Vihaan Easwar
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Yehia Sherif Mohamed Fakhry Mekawi
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Political Science Department / LSA
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 7 (4:40pm – 5:30pm)
Authors: Yehia Mekawi, Vihaan Easwar, Sabah Boudalia
Abstract
State-religion relations pose a curious problem almost everywhere in the world that they are a significant part of public policy. In the case of Belgium, they become extremely interesting. The reason for this is that Belgium has actually adopted a policy of “recognizing†religious institutions that seek it, especially Muslim mosques, which provides them with additional funding and government support, but also submits them to greater state oversight. Why mosques either choose to seek or not seek recognition, and why the state either chooses to recognize or not recognize mosques, is the focus of the research I, along with my research mentor and co-researcher, am trying to undertake. My specific role in this project can be split into two distinct phases. In the first phase, which ran from the project’s inception in October to the end of the first semester, my role was almost entirely focused on transcribing audio interviews conducted with either mosque officials or Belgian state officials, who provided their perspectives on the process of recognition either in favor of or opposed to it. The next phase, which will run from now until the end of the second semester, will revolve around analyzing the data found in the interviews. We are in the process of preparing a codebook which takes note of common phrases and trends found across the data set of interviews. From there, we will code the interviews for these pieces of data and phrases, using a color code system, and then break down what the most common trends and phrases we have found to draw a conclusion. I am proud of the work we have done so far and hope to work towards an intellectually stimulating and enlightening conclusion to the project.
