Lecturer in the Study of Religion
Fellow and DoS in Anthropology, Downing
Graduate Tutor, Downing
Joseph Webster is accepting applications for PhD students.
Biography:
Joseph Webster took up his post in the Divinity Faculty in 2019. Previous to this he held the position of Lecturer in Anthropology at Queen's University Belfast (2013-19), and Isaac Newton - Graham Robertson Research Fellow in Social Anthropology and Sociology at Downing College, Cambridge (2011-13). His MA(Hons) in Sociology and Social Anthropology, and his MRes and PhD in Social Anthropology were all obtained at the University of Edinburgh (2003-12).
Subject area and speciality
- Religious Studies specialists:
-
The Anthropology of Religion
Contemporary Protestantism
Apocalypticism and Millenarianism
Religion and Hate
Research Interests
Dr Webster's primary research interest concerns the Anthropology of Religion, with a particular focus on Protestantism in Scotland and the global north.
His first monograph, The Anthropology of Protestantism (2013), is an ethnography of apocalyptic sign searching within an Exclusive Brethren fishing community in Northeast Scotland. This book was featured on BBC Radio 4, in an episode of Thinking Allowed.
His second monograph, The Religion of Orange Politics (2020), is an ethnographic account of ethno-religious nationalism within the Orange Order, Scotland's largest Protestant-only fraternity. Specific research interests include:
Protestant fundamentalism, millenarianism, apocalypticism
Ethno-religious nationalism, unionism, loyalism, the Orange Order
Personhood, fraternity, hate
Sectarianism, football fandom, and debates about free speech
North Atlantic, Britain, Scotland, Northern Ireland
The relationship between Anthropology and Theology
Research Supervision
Dr Webster would be interested in supervising doctoral students whose work uses ethnographic methods to research any of the themes listed above.
Teaching
A6 - Understanding Contemporary Religion
D2b - Apocalypse
Part II - Anthropology-Theology Joint track in Modern Religion Seminar
MPhil - Contemporary Religious Conflict: Ethnographic Approaches
Other Professional Activities
Connected to his research on ethno-religious nationalism, Dr Webster has undertaken work on the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. He has acted as an expert witness to the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee, giving evidence in support of repeal.
His research has also been profiled in the media, including in the Times, Scotsman, Herald, Irish News, Sun, and Express newspapers, as well as on STV's Scotland Tonight. Examples include:
Times: Statues are worth both defending and vandalising (op-ed: 18/06/20)
Times: Whipping and coffins at lodge ritual (article: 18/06/20)
Times: Banning sectarian parades would only deepen the hatred (op-ed: 03/09/19)
Times: Banning parades after Govan violence 'deeply problematic' (article: 02/09/19)
Sun: 'Sectarian' singing bring fans together leading expert claims (article: 10/03/18)
Key Publications
Books
Webster, J. (2020). The Religion of Orange Politics: Protestantism and Fraternity in Contemporary Scotland manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526113764/
Webster, J. (2013). The Anthropology of Protestantism: Faith and Crisis among Scottish Fishermen palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137336538
Articles
Webster, J. (2020). 'Embodied Apocalypse: Or the Native Cosmology of Late Modern Social Theory' in Anthropology & Medicine.
Webster, J. (2020). 'Prosperity Pentecostalism as Theological Presentism' (Comment) in Current Anthropology 61(1): 71-72.
Webster, J. (2020). 'Christian Denominations as Social Institutions: An Afterward' in Anthropological Quarterly 92(4): 1123-1134.
Webster, J. (2019). 'Whose sins do the Brethren confess?' in Ethnos. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00141844.2019.1582547
Webster, J. (2017). 'Praying for Salvation: A Map of Relatedness' in Religion 47(1): 19-34.
Webster, J. (2013). 'The Eschatology of Global Warming in a Scottish Fishing Village' in Cambridge Anthropology 31(1): 68-84.
Webster, J. (2012). 'The Immanence of Transcendence: God and the Devil on the Aberdeenshire Coast' in Ethnos 78(3): 380-402.
Webster, J. (2008). 'Establishing the 'Truth' of the Matter: Confessional Reflexivity as Introspection and Avowal' in Psychology and Society 1(1): 65-76.
Book Chapters
Hickman, J. and Webster, J. (In Press). 'Millenarianism' in The Oxford Handbook of the Anthropology of Religion by Robbins, J. and Coleman, S. (eds.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Webster, J. (In Press). 'Approaches through Materiality' in The Oxford Handbook of the Anthropology of Religion by Robbins, J. and Coleman, S. (eds.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Webster, J. (In Press). 'Geography as Eschatology: Prophecy Fulfilment on Land and at Sea' in Landscapes of Christianity by Bielo, J. and Ron, A. (eds). London: Bloomsbury
Webster, J. (2018). 'The Exclusive Brethren Doctrine of Separation: An Anthropology of Theology in Theologically Engaged Anthropology by Lemons, D. (ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Webster, J. (2015). 'Objects of Transcendence: Scots-Protestantism and an Anthropology of Things' in Material Religion in Modern Britain by Jones, T. and Matthews-Jones, L. (eds.) New York: Palgrave.
