I am a Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture, jointly appointed to the Department of Political Science, as well as an affiliate member of the Department of Gender Studies at Memorial University. In 2024-25, I am director the Nexus Centre for Humanities and Social Scientific Research at Memorial University.

My research and teaching engage the politics of secularism, with attention to how they play out in the lives of everyday people. Secularism is most often understood as a separation of religion from politics, and often assumed as a key guarantor of liberalism, democracy, rationality, and gender equality.

The core argument of my research is that secularism(s) in the North Atlantic world are intimately related to the regulation of religion and sexuality. More empirically, my research is ethnographic and examines secularisms in contemporary France and Canada. My most recent book, Secular Sensibilities (UNC Press, 2025), considers the emotional, affective, and embodied nature of secularism, drawing on transnational fieldwork in Algeria, France and Québec and secularism studies theory. I currently direct a SSHRC-funded research program, Secularism on the Move / La laïcité en mouvement

I also serve on the executive of the Canadian Corporation for the Study of Religion and on the steering committee of the Secularism and Secularity unit of the American Academy of Religion.

Fields Of Research

• Secularism Studies
• Islam in the North Atlantic world (France, Canada)
• Method and Theory
• Women and Islam, Gender Studies
• Religion and Public Policy in Canada

Academics

BA Honours (U Winnipeg), MA (Queen's University), PhD (McMaster University), Postdoctoral Fellowship (Harvard University)

Teaching Schedule

Spring/Summer 2025

Summer field school: The Religions and Cultures of Quebec

RELS/SOC 2350, Religious Institutions

POSC 3385/RELS 3058, Topics in Religion and Politics

Office Hours

By appointment

Office: 5029 Arts and Administration
Telephone: (709) 864-4046
Email: jselby@mun.ca