diverse ways religion is present on cargo ships. This will be of practical value to seafarers and those attempting to meet their spiritual/religious needs, of academic value to scholars of religion and the workplace, and of general value in raising awareness of a vital but neglected area of modern economic life.